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What's in store for your tiniest travelers headed to Lake Tahoe, California? A lot of fun, if you're hanging out at Heavenly Ski Resort.

For the first two years that we were in San Francisco, my husband and I longingly studied the wonderful snow reports at Lake Tahoe ski resorts.  We were unable to consider a family ski vacation there because of the lack of daycare facilities for children under two.  Lake Tahoe is only a three and a half hour drive from our home in San Francisco, yet we found ourselves flying to resorts in Colorado and Utah.

All that changed in 1999 when Heavenly Ski Resort, (800/HEAVENLY, 775/586-7000) the largest mountain in the Lake Tahoe region, opened a new daycare center for children beginning at six weeks.  While the thought of skiing six weeks after giving birth is a little hardcore for me, they claim to have had several 2-month-olds whose mothers skied a run or two in between feedings.  There is a quiet room set aside for just that activity.

In any event, I set out for a weekend last April to squeeze in a couple more days before admitting the season was over.  I took my 4-year-old, Nathaniel, and went with some friends who have a 5-year-old daughter, Rachel and a 2 1/2-year-old, Maureen.  Nathaniel and Rachel, who both had a few days of skiing under their belts, were enrolled in the full-day "Perfect Kids" program, which starts at 4 years and goes to 13.   Maureen went to daycare.

Rachel, who is both older and stronger than Nathaniel fared much better in the lessons.  She was a bit unhappy the first day,  but by the second day was really having fun.  Nathaniel was not happy about being in lessons for a full day and after lunch they beeped me to come get him. If you enroll your child in the full-day program, you should be pretty sure that he or she will enjoy a whole day, because there is no guarantee that there will be room in the day care facility for kids who opt out of this program. 

Heavenly Ski and Play

There are two other program alternatives.  For 3-4-year-olds there is the Ski/Play Program, where the children are mostly in daycare, but have an hour-long introduction to skiing in small groups. For 4 and 5 year olds there is the Half & Half Ski Program, where the kids are in day care in the morning and ski the afternoon.  Sometimes, the ski school offers half-day Perfect Kids lessons, but you will need to inquire about that for your particular dates.  For all programs, reservations are strongly recommended and are required for day care.  Heavenly Day Care and the Perfect Kids Ski Program can be reached before arrival at 800/HEAVENLY ext. 6912.

The great news about registering your children for skiing at Heavenly is that they take care of fitting the equipment.  We have been to a number of resorts recently where you have to stand in a separate line to rent the kids' equipment, which is both annoying and cuts into your own ski time.  Here it's one stop shopping; once you register your child, you are free to go.