Virginia’s Four-Season Ski Resort for Family Skiing & Year-Round Adventures

In this episode, the Ski Moms welcome Kameron Tucker, Mountain Sports Director at Massanutten Resort in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Kameron shares her inspiring journey from receiving ski passes in her Christmas stocking as a child to leading mountain operations at the resort where she first learned to ski. Now in her third season as Mountain Sports Director after 12 years with the resort, Kameron brings a wealth of experience from roles spanning the family adventure park, ski patrol , and ski school operations.

Kameron provides an insider's guide to Massanutten, a true four-season destination resort spanning over 6,000 acres with something for every family member. She explains how the resort welcomes skiers from their local Harrisonburg community, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and even Florida, with passholders who maximize their week-long visits by skiing every day. The typical season runs from mid-December through early March, with aggressive snowmaking to ensure quality conditions.

Massanutten is a beginner-friendly mountain that teaches people to love skiing and snowboarding, with terrain perfect for learning. 

Beyond skiing, Kameron highlights the resort's extensive amenities including diverse lodging options, an indoor/outdoor water park with a new hotel under construction, two rec centers, escape rooms, 36-40 miles of hiking trails, zip lines, snow tubing, and a full-service spa. Dining options range from a unique ramen bar and cafeteria-style service to the popular Umbrella Bar (a heated yurt with 360-degree glass walls) and Mid Mountain Grill with fire pits and DJ entertainment.

Kameron also shares practical tips for families, including the importance of advance booking , knowing your children's heights and weights for rentals, understanding the three skier types for binding settings, and creating a family plan to avoid getting separated on the mountain. 

Resources: 

Website: MassRes

There  are 4 events happening this year at: Sugarbush, Sunday River and Stratton, plus a cross country skiing event at the von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Register here, spots are limited https://www.theskimoms.co/events

Shop the Diamant Weekend Warrior Bag 2.0 at www.diamantskiing.com and use code SKIMOMS to save 10%

Invest in your season with this TSA Approved carry-on boot bag, it's a game changer and built to last. 

Find your perfect family-friendly mountain stay—or list your own!
 👉 Browse or list at Ski Mom Family Rentals

Transcript

Nicole: Welcome back to the ski Moms podcast. It's season five and we're hitting the slopes. We're sharing real unfiltered stories of motherhood on the snow. From conquering the bunny hill with toddlers to squeezing in your own powder days, this season celebrates every type of ski mom.

Thanks for joining us. We've got a great season lined up and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Okay, Today the ski moms are talking about mountain magic in the Shenandoah Valley.

We're talking about Massanutten Resort. And we have Cameron Tucker with us today. Massanutton is located in Virginia. Yes, Virginia. We do love our southern skiers and it's a four season destination because we know they don't might not get as much cold weather as they do up north.

So they do have golf, a water park, a spa, so many other things that can help us as ski moms plan trips all year long.

And Cameron is the mountain sports director. She's been with the resort for 12 years. So we're so excited to tap into her expertise and talk about skiing in the south and the culture there.

So welcome Cameron.

Kameron: Thank you so much for having me.

Nicole: We want to hear all about the resort, but let's start with how you got into the ski industry. What is your origin story with the sport?

Kameron: Yeah, so my GI origin story,

as you would call it, it's starts just over the mountain in Gordonsville.

That's where I grew up, that's where my family is.

And every Christmas my parents put ski passes in our stockings. And that was our sign that winter officially arrived. And it was so exciting. And that was the first thing that we always would look for and pull out.

And so I learned to ski right here at Massanutten, and now my daughter is learning on the same slopes. And so it's so cool to watch that come full circle.

Nicole: I love that.

Sarah: That's such a cute idea in this stocking. Before everything was like rfid, I'm guessing. Right. So it's wonderful that you're back to where it all started. But tell us a little bit about your career path to the and a little bit about the role you're in today.

Kameron: I've always been drawn to recreation, outdoor recreation and leadership. And so over time,

that allowed me to kind of get deeper and deeper into mountain sports.

I spent the last 10 years in various roles at the family adventure park, which houses our zip lines summer tubing and is just a great family park.

I've been in oec, which is the National Ski Patrol certification for patrollers for nearly a decade. And I was able to run our ski school desk for four seasons. And I just took advantage of every opportunity to be involved across the division,

and it gave me a really good understanding of how everything connects.

Massanutten in general, is just a great place to grow. We're. We're a big enough resort that we do get to be innovative. We can stretch ourselves, we can take advantage of a lot of what's out there, but we're also small enough that we can keep that community feel for me.

Eventually, I stepped into this new role, mountain sports director.

So this is my third season moving or third season moving with that role.

Nicole: Who joins you at Mass? Nut and Lynn. Let's talk about maybe winter first.

Kameron: It's great in that we have our Harrisonburg community, our Harrisonburg, Elk Den, surrounding counties,

lot of passholders there.

But as it is with. With the ski industry in general, we have passholders that come from Richmond, we have passholders that come from the Fredericksburg area.

We have passholders in all of the states around us. And odd enough, we actually have qu group of passholders that come up from Florida.

And you may not think it makes sense because a lot of us think season pass. You're going to have multiple trips to the mountain. But they really take advantage of that season pass in that they know this may be the one week they're going to come up and ski.

And it's cost effective to purchase an early season pass at those rates. And then they get to ski every day they're here.

So they may ski the same number of days as some other passholders, but they just do it all in one week. And so, yeah, it's a really great group. It's a big mix.

And being able to go out there, ski around with them and meet them is always fun, learning about where they're from and to hear those stories that, oh, we come up from Florida, but we're here for one week and we get all of our skiing done for the year,

or they may start their season with us and then move, you know,

take another big trip somewhere else and do a day pass.

Sarah: And what's your typical season start and end date?

Kameron: We try to be open by the second week in December. So it's coming up, you know, we're here 12, 13 days out.

We've been able to get some snowmaking done and hoping that here in the next night or two, another window opens so that we can make that push.

We're typically skiing from December 14th 15th,

maybe through the same dates in March. We try to stay open the first, second week in March. And so we.

We do have a shortened season, but we. We make the most of it and we certainly will make snow early.

And. And if it's March and the weather lines up right, and we think we can get another great weekend and we may turn the guns on again just to give our passholders an extended weekend.

Nicole: And tell us about the Shenandoah Valley, for those of us who haven't been there. What does it look like? As were driving in and up to Massanutton.

Kameron: Oh, it's. It's absolutely gorgeous, in my opinion.

Like I said, I grew up riding over the mountain and coming right through the gap.

And so it's. We have big mountain views. There's. There's farmland. Lots and lots of farmland. It's. It's such a really nice, charming area. You can get into downtown Elkton and they've got great little places to eat and drink and enjoy your.

Your time down there in the town. Get down to downtown Harrisonburg here in the valley, and we have a lot going on. James Madison University is right here in Harrisonburg.

And so we certainly take advantage of. Of all of the extra businesses and food and beverage that. That we get thanks to being a university town.

And I think a lot of that is. It kind of plays into our staff culture as well.

We get to draw staff from all of these different areas. And.

And so it is. It's super collaborative and supportive. And the valley in general is just gorgeous. We have lots of individuals, guests that come out. We call them leaf peepers.

They're coming out for the changing, the turning of the leaves. We have scenic chairlifts that will take you straight to the top and you can just see out.

And our mountain is kind of a kettle. We call it the Bowl.

And it's this large rim that goes around the top of our mountain, so you can actually get views on both sides. You can be at the top and get views out towards Harrisonburg and across the valley, but then you can be looking back across the resort towards Elkton.

And So it's just 360 views all around. And you get a peek of that when you're coming into the valley.

Sarah: And for families coming in, like you were saying, from. From farther away. Not day trippers. Where are they staying and what are the different lodging options in the area?

Kameron: Massanutten has a large variety of lodging options. I think that's something that sets us apart in some of the.

From some of the Other ski areas that people may visit.

We are a ski area with an entire resort attached to us. And so we have lodging options, everything from the hotel room. If you want to come up and be in that traditional hotel room.

We have small condos, we have two bedroom condos. We have condos that are connected and that a large family, you could essentially have two and have four beds, sleeper sofas, kitchens, we have full kitchens, we have partial kitchens.

So lots of lodging opportunities on the resort for all family makeups. And the nice thing is that we have a group's department that if you want to have a family reunion and so you're worried about being close,

a lot of individuals don't realize how large the resort is with over 6,000 acres.

And so we can work with your family, whether it's a family of 10 or 30, and actually block off rooms so we can make sure that you're all together. So it makes just planning the trip,

being on the mountain, moving around the mountain together, a lot easier.

Nicole: So we've planned our, our trip, we've blocked our days and we arrive.

Do we need to book lessons in advance? Can we get our rentals there? Do you. You talked a little bit about past products, but does it make sense for us to kind of plan ahead and look at packages before we start our ski day?

Kameron: I think that's probably crucial in planning a ski trip in general.

Certainly the activities that you want to do, you want to look on our website,

there's. There's really great information there. There's hints, there's tips, there's how tos, and so navigating that can be a little bit overwhelming.

Even myself, I take my daughter,

last week we went and got her season rentals from the rental shop and we put them in my office and we pulled out her gear.

But even for me, who I can leave my office and take her skiing, it's. There's still a lot of planning and logistics that have to go into it. And so the more you can understand that, the more, you know, we love talking to people on the phone.

We have an amazing call center that's available to answer a lot of questions. And we get, we get questions.

Certainly planning your trip ahead, you can go online, you can get a really good understanding of what our products are and you can pre purchase them. That is the beauty of the RFID and online booking in general is that if you're interested in a ski lesson, you can go online now and plan your ski lesson trip for February.

And so looking ahead, it just makes it so much easier.

Snow tubing. That is a really fun activity. Lots and lots of people love to come up. They, they come snow tubing. They really build their week around some of these activities and those sell out pretty quickly.

And so you'll, you'll want to make sure that you're booking those ahead of time. You're kind of creating an itinerary for your, your family to move around the mountain. Which day do we want to water park?

Which day would we like to snow to? And that is going to create a lot more success than,

well, let's just go and see what's there. Because you're going to be able to see what's there, certainly. But the options of when you can participate are going to be very limited.

If, if you don't have those booked online and just the sense of security, if you know that that's taken care of, then you can ask yourself the questions of the equipment or the clothing, the timing, all of that.

Sarah: Yeah, there's nothing worse than you see the, the tubing or something, but, but it's sold out and you can't do it. And everyone's a little disappointed.

And it sounds like maybe because it's Virginia, we're not going to be dealing with such like extreme weather or something like that. So it's generally going to be like if we pick a week, we'll probably be able to do everything and we should just schedule and book everything.

Can you tell us a little bit about the children's ski school products?

Kameron: Our snow sports school is, is wonderful.

Paul Crenshaw has been our snow sports director and he's coming up on his,

you know, here in two seasons, it'll be his 50th season working at Massanutten. And again, that's one of our strengths of our winter season is the employees that come back year after year that they build these programs.

We offer group lessons and private lessons. We also have our Mass Hutton ski and snowboard team and so that would be more for the local individuals. But they train and they compete regionally and it's great to have a program like that.

We like to think of ourselves as that mountain that will introduce you and teach you how to love skiing and snowboarding.

We are a destination resort in that we have so much to offer around the resort. But as a ski area, we truly are beginner friendly.

We have terrain that is great for beginners. We have our conveyor lift so you can move up a slope but not actually have to be on that chairlift. And so a Lot of our instructors really focus on teaching people how to love the sport.

We celebrate, like I mentioned earlier, those little wins. Sometimes just putting your skis on and being able to stand still is a win.

It's such a different sport, but once people get that sense of sliding downhill and there's people cheering for them and we're building confidence through those little, little things,

and really just we want to help people have a great first experience on snow so they come back.

That's. That's where we see ourselves in this industry, is the resort that makes you want to come back and we give you the experience that maybe you didn't go up that chairlift or come all the way down, but you got just enough and have just enough fun that we want to come back and do it again.

And so that, that's a big win for us.

Nicole: I was going to say you, you don't need big vertical, especially in those early years. I think the magic carpet experience, you know, the conveyor belt lifts. So that, that's basically for those who can't picture, it's basically like a moving walkway, but it's just going to take you up the,

the mountain so you don't have to worry about loading a chairlift, which is a skillset, as you were saying. So we can focus on sliding, getting comfortable with that, learning about the shapes you make with your skis to slow your speed or pick up your speed.

So that is huge. But one more detailed question. What ages can we expect to get our kids into products? And do you have childcare or babysitting there? So say we've got quite little ones, and then maybe like grade schoolers,

how are we managing kids of different ages?

Kameron: So to answer the question of what ages, my daughter started skiing at 18 months.

She was tiny. Her feet got into those boots, but they were a little bit big to be expected.

But it's funny because as she learns new sports now, I tried to tell her it takes time to develop this.

Nicole: You've you.

Kameron: When we taught you how to ski, you were going bit by bit. Sometimes it was 15 minutes, sometimes it was 45 minutes. And her response was, skiing's easy.

And I just laughed because it's certainly not. And there's an entire programs and a lot of thought that goes into teaching people how to ski, but they can be out there on the snow.

And I think a lot of it is managing expectations,

the parent expectations. Like I said, we would go out and the lesson was 15 minutes the next time we would go out. And it might be 25 minutes and we would just get excited and there was snacks and hot cocoa and building the full experience.

Not just did you slide downhill.

We do have lessons, like I said, for as young as they are a year old, 18 months old.

We have the equipment, we have the instructors that are wonderful with littles and we can get them in lessons. We have group lessons for individuals that are seven years old and up.

It is difficult for a family that has a number of different aged children.

My brother, he has a 15 or 14 and a 16 year old, but he also has a 5 and a 7 year old.

And so with that, it does take some program logistics, it takes some scheduling.

We do our best to have our lesson lineups to where if you have a young child that we're offering private lessons for that age group, we have the lineup times that will allow the parent to get the young children in the private lessons while getting themselves or the older siblings into the group lessons.

And so we do build that into our program timelines is understanding the dynamics of those families. And we don't want someone to think, oh, I can't participate today because these individuals are going.

We take that into account and really try to help those families build their day. We have a great snow sports learning desk that is there and if you show up on a Tuesday in early January,

we can probably work you into a lesson that afternoon or the next day. Our midweeks are a great time to come out and that will give you a little more flexibility.

So we have the programs for all ages, all levels and abilities. And we also can work with you to find the right visit time when you're going to be able to show up,

ask a lot of questions and make sure that you guys get the experience that you're looking for.

A lot of folks have time off and travel around the holidays, kids, breaks, things like that. And so we still do our best to have as much support and as much as many options as possible on those holiday weekends.

But the experiences are definitely going to be a little different on a Tuesday, the second week in January versus President's weekend.

Sarah: Yeah, you probably can't just show up on Martin Luther King weekend with your family and think things are going to end well for you. Right.

So if we have a number of kids, different ages, we can look around on the site, but probably best to call and talk through how do we manage the timing and the different packages and logistics to.

At the actual ski ski school desk.

Kameron: Yeah, the ski school desk. Those individuals, they're, they're experts, they could sit here and really talk to you through. They love hearing about the families. They, they can get you exactly where you want to be when you need to get, be there, give you the inside tips.

Those are the individuals that you're going to talk to them on the phone and you'll show up two, three weeks later and you'll see them in person and they'll remember you.

They're such a great group over there.

Nicole: And you do have rentals right at the base. So if we don't, we don't have to go into Elkton or Harrisonburg to get our gear rentals. We can get them right at the base.

Kameron: We're, we're small in that aspect, in that you can show up to our parking lots, come right down to our ticket area, which my office is right in that same building.

So I, I get to hear some of those experiences and those conversations with our guests. But you purchase or pick up your tickets at our window. You turn around 180 degrees and you are 15 to 20ft away from our rental shop.

So you go through that rental shop, and when you come out of the rental shop, our ski school building is actually the second part of the rental shop. And so we're all very centrally located.

And we have hosts that will greet you.

They'll ask what you're, you know, what are you looking? Are you, are you trying to find the general store or are you here to get your RFID passed?

We ask if you're in a lesson. So if you find that host or that host finds you, usually they see you walking around, kind of looking, reading signs, that sort of thing.

They say, okay, I'm going to go help her, I'm going to go help him.

And they'll get you right where you need to be. We have different lines in the rental shop for our lesson guests because those lessons do happen on the hour, and we want to make sure that we're there to help you expedite that process.

We have a lot of folks in place that will help you navigate that so that we can kind of reduce some of the stress and that time crunch that you're feeling when you show up.

And you've got to get through the rental shop and then get to your lesson lineup.

Nicole: Yeah. My advice is know how much your kids weigh,

know how tall they are.

Do not bring cotton socks. They need a wool sock or a, a, a blend.

And do not lie about how much you weigh. Give them your real weight, because that is what will release the binding.

So you know, that's these are all tips to kind of keep it moving.

And one thing I would love,

I don't know if you're the, the right person to, to ask, but they always have the three types of skiers and they have a little picture.

Do you have the three Type 3 skiers at your mountain that we have to pick from? And can you explain that a little bit?

Kameron: Absolutely. So the Type one would essentially you're, you're ranking your ability.

So if I am a very novice, a very new skier, then I need to choose that appropriate type and, and so I'm going to be the Type one and it's going to have a looser fit.

I shouldn't say loose because your boot is in that binding, but the ability for that boot to leave the binding is much easier when you're a novice skier. As you fall,

if you go sideways, as you twist, you want the skis to pop off.

As you mentioned,

that's going to protect your joints.

If I am a mid level skier,

I'm starting to turn, I'm coming up the lift.

I want to be able to put a little more pressure on those skis and come down the hill and not lose the binding just because I made a sharp turn.

So if I'm a more intermediate skier, then I could choose that Level two and it's going to keep my ski on in situations that a level one ski would pop off the expert.

So if I'm that Level three,

I'm coming down steeper terrain, there's a lot more pressure on the boot and the ski.

They're working together a lot more. The turns are sharper. I'm turning and doing more of a hockey stop, a side stop. And I definitely don't want my, my skis to pop off when I apply that pressure.

So picking the right level skier for yourself, it's a thing of,

it's, it's not a prideful thing. It is acknowledging where you're at in the sport, where your progression is and making sure that you're choosing the option that's going to be safe for you,

safe for your kids.

But yeah, so the three levels are important and to your point,

just again, know the heights, the weights, these are just some things that we want to make sure that we can size that gear appropriate as you're newer. If you're younger, you're going to want a shorter ski, something that's a little easier for you to control.

If, if you pick the wrong ski or you misjudge that the kids heights,

our attendants in the Rental shop.

Even though you've put all the information in our computers, they will go select a ski, and they still pull the child over and size it up for them. And so some people may think, hey, I'll go through the shop, get the skis and everything, and then I'll meet you in the lesson.

But we really want the child there with you.

Just so our attendants can confirm all the information in the computer, they can size that up for them. They can,

hey, does this feel okay? They can make sure that they get the boots,

make sure there's only a single pair of socks, there's no pants in the boot,

and again, help through that progress or process to make it a little more fun.

Sarah: Okay, so we've got our lift pass, and we're all geared up. I'm heading out to the slopes and tell me about the terrain and the lifts and how we should be navigating that.

Kameron: I think something that's very important, that is going to want to be on the top of a lot of people's lists as they, if they're new skiers, is making sure that themselves, that their family,

that you have a little bit of a plan for the day. It's very easy to get separated when you're out on a mountain and even a mountain that doesn't seem that big.

You look at the trail map, all things funnel to the base. It can feel a lot bigger when you're in the middle of it. And so I think as you and your family, as you're.

You're getting ready to go out as best as possible, create that plan. We're going to go up this lift.

We're going to ski this terrain together.

If I stop, please stop with me. And it's just planning that out so that you don't get to the base.

Everyone thinks that they have a unique jacket or my kids wearing this color helmet. And then you get out there and think, wow, that was a really popular Christmas gift this year.

You could lose members of your group relatively easy. So knowing the terrain, knowing what lifts serve that terrain,

looking ahead at the trail map at Massanutten, as soon as you cross the bridge,

coming from the ski ticket windows, we have a very large trail map. And again, that's just to help orient people,

help point out that terrain,

recognize the terrain that you want to be on, recognizing terrain you don't want to be on unless you're a skier that can handle that terrain.

So a lot of it goes into that prep work of knowing the mountain you're coming to kind of having that little roadmap,

creating a plan as a family.

What happens if we do get separated? Do we keep going up lifts or do we go to this spot?

Nicole: Cameron, does the mountain have a natural progression,

sort of easier to harder sometimes? You know, mountains like that, you know, the beginner areas far left and the more expert slopes are far right. Do you have that sort of progression there?

Or are we really going to need to use the trail to trail map to strategize?

Kameron: At Massanutten, our more difficult terrain goes uphill, so we do have our greens down low, then we get into our blues. But once you've taken lift five all the way up or lift six all the way up,

you're essentially locked into black and blue terrain, intermediate and expert terrain. And so lift 5 can sometimes be that lift where folks forget or they don't realize we have a mid station there.

And the beginner to intermediate can get off at lift five and they can come down showtime, that slope, the bottom of that slope, they,

a relatively new skier can navigate that.

But if they don't get off there, they've locked themselves into that, that tough terrain. And so I think that's where, knowing what lift we're taking and where we're getting off,

if we're getting off and we're turning right versus left, that can be the difference between a blue terrain that maybe I don't belong here, but I'm. I can survive this, or black terrain that I should have taken the right.

And so I think that to your point, comes in with just looking at trail map and understanding the higher we get, the more difficult it could be. There are a lot of resorts that have from the top green terrain, so that doesn't always apply.

And again, that's something that at Massanutten we're looking at our mountain and we'd love to get a from the top green slope so those beginners can have that great view, have that experience.

They can ride that long lift and really achieve something coming down.

But for now, that the higher you get, the harder it gets.

Sarah: And what about grooming? Because I know that, you know, whatever, a blue ungroomed can be very different than a blue groomed. So what are we going to be looking for there?

Kameron: All of our trails except our no Hess, which is our double black, which is right under our lip.

We groom those.

There will be sections of other trail that we may not groom and we let moguls form. And so I think that's the piece is that we have a snow report page that even if you're on the resort, you're in the lift line, you can look at that snow report page and it will let you know what's been groomed,

what has fresh snow on it. If we were able to make snow,

what does not have fresh snow. So it, it may be after it's groomed it, the grooming may not last as long. Right.

And so looking at the snow reports page is a really good up to the minute update of slope conditions.

Are we going to see bumps? Is this groomed also? And this is really getting into the weeds that maybe some of the day trippers or first timers may not realize.

But when the sun hits the mountain, it's going to soften up the snow at a different time. And so our mountain on the right side, if you're looking up, that's going to get the sun early and so that's going to soften up a little bit more.

Whereas the left side, that mid station slope that I mentioned, that's going to stay a little bit crunchy or a little bit longer because the sun doesn't hit it.

All of those variables go into what your ski day is going to be like. And it does change with the weather. If it's a really sunny day and the snow is heavy and it's slow,

people may be able to ski a slope where they couldn't ski it before. And so the progression changes there. But for those families,

for the individuals that want to come out,

looking at the trail map, looking at the snow reports, that will give you a really good idea of how the mountain is going to ski and where's a good spot for you to start your day.

Nicole: Now, one of the very important things for my ski day is where am I going to eat, what am I having,

where am I going?

What is Massanutten known for? So tell us, what are our dining opportunities on mountain or at the base?

Kameron: We have several. Right there in the base area,

we have our ramen bar, which is in the first level of the ski lodge. And even as I say that, I'm like, okay, ramen on the ski slopes, people love it.

It's something different.

It's delicious. And it's just this nice hot bowl of ramen.

And you can sit in what we call our sunroom. Enjoy your bowl of ramen. And you can see people coming down. It's just a wall of windows. And so when I was growing up, that was where my mom would post up.

She would sit there and watch all those windows right out in front of her and she could see us come and make laps and that we knew we were going to go check in with her.

And so now there's a ramen bar down there and I think she'd probably appreciate that.

On the second level we have a cafeteria style where you can go in, you can get hot food, you can get salads, it's a cafeteria style and you can get really great food options there.

Our elevations bar that has food service as well. And you can get waitress, waiter, they'll be able to get you some chicken tenders, get you sandwiches, things like that.

A lot of people congregate around and it is always a busy, busy spot. Is the umbrella bar outside.

It is a round yurt style bar and the bartender's in the middle and everyone's sitting around them. They're seating outside and that is also on often we have waitstaff that will tend to that.

But you can be sitting there and that is 360 of glass walls. And really it's got the heaters. It's such a fun, fun space.

And that has full service bar, full service food menu.

For the skiers who maybe don't want to come down to the base, we do have our mid mountain grill. It's right at the top of our creekside lift. So the individuals that are lapping the top side of the mountain,

we have fire pits out there, we have burgers, hot dogs, we've got drinks there.

And so some days we'll have a dj. That's kind of where that one mountain oper is going to be, where you could bring your kids. There's restrooms there. So we do have a lot of really great options and that way we can spread some folks out, the lines are manageable and everybody can pick what kind of dining experience they want.

Nicole: This sounds wonderful and I love. We talked a little bit about it earlier, but there's other options. So if your family is new to skiing and let's say you have booked a longer holiday, five, six, seven days and you want to take a day off from skiing.

You said you mentioned the tubing. Tell me about the water park.

I want to hear more about that.

Kameron: Yeah, absolutely. So we, like I mentioned, we are a ski resort with a great,

great resort attached to us.

And we have our water park and we actually are in the process of building a hotel that's attached right to that water park. So you will be able to book a room at the hotel for you and your family and walk straight down through the lobby and into the water park and the water park has a great arcade.

It's got two different food and beverage options.

In the summer, it's an indoor and an outdoor water park. There's cabanas out there.

It really is just a great advantage for us at Massanut to have this incredible water park.

We also have lots of other activities. We have an entire activity department that has a few,

you know, a hundred different things throughout the week. So if it's a rainy day, there's art classes,

we have painting classes, things like that. There's kids tie dye T shirt activities you can sign up for.

We have two rec centers on property which have indoor pools.

There are, there's an indoor basketball area. We have racquetball thinking, you know, thinking the traditional rec center. Right. All of those offerings.

We also have escape rooms on the resort. Those are my, my nieces and nephews. When they come up, they love going through the escape room.

And so yeah, it's, there's a lot going on. The adventure park, like I mentioned, has the tubing, but depending on the season that you come up, if, if you, you don't come up in winter,

there's the zip lines.

We have lots of hiking year round. We have close to 36 to 40 miles of trail on the backside of the resort which is the western slope. A lot of, and you know, a lot of people don't realize that, that the, our resort is on both sides of the mountain.

And so there's hiking, there's cross country mountain biking back there and all year round.

People can go back and enjoy that as a resort guest.

Sarah: It, it sounds incredible. I love that there's just so many things because maybe there's a day you just don't want to ski. One of our favorite things to talk about also besides food is the spa.

So tell us a little bit about that.

Kameron: Yes, absolutely. The, the spa is great. It is down across from the Woodstone check in building. And so we have a full service spa as far as the massages.

All of the different types. The Swedish, the hot stone, the deep tissue.

We have manicures, pedicures, facials. It's. There's actually an infrared sauna in there. I've done that. It was wonderful.

So the spa is definitely another activity or an experience really. Right.

The spa is an experience that you're going to want to book ahead of time.

There are a lot of individuals that they come out,

they ski for a day,

they send someone to the water park with the kids, they take a spa time and then they switch and so it's definitely something that you want to plan into your week.

Nicole: Let's say that you're able to take your director's hat off for a day and really enjoy skiing. What does apres ski look like for you? Where are we going to find you on the mountain?

What will you be sipping and what will you maybe be snacking on?

Kameron: Yeah, so if. If I take my director's hat off and I'm out there enjoying myself, if my daughter's with me, apres ski looks like a hot cocoa. And maybe I'll have a coffee or something at.

At base camp. She enjoys going there as well. She likes watching the other kids. And so that's not just for adults. If I'm out there by myself, I'll probably be at Mid Mountain Grill.

I really enjoy being up there.

You get to see individuals coming off the low side lifts, getting onto the high side lift,

our peak express lift there, which is our high speed.

And that is kind of the hub of the top or the mid mountain. Right. And so that's a space where I'll get to check in with some of our food and beverage individuals.

Jonas that works up there, he's great.

And see how their day's going. I can check in with a number of my lift ops teams, just see how things are going. Patrol is always through there.

So even though my director. Hats off, I. I still take advantage of the time to be out there with. With the employees on the hill. Checking in with them.

This past fall,

we actually. Our food and beverage, they came into our office. We were having a little preseason meeting,

and I joked that I had a dirt bag latte or a dirt bag mocha. And that is basically, I took my daughter's leftover chocolate milk. She didn't drink that morning.

And I put in my coffee and the food and beverage. One of the managers there just thought that was the funniest thing. And we were having an event over the weekend and he said, what was that drink you were drinking and how can we turn that into a fun weekend thing?

And so was born the lifty latte,

which was a hot chocolate with a liqueur.

And that was delicious. And so,

yeah, I think, I think just being out on the mountain,

kind of still in the hub of it,

but. But having a seat and by the fire pit, drinking whatever. Whatever they're serving up there is usually where. Where you might find me.

Nicole: I love that you invented a new drink. Sarah and I wrote a cocktail book, so maybe, maybe we'll include the. It was the lipty latte.

Kameron: Yes, the lifty latte.

Nicole: Maybe that'll be in episode. Maybe that'll be in the second edition. Cameron, thank you for all of this. We are so excited to plan our trip and we're ready to go.

Where do we go to get more information and start our trip planning?

Kameron: Our website that I've referenced a few times, MassResort.com that will bring you to the landing page where you can hit Stay,

Play, Relax.

All of those top headers will move you in the direction that you need to. And there's book now widgets anywhere that there are products. And there's as I mentioned, there's the frequently asked questions, the how tos.

Some of those that are a little more involved may have some videos,

that sort of thing. And so certainly MassResort.com is the place to go to really start it off.

Nicole: Thank you so much and we look forward to trip planning.

Kameron: Yeah, look forward to having you all.

Nicole: Hey ski moms. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and got some great tips for your next family ski adventure. If you had as much fun listening as we did making this episode, we'd love for you to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on our latest episodes.

And don't forget to rate and review us. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love and helps other ski moms find our podcast.

Plus, we love hearing from you.

So whether you're on the slopes or just dreaming of your next snowy getaway, stay connected with us. Follow us on social media,

share your favorite episodes with your friends, and let's keep this awesome community growing.