Why late season skiing is best for families

 The Easter holidays are traditionally the last great hurrah of the ski season, and 2014’s Easter is very late: most UK schools break up today (April 4) and don’t return until Tuesday, April 22.`

For ski tour operators, this is a double-edged sword: on the one side, many families consider the ski season finished by mid-March, so a late Easter getaway to the slopes is usually replaced with a summer break. But the brave families who do decide to head out to Europe will be let in on the mountain's best kept secrets: late season is the absolute best time to take the family skiing. And here's why…

Where to ski right now

Sun worshipping
Contrary to popular belief, the snow does not melt after half term. Most ski resorts are open well into April - even the Pyrenean resorts such as Baqueira Beret, often thought of as Europe’s least snow sure areas - are open well into the third week of April, and many Alpine resorts carry on through to the beginning of May.

“Most people who come out around the end of the season,” says Rude Chalets owner Helen Lavender, “are families whose parents know their stuff - maybe ex-seasonaires, or instructors - and know that spring is the time when the best deals are on, and when the kids are going to have the best time in the sun.”  

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