Children are the future of any sport, especially skiing and snowboarding with its special clothing, initially awkward equipment and abrupt reintroduction to the consequences of gravity.

The owners and operators are keenly aware of all that and do their best to make the learning experience as painless as possible for the kids and their parents.

Here's a look at what some Western resorts are doing to grow their own skiers and snowboarders.

Colorado

Snowmass

The Aspen Skiing Co., a name synonymous with skiing for generations, will open The Treehouse Kids' Adventure Center at the Snowmass base village this month. The $17 million project is the largest in the company's history.

The two-story, 25,000-square-foot center, located at the intersection of three new lifts on Fanny Hill, is the focal point for kids' programming at the resort and is believed to be the first of its kind in the snowsports industry.

Its themed rooms are designed for specific age groups, from two months to teens, with everything from a napping loft to a climbing wall. The Treehouse is accessible from anywhere in Snowmass via free shuttle buses. It also has short-term and underground parking.

The Treehouse will have ski-in, ski-out access on Fanny Hill and service to the upper slopes, lodges and Snowmass Mall via the Sky Cab gondola.

Also new for the 2007-08 season is the Elk Camp Meadows beginners' area at the top of the Elk Camp gondola. The area has a new quad chair, two new surface lifts and six acres of terrain dedicated exclusively to beginners.

Snowmass has 91 slopes and trails and 24 lifts, including two gondolas, a six-passenger chair, six high-speed quads, two standard quads, three doubles and five Magic Carpets. The vertical drop is 4,406 feet.

For more information, go to www.aspensnowmass.com or call 1-800-525-6200.

New Mexico

Taos

When Ernie Blake first set eyes on what was to become Taos Ski Valley from the window of his Cessna 170 in the early 1950s, he thought the "tremendous snow basin" was an optical illusion. It wasn't.

He and his wife, Rhoda, and their children moved from Santa Fe, where he was running a nearby ski area, to Taos in 1955.

In the fall of 1956, Mr. Blake, 16 men from the Taos Pueblo and a mule named Lightning installed the first lift, a J-bar, to serve Snakedance, the only run. After one day of dragging the lift and tower parts through the snow, Lightning quit.

Chilton Anderson, an "extremely tall" local rancher, lasted a lot longer -- 37 years. He was hired in 1956 and helped install the J-bar; he retired from the ski school last year.

The strong-willed Mr. Blake encouraged guests and their children to take lessons. He made the ski-and-stay packages so attractive that few could resist them. The resort, now owned and operated by his children and grandchildren, still offers those money-saving packages.

The resort has 110 slopes and trails served by four quads, one triple, five doubles and two surface lifts. Snowboarding is not permitted. The vertical drop is 2,612 feet -- 3,274 feet if you're willing to hike to the top of Kachina Ridge. Do it for Ernie.

Information: www.skitaos.org or call 1-866-968-7386.

Utah

Brighton

William and Catherine Brighton and their sons, Dan and Will, emigrated from Scotland to Salt Lake City in the 1800s and homesteaded an 80-acre plot at what is now Brighton Resort. In the late 1800s, their sons made crude skis to move around on the snow.

A rope tow and then a T-bar were erected by the Wasatch Mountain Club to enable its members to enjoy the copious amounts of snow that fell in the canyon. During the winter of 1947-48, the 4,000-foot-long Millicent single chair lift was installed.

That first chairlift has since been replaced by Millicent II, a $4.2 million high-speed quad that also replaces the Evergreen chairlift. The Doppelmayr CTEC lift is 3,920 feet long and climbs 1,110 vertical feet. All Brighton's terrain is accessible via high-speed lifts.

The resort has received more than 600 inches of snow during the past two years. It uses the GAZ EX system to control avalanches in Millicent Bowl, a wide open un-groomed area that attracts expert skiers and snowboarders.

Brighton has 66 slopes and trails spread over 1,050 acres and served by six lifts. The vertical drop is 1,745 feet.

For more information, go to www.brightonresort.com or call 1-800-873-5512.

Deer Valley

The best keeps getting better.

Deer Valley, ranked once again as the No. 1 resort in North America by the readers of Ski magazine, spent $9 million to buy a new high-speed quad, purchase 51 new snow guns and five new snowgrooming machines, install heated pavers on the upper and lower decks of the Snow Park Lodge and install Snow Scan Ground Penetrating Radar.

The latter, combined with a global positioning system, allows the resort to determine snow depth on any part of the mountain to make snowmaking and grooming more efficient.

The new lift, the Lady Morgan Express, serves more than 200 acres of new terrain, including 65 acres of glades. The expansion created nine new runs -- five beginner, one intermediate and three expert -- and new vantage points for views of the resort and the Uinta Mountains.

A high-speed gondola, 11 high-speed quads, six triples and two doubles serve 99 slopes and trails on 2,026 acres of terrain on six mountains. Vertical drop is 3,000 feet.

For more information, go to www.deervalley.com or call 1-800-424-3337.