January marks both National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month and the Martin Luther King Holiday, and to celebrate these events Vermont-area ski resorts are offering families a host of deals and activities to have fun on the slopes this winter. In addition to the launch of the new website www.RideVermont.com, Ski Vermont is offering the $29 Learn to Ski & Ride Month deal and free Nordic ski and snowshoeing on Winter Trails day.

Here’s what’s happening around the state this January:

At Stowe Mountain Resort, families can snowshoe under the stars with the “Starlight Snowshoe Tour” (ages 10 and up), which takes families across Vermont’s highest living alpine lake. The “Evening Snowshoe Tour” (all ages) brings guests to either Bingham Falls, Sterling Peak, around the Stowe Mountain Golf Club or to Ranch Valley. Both tours are intended for all ability levels. Additionally, families can participate in a movie night, go on a camp-out adventure or give the kids a chance to be a part of the circus at the “Circus Camp & Show.”

Stratton Mountain offers après and late-night celebrations on Friday and Saturday of MLK weekend. Also new this season is a dog sledding getaway for two and “Experience Snowboarding,” a full day of learning to snowboard with an instructor to student ratio of 1:5.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort has declared January SuperSaver month, which discounted rates on stays of five nights or more over MLK weekend (arrivals January 11-15), as well as a ski-and-stay package, a package featuring children’s snowsports instruction and a package with instruction for the whole family. Families can also enjoy snow tubing, ice skating, snowshoeing and airboarding, which sends guests down the slope on an inflated sled that is faster than a snow tube.

January 8 is Mount Snow’s annual “Youth Pay Their Age Day” when kids ages 6-18 pay their age for a lift ticket. January 15-20, February 26- March 2 and March 4-9 are Kids Ski Free Weeks, when kids ages 4-12 get a free 3-, 4- or 5-day lift ticket and half-day lessons with the purchase of a 3-5 day lift and lodging package by their parents.

To celebrate MLK weekend, Sugarbush is offering live music at The Grill, après music at Green Mountain Lounge, Castlerock Pub and Timbers, a whiskey tasting in Timbers, a family-style Italian buffet, a torchlight parade and fireworks and a kids movie and pizza night.

Kids can ski or ride for $1 in January at an Okemo Mountain Resort managed property during stays of at least two nights in January, excluding MLK weekend. Families who book three nights will receive the third night free. Savings of up to $49 are available when booking a special holiday three-day lift ticket for MLK weekend online.

Finally, January 19-22 will mark the second stop of the Winter Dew Tour at Killington, featuring a 22-foot superpipe.

Visit www.skivermont.com