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Editor’s note: ski season has arrived in New Mexico. While Pajarito, Sipapu and Santa Fe have already opened, four more of the state’s areas will open this weekend. Today We begin an occasional series of stories featuring New Mexico’s winter playgrounds. Angel Fire, which is celebrating its 50th season, is first up.

In 50 years, Angel Fire has established itself as one of the best ski areas in the Southwest for wintertime family experiences.

In fact, the area has been ranked a Top 25 “Best Family Ski Resort in North America by Dream Vacation Magazine in 2016.

And this year, things are getting even better.

“We’ve really put together a full menu of family-friendly services,” said Spencer Weimar, Angel Fire’s director of marketing. “We want parents to be comfortable when leaving their children with us – whether it’s ski school or the on-site day care (called Snow Bear Camp). We not only want the kids to have a good time, but parents to enjoy their time on the snow as well.”

Weimar said the area has set up a system that should take no longer than 30 minutes from walking in the door to “ready to go.”

In addition, the area uses a computerized system called Flaik – a guest tracking system. Children enrolled in lift-served lessons are equipped with a GPS-enabled armband locator.

Not only does this system allow parents to track their children in real time, but it also captures images several times a second, allowing a detailed analysis later of turn shape, runs taken, vertical feet skied and other stats.

Some of the special programs for families:

n Parenting pass: The interchangeable pass allows to parents to take turns coaching and skiing with their child. Or it allows two people to take turns on the mountain on a single day while one stays behind to care for a child too young to ski.

“Generally, lift tickets are not transferable,” Weimar said. “This way, both parents can ski some without leaving the kids at home.”

n PreSki program. This program is for 3- to 5-year-olds. It offers a short private lesson, lunch and snacks plus snow play and other activities for a whole day. The ‘Lil Chile Ski Program is a full ski day for those 4 to 5 years old.

n ‘Lil Chile Poppers Snowboard Program . A full day snowboard program for 5-year-olds.

n Fifth-graders ski free. All you have to do is bring a copy of a report card and fill out a form.

n Kids under 6 ski free.

n Angel Fire Resort has non-ski family-friendly activities including the tubing hill, sledding hill, indoor swimming pool and hot tubs.

n The Nordic Center offers rentals and lessons for classic and skate-style and snowshoe hiking.

Opening Friday

Ski areas opening Friday include Angel Fire, Red River, Ski Apache and Taos. See skinewmexico.com for the full snow report.