"This place is like a secret club, " jokes Jeremy Collis, the New Zealander who is the director of Moonlight Basin's small (just 47 instructors) ski school.

CNN: Taking the kids: On an old-fashioned Montana ski trip

Three minutes is considered a long lift line, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin fans say, and the kids' ski schools guarantee small classes.

CNN: Taking the kids: On an old-fashioned Montana ski trip