WINTER PARK, Colo. — With a half-dozen other 5-year-olds watching from the top of the Winter Park Resort bunny hill, Emma Grissom stretched out her arms in a puffy, pink coat and pointed her tiny skis down the gentle slope.

"Make the pizza!" her instructor yelled as Emma wobbled and then forced her skis into the snowplow position resembling a pizza slice.

"Emma, that was great!" shouted her mother, longtime skier Ruth Grissom of Milton, Fla. "I can't wait till she's skiing with me."

Children like Emma are emerging as a boon for the North American ski industry: With overall skier visits relatively sluggish since 2000, ski school lessons have given a welcome lift to resorts' bottom lines.

"There's not enough Advil being made to keep baby boomers going forever," said Tim White, the education director for the National Ski Areas Association in Denver. "We're looking for their kids and grandkids to come."

The association says a sample of its resorts found overall lesson volume rose just 1 percent last season, but attendance in children's lessons was up 6.6 percent. The group did not have the numbers of lessons given, but White said children's lessons have been growing at about 5 percent every year since 2001.

For the five ski areas owned by Vail Resorts, total skier visits were down 1.6 percent in fiscal year 2004 from the previous year — but ski school revenues were up 5.7 percent to $58.5 million in those two years.

The numbers suggest a program started by NSAA four years ago to help beginners become full-fledged snowriders is paying off. Already, total skier visits are up to roughly 57 million since 2000 from levels of about 50 million from the 1980s and '90s, White said.

That program urged resorts to encourage first-time snowriders to come back by offering discounts after research showed beginners who took three lessons were much more likely to stick with the sport.

In Washington, the Summit at Snoqualmie had been offering three lessons, with lift tickets and equipment, for just $99 before a lack of snow closed the mountain. Mount Spokane and 49 North advertised the program for $89. Ski instruction has also adapted. In the past, lessons focused on technique and skill level, but instructors now also show off the full range of their knowledge, like where to rest up after a day's runs or where to find the best powder, said Rebecca Ayers of the Professional Ski Instructors of America.