A Wintertime Twist on the Old School Vacation : Recreation: Some students, taking advantage of the year-round schedule, are hitting the slopes on their break.

Usually kids get upset when the weather turns crummy during their school vacation. But this isn’t a usual vacation.

The San Fernando Valley is swarming with 148,000 students on winter break because of Los Angeles’ new districtwide year-round schedule. The vacation began shortly before Christmas and stretches through Feb. 13.

Some of the children have been on this schedule before, at selected schools. Most are experiencing it for the first time. The change could prove problematic in a city where youngsters have traditionally filled their vacations with beach trips and other warm-weather activities.

For at least a couple dozen Valley kids, though, the free time and recent storm clouds have turned out to be a perfect combination. The students signed up for a series of six daylong ski trips offered through a commercial club that distributed pamphlets at the schools. The first of those trips took place last week.

“Usually we don’t get to ski unless our family goes on a vacation,” said Michael Doig, 14, of Reseda.

Many of the 44 youngsters--who ranged in age from 9 to 16 and came from the Valley and the Westside--said they had been spending their break hanging out with friends or playing Nintendo.

“That’s why my mother signed me up,” said Caroline Emmons, 11, of Van Nuys. “She wanted me to do something.”

Tiffany Tropp, 11, of Pico-Robertson had attended day camp but found it less than exhilarating.

“Since it’s winter, the animals weren’t there and we couldn’t swim,” she said. “And it was raining.”

Parents who dropped their sons and daughters off at an Encino parking lot to catch the ski bus were equally grateful for the trip.

“Few of us have vacation at this time of year,” said Tom MacCalla, a vice principal at Gaspar de Portola Junior High School in Tarzana who sent his son and a neighbor boy on their way. “You have to figure out things they can do without you.”

Or, as Robert Doig, father of Michael and David, 10, put it: “Either they terrorize me or they terrorize the slopes.”

On the ride to Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains, tour leader Kent Newell gave a pep talk to the first-time skiers.

“When you get up on that mountain with boots and skis on your feet, you are going to feel very, very odd,” he said. “The main thing is, I don’t want you to get discouraged.”

Discouragement and injury are the two worst things that can happen on trips like this, said Newell, whose Westside-based Sierra Ski & Pack Club has been offering youth trips for 29 years.

When the group arrived at the Mountain High ski area, snow was falling heavily, the earliest stage of what would turn out to be a heavy storm. The experienced kids talked excitedly about skiing on fresh powder.

Some of those who had never skied were visibly taken aback. They stepped outside the bus, into cold air and flurries, and wandered around as if slightly dazed. A tour leader rounded them up.

They didn’t have much time to be confused. After being guided through the rental shop, where they collected boots, skis and poles, the beginners were placed into group lessons.

None seemed to get disheartened. Several took naturally to the sport, learning how to snowplow and stop.

Penny Morgan, 13, of Westwood found an entirely different reason for enjoying herself.

“I liked it because I liked my teacher Jerry,” she said.

The experienced skiers, meanwhile, were paired up and sent off on their own. Emmons played it safe, skiing slowly because she hadn’t been on the slopes for a year. Michael Doig partnered with Jamie Camp, a tall 14-year-old. One of the others in the group teased him about potential romance, and he grinned.

But, as fate would have it, younger brother David quickly got separated from his partner and started tagging along. Michael wasn’t pleased.

“My brother doesn’t want me to ski with him,” David mused.

Snow fell throughout the day, but that didn’t force anyone into the cafeteria.

“It was like getting sand thrown in your face,” Michael Doig said. “But it was fun.”

Andrew MacCalla, getting his first taste of skiing, found a new appreciation for the year-round schedule.

“In the beginning, when they said we were going to have year-round school, I really hated it,” he said. “Now I really like it.”

By 4 p.m., everyone had returned to the bus, the only casualties being Michael Doig’s shoes, which somehow got lost in the commotion.

As if a day on the slopes wasn’t exciting enough, the group faced another, unplanned adventure getting home. The snowstorm had blanketed northern Los Angeles County, closing highways and stranding motorists throughout the area.

Inching down California 2, the group’s bus slid off the road and got stuck. With no immediate hope for a tow truck, the kids jumped out and played in the snow. Later, they got back on board to goof around, waiting for another bus to pick them up.

“They had snowball fights and had a blast,” Newell said. “Our concern was for the parents. They needed to know that their children were all right.”

Newell’s wife, Diane, hitched a ride into Wrightwood to make phone calls and buy provisions: tortilla chips, bread, peanut butter and jelly. The rescue bus arrived by 10 p.m., and the youngsters were home by midnight.

By trip’s end, the kids had lost a little sleep, but they didn’t seem to mind. And five more Tuesday trips are coming up before school starts again.

Would they rather have been in class?

“Yeah,” 11-year-old Justin Taines said, “ri-i-ight.”