Girdwood, AK

Alyeska Resort, nestled within Girdwood (population 2,000) and Chugach National Forest, can’t boast the most skier visits per year. And if you stay at Alyeska Prince Hotel, there’s a good chance the majority of the halls will be empty—and that’s precisely the reason to go ... ...

Penticton, BC

Fine fall-line skiing is the main attraction of Apex, 20 miles west of Penticton, B.C. It's a family resort with 67 groomed runs on 2,000 feet of vertical. An alpine-style village, Apex is at the base of the ski trails, where businesses pay homage to the region's heritage—mining. There's ...

Kelowna, BC

Big White boasts just that: "We use only dry, natural Okanagan Powder," is what their literature says. The village sits at 5,800 feet (the highest base area in B.C.), and the lifts carry skiers up to 7,500 feet. That's the same elevation as Whistler and Blackcomb, but the air and snow are ...

Crystal Mountain, WA

Believe it or not, Crystal Mountain, 76 miles southeast of Seattle, is Washington state's only destination alpine ski resort, with base area lodging that accommodates 700 visitors.

When the sun is out, the snow is deep, and avalanche danger is minimal, hardcore skiers from all over the ...

Fernie, BC

Fernie may be a bit off the beaten path, but the resort is well worth the time it takes to get there. A three-hour drive from Calgary International Airport, or 1.25-hour trip from the Cranbrook Airport, deposits you into an alpine realm of steep mountain slopes covered in spruce, fir, and larch ...

Golden, BC

The Purcell Mountains of eastern British Columbia are where heli-skiing was born in the 1960s, and until the 2000-01 season, people just flew over the high bowls and ridges of the front range. That's when a major resort finally opened, promising more than 4,000 vertical feet and big-resort ...

Kimberley, BC

A laid-back resort with few crowds, Kimberley Alpine Resort is now one of the most accessible ski hills in the Canadian Rockies. The expansion of the Canadian Rockies International Airport, located 20 minutes away from the resort, has certainly added fuel to one of the hottest real-estate ...

Bellingham, WA

Mt. Baker is one ski hill whose boundary signs command respect. It's set in steeply rugged wilderness country blanketed by a few hundred inches of snow on the shoulders of Mount Shuksan. The actual Mount Baker, a 10,778-foot volcano, is a few miles to the west.

The 1,000-acre resort ...

Panorama, BC

A huge mountain with an intimate village, Panorama has carved out a niche for itself as a low-key, family-oriented destination resort. A little too far for day trippers from Calgary (three hours from the Calgary airport), and without the glitz to draw huge numbers from afar, this resort is ...

Rossland, BC

Start your Red Mountain experience with a middle-of-the-road cruiser like the Back-Trail off the Red Chairlift or the Paradise Area on Granite Mountain, where you create your own line through the well-spaced pine. Then it's time to up the ante and move on to the Motherlode Chair for some deep ...