Avon, CO

Vail is the 800-pound gorilla of American skiing. This massive mountain is all things to all skiers and riders—a soothing beginner environment, a nurturing place for small fries to make their first turns, a mountain full of electrifying challenges, and most of all, a huge ski area with ...

Mt. Hood, OR

Mount Hood, elevation 11,249 feet, is an inverted catch basin for Pacific storms trying to cruise over the Cascades. It offers four different ski areas around its base, but among these the east-facing Mt. Hood Meadows is the finest. It's one of those rare resorts that skiers from elsewhere ...

Whistler, BC

Welcome to Whistler/Blackcomb, Land of Oz. Like Oz, Whistler is a magical place—especially when the guy behind the curtain lets the sun out. The stats foreshadow the enormity of the possibilities.

Whistler and Blackcomb are separate mountains and were once separate, competing ...

Mammoth Lakes, CA

For once, the hyperbole actually applies. A summit elevation of 11,053 feet and a hefty 3,100-foot vertical drop are just some Mammoth stats that don't need any embroidering by Bay Area marketing whiz kids. The mountain is served by 28 lifts numbered in the order they were built, giving a nod to ...

Lake Louise, AB

Of the Banff-Lake Louise area's three ski resorts, Lake Louise is the biggest, weighing in at a whopping 4,200 acres. It posts some other impressive stats, too, including a summit elevation of 8,650 feet, a longest run of five miles, ten lifts to take you to all corners, plus two mid-mountain ...

South Lake Tahoe, CA, CA

Heavenly is unique in that it sprawls across state boundaries. Part of the ski area is in California and part is in Nevada, and for my money, the Nevada part is the better part. The fall line is more sustained, meaning that runs tend to be longer.

For novice skiers, Heavenly can be ...

Breckenridge, CO

Breckenridge is a charming Victorian town with lift-served skiing on four interconnected mountains. There’s easy-street skiing and snowboarding on Peak 9, tough stuff on Peak 10, and splendid backcountry-style skiing on Peak 7—155 trails in total, with a vertical rise of over 3,000 ...

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 ... ...

Killington, VT

It's difficult to say anything about Killington—because everything applies. This beast of the East is the region's largest resort, and it offers something for everyone. With the recent addition of neighboring Pico, there are now seven distinct peaks to explore. Not only can you find what ...

Aspen, CO

Aspen is Colorado skiing at its most fulfilled—epic terrain with plenty of variety, an apres-ski and town scene that pulls celebs and stargazers alike, and customer service that should serve as the benchmark for all North American resorts, including "ski ambassadors" who give complimentary ...