Aspen, CO

Although it’s the smallest of the four Aspen resorts (the others being Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, and Snowmass), size is alwaysrelative—with 470 skiable acres and a vertical rise that extends over 2,000 feet, Buttermilk still demands respect as some of the region’s ...

Copper Mountain, CO

If the Gods of Winter were looking for the perfect model for future ski resorts, Copper would be their template. The stats listed below paint part of the picture, but the geographical composition of the mountain itself, which naturally segregates skiers of different levels, really elevates ...

Park City, UT

As if wrapped in the latest zany installation of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Deer Valley is a lattice of metaphorical red carpet: trails groomed to perfection, multimillion-dollar lodges peppering the promontories, polite liftees who'd give palace butlers a run for their money, ...

Durango, CO

This friendly resort in southwestern Colorado is a charmer with a reputation for the mildest, sunniest weather, but still with good snow. The beguiling terrain ranges from a separate beginner area to mogul-dotted steeps. The delightful town of Durango offers economical lodging and plenty of ...

Keystone, CO

If nearby Arapahoe Basin is a streamlined alpine experience with nominal infrastructure and very little to get in the way of you and the mountain, Keystone is Colorado skiing on steroids—only sans the haute vibe typical to Aspen and Vail. Its statistic pedigree tells only part of the tale, ...

Beaupre, QU

It's somewhere around the mid-run sugar shack stop for tire d'erable—a maple taffy made from hot, locally tapped syrup poured onto a trough of snow to cool and rolled, lollipop-style, onto a stick—that it dawns on you: Skiing in Quebec isn't just a colder, Frenchier version of ...

Truckee, CA

Look at the trail map, and it might seem as though there is relatively little beginner terrain. But trust me—most of the intermediate runs at Northstar ski more like novice runs, and most of the advanced runs ski like intermediate runs. I've heard north-shore locals deride Northstar, ...

Park City, UT

Appearances can deceive—from the parking lot of Park City Mountain Resort, the main allure appears to be the massive half pipe, which dwarfs the surrounding mountain, a lazy-looking stretch of rolling hills interlaced with lifts. Don't be fooled, however. Hop on the King Con high-speed quad ...

Aspen, CO

As a ski area, Snowmass is the giant among the four Aspen options—and one of Colorado's biggest, with the nation's second-greatest vertical. It is huge, sprawling over a complex landscape of peaks, ridges, gullies, and open slopes that offer the greatest range of terrain, from the gentle ...

Steamboat Springs, CO

Tucked into Colorado's northwest corner, some three and a half hours from Denver and an hour's drive north of Summit County, Steamboat is a world unto itself. The mountains here are rounded peaks, not the jagged Rocky Mountain slopes you'll find farther south. But the snows still come in ...