Bogus Basin, 16.5 miles from Boise, is much more than you'd expect of a nine-chair mountain so close to a city. And, interestingly, Bogus is a nonprofit, charitable organization as well as a full-service destination resort.

Boise's Amtrak station brings in the destination skiers, and lodging both at the base and on the mountain keeps them on the slopes. Bogus is big—2,600 acres—and has 1,800 feet of vertical and the most extensive night skiing in the Northwest. And, like British Columbia's Red Mountain and Oregon's Mount Bachelor, Bogus has 360-degree skiing around its highest peak.