Donner is the kind of unpretentious place where it's OK to be out of the loop in the world of winter fashion. People at Donner ski and snowboard in quilted 49ers jackets with blue jeans tucked inside their boots, happily oblivious to the existence of such stuff as technical outerwear. Donner's base lodge is rickety enough to look like it might blow over in a strong wind. Yet unpretentious, rickety funkiness is at the heart of Donner's appeal. It is the kind of mom-and-pop-style ski area that regrettably is dying across America—a ski area where you can kick back and not feel cowed by hard-skiing hotshots or the dictates of ski fashion. Anyone who wants a bigger, more demanding mountain should be across the road at Sugar Bowl.

Where: Located on Historic Old U.S. 40 near Truckee in Tahoe.