The basic Sugar Bowl recipe: Take everything you've got at Squaw, simmer until reduced by about a half, and add snow. I know that Squaw reports more snow in an average winter, but somehow the snow seems deeper and more plentiful at Sugar Bowl. After all, it's just a couple of miles from where the infamous Donner party got snowed in the grisly winter of 1847. Don't sell the Sugar Bowl steeps short even if they actually are short; there's some seriously challenging terrain here. The Mount Judah skiing is best for intermediates; novices will do better across the road at Donner Ski Ranch.

Skier and boarder-cross events made their Olympic debuts at the 2010 Olympic Games, and Sugar Bowl developed the country's only season-long, event-specific training course for skier and boarder-cross athletes heading to the games. Tunnel 41, located off the Mount Judah Express quad chair on Sugar Bowl's eastern side, was ground zero for athletes in training, honing their skills in hopes of a podium finish in Vancouver. Sugar Bowl now allows all skiers and boarders to experience the Olympic-level course first-hand.

Where: Sugar Bowl is southeast of Sacramento and San Francisco on Interstate 80.