The Jackson Hole Mountain Ski Resort

Number of Runs: 96
Good For: 10% beginner, 40% intermediate, 50% advanced
Skiable Area: 2,500+
Vertical Rise: 4,139 feet
Season: December to April
Annual Snowfall: 459 inches
The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, is, in its own words, "Like nothing you have skied before." This sign, on a t-shirt in nearly every shop in town, hangs above the entrance to the resort's tram dock and goes on to say, "It is huge. With variable terrain from groomed slopes to dangerous cliff areas and dangerously variable weather and snow conditions. You could become lost. You could make a mistake and suffer personal injury or death. Give this mountain the respect it deserves." The cowboys that called Jackson Hole home at the turn of the last century might have been inclined to tell tall tales, but this sign is meant as a very truthful, and serious, warning.

Jackson's nine lifts, aerial tram, and eight-person gondola service 2,500 acres of skiing on two neighboring mountains. An additional 3,000 acres of unpatrolled backcountry terrain in the Bridger Teton National Forest and Grand Teton National Park were opened recently. Excluding the backcountry, 10% of Jackson's terrain is beginner, 40% intermediate and 50% expert. There are 22 miles of groomed trails, the longest of which is a 7.2-mile traverse of mixed terrain from the 10,450-foot summit of Rendezvous Mountain.

The 96 "official" trails at Jackson include bowls, couloirs, wide-open groomers, trees, and mellow faces. Just as many unofficial trails wind their way down the mountain. Skiers at Jackson tackle its two mountains in one of two ways: rather like children at the local swimming pool, they either jump right into it and take the experts-only aerial tram to the top of Rendezvous Bowl or ease themselves into it by starting with the resort's two beginner lifts, the Teewinot High-Speed Quad and Eagle's Rest double chair. (These two lifts service Jackson's only beginner terrain.)

Completed in 1966 after two years of construction, Jackson's aerial tram is one of only a handful in the country. In 10 minutes, it whisks 63 passengers up 4,139 vertical feet to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Because the tram is the only way to reach Rendezvous' summit, skiers sometimes complain that there is a "long" line-about 10 minutes. Skiers in Jackson are spoiled in more ways than one.

From the top of the tram, one can take advantage of Jackson's open backcountry policy and ski off the backside of Rendezvous into Grand Teton National Park or stay inbounds and tackle such Jackson benchmarks as Corbet's Couloir, a double black diamond run. If you don't feel like committing to the 20-foot jump inside the steep 10-foot wide chute, you can watch those who do from either the top or from Tensleep Bowl at the bottom.

The Sublette Quad Chair offers access to several more of Jackson's legendary bowls as well as to some chutes that are not quite as heart-stopping as Corbet's. Rendezvous Trail, a winding, roller-coaster intermediate run from the top of Sublette, provides some great views of surrounding mountains and access to the Hobacks. An experts-only area, the Hobacks will satisfy powder hounds that don't feel like venturing out-of-bounds.

Thunder Lift, also a quad, accesses Laramie Bowl and Tower Three Chute, so-named because it begins at the third tram tower. Heading toward skier's left from the top will get you to some easier expert runs that, in turn, lead to some hidden intermediate terrain.

What's New: For the first time, the public will have access to the Crag's terrain (an additional 200 acres and 1,000 vertical feet of expert terrain above the Casper Lift area).

Killington Ski

Number of Runs: 200
Good For: 30% beginner, 39% intermediate, 31% advanced
Skiable Area: 1,182
Vertical Rise: 3,050 feet
Season: November to April
Annual Snowfall: 250 inches
It's difficult to say anything about Killington; because everything applies. The "Beast of the East" is the region's largest resort, and 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 you want, you can find it separated from other terrain. Experts flock to Bear Mountain, Skye Peak, and The Canyon. Intermediates love Needle's Eye and Snowdon. The novice area at Snowshed can get crowded, but it stands apart from speeding experts. Add on Pico, a superb mountain in itself, and you've got the complete picture.

Here, too, accommodations are good, but Killington lodging stretches for miles into downtown Rutland. The resort is famous for attracting ski clubs and people sharing houses, which fosters a hard-charging party sensibility that is heartily reinforced by numerous bars strung along the access road.

Mammoth Hangman's Hollow Skiing

Number of Runs: 150
Good For: 25% beginner, 40% intermediate, 20% advanced, 15% expert
Skiable Area: 3,500+
Vertical Rise: 3,100 feet
Season: November to June
Annual Snowfall: 384 inches
For once the hyperbole actually applies. A summit elevation of 11,053 feet and hefty 3,100-foot vertical drop are just some Mammoth stats that don't need any embroidering by Bay Area marketing whizzkids. The mountain is served by 27 lifts numbered in the order they were built, giving a nod to in-the-know locals who are able to think in creative, non-linear ways.

The uninitiated need only to remember that the Panoramic Gondola will take you all the way to the very top, from where you should tack right to the Upper Bowl and a series of plunging drops fanning into a wider bowl. If you make it that far, you'll have some time to catch your breath and reconsider your recklessness.

Mammoth's signature siren-of-the-steeps is Hangman's Hollow, a chute bordered by snarling rocks that leaves room for only one perfect turn-or one mistake. It's not just the elevator-shaft steepness, too; it's the mandatory air required to get into it in the first place. Even the local wackos won't try Hangman's unless there's a foot or more of new snow, guaranteeing a pillowy landing.

Snowbird - Utah's little Jackson Hole

Number of Runs: 85
Good For: 27% beginner, 38% intermediate, 35% advanced
Skiable Area: 2,500
Vertical Rise: 3,240 feet
Season: Mid-November to Mid-May
Annual Snowfall: 500 inches

Snowbird is Utah's little Jackson Hole, with an aerial tramway getting you to 3,240 vertical feet in less than ten minutes. In 1999, Snowbird developed the south-facing Mineral Basin area for the sunshine-seeking skier. This expansion increased the skiable acreage of the resort by 25 percent as well as greatly improving the tram line wait time. This lift has also made available more intermediate terrain on a mountain renowned for its steep skiing

It seems there used to be much fiercer competition between Alta and Snowbird, but these days each resort seems to have found its own niche. "Alta is for Skiers" reads the popular bumper sticker and possibly the plethora of snowboarders at Snowbird is partially due to the fact that they are barred from Alta. Snowbird also appeals to folks who don't embrace frigid temperatures. With the aerial tram, it is easy to stay warm and comfortable while skiing the greatest snow on earth.

Where: 29 miles from Salt Lake International Airport

What's New: This winter a 385-foot long Superpipe will be launched. The terrain will be doubled and skiers will have over 5,000 acres. Skiers can hit both Snowbird and Little Cottonwood Canyon with one ticket

Snowmass

Number of Runs: 87
Good For: 06% beginner, 50% intermediate, 12% advanced, 32% expert
Skiable Area: 3,010
Vertical Rise: 4,406 feet
Season: Late November to April
Annual Snowfall: 300 inches

As a ski area, Snowmass is the giant among the four Aspen options-and one of Colorado's biggest as well, 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 precincts of Fanny Hill to the broad cruising expanse of the Big Burn to a wide variety of steeps. Innovative programs and on-slope facilities abound. As a resort, Snowmass offers a congenial slopeside village and some of the best accommodations for families. It's subdued compared with nearby Aspen, but the action is just a bus ride away.

Where: 12 miles from Aspen, off Colorado 82.

What's There: 4,406-foot vertical drop, 87 trails, 3,100 acres, seven high-speed quads, two triples, six doubles, six surface lifts, three snowboard parks, speed skiing, and race arenas.

Sun Valley

Number of Runs: 75
Good For: 36% beginner, 42% intermediate, 22% advanced
Skiable Area: 2,054
Vertical Rise: 3,400 feet
Season: November to April
Annual Snowfall: 225 inches

Sun Valley set the reputation for Idaho's quality skiing with no small help from ski-film great Warren Miller-one of its early parking lot residents. As he became THE ski film magnate, he spread the word, and the visuals, of the primal powder experience awaiting those seeking the perfect run.

Idaho's own Papa, Hemingway, may have described that run best in A Moveable Feast: "Finally towards spring there was the great glacier run, smooth and straight, forever straight if our legs could hold it, our ankles locked, we running so low, leaning into the speed, dropping forever and forever in the silent hiss of the crisp powder. It was better than any flying or anything..."

Sun Valley resort was founded for much the same reason as the famed Canadian Pacific Chateaus of western Canada-to increase railroad passenger traffic by attracting people to the west. Averell Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad built the destination resort, which soon featured the world's first chairlift. It was designed by a railroad engineer, who made use of banana-loading technology from the tropics.

Does that make Sun Valley the Banana Belt of the Northwest? With four out of five sunny days, an average temperature of 28 degrees and 220 inches of average annual snowfall, strong argument can be made for ideal conditions. And for those days when Mother Nature isn't obliging, the mountain has installed the world's largest automated snowmaking system, which now guarantees a white blanket over nearly a third of the resort's full 2,054 skiable acres. Bald Mountain's vertical drop is impressive-3,400 feet from a 9,140 foot summit.

Taos

Number of Runs: 110
Good For: 24% beginner, 25% intermediate, 31% advanced, 20% expert
Skiable Area: 1,200
Vertical Rise: 2,612 feet
Season: November to April
Annual Snowfall: 305 inches

Taos, of course, is the stuff of legends. In skiers' lore, it ranks with Aspen, Sun Valley, and Squaw Valley among North America's must ski places. So, when I'm standing at the bottom of Al's Run, the legendary trail at the legendary resort, and reading the sign that starts out by saying "Don't panic!" and goes on to explain that what you see before you is only a fraction of what the place has to offer, I can't help wondering if even I, a damned good skier, have bitten off more than I can chew.

Indeed, Taos offers as much as any skier could care to chew. Picking our way across the High Traverse ledge, the runs drop so steeply to our right that vertigo sets in. You'd best know how to set an edge up here. But, that, too is just a fraction of what's to be found here. You can hike up from the top of Kachina Lift (some say it's 20 minutes' hike, but we flatlanders would lean towards 45 minutes) and take on the awe inspiring bowl off Kachina Peak, or drop in en-route to a series of chutes and glades that depart the Highline Ridge at regular intervals, each a bit more memorable than the last.

These, then, are the downhill routes that made the Taos legend. That, and Ernie Blake's somewhat absurd notion of putting a Bavarian style Alpine resort in the middle of the American southwest. Whether a Bavarian-style makes sense is a matter of aesthetics. But the need for a more intermediate-friendly ski hill eventually became obvious. And, Taos has responded to the challenge. Both sides of the mountain offer surprisingly pleasant intermediate cruising, especially off the Kachina Lift, but the novice trails remains somewhat limited. The ski school, however, is so good that novices should be tackling blue runs in relatively short order.

Meanwhile, if it's southwestern flavor you're after, the trick is to stay in town-about a half-hour drive down the access road. Replete with a classic, central town plaza; dozens of atmosphere-rich B&B's, eateries, and art galleries; and a stone's throw from the famous Taos Pueblo, this is the place that first got Georgia O'Keefe hooked on New Mexico and where D.H. Lawrence liked to hang out. Taos offers classic skiing, excellent facilities, great family programs, and 305 inches of annual snowfall.

Be aware, however, of two things: one, snowboarders are not welcome here; and two, you will have to make a choice between lodging on the mountain or in town-a choice because the access road can be a laborious trip, particularly during the pre- and post-skiing rush hours, but also later when the aprés-ski life has worn you to a nub.

Vail

Number of Runs: 193
Terrain: 28% beginner, 32% intermediate, 40% advanced
Skiable Acreage: 5,289
Vertical Rise: 3,450 feet
Season: November to April
Annual Snowfall: 335 inches
Top Ski Resort for: North American, Tubing, Close To Airport

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 fry to make their first turns, a mountain full of electrifying challenges, and most of all, a huge ski area with abundant groomed cruising terrain for intermediates. The country's largest ski school, unsurpassed on-mountain services and facilities, and a fully interchangeable lift ticket with Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Arapahoe Basin are additional pluses. The large and lively town of Vail is segmented into several interrelated centers, the original Alpine-style Vail Village, rejuvenated Lionshead, tranquil East Vail, (relatively) economical West Vail, and Cascade Village with practically private chairlift access to the western part of the ski terrain. At the top, Eagle's Nest boasts a day-and-night family entertainment area called Adventure Ridge, with night skiing and snowboarding, sledding, tubing, ice skating, and dining.

Where: 100 miles from Denver and 35 miles from Vail/Eagle County Airport, right along I-70.

What's There: 3,450-foot vertical drop, 193 trails, 5,289 acres, one 12-passenger gondola, 14 high-speed quad chairlifts, seven fixed-grip chairs and ten surface lifts, three terrain parks, and one night-lit, on-mountain fun park.

What's New: Vail's Golden Peak Terrain Park & Pipe has its grand opening on December 17, 2004.

Whistler and Blackcomb

Number of Runs: 200+
Good For: 20% beginner, 55% intermediate, 25% advanced
Skiable Area: 7,071
Vertical Rise: 5,280 feet
Season: November to June
Annual Snowfall: 360 inches
Whistler / Blackcomb, Land of Oz. Oz? Isn't that the nickname for Australia? The down-under accents on the slopes here will convince you that half the skiers and snowboarders in Australia spend their summer (our winter) at on these mountains. Besides, 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 resorts. The ski runs on both bottom out in the resort village of Whistler. It can be a real crap-shoot as to what the weather will be like here, but there is generally a 100-inch-plus snowpack all winter long.

Lift riders may pass through three separate weather systems on their way to the 7,500-foot summits. Whistler Village (at a mere 2,140 feet) can be soaked with rain, with the peaks bathed in sunshine and a soupy fog sandwiched in-between.

A surprise for Blackcomb beginners is a sinuous run called Greenline. It takes off to the right from Horstman Hut, at the upper terminal of Seventh Heaven Express and follows the natural contours of the mountain from top to bottom on daily-groomed trails. It's a thrilling way for novices to enjoy big mountain skiing. Beginner runs branch off from nearly every chairlift on both mountains, but the upper reaches also sport some of the most extreme skiing terrain in North America.

Now that Whistler and Blackcomb are both owned by Intrawest Corporation, lift tickets are single-issue, usable on both mountains. Whistler/Blackcomb ambiance favors the destination skier, and many come from Japan, Europe, eastern Canada, and the United States.

What's New: This year Whistler Blackcomb invests $14.2 million on improving terrain; Whistler Mountain will have an additional 1,100 acres of new terrain and Blackcomb Mountain has a new Superpipe, lit for night skiing and riding.