Snowbird, Utah

Height of Resort: 7760ft
Vertical rise: 3240ft
Acres skiable: 2400
Lifts: 13



Little Cottonwood Canyon is a wild place. The town of Alta, near the end of the canyon, was only settled thanks to the silver rush of the 1880s. When the silver was mined out, the inhabitants drifted away, and finally a huge avalanche finished the pace off. But in the mid 20th century, the town was reinvented as a ski resort. In the 1960s one of Alta's residents, Ted Johnson dreamed of developing a second ski area, just down the canyon from Alta. He managed to turn his dream into reality with the help of Dick Bass, a Texas oil baron. So Snowbird was born, opening with just 3 lifts in 1971.

If you're a beginner, forget about Snowbird. There's only a little novice's area around the Chicadee lift. Stay put in Alta, which is far more suitable.

Intermediates will find Snowbird difficult in places, but if you can rise to the challenge it's certain your technique will improve in leaps and bounds. To settle in, try the long cruising run Chip's, which sets off from the summit of Hidden peak, and is a splendid 2½miles long. When you're feeling aclimatised make for the runs from the top of the Gad 2 lift - testing but do-able.

Experience skiiers will have a ball on the fantastic Utah powder. The steeps are as good as Jackson Hole, but open far more often. From the top of Hidden Peak check out Regulator Johnson, or the harder line Great Scott. Both are well-recognised testpieces.

The buildings in the ski village are built from grey concrete (its avalanche territory), so it's not pretty. When the skiing day is over, the resort is pretty much dead - everyone's bunkered down suffering from (a good kind of) exhaustion.

Best Ski Resorts's rating (out of 5 stars), 5-experts, 3-intermediates, 1-beginners.