The Extreme Limits' Paradise Cliffs,
in action during CB's Extreme Freeskiing Competition
Photo © Tom Stillo, courtesy Crested Butte Mtn. Resort

Write your one-way downhill ticket round this suggested itinerary: Ski down the Headwall (not your average leg-stretching warm-up) to the North Face lift, which will carry you up to the fearsome Extreme Limits, five hundred acres of double-black-diamond terrain peppered with goosebump-inducing trails like Body Bag Glades and Dead End Chutes. Not every line in Extreme Limits is killer scary, but if you want extreme—defined in Crested Butte by trees, rocks, 50-degree chutes, and mandatory air—you've got it in spades.

If we've not sent you schussing to the cross-country ski section already, it's worth noting that Crested Butte is particularly welcoming to the intermediate and beginner skier. Better still, the laid-back atmosphere of this Colorado resort brings a refreshingly unpretentious ski experience that'll have you pining for the days when cowboys drove cows, not gas-guzzlers, and resorts weren't monochrome versions of winter Club Med.

Move on to Silver Fox, Snowbird