Skiing Preview '08: The Big Trip

Most skiers have the same three wishes every season: shorter lines, new runs, and better bargains. And every season local hills and top resorts do their best to make those a reality. We've scoured the slopes to bring you the buzz on added terrain, improved access, the latest in lodging, and the nation's most notable ski trends. So when the flakes start piling up, consider it a sign that this year's wishes have been granted.

Arapahoe Basin, CO
Stowe Mountain Lodge, VT
Revelstoke Mountain Resort, BC

SKIING ADVENTURE GUIDE:   SKIING PHOTOS: Wyoming's Teton Pass has one of the nation's best stashes of backcountry skiing. More >> SKIING EXERCISES: Bode Miller's coach reveals the tricks to getting fit for the slopes. More >> More U.S. + Canada Resorts: From domestic slopes to backcountry bastions, here's where to find great powder this season. More >>

Rockies: Arapahoe Basin, CO
Montezuma's Revenge
A-basin has long been a tomboy among Summit County supermodels, keeping hard-charging Front Range skiers happy with a no-frills, high-altitude season that lingers until June, plus epic spring parties in the parking lot (aka "The Beach"). Meanwhile, its big-wattage neighbors have gained a national following with their size and enhancements. Now A-Basin, coveting some of that clientele, jumps in with the largest terrain expansion in the country: the 400-acre (162-hectare) Montezuma Bowl, which balloons the ski area by 80 percent.

Topping out above tree line at 12,472 feet (3,801 meters), the south-facing bowl on A-Basin's back side is a Whitman's Sampler of good stuff. Want a warm-up? Drop straight down Montezuma's middle on groomed cruisers Columbine or Larkspur. Or tighten the Langes, head along Zuma Cornice, and point 'em into Jump, Max, or one of the other Founding Fathers chutes—35-degree, 700-vertical-foot (213-meter) funnels separated by barriers of cheese-grater rocks. Feeling nimble? Bookending the horseshoe-shaped bowl are tightish glades of Engelmann spruce. And if stopping at the lift will break the spell, don't. You can ski 200 more vertical feet (61 meters) down runs like Black Forest—if you're willing to hike back up (www.arapahoebasin.com).


East: Stowe Mountain Lodge, VT
Mountain Makeover
Stowe—the name is so august-New-England-ski-resort that to utter it is practically to conjure snowflake sweaters. But in recent years the Northeast's grande dame had seemed less august than simply, well, old and irrelevant. That's all changing, fast: Stowe's got a renaissance in its sights. Last winter the resort connected the bases of its two mountains, challenging Mount Mansfield and mellower, sunnier Spruce Peak. And now there's the 139-room Stowe Mountain Lodge—a chic boutique inn that will serve as a centerpiece for the 35-acre (14-hectare) village taking shape at Spruce Peak's base.

The lodge, with its shingles, woven timbers, and locally quarried stone facade, hearkens back to those Northeast Kingdom "summer camps," where wealthy families vacationed at the turn of the 19th century. Inside, umber and green hues, along with stone fireplaces, deepen the Vermont connection, as does the work of local artisans like Parker Nichols; he salvaged old-growth trees near his Marshfield studio to craft tables for the restaurant. What doesn't feel old is the up-to-date spa: 21,000 square lavender-scented feet (1,951 square meters) arrayed with a gauntlet of soothers—from pebble-lined floors to an herbal steam chamber to music therapy rooms with reclining "sound chairs." Your stress might as well surrender now ($435; www.stowemountainlodge.com).


West: Revelstoke Mountain Resort, BC
Big Stoke, Small Town
The misty monashees rail town of Revelstoke, long a legend among heli-skiers and earn-your-turns types for its 500-inch (1,270-centimeter) winters and remote mountain lodges, is about to get shoved into skiing's international spotlight: The former community ski hill a few miles outside of town is growing into a giant, with access to 5,000 vertical feet (1,524 meters) of skiing courtesy of an eight-person gondola and a high-speed quad. The owners eventually hope to build 6,000 vertical feet (1,829 meters) of skiing (besting Whistler Blackcomb) and anchor it with a massive four-season resort.

Early adopters, though, should arrive at Revelstoke Mountain Resort with a sense of adventure. After all, locals joke that in scruffy Revelstoke (pop. 7,500), the premier arts and culture venue is the "Revelstoke ballet," aka the strip joint. But with big runs and few crowds, it's never too early to head for this British Columbia boomer. Mount MacKenzie's south side is pluperfect intermediate skiing, striped with wide, Colorado-style boulevards that were carved out years ago for the former ski hill—sometimes 3,500 vertical feet (1,067 meters) of open-throttle fun. Expert local ski guide Greg Hill, however, likes to wrap around the north side of the mountain, where "some really amazing 'mini-golf'" (i.e., gullies, pillowy cascades, cliffs) hides among the Ent-like spruce and balsam that thrive in this inland temperate rain forest. And until the big resort-style niceties are in place to satisfy the masses, you'll most likely have those deep, dark woods all to yourself (www.discoverrevelstoke.com).

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