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the in-bounds and out of bounds hiking to be done on both the east and west wall arms of the basin. The resort is strictly no frill s, and for anything except snow you have to bail to Keystone, Silverthorne or Dillon. Telephone: 888-ARAPAHOE Website: www.arapahoebasin.com Snow Report: 888-ARAPAHOE Season: Late November-Early July Ticket Price: $46 Summit Elevation (feet): 13,050 Vertica l Drop (feet ): 2,270 Terrain (acres): 490 Green/Bl ue/Black (percent): 15/45/40 Annual Snowfall (inches): 367 Directions: Fly into Denver I nternational Airport and drive 1 hour west to the resort. ASPEN/SNOWMASS ASPEN, CO (ASPEN HIGHLANDS, SNOWMASS) ASPEN MT, BUTTERMILK, 0 Telephone: 800-525-6200 Website: www.aspensnowmass.com Snow Report : 888-277-3676 Ti cket Price: $68 Directions: Fly into Aspen Sardy Fi eld Airport (AS E) and drive 10 minutes to the resort. ASPEN HIGHLANDS. Highlands has only 714 acres of ridable terrain but is the locals' favorite and on powder days it's an assured bet for fresh. It's the mountain to freeride if you get bored at Snowmass. The new Highland bowl features expanded expert terrain , and a new base village has increased food options, retail stores and lodging. Season: Mid DecemberEarly April Summit Elevation (feet): 11,675 Vertical Drop (feet): 3,635 Terrain (acres): 790 Green/Blue/Black (percent) : 18/30/52 Annual Snowfall (inches): 300 ASPEN MOUNTAIN. Aspen Mountain has excellent groomed intermediate cruising runs and fierce expert terrain with plenty ~ of steeps and bumps. After 56 years as a skiers-only mountain, ~ Aspen permanently opened to snowboarders on April 2001. Aspen is a great all·around mountain, and with its variety of ter- rain and consistent snow, both skiers and boarders will find it to ~ be one of the best in the Rockies. e U e o 58 Season: Mid November-Mid April Summit Elevation (feet): 11,212 Vertical Drop (feet) : 3,267 Terra in (acres): 673 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 0/48/52 Annual Snowfall (inches): 300 BUTTERMILK. Buttermilk is one of the best learning mountains in the world. It features one half-pipe and one park for advanced boarders, as well as a smaller teaching park for those just learn- ing. One of its best-kept secrets is the stashes of powder on black diamond runs and gladed trails days after a storm. It is the least challenging of the three areas and attracts beginners, fam- ilies and snow-walkers on big feet. However, it does have the best funpark in the Aspen area and consequently draws plenty of snowboarders, even though the 420-acre mountain doesn't have too much else to offer non-beginners. Season: Mid December-Early April Summit Elevation (feet): 9,900 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,030 Terrai n (acres): 420 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 35/39/26 Annual Snowfall (inches): 200 SNOWMASS. From the base station it's hard to imagine why Snowmass is so named, but once you pass over the first ridge on either the Fanny Hill chair or the Wood Run chair, the mas- siveness of this area becomes apparent. Snowmass has 3,010 acres of ridable terrain , which is more than Buttermilk, Highlands and Aspen Mountain combined. The area has three main areas of interest: Big Burn, the Cirque and High Alpine. The highest point on the mountain is the Cirque, an open alpine bowl with steep chutes leading down into scattered trees. The Cirque has no lifts in the bowl, but can be accessed from the Big Burn Chair, skier's left from the top with a short hike. On the other side of the Cirque is the High Alpine summit. It's worth having a plan in your head to avoid the frust(percent)ns of trav- erses and cat-tracksj spend some time checking each area well before you move on. It's also worth making back-up meeting plans, as once you lose people there's a damn small chance of stumbling across them again . Season: Mid November-Mid April Summit El evation (feet): 12,5 10 Verti cal Drop (feet): 4,406 Terrain (acres): 3,010 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 7/55/38 Annual Snowfall (inches): 300 BEAVER CREEK BEAVER CREEK, CO Beaver Creek resort is less flashy than Vail, but hard-core tree riding combined with a hot halfpipe and thick corduroy pistes mean Beaver Creek is no poor cousin. Three or four days after a big dump, pockets of thigh-deep snow are still waiting for the kiss of a board. And despite the two million skier days recorded at Vail and Beaver Creek each season, in the trees you might as well be stranded in Antarctica for all the crowds you 'll be fight- ing. Locals boast that lift lines don't happen on the mountain except for a few days over the holidays. Telephone: 970-845-9090 Website: www.beavercreek.com Snow Report: 800-427-8308 Season: Mid November- Mid April Ticket Price: $52 Summit Elevation (feet): 11,440 Vert ical Drop (feet) : 4,040 Terrain (acres) : 1,625 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 34/39/27 Annual Snowfall (inches): 330 Directions: Fly into Vail/Eagle County Airport and dri ve 30 min- utes to the resort. BRECKENRIDGE BRECKENRIDGE, CO Breckenridge has rolling groomed runs , steep chutes and bowls and meandering blues and greens on each of its five peaks. The top is steep and there is a lot of terrain looming above the lower part of the mountain. As usual , experts head all the way up and the rest hang out on the lower parts of the mountain that cater well to intermediates and beginners. Telephone: 800-789-SNOW Website: www.breckenridge.com Snow Report: 970-453-6118 Season: Early November- Late April Ticket Price: $57 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,998 Vertical Drop (feet): 3,398 Terrai n (acres): 2,208 Green/Blue/Black (percent) : 13/32/55 Annual Snowfall (inches) : 300 Di rections: Fly into Denver I nternational Airport and drive 2 hours west to the resort. CRESTED BUTTE CRESTED BUTTE, CO Crested Butte kicks butt. It 's steep, it's ungroomed, it's packed tight with cliff jumps and rad ical tree runs. The Butte is unreal after a fresh snow. The local riders are hot and don't give a damn what you ride on so long as you go big. Telephone: 800-544-8448 Website: www.CrestedButteResort.com Snow Report: 888-TO-POWDER; 970-349-2323 Season : Mid December-Mid April Ticket Price: $55 Summit El evation (feet): 12,162 Vertica l Drop (feet) : 3,062 Terrain (acres): 1,058 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 14/32/54 Annual Snowfall (inches): 298 Directions: Fly into Gunnison Airport and drive 30 minutes north to the resort. PURGATORY AT DURANGO MOUNTAIN RESORT DURANGO, CO Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort is not the most challeng- ing mountain in the Colorado area, but with the college town of Durango 25 miles down the road , the population remains healthy. If you're a beginner to intermediate snowboarder, you' ll have a great time here and room to push yourself. Black runs make up 26 percent of the resort but most of these are short and mogul-covered so serious freeriders may get frustrated. Telephone: 800-525-0892; 970-247-9000 Website: www.durangomountainresort.com Snow Report: 970-247-9000 ext.! Season: Late November- Early April Ticket Price: $50 Summit Elevation (feet): 10,822 Vertical Drop (feet) : 2,029 Terrain (acres): 1,200 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 23/51126 Annual Snowfall (inches): 260 Directions: Fly into Durango-La Plata County Airport and drive 45 minutes to th e resort. STEAMBOAT STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO Steamboat is made of four peaks: Thunderhead, Storm Peak, Sunshine Peak and the highest 10,600 ft , Mt Werner, the main exit to Steamboat's various backcountry stashes. Each peak has its own variety of freeriding and air-able terrain while all the north-faci ng slopes share good high-speed aspen tree riding. You can put yo' ' laney on a good snowfall here, espeCially in the cold months of December and January. Telephone: 800-922-2722 Website: www.steamboat .com Snow Report : 970-879-7300 Season: Mid November- Mid April Ticket Price: $64 Summit Elevation (feet): 10,568 Vertica l Drop (feet ): 3,668 Terrain (acres): 2,939 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 13/56/31 Annual Snowfall (inches): 337 Directions: Fly into Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, CO, and drive 20 minutes to the resort. TELLURIDE TELLURIDE, CO Telluride is unsurpassable for terrain, attitude and atmosphere. Dizzy Gillespie said "if Telluride ain't paradise then heaven can wait." He must have just hiked Gold Hill and cut down to Lift 6 through the trees . The terrain is naturally segregated with chal- lenging stuff on the east side around Lift 8 and Lift 9 and high off Gold Hill. Blue cruising runs converge in the center of the resort heading down towards Mountain Village. Beginners have their own territory around the Sunshine Express Chair on the western boundary. The chutes, trees and meadows on Gold Hill are quintessential freeriding. Telluride is considered a class A, high-risk avalanche area (in the same league as Jackson Hole, WY, and Snowbird, UT) due to a relatively shallow snowpack and drastically changing temperatures. Respect all warnings or ride with people who know the place. There's a small airport right in Telluride, so you don't even need a car. Telephone: 866-287-5016 Website: www.tellurideskiresort.com Snow Report: 800-801-4832 Season: Mid November- Early April Ticket Price: $65 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,260 Vertical Drop (feet) : 3,535 Terrain (acres): 1,700 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 24/38/38 Annual Snowfall (inches): 311 mSLUE.COM Riding the Canadian Rockies makes an excellent snowfari. Read "BRITISH COLUMBIA Snow Road Trip" at www.blue.comIV2N6/ roadtrip to find out more.