Mountain guide

IFMGA guide Jayson Simon-Jones gives light to the highest guiding standard and why it matters to all skiers.

Bachelor adds 635 acres to the $6 million cloudchaser lift, becoming the fifth largest U.S. resort.

Snowshoe, an upside-down mountain in the Monongahela National Forest, averages more snow than most mountains in New Hampshire.

It’s like Europe, but you can drive there from East Coast cities.

You’ll need days to explore it, even without making time for Pico.

The village at the base of Tremblant (an Intrawest-owned resort) could be Whistler.

When conditions allow, the hike-to (frequently closed) Slides are some of the gnarliest terrain in the East.

The steeps of Kachina Peak should be on the résumé of any skier who’s got the chiles for it.

Hit Crystal on the right day and you will lap deep, untracked snow that keeps refilling.

What’s true is that Jay definitely has some great tree skiing.

Baker is a mountain for those who don’t give a $#!+ about anything other than copious amounts of snow.

At this enormous mountain, huge investments in snowmaking (including more than $1 million just this season) and impeccable grooming pay off.

Hit the Apex and Horseshoe Chutes (chutes in the Midwest? Ya! You betcha!).

Part of Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass, Mt. Brighton is the ideal place to ease off Motor City’s throttle.

Because you can ski Vail for a week and never repeat a line.

After one ass-freezing ride up the awesome, fixed-grip Madonna I chair, you’ll know that for all the Storyland BS, this place has serious steeps.

Don’t expect Corbet’s, but the closest skiing to New York boasts rapidly improving terrain park.

It’s steep, sustained (enough to host the Olympic downhill in 2002), and never crowded.

It’s like a mini Chamonix, only (a little bit) easier to get to.

Owned by the same family since it opened in 1960, Mont Sutton is known for its glades.

We know why you haven’t been here yet: because it’s wicked friggin’ hard to get to. But Saddleback is worth the trip.

Copper has shaken off its hot-girl- behind-the-frumpy-glasses image, but people still blow by it to ski Breck or Vail. Their mistake.

The only legit party scene in Utah.

Big White’s position in the Monashee Mountains above desert-like Okanagan Valley serves up lots of sun, relatively mild temperatures, and copious, dry powder.