Everyone has his or her favorite skiing and snowboarding runs. It could be a hidden glade or a wide-open cruiser.
It could be a meandering green trail that delivers scenic vistas or it could be untracked backcountry powder.
Here are a few good runs in North America that should be on everyone's to-do lists.
• Lake View, Owl's Head, Quebec — It's a long, undulating cruiser, with steeps, and plenty of places to stop and take in the scenery. Skiing or riding the trail gives you a feeling that you are bearing right down into Lake Memphremagog. It's a view that rivals anything in the industry and it's as fun as anything in the East.
• Stump Jumper, Okemo, VT — It's a long, undulating cruiser over toward the south side of the main mountain. It has some steep portions, some sharp turns, and spots where you can just bomb. Was once chastised by the PR director for using my pocket GPS to register maximum speed. It was worth it. I was about 70 mph.
• South Wall, Big Sky, MT — The tram and the summit bowls get all the hoopla, but just before the tram is an older triple chair that dumps you off at the Turkey Traverse. Turn right and there's the tram. Turn left and there is the South Wall, a bowl tucked into its own little corner. Good snow, good pitch and, oh, is it sunny. Better than the summit and a shorter ride up.
• West Mountain Glades, Bretton Woods, NH — Less-celebrated that their sister runs on the other side of the resort, but these are wider, and they allow just a tad bit more goofiness. Just a blast.
• Telluride Trail, Telluride, CO — It takes you right down to town alongside a gondola that also serves as the town's public transportation, where you can have lunch (or dinner) with your boots on. How cool is that?
• Bear Down, Stratton, VT — A double-black near the Kidderbrook chair and the Sun Bowl that always seems to have good snow. In March, it's a great workout before heading over to watch the U.S. Open competitors.
• S-53, Stowe, VT — It's a narrow trail cut by public engineers in 1939, named after a CCC camp. It was once a badge of honor knowing where it was (take Liftline), but it is now back on the trail map. An epic run that is a tribute to the sport's early development in the U.S.
• Powder Cowboy Cat Skiing, BC — Untracked Fernie powder, sunshine, and guides that cater each run to your moods. Plenty of nachos in the lodge afterward. Enough said.
• Rat, Mad River Glen, VT — Thought I was lost and was ready to stick out my thumb near a road to get back to the lodge. I saw the sign but did not think it was a real trail, but oh, what a trip through the woods. It's the novelty on a mountain that wrote the book on novelty.
• Slot Alley, Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort, NV — Location, location, location! It's 45 minutes from The Strip. Ski it all day and still be back in time for a 6 p.m. poker game.
• Moonshine, Sugarbush, VT — A short glade with a vast variety of elements in a hidden nook near an old double chair. On a Saturday a few year sago, I found myself alone five of the seven runs I made in there.
