Colorado, United States

Capital City: Denver
Closest Airport: Denver International
Population: 4,301,261
Resort Areas Include: Aspen/Snowmass -Steamboat - Telluride - Winter Park - Silverton Mountain - Wolf Creek.
Snow Season: November/December - March/April
Main Language: English
Currency: United States Dollar

When it comes to skiing and snowboarding in the US, mighty Colorado has pretty everything you could want from a destination in the snow - slick resorts, buckets of snow, a huge range of accommodation and a kicking après ski.

You'll find the best part of 30 resorts here, including house-hold names like Aspen, Vail and Breckenridge.

If you're looking for big vertical, Snowmass near Aspen tops the lot with a whopping 1,343 metres (4,406 feet). But there are a handful of resorts with 1,000 metres plus.

The most extreme terrain is probably found at Copper Mountain, Crested Butte, Winter Park or Vail (where 70 per cent of its terrain is made up of black runs). But for those just starting out, or looking to improve on newly-learnt skills, there's plenty of choice. Though by no means the only resorts, Beaver Creek, Steamboat and Telluride are all strong all-rounders with a huge range of terrain. Solvista Basin and Ski Cooper offer a good mix on a much smaller scale.