New England may have started downhill skiing in the United States, but for the best, forget about the East altogether and head for the deep powder out West.

Colorado is endowed with more than two dozen ski resorts, including world-renowned Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, and Wolf Creek; Utah is home to Alta, Beaver Mountain, Snowbasin, Park City, and Deer Valley; and Taos in New Mexico has well-known slopes. In California's Sierras, Lake Tahoe is home to Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Resort, and the famous Squaw Valley USA. And there's Jackson Hole in Wyoming, plus the Big Mountain and Big Sky resorts nearby in Montana.

New England does have good cross-country skiing, especially at the Trapp Family Lodge Cross-Country Ski Center (tel. 800/826-7000 or 802/253-8511) in Stowe, Vermont, and the entire village of Jackson, New Hampshire, which is laced with a network of ski trails maintained by the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation (tel. 603/383-9355). Out West, many of the downhill resorts mentioned above have cross-country trails as well. The best are in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks. The rims of the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon national parks also present some unusual skiing venues.