Highest ski resorts in the world

Perched among the highest skiable terrain in North America, Arapahoe Basin tops out at almost 3,980 metres and runs one of the longest seasons on the continent, often turning lifts into June. This is raw, high-alpine skiing built around the legendary East Wall and Montezuma Bowl rather than fancy real estate. A-Basin keeps a stripped-back, day-use soul that locals fiercely protect. If you want steep lines, thin mountain air and a true Colorado powder culture, few places deliver like the Basin.

Breckenridge is the highest skiing town in the United States, with a base village above 2 900 m and a lift, the Imperial Express, that drops you at 3 914 m. The Victorian Main Street looks much the same as it did when gold ran out in the 1880s, and the bar scene is louder and younger than anywhere else in Summit County.

The Matterhorn watches over every run, and no cars are allowed to spoil the view. Zermatt skis all year on the Theodul glacier, the only resort in the Alps that genuinely never closes.

The Matterhorn has an Italian side too, and Cervinia owns it. With the highest village base in Italy and a cross-border link to Zermatt, you can ski 22 km from Plateau Rosà to the valley floor in one go.

Mont Blanc looms over everything here, and so does the history. Chamonix is the birthplace of alpinism: five separate ski areas, the mythical Vallée Blanche off-piste descent, and glacier skiing that never really stops.

Aspen Snowmass is really four mountains on one ticket, wrapped around a former silver-mining town that became old-money playground and creative hub at once. Ajax rises straight out of downtown, Highlands hides a bowl that hikers chase all winter, Buttermilk hosts the X Games, and Snowmass quietly delivers the biggest terrain of the four.

Taos Ski Valley is the surprise no one tells you about until you go. High New Mexico desert at 2805 metres, dry Southwest powder that falls light and stays light, and a base village of adobe and pine built by a Swiss-French refugee in 1955. Above it rises some of the steepest patrolled terrain in North America.

Keystone is the closest to Denver of Summit County's big resorts, spread across three peaks above the River Run base village. It is squarely aimed at families, and it runs the largest night-skiing operation in Colorado, with lit trails turning evenings into extra time on the snow.

Copper Mountain is a naturally divided mountain in Colorado's Summit County, where the terrain falls into place from left to right, easy on the west, harder to the east. Set high in the Rockies with a base above 2,960 metres and a summit near 3,753 metres, it holds snow well across a long season. A compact slopeside village sits right at the foot of the lifts.

Telluride sits at the head of a box canyon in the San Juan Mountains, ringed by 4 000 m peaks that come right down to the edge of town. The remoteness keeps the day-tripper crowds away. The setting is the most dramatic in American skiing, and the historic Main Street is connected to the modern Mountain Village above by the only free public gondola in the country.

Crested Butte is one of America's legendary destinations for steep and extreme skiing, home to the fearsome Extreme Limits and a maze of chutes that test even the strongest skiers. Below the mountain lies a beautifully preserved Victorian mining town, capping an end-of-the-road sense of remoteness deep in the Colorado Rockies.

Winter Park is the closest big mountain to Denver, reached in well under two hours by car or aboard the seasonal ski train straight from the city. It pairs the famous Mary Jane side, a bump and tree skier's rite of passage, with the gentler Winter Park base, all served by reliable high Colorado snow.