Canada

Canada runs two utterly different ski countries on one passport. The West is big-mountain skiing in its purest form: Whistler Blackcomb on the Pacific Coast, the Banff Park trio of Sunshine + Lake Louise + Marmot, the steep alpine of Kicking Horse and Revelstoke, the snowy interior of Big White and Sun Peaks. The East runs colder, smaller, and tougher: Tremblant's pedestrian village and Mont-Sainte-Anne's St-Lawrence views in the Laurentides. Long seasons either side, often into May.