USA

Modern US ski culture encompasses everything from the wild card racing style of Alpine icon Bodie Miller to the slick ski bum favourite films of Teton Gravity Research. This multi-faceted nature is reflected in the enormous number of options available to any skier heading to the States. Every conceivable type of terrain is here, and for every mellow Vermont resort there a Jackson or Mount Baker to offer a wild alternative. And yet in many ways, skiing is entirely predictable. You know before you arrive in resort that the in-resort infrastructure is likely to be the best in the world, with lifts and queues moving swiftly and easily and attendants handing you bars of candy as you unclip your skies at the end of the day. After France, say, it can all seem very easy here. In the debit column, it is true that some of American skiing's particular idiosyncracies might not be to everybody's taste. For some it is too homogenized and too sanitized, and it is true that there are time when everything can seem a little 'fixed grin', particularly when it comes to the off-piste policies of some resorts or the sometimes cloying nature of the service culture. But in the main, these oft-quoted clichés are wide of the mark, as they usually are. Most people you meet here will be friendly, the beer will be cold, the mountains groomed to perfection and that enormous breakfast buffet will keep you going for most of the day, let alone lunch. One thing is for sure: if you're in the market for the best of modern skiing facilities, America is the right place.

• The Mountains