Double the fun on Mount Ruapehu: In New Zealand's North Island, there's one mountain to ski - but two resorts to choose from, both with great skiing and snowboarding. Whakapapa, on the north-west of Ruapehu, is New Zealand's largest ski area, covering 550ha. There are 30 groomed trails as well as off-piste areas. On the other side of Mount Ruapehu is the highest ski resort in the country, Turoa, which has nine lifts and 500ha of patrolled terrain, with areas for everyone from complete beginners to off-piste areas for the very experienced. Story by Lee Mylne

Canterbury Trails: Let's get this straight from the start. Skiing is not my idea of a romantic winter weekend away. I don't ski. Can't ski. Tried once as a school kid and it all ended in tears when I managed to snowplough at high speed into the cutest boy in the class, breaking his arm in the process. So the idea of a weekend trip to Methven, town base for the skifields of Mt Hutt near Christchurch, sent shivers down my spine.
Story by Lee Atkinson

Australian ski features
International ski features

Australian ski features

First Snow: My children have never seen snow. So we head to Victoria's "powder capital", Mount Hotham, caring not that it is the end of the season or that the season has been a poor one, in snow terms. Skiing lessons take first priority, but there are plenty of other distractions in the high country, including a final day's visit to Dinner Plain's new $6 million spa.
Story by Lee Mylne

International ski features

The High Life in Aspen: Aspen may be America 's most famous ski resort, but there's no snobbery here. Everyone hobbles down town in their ski boots and acquaintances are soon made on the ski lift. And with four mountains - Aspen, Snowmass, Buttermilk, and Aspen Highlands - you're spoiled for choice.
Story by Lee Mylne

Ski Town USA: The Colorado snow town of Steamboat Springs has earned its title of "Ski Town USA". This Western town, where stetsons and cowboy boots are as common as beanies and ski poles, has produced more Winter Olympians - that's 54 so far - than any other town in North America. Story by Lee Mylne

Bluebird Days at The Canyons: When I first hear the term “a bluebird day”, I know instantly what it means. It sums up perfectly the kind of day I've just experienced on my first day on the slopes at The Canyons in Utah - clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine and dazzling white snow beneath my skis. The Canyons, in the Wasatch Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, is Utah's largest ski and snowboard resort and one of the five largest in the United States, with eight mountains to ski.
Story by Lee Mylne

Never too old to learn: When I was given the chance to go to Aspen to learn to ski, I grabbed it with both borrowed ski gloves. Kitted out in a powder blue ski suit hired from a bloke called Lorenzo, I set out for the slopes with hopes as high as the mountain. It is my first time in real snow, on a real mountain, and I look the part, at least. I'm perfect material for the Aspen Ski Company's learn-to-ski course for baby-boomers, which guarantees to teach you in three days, or the next days are free. Unfortunately, I've only got three days. My instructor has silver hair and a George Hamilton tan. We trudge across the snow to the beginners' slope, the Mighty Mite. And I'm hooked. Story by Lee Mylne