4 Quotes by Kurt Hoy

Moonlight, along with neighboring Big Sky Resort, flank opposite sides of Montana's Lone Peak. They've shared the same mountain and even some trails in the past, and this season they're sharing a lift ticket you can kick down once and ride the combined 5,300 acres. That makes Big Sky and Moonlight bigger than any other U.S. resort (Vail is second with 5,289 acres).

Winter X Games Ten (Jan. 28-31) will be the only time international Olympic riders face off before meeting in Italy, and there's no better place to check it out than here. Ride Aspen Highlands during the day (be at the top of Highlands Bowl when ski patrol drops the rope!), then make your way to Buttermilk for the night pipe event. Aspen is made up of four different mountains, so you can see as much or as little of the X Games as you want.

The best steep terrain in the USA is always reason to ride here. Top it with this year's snowfall, and you should already be on a plane. If that's not enough incentive, consider this: Jackson's iconic aerial tram, known for its access to Jackson's best (steepest, most advanced) terrain and the upper mountain, will be taken down in October. The resort has plans to get riders to the top, but it will likely be years before a new tram goes up.

Snowboarding has always been about more than turning your board down the hill, riding the park or even powder. It's the people and places you get to know that make it interesting. Conditions are always changing, and the event schedule keeps the odometer spinning.