In our fourteenth annual survey, our readers share their peak experiences—from the mountains that are tops for terrain to hotels that provide the softest of landings

It seems that nothing—short of moving the mountains themselves—can slow down skiers and snowboarders. Even with last winter's economic challenges, U.S. ski resorts tallied more than 57 million visits, making it the fifth busiest season on record. Abundant powder is key, of course, but abundant fun depends on much more: well-groomed terrain and spiffy lifts with speedy lines, ample après-ski options, and a comfortable place to hit the hay. For maximum pleasure, from schussing to sleeping, you voted the resorts and hotels on these pages tops this year.

TOP 20 SKI RESORTS

TOP 50 SKI Hotels

Methodology The results for Condé Nast Traveler's poll of ski resorts and hotels were derived from our annual Readers' Choice Survey. The questionnaire was available to all readers through a secure Web site. The final tabulation of 25,008 responses was done by Mediamark Research, Inc., of New York City. Ski resorts were rated on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor on the criteria of Terrain & Conditions, Lifts & Lines, Après-Ski/Activities, Local Dining, and Local Ambience; ski hotels were rated excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor on the criteria of Rooms, Service, Dining/Food, Location, Overall Design, and Activities/Facilities. Criterion scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a ski resort or hotel excellent or very good, were averaged to determine the overall score. Only ski resorts and hotels that received a required minimum number of responses were eligible for inclusion in these rankings.