Several mountains offer a look at their slopes over the Internet via "Mountain Cams." A great place to start schussing the Web is at the Resort Sports Network. This organization has access to a number of Mountain Cams where you can get a first-hand look at the slopes from daily photos. Also, you can view ski slopes all over the U.S. from RSN's Resort Cam page.

RSN's snow conditions page is also chock-full of information for adrenaline junkies. On this page, RSN presents "The Whole Picture" with an image map of the U.S. and information about 548 resorts in 43 states. Frankly, I didn't even know you could ski in 43 states!

One of the first Mountain Cams I visited is right near home in Southern California at Mammoth Mountain. On this page, you can take a look at the mountain, as well as get a report on current weather and ski conditions. There's also an 800 number so you may call and order a free travel planner.

Another of the great California ski areas, Lake Tahoe, has all the usual stuff like weather, snow conditions and the like, but there's more. Links to CalTrans, for highway conditions, and the Weather Channel provide excellent information for preparing for your travel to the hill.

On the topic of preparation, Eagle Mountain Cross Country Ski Area's author, Gene "Wild Wild" West, has written a great guide on Preparing for Winter Travel. It may sound kind of basic or, to some, a little extreme, but Gene, you're right on the money with preparation in advance for winter hazards. If you're not familiar with the mountains in winter, then visit Scotland's Glasgow University to review their General Avalanche Info page with information from the Scottish Mountain Safety Group. If you've ever thought an avalanche could not happen to you, then study this page.

While wandering through the Mountain Cams, I decided to head for the Rockies and Colorado's Copper Mountain Resort. Copper Mountain's site has trail maps and includes information on both winter and summer activities. You can find details about lodging, special packages, real estate information, a calendar of events, village information, and—for those who want to try mountain life—employment information. For more Colorado ski areas, just move up the hierarchy to a Colorado index. Although it's just a plain gray background, you will find a wealth of information here on about 26 of Colorado's finest.

Our March '96 WWWizzie Award for "Best Multimedia Display in an Adventure Site" goes to Aspen Snowmass Online. This site offers a complete resort online experience including year 'round activities, and a link to one of the High Country's greatest newspapers (I know, I used to live there!), the Aspen Times. Here, you can get the latest scoop on what's up in Aspen.

Hey junkies, got an MPEG board in your computer? If so, wander on over to Aspen's video library for some real gratification! There's a link to an MPEG player if you don't have one, but you must have an MPEG video board installed in your computer for this to work.

I'm not sure how long the page will be there because the event is February 28 through March 3 (I've sent a message asking they keep something up long enough for this magazine to publish) but the animated icons for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival are really cool. A unique approach to catching a schusser's eye! Congratulations to Aspen Snowmass Online for a job well done.

Steamboat Springs is another personal favorite, as a place to live, ski, and a site to schuss into. Lots of things to do in this site besides checking out the slopes. You can visit the shops in town, check out the year 'round activities or real estate. Powder Hounds, Steamboat is boasting about a record January snowfall—over 19 feet! After three solid weeks of snowfall, the local newspaper, the Steamboat Pilot, is offering the Blue Bird Powder Day Slide Show, a fairly fast, dynamic slide show with eight images of some of the finest champagne powder you will ever find. Wish I was there! Before leaving Steamboat, if you've ever fantasized about totally untracked powder, try taking a snow cat into the wilderness with Steamboat Powder Cats, a truly unique experience (yes, the uppercase "P" and "C" are required).

Snoweb gives a good look at a variety of U.S. ski areas and includes Real Audio ski reports from areas including Winter Park, Killington, Heavenly Valley and Kirkwood. It's a fun approach to delivering the ski reports—much more personal than most. The site is well designed with good graphics and is easy to navigate. All these features score well with me.

Planning a quick trip to the Continent? If so, schuss on over to France and visit the Global Ski Guide, where you can brush up on your French or German while learning about the many excellent ski areas of France. The site is also mirrored in English.

Want more of Europe? Try the Austrian National Tourist Office. From this page, you can explore the entire country of Austria, including the culture and history of the region, some MPEG video files, and some of the most exciting skiing in the world. While in Austria, you might want to visit Tirol Austria. The Tirol pages are not about skiing, but if you like mountains, these pages provide a good diversion through the eyes of rock climbers. The writer really takes you there, sharing local folklore and photos, and showing climbs in both winter and summer.

Interestingly enough, while watching the Super Bowl last January, I stumbled across something destined to become a great site. Operated by Golden Gate Productions, GGP Online has one of skiing's greats, former Olympian Hank Kashiwa, as a consultant and instructor. With information about races, ski tips from Hank, and snow country reports, this site shows lots of potential. Now using Netscape frames and Real Audio, GGP Online offers adrenaline candy for us junkies!

Okay, time for a couple of jump points. Take a look at The Consummate Skiing List for a considerable list of links. Nice graphics at the top, but basically a good list and not much for candy. For international flair, try Ski Net, a site offering links through the United States, Europe and the Southern Hemisphere.

Ski and Skiing Magazines share a site and offer all the fare of both magazines in one place. From travel tips and pointers on how to improve your skiing, to Skiing Magazine's Buyer's Guide, there's lots of information "snopacked" into this site!

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