Ski resorts are your gateways to nature.

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In North America, nature is preserved through National forests, thanks to great conservationists like John Muir and Ansel Adams (to name a few) in its 193 million acres of land.  In other words, the size of Texas is disbursed throughout the United States maki ng nature within everyone’s reach.   Ski resorts are usually founded on and surrounded by National Forest land and in North America  are great landmarks to determine your next nature venture.

Ski resorts can be found in most of the fifty states and in British Columbia and Alberta Canada.  The larger ski resorts that offer challenging on and off piste four season alpine sports are California, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Vermont, New York, Connecticut.  However small ski resorts and surroundings can offer the same products for outdoor enthusiasts with less crowds.

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Backcountry and slope side opportunities are abundant since ski resorts are established on mountain ranges and often in high altitude.  Winter opp ortunities such as slope side and off piste alpine skiing, snowboarding and off trail showshoeing and cross country skiing is abundant.  For the other three seasons it’s  “choose your passion” whether it be mountaineering, hiking, climbin g, mountain biking, trail running, backpacking, camping or just plain exploring.  Whether in bounds or out of bounds is your comfort zone a vast multitude of outdoor opportunities await you in and around ski resorts.

Using ski resorts as geographical landmarks can get you to nature in the warm months when the skiing is over.  Getting to the alpine may take a little effort, but the connection with nature is worth it.

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