photo: Adam Clark | skier: Rob GaffneyAcres: 4,000 | Vertical: 2,850 | Snowfall: 450 | Web: squaw.com

New ownership is currently implementing a raft of long overdue changes at this iconic North Lake Tahoe resort. They've gone so far as to call it a Renaissance. (They can call it what they want when they spend $50 million.) The goal? Bring Squaw back to its days of Olympic glory, fix what's broken, and celebrate what's working-the skiing. Last year they fixed the grooming. Look for that work to expand as well as the addition of formal trail names (a first), updated trail difficulty signs, tweaks and complete overhauls to lifts, and a long-term partnership with industry leader Snow Park Technologies to build state of the art park and pipes. A slew of much needed changes in the village including an all new family recreation area, revamped snowsports school, and a new Salomon rental fleet round out the upgrades. Then there's the new Ultimate 7 card, which gets you four days at Squaw and three days at Whistler Blackcomb with no blackout dates. Phew. And that doesn't even include the recently announced partnership with Alpine Meadows, which will effectively make Squaw and Alpine the biggest resort in the U.S. "The lower slopes of Alpine Meadows are really nice for visibility for storm days," says North Lake Tahoe skier JT Holmes. "It's going to spread out the amount of skiers per run and give everyone more breathing room."

From the Early Winter 2012 issue