Here’s one for backcountry fanatics. I caught a story about Silverton ski area in an article in National Geographic Adventure, and then hunted it down online. Silverton recently enhanced its size with some leases of government land, and apparently has ample coverage right about now due to the storm out West. The area is all about backcountry skiing, hitting the Virgin snow and finding fresh tracks. But you get up the mountain with a lift, which differs a bit from your traditional backcountry experience.
You still have to do a lot of hiking, but the lift gets you a lot of the way there. This is a place that scoffs at grooming and disdains the Disneyland real estate developments that have sprung up around place like Mammoth. Oh, and the skiing is superb. But mostly for experts, so if you’re just learning, you should probably go someplace else.