The ride: It's a 10-minute ride from Beaver Mountain's base to the top of the mountain on Harry's Dream Lift, a fixed-grip triple. But once there, skiers and boarders have countless paths they can take to the bottom. While a variety of named runs are available to suit every ability, there are numerous other routes through stands of not-too-densely packed trees, both conifers and aspen. Get hungry, food is good and cheap in the lodge's Culinary Concepts Café.

Runs to try:

* Gentle Ben: As the name suggests, this wide, gently rolling run provides a comfortable route for beginners to wind their way down. Provides access to Marge's Triple chair.

* D-Street and Stump: These two hook together to give intermediates a good run and, when it's not crowded, offer speed seekers a nice slope for really letting loose.

* Lue's: With a good pitch right from the start, this relatively narrow run offers bumps as well as tilted fall lines.

* Stan's Bonanza: Wider than Lue's but about equal in steepness, it has the added advantage of having bands of trees on both sides that are eminently skiable - and hold the powder on a snowy day.

* Old Thunder and Grewe's Groove: One last shot for some tree skiing before reaching the base.

- Mike Gorrell

Beaver Mountain area

* Name of lift: Harry's Dream Lift

* Vertical drop: 1,600 feet

* Number of runs: 10

* Difficulty rating: Beginner to advanced

* Why try it: So many options on runs and tree skiing