Lookout Pass

Snow is the headline: over 400 inches of light, dry powder a season, rated among the best in the state. Midweek the hill is quiet, chair lines are short and parking is easy. Tickets are cheap, and access straight off I-90 is among the simplest in the region. The terrain splits by state - steeper runs on the Idaho side, blue cruisers on the Montana side. OnTheSnow readers voted it the most family-friendly mountain in the Pacific Northwest, and the on-hill bar gets its own mentions.

Weekends are the weak spot: the local population boom has made Saturdays and Sundays noticeably busy in recent years. Organisation is the second issue, with complaints about thin signage and weak customer service - you find the trail and the lodge yourself, and lodge policies draw their own grumbles. The third is beginner terrain: only two runs are genuinely easy before you are forced onto blues.