Arizona, United States

Capital City: Phoenix
Closest Airport: Phoenix Sky Harbor International
Population: 5,130,632
Resort Area: Flagstaff - McNary - Tucson - Williams
Snow Season: November/December - March/April
Main Language: English
Currency: United States Dollar

This far south in the US you might be surprised to find snow capped mountains at all. After all, Arizona is best known for its deserts and canyons. But the pointy bits down here can still manage almost 4,000 metres (3,851 metres or 12,633 feet), and that's well above the snow line.

The handful of ski resorts in Arizona are all perched pretty high. The popular Arizona Snowbowl and Sunrise Park both have top lifts up around 3,500 metres (roughly 11,500 feet), giving them a vertical of 550 metres plus. Sunrise has around 65 trails to Snowbowl's 32, but both resorts have decent terrain parks and half pipes.

The smaller and lower Mt Lemmon Ski Valley - the most southerly ski resort in the US - has around half the vertical and about 20 trails. However, the area still gets around 5 metres or 200 inches of snowfall a year.

Higher temperatures in this part of the country can cause tricky snow conditions and heighten the possibility of avalanche. If skiing or riding off-piste, always take the appropriate precautions. If you're planning to ski-tour the San Francisco Peaks (from the Snowbowl area), you'll need a backcountry permit.