Where to Ski and Snowboard 2002, The Reuters Guide

If weight is anything to go by, this could live up to its claim to be the most comprehensive guidebook to the world's winter sports resorts.

It's jammed with information on more than 1,000 resorts. Each is rated for costs, queue lengths, suitability for skiers of differing standards and there is a point-by-point analysis.

Plenty of space is given to issues, too, from global warming and avalanche risks to developments in ski equipment and how the 35-hour working week in France affects lift opening hours. The reference section has useful contact numbers and the book's tips include how to get back its purchase price!

But the increased number of piste maps and photographs seem squashed into small spaces, often alongside a high number of ads.

• The book is published by Norton Wood at £15.99.

The Good Skiing & Snowboarding Guide 2002

This skiing season coincides with the switch to the euro in much of Europe, but this Which? guide leaves prices in the old currencies. Different nations use different criteria to measure prices, it says.

Calling on skiers to face up to global warming, it warns against early-season skiing in low resorts. There's a pleasant lack of ads, and the guide claims to be the only independent reference book for anyone planning a winter sports holiday. Typical Which? thoroughness is evident throughout. There's even a category in the book's Golden Ski Awards for the best mountain lavatories. In case you wonder, they're in Zermatt's Riffelberg ('pink and scented for men and women') and Findlerhof ('toilets so sterile clean you could eat your lunch off the floor').