Eavesdrop in any bar in any resort and the chances are you'll overhear people debating the greatest question on skis: Where is the best run in the world?
This discussion, as they say, will run and run. We're not attempting to resolve the question once and for all - but here are 10 of our favourites, guaranteed to blow your mind. The first five are scenic spectaculars, which will give a confident intermediate a thrill of achievement; the other five are challenges that will give any advanced skier an unforgettable blast of high-altitude adrenaline...
Intermediate
1 Parsenn
Davos, Switzerland
The birthplace of Alpine skiing still boasts one of the greatest cruises on snow anywhere. You reach it via the first true skiers' funicular railway - built in 1931, half a century after the first pair of skis to touch Alpine snow were brought here from Norway by a former TB patient. The Parsenn railway - much faster after a rebuild this summer - takes skiers up to the 2,662-metre Weissfluhjoch. Here skiers embark on what feels like an epic journey across the massif, from high above the tree line, into the forest and past some welcoming huts (more like chalet-bars) down to the valley floor for the train ride home. Longest run is an eight-mile cruise to Küblis; another version curls around to royal Klosters.
2 Sella Ronda
Dolomites, Italy
This is not so much a run as a long-distance circuit - a world classic, set in the Dolomites, home to the most breathtaking scenery in the Alps. Limestone cliffs turn pink in the afternoon sunrise above gentle pastures that make for ideal intermediate cruising. Looping around a mighty limestone crag, the Sella Ronda is a chain of about 14 miles of runs linked by nine miles of lifts, passing cheerful mountain huts and several villages along the way (Selva is the most popular base for skiers). It's easily done in a day. Clockwise involves less poling, but it's worth doing in both directions - and starting early enough to have time for detours.
3 Sarenne
Alpe d'Huez, France
This claims to be the longest black run in the Alps, a 10-mile blast promising about an hour and a half of continuous skiing down a near vertical drop of 2,000 metres. Starting point is the 3,330-metre Pic Blanc, with vast views of dozens of untouched peaks in the Parc National des Ecrins. Most of the distance is down to the long run-out along the bottom of the Sarenne gorge - rather too flat for snowboarders. The hairy part is the steep launch - though less than fearless intermediates can bypass the steep mogul field at the top.
4 South Face
Lake Louise, Canada
In a continent where most ski mountains look like pumped-up hills, Lake Louise has the most spectacular views. You appreciate its frozen namesake best - surrounded by pines, overlooked by high cliffs and the Victoria glacier - from the grand Chateau Lake Louise hotel dating from 1890. You get a long view from the ski area across the valley from any of the runs on the South Face. Perhaps the best intermediate run is from the Top of the World Express quad chair down Sunset Terrace, joining into a thrilling high-speed cruise down the black-diamond Men's Downhill - a fast, tough intermediate run when it's groomed. Juniper is a gentler alternative.
5 Vallée Blanche
Chamonix, France
The most scenic run in the Alps is a descent lasting up to 15 miles along a sequence of glaciers just below Mont Blanc. The hardest part is the walk down from the Aiguille du Midi - at 3,840 metres, the highest cable car in Europe - to the start of the run: hang onto the fixed rope, and try not to think about the 2,000-metre plunge into the valley. The run itself is a gentle cruise, easy enough for any confident intermediates who can handle patches of ungroomed snow - though you need a guide, not least for the tricky narrow squeezes between crevasses. Stop frequently to gawp at the breathtaking landscapes of 4,000-metre peaks, vast snowfields and séracs (tumbling cliffs of ice).
Advanced
6 Valluga
St Anton, Austria
The birthplace of modern ski technique remains a magnet for advanced skiers largely because of the vast powder-filled bowls that spread out below the 2,811-metre Valluga. Few skiers, however, set off from the summit itself. So dangerous is the descent that unless you are with a qualified guide you aren't allowed to bring your skis into the top cable car - a curious vehicle like a six-person standing coffin. Only the very beginning is terrifying - fall and you'll probably shoot over the cliff to instant death. Thereafter it's a thrilling cruise through rolling fields of powder down to Zürs - and some great mountain restaurants.
7 Corbet's Couloir
Jackson Hole, USA
You get a glimpse of the thrills in store on North America's most notorious run as you peer down into Corbet's Couloir from the cable car gliding overhead. It starts with a leap from a cornice and a free-fall of about 12 feet. The landing is steeper than 50 per cent, so unless you start turning very quickly you'll crash into the cliff-like walls of the couloir. This isn't even the hardest run on the mountain, which claims the most extreme lift-served skiing in the continent; it's just the toughest one with a name. Successful challengers lose no time in telling of their exploits in the lively saloons of the old cowboy town of Jackson, down in the valley.
8 Hahnenkamm
Kitzbühel, Austria
The most famous event in the World Cup calendar - and arguably the toughest - is the Hahnenkamm, to be held this winter on 24-26 January. Highlights of the course include an 85 per cent gradient at the top of Mausfalle (the mouse trap); racers regularly leap up to 80 metres through the air, at speeds of up to 90mph. Once the event is over, the course is often open to the public, conditions permitting. It isn't maintained as a racing course, so you can either slalom down gently or scare yourself silly contemplating what the racers do: no gates, no turns, straight down the mountain...
9 Pas de Chèvre
Argentière, France
You certainly need a goat-like head for heights on this one. But even intermediates skiing the towering Grands Montets area in the Mont Blanc valley will wander over from the top of the Bochard gondola for a glimpse through this cleft in the crag at the giddying plunge down to the crevasses in the Mer de Glace thousands of metres below. Plenty of powder hounds (with guide, of course) launch themselves into the steep couloirs for a thrilling descent down to the glacier. Argentière, at the foot of the mountain, is home to many of Europe's top extreme skiers.
10 Flying Kilometre
Les Arcs, France
This may look like assisted suicide but the organisers claim it's safe: and for €12.50 (about £8) you are guaranteed an adrenaline rush that will leave you wobbly for the rest of the day. Speed skiing makes a World Cup downhill race look like a bumbling meander down the mountain, and Les Arcs hosts the world championships on a permanent, immaculately groomed course that begins with a 76 per cent gradient near free fall on the face of the Aiguille Rouge. The current record, set by Philippe Goitschel, is 250.70kph (160mph) - more than twice Britain's motorway speed limit. Price includes equipment hire and survivor's medal.
Factfile
Inghams (020 8780 4433) offers holidays to all of the featured ski areas.
Check snow conditions on the website of the Ski Club of Great Britain (0845 458 0784).
Packages from various operators are available from independent consultants such as Ski Solutions (020 7471 7700).
Good websites include: www.ifyouski.com, www.igluski.com, www.1ski.com and www.skideals.com.
