By Mallory Ayres

Each autumn, skiers and snowboarders across North America begin to get restless, anxiously awaiting the first snowfall and their home resorts opening day. Weather forecasters predict as much as they can, and we anticipate the best season of our lives. Sometimes the storms come early, and sometimes the season breaks late. Unless you're completely content spending full days and weekends in the terrain park, a snow drought is your worst nightmare. If your mountain is struggling to make snow meet from top to bottom, maybe you need to catch a flight. Here are the best places in North America to visit if you need to scratch the itch.

Alaska: Eaglecrest Ski Area

If you can swing it, Alaska is the best place to go right now. Alaska is a destination for any serious snow lover, and this season might be the perfect excuse to make the move. A quick drive from Juneau, Eaglecrest is a small mountain with big features. 640 acres and 1,400ft of vertical is currently blanked with 71" and the base and 150" at the summit. Their longest run is 2 miles... can you ski that much pow?

Colorado: Silverton Mountain

Silverton Mountain is a new resort for the adventurous and skilled that boasts the experience of backcountry or heli skiing type terrain serviced by a single chairlift. They have 1,819 acres of skiable territory, but they claim an additional 22,000 + acres you can access by hiking or helicopter. Right now, they offer the best snow in Colorado with a 40-inch base at lower elevations, 47 inch base at middle elevations and a whopping (for this year) 60 inches at upper elevations. To boot, 100% of their terrain is open.

Wyoming: Grand Targhee

Grand Targhee is a resort located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Alta, Wyoming known for its sleepy small town feel and incredible snowfall. This year they are doing better than the other resorts in Wyoming with all of their 5 chairs running and 2,500 of their 2,602 skiable acres open. Right now they have a 47 inch base at lower, middle and upper elevations.

Utah: Deer Valley

This posh resort has invested a lot of time, money and effort into their snowmaking. Every year they use their machines to help build up snow over an incredible 660 acres so that they have skiable terrain no matter how much moisture the Norse gods decide to give or withhold. This is the resort to go to if you can't count on new snow. Right now, 20 out of 21 of their lifts are running and 61 out of their 100 trails are open. They have a 29-inch base across all elevations of the mountain.

Montana: Red Lodge Mountain

Red Lodge Mountain rests along the eastern front of the Beartooth Mountains in south-central Montana. Right now they are taking this state's cake because they have excellent snowmaking capabilities coupled with a fair endowment of pow. Just with their snowmaking alone they are able to maintain full coverage on 31% of their trails. Right now all 7 of their lifts are running giving access to 65/65 of their trails. They boast a 49 inch base at lower elevations, a 53 inch base at middle elevations and 57 inch base at upper elevations.

California: Bear Mountain

California is having the most desperate time out of all the places suffering from lack of snow this year. Scores of skiers have been disappointed to find that their local resorts have little to no snow at all. Yet Bear Mountain has been slugging along, using their snowmaking powers to put down what nature refuses to give. Because they are located next to Big Bear Lake, they have a huge source of water that they use to convert to snow. In fact, they have the ability to cover 100% of their runs with man made pow - even up to five feet deep in some cases - pretty good for Southern California! Right now 29 out of 33 trails are open. They have a 24 inch base at lower elevations, 30 inch base at middle elevations and 36 inch base at upper elevations.

Vermont: Killington

This is the largest ski resort in the East with a monster lift system that services 752 acres of skiable terrain across six interconnected mountains. They also boast seven terrain parks making it a place of choice for park rats. All this is made possible by their powerful snowmaking system that assures they can put down pow for their skiers and riders. With 600 acres of man made coverage they are dominating Vermont resorts during this year's snow recession. Right now 42% of Killington's terrain is open and they have a 20-inch base at lower elevations, 25 at middle elevations, and 32 at upper elevations.