Winter Park, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/06/2007 --Record high temperatures across Europe are making the 2006-2007-ski season virtually impossible to enjoy. With mud instead of snow, and rain instead of powder, many Europeans have given up hope of skiing or boarding on their native continent this year. Many are looking for alternate destinations. Ian Porter, former travel writer and ski journalist for the original edition of the skier’s bible Where to Ski gives Europeans hope with his top pick for a ski sojourn in the Sates.

Porter resides as ski manager for AmeriCanski, based in Turnbridge Wells, England. AmeriCanski has been sending powder-hounding clients to North America’s best ski resorts for over ten years. Ian was recently asked to name his favorite North American all-rounder, a resort to which he could send almost any client without any undue concerns. The recommended destination had to have all the general advantages of North American skiing, plus additional points specific to the resort. Ian also thought that a lack of drawbacks was important. Ski resort surveys are often topped by destinations with an impressive array of amenities, but their obvious drawbacks are ignored. Anyone who has stood in a long lift queue getting soaked by rain in “North America’s #1 Rated Resort” will know where he’s coming from.

Ian’s vote goes to Winter Park. “It has uncrowded slopes, fine lift systems, superb accommodation, reliable snow, great ski school and kid’s facilities, and friendly natives. It also has the champagne powder snow that many of its Colorado neighbors also enjoy. However, and most importantly, it gets the largest volume of snow of any Colorado mainstream resort, making it the safest bet for really good snow conditions on early or late holidays, which is when a high proportion of UK skiers visit. It also has the shortest transfers from Denver, which is a real boon after a long flight.”

Vacations Inc has a variety of great value Winter Park lodging. For example, it offers a luxurious 2-bedroom plus loft 3-bathroom Crestview condo for around $200 a night at Easter when the same category of property in less snowy more crowded Vail is well over three times that price. It also has deluxe 3 to 4-bedroom town homes at Sawmill Station, and 1 to 3 bedroom condos at Meadowridge at amazing prices.

Porter continues, “As for the disadvantages of Winter Park – there are very few. Many American resorts are criticized for having mediocre mountain restaurants, but Winter Park has some fine on-slope eateries. True, the town itself isn’t a shoppers’ paradise, but it has nearby factory outlet stores to satisfy retail therapy cravings. People may assume that being so close to Denver must make Winter Park prone to day-tripper overcrowding. Not so. Denver residents seem to prefer to hurtle down the motorway to Copper Mountain, and the relatively small number of beds at Winter Park means that it’s never anywhere near as busy as say Breckenridge, which has a similar size ski area with probably 10 times as many people staying there. Winter Park’s unpretentious laid-back feel would not suit the glitterati of Aspen or Vail, but for anyone else it’s great. And that’s not just me saying so - it’s all our clients we send there too.”