Gareth Williams was one of them - he got into the idea when he found out how difficult it was to book a flight to visit his brother and go ski-ing in the French Alps.

BBC: Scanning for online sales

Buttermilk is an easy mountain with lots of green and blue terrain, but is also the home of the X Games, so teens and tweens love to go where their idols ski and ride.

FORBES: Snowmass

Go to Liechtenstein and you'll find sleepy ski resorts, quaint patisseries, and many an empty second home along its mountainsides.

FORBES: Tax Evaders, Beware The Liechten-sting

Expensive ski holidays are one of the first things to go when the economy sours.

ECONOMIST: The ski business

Go sailing off-site to snorkel, scuba or Jet Ski.

BBC: Daily deal: Get away to Mexico

Each winter, 1.25 million British people go skiing and the industry wants more of these to realise it is possible to ski outside the traditional months December to March.

BBC: Alp mountains

In ski-crazy Europe, ascending mountains the old-fashioned way never did go out of style.

WSJ: Ski Mountaineering: Now They're Racing Up the Hill