Visiting Colorado in the spring? Don't forget to bring your skis.

This is a great week to play hooky!

Top Places to Travel: COLORADO . . . Skiing in Vail, Rocky Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper and A-Basin has never been easier.

From quaint New England villages to old Gold Rush towns; from stalwart favorites to unsung destinations; from resorts with masterful kid’s programming to hardcore backcountry zones, these are some of the 15 best places to hang up your skis this winter.

An ever-growing number of famous films have used ski resorts for their sets. Sometimes the movies are so big the resorts never forget their time in the spotlight and stage annual festivals or even build permanent exhibitions themed on the film. In other cases, the money the film company pays is invested in resort infrastructure so we can all thank the film company for that lift or restaurant actually being built. Here are 10 of the best examples:

Visiting Colorado's famed slopes but don't want to break the bank? Save some money by buying a half-day ticket.

Plenty of ski areas open in early November— or even October— but for many skiers and boarders, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend marks the unofficial start to ski season. Along with reliable early-season snow— both from Mother Nature and snowmaking guns— these resorts offer special holiday activities that should make any visitor thankful to be on the slopes.

Thanksgiving is when a lot of people start getting serious about skiing.

Listen: can you hear it? That soft, insidious whisper, coming from your garage? It’s time…take me out. Dust me off; wax me up. It’s been too long…let’s go. When your skis and snowboard start talking to you, it’s definitely time to hit the hill. But early season can be tricky. After all, no one but Mother Nature (and maybe Joel Gratz) knows where the snow is going to hit and navigating the white ribbon of death should be saved for the most extreme of circumstances.