GNAR

http://unofficialnetworks.com/gnar/

The movie GNAR which tells the story of a game skiers used to play at squaw valley that challenge each of them to push the limits of freestyle skiing and just insane stunts.   Its centered around the sqauw valley ski mountain and its lengendary powder runs that put fear into the best of skiers.  Bascially in the late 90s, this guy named Shane Mcconkey started to do some crazy stunts at squaw and eventually created a point system to challegne his friends in stunts and general sking fun.  They would ski off cliffs naked or talking to their mothers to gain extra points and would even have "ego claims" to other skiers about how the are the best on the mountain.
The movie is basically a competition set up by one of the creators of the game in honor of Shane mcconkey who passed away.  They got 20 skiers from around the lake tahoe area and had a 2 week compeition. unfortunuly, the game got shut down after a day because of too many naked people skiing but they still managed to travel to 5 other mountains and played the game there.
Even though this was a  movie about a skiing game, it told a much bigger story.  Throughout the whole movie, you can see how these people were obsessed with what they loved and it was great to see how these people felt about the games and its affect it had on the  day of skiing.  This movie perfectly shows people what skiing is truly about and why people devote their whole lives to skiing the hardest scariest trails possible.

Stratton- prince of the north east

Stratton mountain in southern Vermont is one of the better ski places on the east coast.  It had almost 1200ft vertical and is a classic Vermont mountain with lots of ice and deep biting winds.  Stratton offers vast options for lifts with almost every lift being a high speed chair.  This would cause lines to be shorter some think but this is the problem with Stratton, its PACKED.  On weekend and vacation weeks, lines end up being 30 min for some chairs and it really annoys skiers.  Some parts of the mountain are immune to the lines but they get boring quickly because they are all in a very similar area. 
Another problem with stratton are the people that go there.  They are all upper class snabs who think they own everything.  People are irresponsible on the slopes and disrespectful in the town.  This problems makes stratton out to be a rich person mountain which i completely agree with. 
Still looking at stratton as a mountain, it offers a skilled skier everything they could want, with trails that have everything to high speed lifts, this mountain is a quality mountain in the east and remains a favorites place for me.

Jiminy Peak

Jiminy peak, a mountain in Mass, was the place where i learned how to ski.  This place was great was learning and offers a range of difficulty in terms of skiing terrain.   The berkshire express which is a 6 person lift is the central point of the mountain with almost every person sometimes using it at once because it can get you to almost any trail on the mountain.  Once off the lift, you choose between West way and Left Bank which connect you to either the western or eastern side of the mountain.  Once on either trail, you can select from a range of different trails and difficulties that suit almost any skier.
My favorite trail was always White Tail, this long straight trail offers the perfect difficultly and terrain for me.  It's steepness allows for one to gain alot of speed and really have fun on the trail and the best part is that it brings you right to a mid mountain lift that brings you right back to the top of the same trail. 
Jiminey offers this and much more.  It is one of the more advanced mountain in the east with tons and tons of snow making and all of its powered by a windmill so they even reduce their energy use.  They also use the internet and applications to offer skiers a better view for the mountain and what conditions are like on the mountain within a moments notice.  This really enhances a skiers day because now he or she can know what to where out skiing and where to ski on the mountain. All in all, jiminy peak is a greater beginner mountain with stuff for everyone.