Travel Briefs
NEW YORK
Outside magazine ranks top ski resorts
If you're a powderhound gearing up for ski season, compare your favorite slopes with this list from Outside magazine's November issue.
The magazine ranked the 15 best ski-and-snowboard destinations in North America based on snow quality and terrain.
Utah topped the list with Alta and Snowbird in first place, followed by Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, Canada, and Vail, Colo.
Jackson Hole, Wyo., took the No. 4 spot, with Snowbasin, Utah; Fernie Alpine Resort, British Columbia, and Silverton Mountain in Colorado next.
In eighth place were Colorado's Aspen Highlands and Snowmass resorts, then Squaw Valley in California and Steamboat in Colorado.
The final five on the top 15 list were Mammoth in California; Telluride, Colo.; Solitude in Utah; Alyeska Resort in Alaska; and Taos, N.M.
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash.
New visitors center opening at park
The new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center has opened in Mount Rainier National Park at Paradise.
The $22 million building does not have the 360-degree-view observation deck that was an attraction at the old visitors center, which will be demolished next year. But it does have a dramatic lobby with tall, soaring windows that frame a view of Mount Rainier.
The center is smaller but more energy efficient than the building it replaces, with features like a steeply pitched roof to aid snow removal.
The park's historic Paradise Inn reopened in May after a rehabilitation to improve accessibility and make the building safe in the event of an earthquake or fire.
Details at www.nps.gov/mora/parknews/index.htm.
