All year skiing: From China to Chile(2)

MAY

VALLE BLANCHE, FRANCE

From the Place de l'Eglise in Chamonix, France, the icy summit of 4,810-meter Mont Blanc looks miles up and away, which it is - more than 3,650 vertical meter over town.

Though Western Europe's highest peak offers plenty of skiing year round for those willing to hike for it, lazier mortals have far easier options for finding snow in early spring.

The Vallee Blanche, a glacier-filled gash northeast of Mont Blanc, is arguably one of the most spectacular backcountry ski runs that adventurous snow hounds could hope for.

The journey starts with a cable car up the Aiguille du Midi, a 3,840-meter-high rock needle sewing up the troposphere. It's all downhill from there.

During good snow years, the gentle, blue-like run of the "classic route" following two glaciers can last a whopping 19 km with upward of 2130 vertical meters of skiing.

No need to rush with views like these: a fiendish jawbone of the Alps' most impressive and storied peaks - the Aiguille Verte, Les Drus and, of course, Mont Blanc. Be forewarned: The Vallee Blanche is not a resort run, and every year people fall into crevasses, so hire a guide. (high-alpine.com).

JUNE

ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND

Summer skiing is a novelty more than anything - a few hours of scratching around on glaciers in shorts and a T-shirt - but even so, the experience can be pretty great, especially in a place as visually exotic as Zermatt.

Home to the Matterhorn, the Swiss ski resort claims to have the highest and biggest summer skiing operation in Europe with about 24 km of runs and eight lifts open all summer long to reach terrain as high as 3,810 meters.

Up there on the Theodul glacier, powder days are possible, sure, but best to come slathered in sunscreen and ready for fast, carving runs down Interstate-wide beginner and intermediate slopes that plummet as much as 975 vertical meters. (zermatt.ch)

JULY

TREBELE CONE, NEW ZEALAND

Some Southern Hemisphere ski resorts appeal to North American skiers more for the novelty of skiing in summer than for the challenge and variety of terrain. Not Treble Cone, the largest ski area on New Zealand's South Island.

This 550-hectare resort straddles four above-treeline basins, offering super-wide, impeccably groomed runs for intermediates as well as long, steep trails and cliff-studded chutes favored by expert skiers.

Snow quality is another draw, as the resort's location on the eastern edge of the Southern Alps acts as a magnet for storms dumping dry powder.

Lodging is available in the pretty lakeside town of Wanaka, 25 km east, or in Queenstown, 100 km south. (treblecone.com)