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Our Towns: An Introduction

Today's topic: We rank the Top 40 schools where you can hit the books AND the backcountry. Your assignment: Rappel off that ivory tower and take our cram course on America's most adrenaline-friendly colleges. You'll come for your B.A. (Bachelor of �����ԹϺ���) and want to stay for life.

Here's the Beef

Need a daily powder fix? Chase epic snow through the calendar with our guide to the best places to ski and snowboard each month.

TALL LATTE BEFORE WORK, double espresso in the afternoon, short cappuccino after dinner—it's the only way to tolerate Seattle's gray days. But when the clouds break and the Cascades, the Olympics, and Puget Sound appear, you know where you need to be. Grab a quadruple shot and get going.

Most families plan one big blowout vacation each summer—which still leaves a lot of summer left to enjoy. Our advice: Think weekends. Our seven getaways are active enough to keep older kids entertained, yet won’t be daunting for the younger ones. And they’re close to major cities, so you won’t…

WARNING: If you are pregnant, or have kids of any age, read on. This report contains information guaranteed to provide you with the premier places to rest you head. Then rip it in the great outdoors with your wee ones. Access and Resources 888-502-9612 www.cheatmountainclub.com Ten…

Ski resorts that give you the best of both worlds

North American resorts have expanded boundaries, opened gates, and liberated skiers to revel in ungroomed wildness. Our guide to the great stuff you won't find on the trail map.

Let the motorized leaf peepers have their New England. It'll keep them far away from ours.

Want instant access to the Big Outdoors—trails, rivers, wild shores, just minutes from home—without compromising your livelihood? Then check out these ten towns on the verge of paradise, where you don't have to ditch it all to have it all.

Come ski Mad River Glen, where it is resolved that progress is not a good thing—and that man-made snow is for sissies

Way, way out in the land of powder, the cornices are steeper, the trails go deeper, and the crowds are nonexistent. Where is this mythical kingdom, you ask? Right here in North America.

The latest word in adventure travel: If you've got a fantasy, we'll make it happen