Just when you thought you wouldn't find a single American resort that was ideal for beginners, you stumble across Oregon's Mt Hood meadows. Its got so many easy runs, that you could happily spend a long time here learning without getting bored. Good skiers needn't panic though because there's also some decent lift accessed steep terrain.

Its not the most upmarket of ski areas, but its also a pretty inexpensive place to ski. The nearby villages of Hood River and Government Camp offer good and cheap places to stay, eat and drink, and are full of friendly locals.

There are loads of easy runs on this hill and also loads of intermediate runs. The best area on the mountain to start is probably by the Vista Express chairlift. Good fun, wide, mellow runs with a fast and comfortable chair for access. The resort never seems to get too busy in terms of lift queues or piste congestion and this adds to the experience.

Have you ever seen the film “The Shining”? It may interest you to know that the main slope-side accommodation, The Timberline Lodge, was the freaky house which starred in that film. I hope you don't get scared in the dark....

If you're willing to hike then this place has got lots and lots of potentially great terrain. There are some good lift accessed runs as well, but just enough for the advanced terrain to be considered reasonable.

The winter terrain park is really top notch and up there with the best parks in the country. The pipe, I thought was particularly good and seemed to be tremendously well shaped every night. There were loads of Japanese riders slaying pipe when I visited Hood although they didn't seems to get up very early in the morning. If you can get out of bed early enough then you might get a good few runs down the newly cut pipe and it's well worth the effort.

Summer skiing is Mt Hood's best feature and the park here is really something special. There are multiple lines of well built features and the soft slushy snow will soon see you trying those tricks which scared you all winter.

Cross country skiers are well catered for at Hood Meadows and the 22 km of trails are incredibly pretty and are very well groomed. You've got option to head far away from civilization or take a neat little tour of resort lodges and maybe even drag in lunch at the café.

I would rate Hood Meadows as one of the best, if not the best, ski areas in North America for learning to ski. Government Camp is a safe and laid back place for families to stay and I would highly recommend this resort to all but the hardcore freeriders.