Top 5 most beautiful skiing sites in the world

The winter chill brings along with it an urge for adventure. This season can leave you with two options –You can either sit at home and wait for what you'd call, “gloom” of winter to fade away or you can make the most of it by braving the chill and planning out a vacation that will leave a lifetime impression. Winter is all about thrill, excitement, adventure and skiing. Gliding effortlessly amongst some of the world's most serene and picturesque landscapes is a feast to the eyes and antidotes for the muscles. Skiing is now not just a competitive sport but recreational activity topped with health benefits. It can boost your immunity, tone your stomach muscles, make you lose five pounds weight in a week and even relieve depression. People have invented ways to ski on all kinds of terrain, from alpine and langlauf (cross country), to heli-skiing, ski jump and grass skiing. Here are top 5 destinations where you could plan your winter vacation and enjoy stupendous skiing: 1. Germany's best known ski resort is the Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It offers breathtaking views of the Bavarian scenery. The winter Olympics held here have paved way for some classic downhill runs, and has helped organised the infrastructure, which is shared between Garmisch and Partenkirchen.The Hausberg area has most of the easier runs which is good for families and beginner in skiing. Kreuzeck is the main ski area, on the rounded hills below the main five peaks, though you can glacial ski on the Zugspitze itself for something a bit more daring.Most of the lifts and cable cars deliver you somewhere around the Kreuzeck area, the Alpspitz is the highest lift, taking you up to 2,050m.On the way down there are a couple of black runs, one of them the Kandahar run, is quite famous, these cut though the trees and bump over moguls near the bottom of the valley. In fact it's the way back down to the town that provides some of the best runs of this resort.There's a lot of variety here, over a small amount of ground, though you do often find yourself waiting for the lifts. There's snow here from late November through April, and it's only about an hours drive from Munich.2. Bernese Oberland, at Grindelwald is located at the heart of the state. You can ski beneath the towering north wall of the Eiger and the graceful glacier-clad Jungfrau.On forest trails here you may come across log cabin restaurants featuring delicious fondue to fuel more skiing.On the far side of the deep glacier-carved Lauterbrunnen Valley (one of the Alps' most iconic places), Murren offers the fantastic long expert run known as the Inferno, famously featured in a James Bond movie.The Inferno is accessed by cable car ride to a revolving restaurant spectacularly situated atop the Schilthorn, with amazing views in all directions.3. The Teton Village in the US has spectacular scenery, a 'wild west' ambience, abundant wildlife and challenging skiing. It is perhaps the finest ski area in the US.The jagged Teton peaks, which resemble giant shark's teeth, dominate the spectacular valley, or 'hole' in the mountains where trappers like Davey Jackson, after whom the area is named, used to trade with local Indian tribes.The town of Jackson, some 10 miles or so from the ski area, is a genuine "old West" community, with wooden sidewalks and bustling cowboy bars. Wildlife includes moose, elk, coyote and eagles, and you can visit what is probably the world's biggest elk sanctuary on the outskirts of town.The slopes are centred on Rendezvous Peak and the more mellow Apres Vous mountain. As well as these, the Bridger-Teton National Forest offers 5,000 acres of legendary backcountry terrain with a European-style guiding service. 4. Named after the cry of the western hoary marmot, or Whistle Pig, the Whistler Mountain in 1965 is a pleasantly car-free village centre.This village has been attractively built. It has a neo-gothic structure of the splendid Fairmont Chateau Whistler hotel, and some truly terrific skiing on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains which have the largest vertical drop in North America: both are about a mile high.It is in Vancouver, one of world's most beautiful cities.One of Whistler's few snags is its low elevation. At 675 metres (2,214 feet), close to the maritime influence of the Pacific seaboard, it tends to attract more than its fair share of rain.5. Chamonix is often known as the cradle of climbing. It is located near Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and its gigantic collection of attendant glaciers which tumble into the Mer de Glace.It also has some of the most dramatic, and, for the true extreme skier, scarcely believable challenges in the world. The slopes in the Chamonix Valley are scattered among half a dozen areas, few of which actually link.Between them they have plenty of relaxed, enjoyable skiing, with some more challenging runs thrown in. The highlight of your visit to Chamonix is likely to be the cable-car ride to the impossibly steep and spiny Aiguille du Midi.