With ski season in full swing, you'll want to make sure you're sporting the best gear while tearing down the slopes.

The experts at FindTheBest helped us find the best skis on the market. The skis are ranked by FTB's Smart Rating, which accounts for ratings and awards from ski magazines, model year, and ski type. 

Check out the best skis for the 2015 season. 

10. 2014 Blizzard Cochise Ski ($750)

The 2014 Blizzard Cochise Ski is designed for the advanced male skier. The all-mountain skis have a hybrid rocker and flat profile, and come in four different sizes. The skis made Ski magazine's Gold Medal Gear list.

9. 2014 Blizzard Bonafide Ski ($700)

Similar to the Blizzard Chochise, the 2014 Blizzard Bonafide Ski has the same profile and all-mountain usage. Predominantly a men's ski, women can use Bonafide skis as long as they pay close attention to the sizing. 

8. 2015 Volkl Aura Ski ($699)

The women's 2015 Volkl Aura Ski is designed primarily for off-piste skiing, so it can handle rough terrain. The freeride skis are for the advanced skier and have a hybrid rocker-camber profile. 

7. 2015 Volkl Shiro Ski ($699)

The 2015 Volkl Shiro Ski's reverse camber profile means you'll rarely catch an edge. Also known as the 100% rocker profile, it's becoming increasingly popular among skiers. The Shiro is also a freeride ski designed for off-piste skiing. 

6. 2015 Atomic Vantage Theory Ski ($499)

The 2015 Atomic Vantage Theory Ski is an all-mountain ski made for the intermediate male skier. The skis come in three sizes and the hybrid rocker-camber profile is great for skiing through powder.

5. 2015 Blizzard Viva 810 TI IQ Ski ($799)

The titanium and wood 2015 Blizzard Viva 810 TI IQ Ski is for the advanced female skier. The skis have a hybrid rocker-camber and were awarded On The Snow magazine's Editor's Choice. 

4. 2015 Rossignol Soul 7 Ski ($700)

The 2015 Rossignol Soul 7 Ski is a freeride powder ski which is great for off-piste skiing. The intermediate men's skis' profile is 50% rocker and 50% camber. The skis float well in powdery conditions, yet can easily maneuver through tightly packed snow.

3. 2015 Atomic Vantage Ritual Ski ($700)

The advanced men's 2015 Atomic Vantage Ritual Ski has a hybrid profile with a 65% camber and a 35% rocker. The skis were awarded Freeskier magazine's Editor's Pick. 

2. 2015 Faction Prodigy Ski ($779)

The 2015 Faction Prodigy Ski is an advanced all-mountain ski. The men's skis have a hybrid profile that is 85% camber and 15% rocker, and an ability to handle everything from icy conditions to slushier snow. The skis earned Freeskier magazine's Editor's Pick award, On the Snow magazine's Editor's Choice award, and the Ski magazine 2015 Ski of the Year award.

1. 2015 Nordica NRGy 100 Ski ($699)

The 2015 Nordica NRGy 100 Ski was the only one to score 100 on the Smart Rating scale. The all-mountain skis are designed for the advanced male skier. The hybrid profile is 75% camber and 25% rocker, and the skis come in four different sizes. The skis earned an Editor's Pick award from Freeskier magazine, On the Snow magazine's Editor's Choice award, and Ski magazine's 2015 Gold Medal Gear award. 

Freeskier magazine writes, "Nordica's all- mountain camROCK provides a touch of rocker in the tip and tail while employing ample camber underfoot to rip around the hill. One of our testers couldn't agree more, saying, 'This ski is a charger and demands respect on and off trail.'"

SEE ALSO: The 15 Best Ski Resorts In America

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If it were simply a matter of transporting your boots to the car and driving to the resort, you wouldn’t need a bag. You could throw you boots in the back of the car with your coat, your helmet, your gloves, your glove liners, your hand warmers, your goggles…you get the idea.

That’s why you need a boot bag: to conveniently carry your boots and all the rest of this stuff.

In general, good boot bags share the same features. A water-resistant and breathable compartment for ski or snowboard boots, space for a helmet, gloves and spare clothing, a goggle compartment and pockets for all the necessary odds and ends like sunscreen and lip balm.

What distinguishes one bag from another is size, how it’s meant to be carried, and whether or not it’s airplane worthy.

The “Best” Boot Bags

When it comes to boot bags, we’ve tried a lot of them. We each have our favorite and they each serve different needs.

Transpack Ski Boot Backpacks

Probably the most versatile bag we own is the TRV Pro. Marketed for “the world traveler,” it’s a roomy backpack large enough for my 14 year-old son to pack everything he needs for a day or week of skiing, including his coat, ski pants, socks and base layers. And, although the bag is large at 3300 cubic inches, the backpack straps are easy to get on and even I find it comfortable when fully loaded.

Like all Transpack bags, two side pockets hold the boots next to a large central compartment for your helmet and gear. This Isosceles Storage System puts the weight of your boots on your sides and is designed to relieve stress on your back.

Transpack boot bags come in a variety of sizes, including the smaller Compact Pro (with 2400 cubic inches), and the Women’s XTW, which has most of the features of the other bags, but with groovier fabrics. The one drawback to the XTW is that it doesn’t close at the top with a zipper, but rather with a drawstring and buckle – a potential drawback if you’re flying and checking your bag. Transpack also makes an external boot and helmet bag (the Sidekick Pro) and junior models of their bags.

Transpack TRV Pro, $130

Transpack Compact Pro, $110

Transpack Women’s XTW, $90

Transpack Sidekick Pro, $120

The SkBoot Ski Boot Bag

The brainchild of Aussie skier Caroline Graham, the SkBoot Ski Boot Bag is an efficient wheeled bag for those who don’t like backpacks or who want to travel in style and ease.

The SkBoot bag comes in two sizes, both of which are large enough to hold a pair of ski boots and a helmet in the main compartment. There is also a removable padded laptop sleeve (when packing space is at a premium on a ski vacation), a fur lined goggle pouch, two side pockets for smaller items and a removable and roomy wet storage bag (think of putting your wet gear in here at the end of the day or before boarding a plane).

In addition to inline skate wheels and a retractable handle, which make rolling a breeze, there are straps on the back so that you can slide one SkBoot onto another. Or, slide the SkBoot onto your rolling luggage and only pull one bag.

I’ve tried the medium SkBoot Boot Bag and found that with some clever packing I could fit my boots, extra socks, helmet and gloves into the main compartment. Still, I think I’d go for the large SkBoot Boot Bag, to have surplus room for all the unexpected extras I seem to need.

While the SkBoot Boot Bag is designed with the traveler in mind, it is also useful from the car to the lodge and is easy for children to pull.

Medium SkBoot Ski Boot Bag, $119.95

Large SkBoot Ski Boot Bag, $129.95

High Sierra Ski Boot Bags

Looking for a bag that carries ski or snowboard boots, full stop? Check out the Bucket Boot Bag from High Sierra. A simple 18” x 14” x 9” bag with a top loading compartment, this bag meets airline carry-on requirements and has just enough room to fit a hat and gloves inside. A small pocket on the front holds your phone and car keys. The bag can be carried with a padded handle on top, or with adjustable backpack straps.

At the other end of the spectrum is the High Sierra 28” Wheeled Cargo Duffel. When our kids were young, these were our go-to bags. Why? Because with boot compartments on each end, a very roomy center compartment and an easy-to-pull design, we could pack one adult and one child per bag and the child could wheel everything to the lodge.

If you’re just packing for an adult, the boot pockets hold up to a men’s size 13 and there is enough room in the bag to pack for a long ski weekend.

I know. I’ve done it.

High Sierra Bucket Boot Bag, $110

High Sierra 28” Wheeled Cargo Duffel, $220.00

Last season’s styles and colors currently 50% off at HighSierra.com

SEE ALSO: 25 Mountains Everyone Should Ski In Their Lifetime

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If staying in a cable car 9,000 feet in the air sounds like a relaxing vacation to you, Airbnb may have you covered.

The tech startup that connects empty rooms and homes with people who would like to occupy them has announced a new contest for an exclusive stay in a gondola-turned luxury hotel room above the French Alps ski resort of Courchevel.

The Airbnb sleeps four and features two beds and a surprisingly cozy set up than any cable car has any right to be.

It all starts with a run up the ski hills via snowmobile, to the cable car. There, mulled wine and a typical Savoyard dinner of cheese fondue welcomes guests to their one-night digs.

You will then be able to spend the night in the cozy cable car overnight above Combe de Saulire, which is the highest point of the Courchevel resort.

Since the cable car will be in the station at the top of the mountain all night, the guests will be able to use the facilities in the station as well — including the washroom.

The next day, the car's occupants will be in the perfect position to lay first tracks over the fresh snow at dawn, before the lifts even start operating.

The contest is only choosing one lucky winner and the only way to enter is through the fake Airbnb listing, by writing a 100-word paragraph about why you should be chosen as the winner. The listing is available for one night only.

It's part of Airbnb's "Night At The.." series, which previously offered a night in a KLM plane in Amsterdam, an Ikea in Australia, and a bookstore in London.

SEE ALSO: The Best Airbnb Rentals In 18 Big Cities Around The US

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When you think of Southern California, you might not think about skiing, but Southern California is home to several ski areas and resorts.

At 8,000 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mt. Waterman Ski Area bills itself as the closest ski area for LA. The ski area still hasn't opened this season. If it doesn't open, it will be the fourth winter in a row that its been closed.

To stay afloat, the ski area has promoted summer activities, such as mountain biking, hiking and frisbee golf.

Beth Metcalf and her family, who own the ski area, say all the other ski areas and resorts in the region are hurting. Six other resorts in the Southern California—Bear Mountain, Snow Summit, Rim Nordic, Snow Valley Baldy and Mountain High—are all dealing with less snow.

Not only is climate change causing winters to be shorter and less predictable, but California is in the midst of a historic drought. Even if Mt. Waterman and other ski areas had the lower temperatures needed to make snow, it's becoming more and more expensive and unethical for resorts to pump out snow when mother nature doesn't deliver.

KCET reporter Derrick Shore asks Metcalf if she's "entertained the idea that years from now, maybe Mt. Waterman will only be a summer destination—that skiing will just not be happening." Metcalf says, "I really hope not. That would be a very sad thing."

According to climate scientist Neil Berg, snowfall in Southern California could be a thing of the past: "It's within the realm of reason that temperatures could be rising rapidly and high enough where we just don't have winters with snowfall events anymore. It's a scary and unfortunate possibility," said Berg.

Even though Metcalf hopes Mt. Waterman can still be a ski area, she is preparing for that very real possibility. She has secured the permit necessary from the U.S. Forest Service to operate in the spring, summer and fall. Metcalf wants to have music, art, small festivals, wine and beer tastings, and weddings.

The drought has much larger implications than its effect on recreational winter sports. Decreased snowpack threatens the water supply. How Southern California will get enough fresh water to supply its 10 million plus residents in Los Angeles alone is the question of the day.

"It's that snowpack that actually feeds the residents throughout the whole year. So the rain and snow storms we do get are precious and we have to maximize that resource before it's too late," says Shore.

As for businesses like Mt. Waterman that are already feeling the impacts of climate change, they are not idly sitting by. More than 1,000 companies, including more than 100 ski resorts and hundreds of businesses in California, have signed the Climate Declaration, which urges the public, policymakers and business leaders to tackle climate change.

Aspen Skiing Company's Sustainability Director, Matthew Hamilton, explains why his company signed the declaration: "The outdoor industry contributes $650 billion and 6.1 million jobs to the economy. Of this, snow-based recreation contributes $67 billion and 600,000 jobs. The changing climate has a direct impact on our industry, the economy and the livelihoods of many Americans."

Hamilton hopes that Aspen can lead by example. By integrating sustainability into Aspen's business plan and by publicly advocating for climate action, Hamilton hopes "to enact meaningful energy and climate legislation to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy and that our businesses are sustainable in the long term."

SEE ALSO: For the first time in recorded history San Francisco got literally no rain in January — the peak of the wet season

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Even captains of industry need to unwind from time to time. President Obama plays golf, Arianna Huffington likes to nap, and Rupert Murdoch meditates. For Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, it's skiing.

But the sport is not without its risks. Costolo has managed to injure himself on the very first day of a ski break – breaking his collarbone.

Still, he appears to be in good spirits, and announced the injury — where else? — on Twitter:

Back in 2009, he shared one of his golden rules for skiing on the social network. There's no word as to whether he broke that rule this time around:

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NOW WATCH: It Took One Crazy Weekend To Appreciate The Skill, Intensity, And Beauty Of Sailing

A skier plunged through the ice of a Siberian lake into freezing water. Everything that happened next was recorded on his GoPro camera.

Produced by Jason Gaines. Video courtesy of Caters News and Associated Press.

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In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of a successful sabotage campaign against the Nazis, members of the Minnesota National Guard reenacted the mission in Snaasa, Norway, the US Army reports.

The reenactment included a 12-mile cross-country ski trek that retraced the movements of US and Norwegian troops in 1945. The original WWII operation was a sabotage campaign aimed against the occupying Nazi force during the closing days of the war. 

By 1945, the Nazis had occupied Norway for five years and hundreds of thousands of German soldiers remained in the country. Eager to end the war in Europe, the US and Norwegian resistance members carried out a targeted campaign of destroying Norwegian railroads. The goal was to hinder movement so as to prevent the large detachment of Nazis from reinforcing German positions in central Europe. 

The special operations were carried out by Norwegian-speaking Americans from the 99th Infantry Battalion, which largely recruited from Minnesota and the Dakotas. These operators were trained by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, before uniting with Norwegian forces. 

The reenactment also included a mock demolition of the Jorstad railroad bridge. The exercise ended with a ceremony at a memorial near the bridge. 

Members of the Norwegian, US, and German armed forces attended the ceremony. It honored both the soldiers that carried out the sabotage, as well as allied troops who died hours later, on January 13, 1945, in an operation after a train derailed due to the destruction of the bridge. 

SEE ALSO: Here's a Marine's advice for braving the extreme cold

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If you’re a skier on Colorado’s Front Range, then you or someone you know has heard of Larry the boot fitter.

He’s a one-named legend that can make ski toes sing like Elvis made young women cry.

Tens of thousands of skiers have come to Larry to bare their soles. The most important thing to know when buying ski boots, says Larry, is the shape of your foot.

Today, the top ski boot companies are building boots that fit a larger swath of foot shapes, and that’s very good news for skiers. Now we have more boot styles to choose from; better, warmer technology; and all at very competitive prices.

If you’re looking to put some hip-shaking swing back into your skiing, here’s a look at the year’s hottest ski boots for men and women.  

Tecnica

Right now, several boot companies are honing in on boot technologies that provide a custom-like fit right out of the box. Tecnica’s Mach 1 line features Custom Adaptive Shape (CAS) thermo-customizable liner, which means you can heat it up and shape it to your feet. Next year, Tecnica is making CAS technology available in more boot models.

For Larry-wannabe’s, the Mach 1 shell features special material around the midfoot and ankles that you can easily grind away and the Tecnica Fit-Kit includes tailored patches that glue to the liner to reduce volume in critical areas. Shop Technica.

Atomic

Atomic is the first ski company to offer one-stop shopping for skis, boots, bindings, and poles. Last year Atomic introduced its already successful Hawk line with Memory Fit, a technology that lets you heat up the shell for five minutes and then form the boot around your foot for two minutes.

Put a cooling pack on the boot for another five minutes and, voilà, you have a customized shell. This year Atomic induced a wider version of Hawk. Shop Atomic.

Head

Lindsey Vonn was wearing Head ski boots when she smashed what many experts thought was an unbeatable World Cup winning record. So there’s that.

Another awesome advancement in ski boots is the flex index that assigns a number to indicate the flexibility of the boot. Racers and hardcore experts generally prefer stiffer boots (140), while flexible boots are more forgiving and comfortable for beginners (80). Head’s Raptor 140 RS shares some of the features as Lindsey’s boots, including spine flex buckles and a mack-daddy Booster strap. Shop Head.

Rossignol 

Ok, so some of my skier girl friends still ski in men’s boot. Don’t argue with them, that’s just the way these mountain women are going to have it. Period.

For women who do ski in women’s boot, the Rossignol’s AllTrack line fuses alpine boots performance with Alpine Touring (AT) functionality including a walk mode and rocker soles for hiking. The OptiSensor 3D Thinsulate Platinum liners make these some of the warmest boots on the market. Shop Rossignol.

Roxa

No ski boot has ever had a cult following like the Raichle Flex Comp, a boot favored by freestylers and built at Roxa’s Italian factory until the 1990s. Pro skier Seth Morrison later led an effort to reintroduce a likeness of the boot under the Full Tilt brand.

Roxa is now part of 4Frnt, a freestyler-owned ski company that’s stomped several milestones including the first ski made specifically for half pipes. Roxa’s FreeByrd is a traditional three-piece boot that resembles the Raichle Flex Comp, and the PowerWrap Intuition liner gives it a custom fit and look. Shop Roxa.

Lange

Bob Lange introduced the world's first plastic ski boots in 1962 and years later pioneered the front-entry design found on most of the boots we see on the slopes today.

The new RX110 was built with an improved tongue that wraps around the top of the foot while the cuff is specially designed to comfortably wrap around a women’s calves and the Max Warm Inside Thinsulate liners provides warm insulation. The RX110 comes in both low- and high-volumes models. Shop Lange.

Scott

Paul Parker, a boot specialist for Scott boots, has been breaking trail on backcountry skiing and boot technology for more than three decades. He made Couloir Magazine’s Hall of Fame for his contributions to backcountry skiing, and was a lead designer of the uber-popular Garmont boots, a company bought by Scott in 2012.

The G1 130 Powerfit WTR is Scott’s signature freeskiing boot with anatomical upper shell and integrated walk system. Shop Scott.

Zay Boots

Folks continue to pioneer new ideas in ski boots, and this year Zay Boots is coming to market with radial closure technology that’s said to give a better 360-degree fit around the foot. In the design, two aircraft-quality stainless steel cables wrap around the lower portion of the boot, eliminating buckles. One buckle on the back of the boot snaps the cables snug.

It’s an interesting concept that might be hugely appealing for kids who struggle with all the buckles, but the exposed cables are a little unsightly. Rex Deitesfeld, Zay owner and boot engineer, says he has more ideas up his sleeve. Check out Zay on Facebook.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best skis on the market

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Augmented reality has been around for years now, without really setting the world on fire. Remember Rocket Racing League? (Nope.)

Google Glass? (Yep.)

These days it feels like AR is the most obvious example of new tech which in blockbuster movies changes the world, but simply passes through the real world with not a lot more than a sharp initial buzz. It comes and goes with a collective “meh”, kind of like 3D TVs and cider.

But a new Indiegogo project hopes to bring AR to outdoor sports with a subtle touch that like its graphic overlays, enhances rather than overwhelms the experience.

RideOn CEO Alon Getz turned his experience into developing AR projects for the defence industry, in pilot heads-up displays and computer vision technology, toward making the slopes a more interactive place for skiers.

His faith in AR, as opposed to the “completely fabricated” VR experience which can frighten people, is that “it’s entirely real, and only enhanced with some virtual information”.

And RideOn seems to have everything going for it that generally makes a crowdfunding success worthwhile. For starters, it looks the goods on the outside:

It doesn’t try to do too much and doesn’t need any other gear, such as a smartphone or bluetooth headset, to interact with. Instead, it opts for a interface in the sky when you look up, and you select options simply by staring at them for a second:

Then it’s game on, like a real-life 1080 Snowboarding.

Getz’s favourite feature in the RideOn goggles is being able to spot your friends under all their expensive Hilfiger gear:

“One of the biggest problems with snowboarding in a group of people is getting lost from them,” he said.

“Then you have to take off your gloves, fish your map and phone from your pocket, and waste precious daylight freezing your fingers off to get back with your buddies.

“During our test trips with the prototypes, friend finder reduced this whole process to a glance at your friends in the far distance to pop up the floating ‘text/call’ button, and then another glance to send.

“But our Indiegogo backers cited the navigation features as what excited them most.”

You can also send your mates a quick catch-up message.

Hmm. How long is that queue time?

RideOn launched a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGogo on January 20. They targeted a goal of $75,000 (£50,000), which has been comfortably met and the bid has just surpassed $100,000 (£66,000). But with 17 days to go, it’s comfortably headed for production stage.

That lukewarm approach to a project that seems fairly foolproof could be indicative of the previously mentioned low buzz around AR, or maybe it’s just a case of too many backers getting burned by crowdfunding dreams that fail to deliver the reality. The problem a lot of crowdfunders face is the product they back and buy – particularly in the tech space – can go under after its initial run. Or they evolve into a much better V2 which sees the original backers left holding an expensive, clunky prototype.

Getz says RideOn is working hard to ensure it won’t happen with their goggles, offering software updates with new games and features once RideOn hits the slopes.

“For original backers, these updates will always be free,” he says. The IndieGogo products are also cheaper than the anticipated retail price, which will be “slightly more than a high-end GoPro”.

Getz admits there are similar products on the market, such as Oakley Airwaves and Recon Snow2, which also utilise a small heads-up display in the corner of their goggles.

They show useful information and stats, Getz says, but differ from augmented reality.

“Our goggles have embedded a wide, bright see-through display positioned directly over one eye, and projects graphics, information, and features as if their floating in the distance in front of you,” he says.

They’re also hands-free, in contrast to bulky external devices like wrist-bands or phones which have to be used with other smart goggles.

“Our vision is to bring navigation, communication, and fun AR features to the world of action sports in general,” Getz says.

“Motorcycle, aviation, scuba, and more outdoor activities that require participants to keep their eyes ahead and not use their hands — this is where AR tech is most needed, in our opinion.”

Here’s the goggles in action:

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Oukaimeden (Morocco) (AFP) - On a clear day, skiers can see the dunes of the Sahara desert shimmer in the distance from the Moroccan ski resort of Oukaimeden, the highest in North Africa.

The view is impressive, even on a cloudy day, but ski instructors say a lack of infrastructure and hotels stands in the way of growth.

The resort is located in the High Atlas Mountains, a mere 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the popular tourist destination of Marrakesh with its luxury hotels and pools.

Oukaimeden in southern Morocco is perched at an altitude of 3,600 metres (about 11,800 feet).

Joumayna, a visitor from Britain who took the only chairlift to climb 1,000 metres to the summit, said: "We are at the top, so close to the clouds. It's magnificent."

Six T-bar tows and 18 pistes were covered by a heavy carpet of snow this year for the first time in nearly two decades.

Local officials say a record number of visitors -- some 30,000 a day -- visited Oukaimeden during the first weekends of the winter season.

"But that is not enough. Much more needs to be done to build the infrastructure so that we can compete with Europe," said Mohamed Bennani, a ski instructor with the Royal Moroccan Ski Federation.

Bennani said the shortage of hotels and chalets resulted in most visitors coming from Marrakesh only to spend the day.

"It's like when people go to the beach for the day," he said.

Oukaimeden has only three small hotels, including one with 15 rooms run by a French family, and a handful of chalets.

Bouzekri Attifi, who runs a private school in Marrakesh, agrees Oukaimeden does not have enough beds for visitors.

He had taken 50 schoolchildren on a day trip to the resort, leaving Marrakesh at dawn.

"I had to urge the ski federation to provide us with a place where the children can have some breakfast before hitting the slopes," he said.

Paragliding to beat heat

Driving to Oukaimeden is a challenge, along a narrow road that winds its way up.

"The road's too small and it can be closed for four to five days when there's heavy snowfall," said ski instructor Hazzan Azougagh.

A weekend escape can turn into a nightmare when up to 5,000 cars head the same way.

Authorities in El Haouz province, where the resort is located, have built several open-air car parks and set up a bus station to help ease traffic.

Work is also underway to open a second road.

Locals make a modest but brisk business from November to March when, snow permitting, skiers spend money for lessons or to hire ski gear.

Off-season, local entrepreneurs offer trekkers the chance to climb up to Mount Tubkal, one of the highest peaks of the Atlas range reaching an altitude of 4,000 metres.

Paragliding is also being promoted, especially when temperatures in the Marrakesh plain below soar to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

"Everyone comes here. The French, the British ... really, everyone, including many Moroccans," said Brahim Chah, who also gives skiing lessons.

Dubai's Emaar group announced plans more than eight years ago to invest $1.4 billion in developing the resort together with 11 hotels and the world's highest altitude 18-hole golf course, but the project remains on standby.

Oukaimeden is one of two ski resorts in Morocco, along with Ifrane, a smaller, picturesque resort of the Middle Atlas near the northern city of Fez.

Tourism earnings are a backbone of Morocco's economy and the kingdom hopes to double the number of visitors from 10 million to 20 million by 2020.

SEE ALSO: The 15 best ski resorts in America

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Thanks to California's historic four-year drought and hottest winter ever, many Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts have been forced to close early this year.

With little snowfall and over 60-degree temperatures, the few resorts that remain open have little snow left for skiers.

A snowboarder at Lake Tahoe's Squaw Valley Ski Resort had to thread his way through patches of dirt on Saturday, March 21.

Where 16-year-old Jack Feick of Truckee was able to skim over a pond while wearing a T-shirt.

Others attempted to eke out the last days of ski season at Squaw Valley Ski Resort this weekend.

According to Curbed Ski, many nearby resorts have been affected by the drought.

Homewood Ski Resort has been closed since Feb. 23, while Sierra-at-Tahoe just announced it would be closing the lifts until (if) it gets more snow. Sierra, which normally closes at the end of April, hasn't had a March closure since the 1970s.

Other California ski areas, like Donner Ski Ranch, Badger Pass, Dodge Ridge, Mountain High, China Peak, Soda Springs, Mt. Baldy, Mount Shasta, and Tahoe Donner are all closed as well. 

The drought is so bad that Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a professor at UC Irvine, wrote in an LA Times op-ed that California would run out of water in a year.

While the bold statement isn't exactly accurate, California has recently been forced to take action.

"Last week, Governor Jerry Brown announced a $1 billion plan to aid communities most affected by the drought, and imposed restrictions on some aspects of personal use," according to The Atlantic. "With the state's snowpack at just 12% of normal, Californians figure to struggle more during the traditional dry summer months."

More than 1,000 companies, including more than 100 ski resorts and hundreds of businesses in California, have signed the Climate Declaration, which urges the public, policymakers, and business leaders to tackle climate change.

Aspen Skiing Company's Sustainability Director, Matthew Hamilton, explains why his company signed the declaration: "The outdoor industry contributes $650 billion and 6.1 million jobs to the economy. Of this, snow-based recreation contributes $67 billion and 600,000 jobs. The changing climate has a direct impact on our industry, the economy and the livelihoods of many Americans."

SEE ALSO: The 15 Best Ski Resorts In America

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NOW WATCH: GoPro footage of a skier plunging through the ice on Lake Baikal in Siberia

ECHO LAKE, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered officials Wednesday to impose statewide mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history as surveyors found the lowest snow level in the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 65 years of record-keeping.

Standing in dry, brown grass at a site that normally would be snow-covered this time of year, Brown announced he had signed an executive order requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to implement measures in cities and towns to cut the state's overall water usage by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels.

The move will affect residents, businesses, farmers and other users.

"We're in a historic drought and that demands unprecedented action," Brown said at a news conference at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada, where state water officials found no snow on the ground for the first time in their April manual survey of the snowpack. "We have to pull together and save water in every way we can."

After declaring a drought emergency in January 2014, Brown urged all Californians to cut water use by 20 percent from the previous year. Despite increasingly stringent regulations imposed on local water agencies by the state, overall water use has fallen by just half that amount, prompting Brown to order the stronger action by the water board.

"We're in a new era; the idea of your nice little green grass getting water every day, that's going to be a thing of the past," Brown said.

The executive order will require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to significantly cut water use; direct local governments to replace 50 million square feet of lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping; and create a temporary rebate program for consumers who replace old water-sucking appliances with more efficient ones.

It calls on local water agencies to be more aggressive in charging for high water use, including extra fees for the highest water consumption. It also requires farming communities to report more data on how much water they use to state regulators.

Brown's office said that will boost the state's ability to enforce laws against illegal water diversions and waste. Officials previously approved fines of up to $500 a day for water wasters, but few agencies have opted to issue them.

The order also prohibits new homes and developments from using drinkable water for irrigation if the structures lack water-efficient drip systems. In addition, the watering of decorative grasses on public street medians is banned.

The snow survey on Wednesday showed the statewide snowpack is equivalent to 5 percent of the historical average for April 1 and the lowest for that date since the state began record-keeping in 1950.

Snow supplies about a third of the state's water, and a lower snowpack means less water in California reservoirs to meet demand in summer and fall.

"It is such an unprecedented lack of snow, it is way, way below records," said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, at the snow survey site about 90 miles east of Sacramento.

Critics of the Democratic governor said his order does not go far enough to address agriculture — the biggest water user in California.

"In the midst of a severe drought, the governor continues to allow corporate farms and oil interests to deplete and pollute our precious groundwater resources that are crucial for saving water," Adam Scow, California director of the group Food & Water Watch, said in a written statement.

The order contains no water reduction target for farmers, who have let thousands of acres go fallow as the state and federal government slashed water deliveries from reservoirs. Instead, it requires many agricultural water suppliers to submit detailed drought management plans that include how much water they have and what they're doing to scale back.

After a drought in the previous decade, state officials acknowledged that some suppliers did not submit similar required plans. Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources, said the state will provide money to make sure the plans are written and may penalize those who do not comply.

The state is not aiming to go after water-guzzling crops such as almonds and rice the same way Brown has condemned lawns.

Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau, said farmers have already suffered deep cutbacks in water supply during the current drought.

"Agriculture has borne the brunt of the water shortages so far," he said.

In the past year, the state water board has imposed mandatory water-saving restrictions on urban users that prohibit sprinklers running off onto pavement, bans residents from watering lawns two days after rain, and bars restaurants from serving water unless customers ask for it.

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Skiing can happen, and should happen, anywhere there exists a slope with a smearing of snow.

It’s preferable if that smearing is three feet deep and the slope is something like the 6,000-foot vertical drop of British Columbia’s Revelstoke Mountain Resort. But fun can be had on any mountain, at any time.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to plan a trip to one of the hallowed spots in skiing, then all the better — because we’re here to help you.

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 best ski resorts in North America for 2016. To do that, we consulted the experts and data at ZRankings, which ranks 220 North American ski resorts on a bevy of factors, including snow quantity, snow quality, family friendliness, quality of terrain, luxury, and ski town ambiance.

For Business Insider, ZRankings put together a special algorithm geared toward the sensibilities of its readers. The algorithm includes some of the aforementioned factors as well as others, including whether the resort is part of a multi-resort pass and how easy it is to travel there.

For snowfall, ZRankings’ data accounts for not only the quality and quantity of the snow that falls at a resort, but also how well a mountain preserves that snow and keeps it cold, something that’s affected by slope aspects, latitude, and elevation. And like snowflakes, not every ski town is created equal. Some, like Park City and Aspen, boast spectacular restaurant lineups that can compete with tier 1 cities, and some, like Jackson Hole, have excellent air service, which makes travel easier on skiers. We took all of these nuances into account when compiling this list.

In weighing all of these factors, we calculate something known as the Pure Awesomeness Factor. This particular PAF is unique to Business Insider. It is the BIPAF. It should be heeded and feared.

However, we do recognize that skiers have different tastes and needs when it comes to their vacations. With that in mind, skiers can use ZRankings’ Perfect Resort Finder to create their own rankings.

Start planning now, because if El Niño comes through as predicted, and deposits what could be epic snowfalls across all of North America’s mountain ranges, it’s going to be an indelible ski season — one not to be missed.

Keep scrolling to see the top 10 ski resorts in North America for 2016.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most intense ski runs in the US

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10. Steamboat

BIPAF score: 91.36

As mainline resorts in Colorado go, there may be no better place to be in late January than Steamboat, as it gets one of the highest rankings in the state for snow volume, which means coverage is usually very solid during the first month of the year. It’s a rather low resort, elevation-wise, for Colorado, which keeps exertion levels down but makes the spring a little warmer and intense.

Steamboat Springs, the town, is one of the better true ski towns on the continent. It doesn’t back directly up to the resort, but it’s quite close with nearly ubiquitous free shuttles running at all hours of the day.

9. Beaver Creek

BIPAF score: 92.03

The Beav can be a sneaky destination for good snow when the rest of the world’s powder hunters seem to be descending on Vail, 20 minutes to the East on I-70. There are pure, long fall lines here, including that of Birds of Prey, the World Cup downhill track that will set your knees knocking. Sharpen your skis before sending it big here.

At the base, be on the lookout for the best chocolate chip cookies in the ski world. Oh, and they’re free. Beaver Creek gives families awesome options everywhere, including kid-friendly terrain, lifts, and little dipsy-doos in the woods. It’s ZRanking’s No. 1 rated resort for families.

8. Deer Valley

BIPAF score: 92.26

There can only be one champion in the derby for best ski resort food, and Deer Valley has defended this ground against all comers for decades. Those who visit here never go back to Sun Valley. The mountain’s turkey chili exemplifies what a ski resort lunch should be. Even the cookies and croissants, cooked at altitude, can stand with those from the best city bakeries.

The skiing here offers a lot of hidden pockets of preserved snow. The terrain off the Mayflower lift promises long, true fall lines and little competition for powder. The Daly Chutes off of the Empire lift offer some of the steepest in-bounds terrain anywhere. All of this comes with Park City’s main street in the offing, an easy shuttle over from the base area or mid-mountain, known as Silver Lake. Access here is among the best in skiing, just a 40-minute ride from Salt Lake’s airport, a hub for Delta.

Copper Peak is the tallest ski jump in the Western Hemisphere.

It's 24-stories high, and has a vertical drop of 364 feet. The jump can launch skiers brave enough to tackle it up to 500 feet.

Five-time X Games medalist Sammy Carlson was the first attempt the jump in 20 years. He did it for The Sammy C Project, a new movie about him directed and produced by Teton Gravity Research. Not only did Carlson manage to land the jump multiple times, one of those times, he spun off the jump backwards. He only took a spill once.

Now that's skill.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher narrowly avoided what would have been a scary and somewhat surreal accident during the World Cup slalom in Italy when a drone came tumbling out of the sky and crashed into the mountain right as Hirscher flew past.

Here's video (via Nick Zaccardi):

Hirscher still managed to take second in the event, which is pretty good when you also have to stave off stray, out-of-control drones mid-race. 

Hirscher seemed to take the near decapitation lightly, posting an Instagram photo afterward with the caption, "Heavy air traffic in Italy":

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So far, El Niño hasn't disappointed: there's been more rainfall in California, higher than average winter temperatures in the Northeast, and tons of early snowfall in the Sierras.

Now that winter is undoubtedly underway, we're rounding up the best places to celebrate the season.

Travel website Wanderbat.com compiled a list of the 20 best ski resorts in America. To determine the ranking, Wanderbat used their smart rating of the top ski resorts based on magazine awards, mountain size, terrain, and snowfall. 

Colorado and Utah dominate the list with a combined 15 of the top 20 resorts, followed by three in California, one in Wyoming and one in Montana.

Scroll through to find out what makes these mountain resorts some of the best winter destinations in the country.

SEE ALSO: 25 mountains everyone should ski in their lifetime

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20. Colorado's Winter Park Ski Resort is the closest major destination resort to Denver and has been operating for 75 years boasting 3,081 acres of award-winning terrain. Mary Jane Mountain, the resort's iconic ride, offers some of the best tree-skiing in the country.

Source:Winter Park Resort

19. Since opening the first ski lift in Utah in 1939, Alta Ski Resort has become a famed spot for high-altitude skiers (no snowboarders allowed). Located at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon just 25 miles from Salt Lake City, the resort combines traditional and modern amenities for the best in deep snow and terrain skiing.

Source: Alta

18. As one of Aspen's four mountains, Highlands is famous for its high percentage of double black expert terrain which includes the Highland Bowl. Highlands skiers lodge in the nearby hotels, rentals, and resorts in Aspen and Snowmass villages.

Source:Aspen Snowmass

Nestled between snow banks 10,900 feet above sea level at Highlands Mountain in Aspen, CO, sits a small cabin known as Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro.

Inside, hungry skiers feast on gourmet food, specifically, the European-style restaurant's specialty, Gruyère fondue.

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When expert skiers or snowboarders are looking for a challenge, one place they look is the Highland Bowl in Aspen, Colorado.

With its peak located 12,392 feet above sea level and 48-degree vertical climb required to get there, "The Bowl," as locals call it, is the perfect way to push skilled skiers.

On a recent trip to Highlands Mountain, we tried the hike for ourselves.

Story by Aly Weisman and editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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An apartment building with a 1,000-foot ski slope could be coming to Astana, Kazakhstan. A design for the building from Shokhan Mataibekov Architects was named a finalist at the World Architecture Festival.

This video shows what the outside-the-box building would look like if it ever became reality.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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Cloud Nine is a small, unassuming restaurant that is nestled between snow banks on top of Highlands Mountain in Aspen, Colorado.

From the outside, the restaurant appears to be a quiet cabin — but inside, it's a wild daytime party.

Towards the end of the 2 p.m. lunch seating, the music starts to blast, ski boot-wearing diners begin to dance on their chairs, and everyone starts spraying champagne at each other.

Hundreds of bottles are sprayed throughout the course of a single seating during peak ski season.

It's a wild scene unlike anything we have ever experienced.

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SEE ALSO: The best fondue in Colorado is at the top of a mountain

MORE: This rigorous climb up a Colorado mountain leads to the most beautiful skiing

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