Fast friends, the three skied around trees and screamed down the wide groomed runs.

This is the perfect technique on groomed runs, a pleasure of efficiency.

The longest continuous groomed run is Little Blue Ridge Run, at 1.7 miles (2.7 km).

Freeride includes snowboarding on any available ground, which most often includes groomed runs.

Its crown also wore a watch cap of fog, so we spent the hours exploring the lower mountain's boulevardlike groomed runs.

After a few scrapes in a steep basin called Powder Gulch, we returned to the front face and its groomed runs.

There it was - a groomed intermediate run only steps away, with nothing more menacing than a few scattered moguls.

At the other extreme, an easy groomed run, Long Squaw, takes five miles to spiral around the back of the mountain.

There are 135 miles of groomed runs.

More than ever this holiday season I advise skiers and snowboarders to leave groomed runs only in the company of a qualified mountain guide.