These sites aren't sanctioned by any determined faith. They simply provide the subsistence and potential for participating in one of the world's greatest winter playgrounds.

What makes up the criteria for a great ski run? For some it's launching into a rowdy chimney chute that makes the hair stand up on the back of the neck. For others it's pleasurable goggle tanning from sauntering down mousy terrain. For most, memorable slopes include view, favorable snow surface, a variety of lines, history, but most of all the exceptional fun of sliding and gliding down. Here's one person's fun-meter rating of six Tahoe runs that can be done without a sled ride courtesy of the patrol people.

High Traverse (Alpine Meadows)
Rating: Black Diamond
Vertical Drop: 1,500
Average Pitch: 25 degrees
Slope length: 3,500 feet long
Access: Summit Six Chair, Sherwood Express

On warmer days, the slopes of the High Traverse offer a harvest of springtime-type fun and arguably deliver the best skiing in the Tahoe Basin, perhaps the country, especially when Sierra Nevada snow and California sunshine combine to create the perfect corn snow. From Ward Peak's 8,637 summit, go skier's right and over the southern ridge into Ward Canyon. The short, well-traveled traverse accesses the Sherwood Bowls that include Sun Bowl, Big Bend Bowl, SP Bowl, and South Face. They stretch towards Twin Peaks in a beautiful arc of Lake Tahoe scenery. Wide-open, steep, and with more than 600 acres to choose from, the High Traverse area makes for a skiing Mecca. Oh, by the way, it_s not too bad on powder days either. "It requires a little bit of a hike, but once you arrive you_ve got a front-row view of Lake Tahoe, Twin Peaks, and the Granite Chief Wilderness," explains Alpine's Rachel Woods. "Those untracked powder lines sparkle like fireflies in the morning sunrise."

Crystal Ridge (Diamond Peak)
Rating: Blue Square
Vertical Drop: 1,475
Average Pitch: 20 degrees
Slope Length: 1.5 miles
Access: Crystal Express

Incline Village occupies the most northern niche of Lake Tahoe. Originally, the town received its name from the road grade that was used to ferry timber down into the lake during the 1800s. A century later, the same grade is being used to carry skiers up and down its slope after the Boise-Cascade Corporation developed the golf course and ski resort now called Diamond Peak. From the top of 8,540-foot Diamond Peak, Crystal Ridge descends into a full fare buffet of rolling shoulders and ticklish carving. The well-manicured slope cradles the novice to the advanced and plummets towards the lake in jaw dropping splendor. Along the way skiers and riders can pop into half a dozen black diamond runs and nifty shots through the timber that travel back to the Crystal Express high speed quad.

Rainbow Ridge (Homewood Mountain Resort)
Rating: Green Circle
Vertical Drop: 800
Average Pitch: 15 degrees
Slope Length: 3,700 feet
Access: The Quad, Ellis Triple

In 1909, Arthur Jost built a small pier and hotel at the water's edge five miles south of Tahoe City in the evening shadows of Ellis Peak. He called his friendly resort "Homewood." It was all the name implies. Far from the maddening crowd, Homewood_s spectacular scenery can be explored at leisure. Incomparable views are discovered schussing the soothing terrain of Rainbow Ridge. Roaming from its 7,880 summit over its playful slope leads towards the delft blue of Lake Tahoe where one can experience restorative solitude or marvel at kaleidoscopic displays of color.

The more rowdy can plunge off Crystal Ridge at several black diamond runs that lead towards the Ellis Chair. More moderate slopes are discovered descending north towards The Quad chairlift. "Rainbow Ridge is comfort food and sort of the main artery of the resort," says one veteran skier. "And the lake views simply can't be matched anywhere."

Ironhorse (Northstar-At-Tahoe)
Rating: Black Diamond
Vertical Drop: 1,830
Average Pitch: 31 degrees
Slope Length _ 4,800
Access: Backside Express

It was in 1983 that Northstar decided to flex its muscles for the more advanced by installing a chair off the backside of 8,610-foot Mount Pluto's tree-filled slopes. Once the site of a historic logging camp, the terrain's forested vistas offer calming panoramas of Martis Valley, Donner Summit, and Castle Peak. Eight black diamond tree-lined runs dwell alongside each other in a healthy tonic of mile-long steeps, cruisers, bumps and manicured boulevards tilted just enough for ego boosting turns. Each is a screamer with sustained pitch for arcing high-speed, giant slalom turns. Of all these, Ironhorse trumpets an acme of bump-free skiing and riding that makes the quads quiver and smiles beam. "It_s a ripper," says Iris Lazzereschi, a member of Northstar_s Freeride Team. "To do it non-stop is a wild ride."

The Nose to Hogsback (Palisades Tahoe)
-Rating: Black Diamond
-Vertical drop: 890 feet
-Average pitch: 40 degrees
- 1150 feet long
-Access: Headwall Chairlift

In 1952 Palisades Tahoe installed the resort's second chairlift up the eastern headwall of Squaw Peak. Called the "Jigback Tram" the gas-operated, timber towered tramway opened up 360 degrees of world-class terrain. Highlighted by cobalt views of Lake Tahoe and the spine of the Northern Sierra Nevada, today's high-speed, detachable, six-person chair jets enthusiasts to an array of black diamond and double black diamond runs. The Nose to Hogsback is a ridge that separates the North Bowl from the Face of Headwall. Pitchy and with a variety of lines, skiers and riders carve turns along the ridge or on either side of it. Near its bottom run out, the milder upper portion of the ridge drops off suddenly into the steep eye-popping Hogsback. "You have to commit yourself to the slope before you actually see it," says Warren Miller's veteran cameraman, Tom Day. "But after a couple of turns the rest of the run comes into view and anxieties give way to exultation."

The Silver Belt (Sugar Bowl)
Rating: Black Diamond
Vertical Drop: 1,400
Average Pitch: 38 degrees
Slope length: 1.2 miles
Access: Mt. Lincoln Express

For thirty years, Sugar Bowl's Silver Belt race embraced global proportions, and at its peak, it was one of the premier skiing events in the world. Surrounded by views of the Pacific Crest and the American River Gorge, the historic giant slalom began at the top of Mount Lincoln. Racers descended from a steep start straight down through a large gully, and below into a sheltered natural basin. Eventually, the course would be officially rated the steepest race terrain in California, and the fifth most difficult course in North America. "The course was very European in design, meaning that it followed the actual terrain of the mountain. It offered a lot of variety," explains Olympic Bronze medalist Greg Jones who won the event in 1975. Today, visitors can check their speed and have fun snaking down its gully, or climbing the walls into perfectly spaced timber before sweeping down a vaulted face into the smooth-sloped meadow.