The web has revolutionised the way we think about skiing and snowboarding. For anyone who hasn't tried a holiday in the mountains, the vast amount of information on the internet can really demystify the whole concept of strapping a plank or two to your feet and throwing yourself headlong down a vertiginous slope.

It has also helped cut the cost of what many view as an expensive holiday. Flights to mountain gateway airports are now cheaper than ever, thanks to low cost carriers who use the web as their preferred shopfront, while package prices have been held in check by powerful search engines that enable you to compare the cost of holidays in an instant.

The internet has also allowed snowboarders and skiers to share their experiences with everyone else. So if you want to find a cheap holiday, detailed information on why, where and when to go or just some video clips of people wiping out spectacularly, check out our favourite snow sites.

If there are sites that you want us to look at, let us know using the comment form.

1 Directski was one of the first internet-only tour operators and you can tell when you visit its slick site. Since launch in 2000, the company has grown rapidly and now offers holidays in ten countries, including the most popular resorts among British and Irish skiers. The company has done so well it recently bought specialist ski travel agency Ski McNeill, adding another string to its bow.

It is one of the easiest and fastest sites to book the key elements of a ski package, including accommodation, transfers, equipment hire, instruction, lift passes and insurance. One of the best features is the ability for groups to book online. Once the group leader has made a booking, each member of the party can then pay their balance individually. Unlike some sites, it also allows you to pay a deposit upfront and then the balance a couple of months before your departure.

2 Igluski has established itself as the most visited ski travel agency on the web, thanks to the ability to search across a wide range of tour operator holidays and ski accommodation. The most powerful feature is the holiday search engine, where you can specify your departure airport, the country and resort you want to visit, range of dates and the type of property you want to stay in - all of which are optional.

There is also a useful table showing the best seven night chalet deals in five top resorts at Christmas, New Year, half term and Easter. Igluski also has some excellent deals, ranging from discounts on holiday prices and lift passes to free ski and boot hire. Also useful is a tool for group leaders, which searches the firm's database for the best group discounts.

3 If you have dreamed the dream of becoming a ski bum, Natives is the site to make it happen. The site lists hundreds of jobs in the mountains, ranging from casual cleaners and bar tenders to IT staff and resort managers. It also gives no-holds-barred accounts of what life in a resort is actually like. As the site says - "don't say we didn't warn you". The site also has a frequently updated news service, with stories gathered from a network of Natives reporters in key resorts. Much of the information is geared towards resort staff but if you want to make your Alpine dream come true and work a 'season' this is the place to go.

4 The most respected resource on the web for off-piste advice and information is PisteHors, run by David George. The best thing about this site is that it avoids the preachy tone used in much that is written about off-piste. The site runs breaking ski and snowboard news, with an off-piste slant, throughout the year with stories popping up every couple of days. There is also an excellent section on avalanches, with thorough coverage on how they occur, how to avoid them and how to rescue someone caught in an avalanche. The site is unashamedly focused on France, particularly the smaller resorts, and includes some detailed reviews, including off-piste routes to try.

5 Patrick Thorne, aka Snowhunter, has spent the last couple of years building the finest database on the winter sports industry's efforts to go green. Save Our Snow lets you find out whether your chosen resort has waste recycling, traffic reduction and green building policies and gives each resort a star rating for its green credentials. Visit the site and find out why Saas Fee and Lech are five-star resorts and Bulgaria's three major resorts all boast just a single star. Nice work fella.

6 Skibonk is how skiing looks in the Web 2.0 world. Central to the site is a mash-up of Google mapping and ski resort information, such as the snow conditions, the number of lifts and runs open. The advantage of this approach is that if you're looking for somewhere to go at short notice, you can quickly compare resorts to choose the on with the best conditions. It's also useful if you plan to have a car and plan to do a tour of a number of resorts as you can fairly quickly. A dropdown menu at the right allows you to change the tabular display to show a snow forecast, lift pass prices and key resort information like amount of vertical and the number of terrain parks. You can also drill down for richer information by clicking on the skier icon representing each resort. This gives you a link to the resort's website, a piste map and user reviews.

7 While many believe that the Ski Club of Great Britain clings desperately to the past, its website is actually rather snazzy. There's a lively news section, resort information taken from the Great Skiing and Snowboarding Guide and, perhaps its most popular feature, snow reports. There are two types of report - one where the figures are provided by the resorts and the other where they are provided by the club's reps in the resorts, with the latter being perhaps a little less exaggerated. It's also a good place to come to find out which tour operators offer the type of holiday you are interested in - you can search the Ski Club's database by lots of different criteria to find the right holiday. To access some of the most interesting parts of the site - historical snow reports from the last 13 seasons, substantial discounts on holidays and gear and so on - you have to be a member of the Ski Club but it's worth the investment - currently around £50 a year for individuals and £75 for families.

8 Snow Forecast does exactly what it says on the tin. But if you are a bit of a geek when it comes to snow conditions, this is the place to go. The mapping has improved dramatically recently and now you can see resort areas in great detail, with roads, rivers and altitude contours marked. A moveable crosshair allows you to highlight particular locations on the map. Snowfall, either past, present or future, is shown through colour coding. The false colours take some getting used to but after a while the colours allow you to see instantly the slopes with the most snow. Like any forecasting, there is an element of guesstimation but even so it's the most powerful snow conditions resource on the web.

9 Internet forums and bulletin boards on specialist subjects can be dangerous ground for the unwary. While there are undoubtedly users like that on snowHeads, it is the liveliest discussion forum on all skiing and snowboarding matters on the web. There is an inevitable core group of addicts who seem to have little to do with their lives other than swap in-jokes and trade insults but many are helpful and knowledgeable when asked polite questions. That aside, if you want the inside track on what's happening in the ski world and for expert advice on key issues, this is the place to come. But don't forget to check out the FAQ first.

10 WorldSki has dramatically improved its website for the coming season. The site is very easy to navigate and is modern and readable. Holiday search is at the heart of the site. New for 2006/07 is a database of hotels, apartments and chalets around the world which can be booked on an accommodation-only basis - handy if you have booked low-cost flights elsewhere. The only thing missing is real-time availability and booking. It has also spruced up its package holiday search to allow you to compare the prices for peak weeks at three different resorts on the same screen. You can also book things like lift passes, ski hire and insurance online.

While the following are not winter sports specific sites, they are well worth a visit if you are planning a holiday in the mountains:

11 www.skyscanner.net - powerful search engine for the cheapest fares to gateway airports like Geneva and Turin on both low-cost carriers and scheduled airlines
12 www.cheap4ferries.co.uk - if you want to drive down to the Alps, this site lets you compare the cost of ferry crossings from all the different cross-Channel companies, including Eurotunnel
13 www.tripadvisor.co.uk - there are thousands of independent reviews relating to resorts and accommodation on this powerful social networking site. Check out where you plan to go before it's too late
14 www.youtube.com - the ubiquitous video sharing site has 15,000 snowboarding and 11,000 skiing clips, including some of the most hilarious wipe-outs of all time
15 www.holiday-rentals.co.uk - ideal for looking for self-catering accommodation in the mountains, particularly in France

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