Fairbanks

With barely an inch on the ground, it would have been hard to scrape up enough to make a snowball. And yet there it was, 30k of remarkably groomed trails. The crazy thing about the Birch Hill Cross Country Ski Area in Fairbanks, Alaska is how little snow accumulation it takes for the skiing to be great. The trail surfaces are very smooth, and mostly covered with organic peat, so skis really only need a...