You can ski near Las Vegas at Lee Canyon on Mount Charleston, about 35 miles northwest of the city and roughly a 45-minute drive from the Strip. Its base sits around 8,500 feet and it runs a genuine winter season, typically from late December into March.

Mount Charleston runs 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than Las Vegas because of the elevation gain — the valley floor is around 2,000 feet and the canyon reaches past 8,000. That gap is why locals drive up in July as much as in January, leaving 105-degree heat for temperatures in the seventies.