Being that you are a skier (as I am), assuming you want "big mountain" skiing, besides CO, I would consider Utah (Salt Lake City area, maybe Ogden Valley) where there's some fabulous skiing. If there were not a drought, I would consider Nevada near the California border outside of Lake Tahoe. Wyoming in/near Jackson would be great too (very red state). There are more. Denver, Salt Lake and Reno are all good airports. Jackson, not so great and pretty expensive.