Every September I start to get the ball rolling on planning our big winter snowboarding trip. For the past two years, we've gone to Whistler; this year, we're thinking of going to the Banff area. The hills are a bit farther in the Banff area, but the scenery is spectacular (the Rockies and Coastal Mountain ranges look very different) and there are several world-class resorts to choose from.

As the organizer of these trips. I have found that by far the biggest challenge in planning them is accomodation. We're usually a group of five to seven people, and we rent a house instead of getting hotel rooms; it's cheaper, and lets you drink/cook in the comfort of a house every once in a while. For the last two years I've used a nifty site called rentalo.com to find a suitable house for these trips, and have been pleased with the results both times. (I have mentioned this site previously.) I just put in a request for Banff vacation properties, and honestly expect several by the time I go to bed last night. They tend to be personalized emails from property owners offering me their vacation homes for my specified period. It's pretty neat. And did I mention it's free? Really, if you're looking for any sort of rental vacation worldwide it's worth checking out. Worst-case scenario: you don't pick any. I've done that too.