If you were lucky enough to be in the Canadian ski resort of Whistler on April 2 this year, you would have encountered amazing skiing conditions.

If you follow events at the resort on Twitter, you would have also known that there had been 5cm of snow overnight, that the conditions in the resort’s Symphony Bowl were spectacular and seen a picture of someone enjoying the powder.

The real-time nature of the microblogging site appeals particularly to skiers and snowboarders who are eager to know what conditions are like on the slopes.

Whistler is a prolific resort on Twitter (@WhistlerBlckcmb). It tweets four or five times a day and has more than 5,000 followers. If you have not used Twitter, take the username, drop the @ symbol and visit www.twitter.com/username, for example, @WhistlerBlckcmb is at www.twitter.com/WhistlerBlckcmb.

Another North American resort that uses Twitter well is Breckenridge in Colorado (@breckenridgemtn), a popular resort with British visitors. It has almost 2,000 followers and tweets regularly about snow conditions and posts resort pictures taken that day. It also does giveaways. If you were following the resort’s feed on April 19, you would know that someone wearing a black and grey jacket was at the bottom of Chair E giving away a pair of top-end K2 skis.

European resorts have been left behind in the Twitter stakes by their North American counterparts, which is amazing when you consider that it allows tourist boards to connect with visitors in resorts.

The French resorts of Serre Chevalier (@serrechevalier) and Les Arcs (@lesarcs) are two of the handful of resorts that have taken steps beyond simply setting up an account. Kitzbühel (@Kitzbuehel) in Austria is also tweeting but in German.

Sometimes it is left to companies or individuals in resorts to do the tweeting. In La Tania in France’s Three Valleys, the information website latania.co.uk is more active on Twitter (@La_Tania) than the tourist board.

Ten of the best

There are plenty of winter sports enthusiasts on Twitter. Here is our top ten (in alphabetical order):

@CherryPow

@skifamille

@GONEboarding

@Skiconcierge

@skiguru61

@SkiHame

@Snowbrainer

@Snowmenu

@TheSkiClub

@welove2ski

The Times ski and snowboard team is also on Twitter at @skitimes