What is your favorite ski camera?

+1 for the Lumix DMC-TS2. Tough, durable, been into the negatives (F) and works fine.

-2 for Sony. I baby my cameras, but the Sony's just stop working. 1 week for first, 2 years for replacement. Maybe I expect too much.

I wasn't meaning to imply that the olympus has an edge over other water/shock proof cameras. It's just the only one I have experiance with, and can vouch for.

By baby I am refering to cameras that need lens caps and there own protective case. Didn't mean it in a bad way... just some things need more care then others. I travel with a few people who bring big technical cameras. Doesn't bother me none to stop and wait a minute while they do their thing. They are usually waiting around on me half the time anyways.

Canon G9

PROS:
Built like a tank.
Great pictures except in low light.
Shoots RAW or JPEG
For fast moving objects I use JPEG at 6 MP (can be set as one of the two Custom programs)
Long lasting battery
Optical viewfinder

CONS:
ISO button often shifts when taken from a camera bag (very annoying)
Shutter delay (nothing out of the ordinary within its class)
Poor high ISO performance (nothing out of the ordinary within its class)

Think about all the things you need it for...

I have too many cameras and I still don't feel like I have what I need. I have a cheap Canon Powershot that takes pretty good pics for something so small. I bought a Casio high speed camera that does really cool slow motion video and does high speed bursts but otherwise takes poor quality photos, and I have my entry level DSLR...a Nikon D40.

If I were going to do it all over again, I'd get a DSLR that shoots HD Video and a cheep pocket cam. I'd probably go with Canon for both.

Capturing skiing in HD video from a DSLR is pretty sweet. If you've seen any of the footage Ian Provo has done with the Canon 5D you know what I am talking about. I would expect you'd still get great quality video at a fraction of the price with the EOS Rebel T1i EF-S, but I havn't used it.

If you're going for the one camera quiver, I'd go with the Canon Powershot G11.

I have an Olympus 6000 tough and wouldn't recommend it:

The software is buggy:
Panoramic mode doesn't work (very frustrating)
The battery indicator always reads full (until it starts blinking red and shuts down)

The housing isn't all that:
I've cracked the LCD screen
Scratched the lens in multiple places (the auto cover on the lens traps dirt and grit so when it opens/closes it scratches the lens).
Found water in the battery compartment
The socket where you insert the cord to transfer pics to a computer has worked itself loose from the body (on the inside) so it doesn't work (I have to remove the SD card and use a card reader). 

All this in a year! I do a lot of sea kayaking and most of the damage has come from that, but still, I'm not using it as a baseball or anything so it should be a tad "tougher"

Look for a camera that's at least water resistant since it will collect a lot of condensation if you keep it in a gortex jacket or pants pocket while skinning.

I'd be sure it has an optical viewfinder. Most compacts nowadays don't have one, and it's tough to see the LCD screen in bright light.