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Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
Admin
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Nov 1, 2015
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27,298
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Reno

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,328
Location
The Bull City
Almost made the top ten WOOT WOOT!
1. New York: 48

2. Michigan: 42

3. Wisconsin & Colorado: 30 each

4. California: 29

5. New Hampshire & Pennsylvania: 26 each

6. Vermont: 24

7. Idaho & Maine: 17 each

8. Washington & Minnesota: 16

9. Montana & Utah: 14 each

10. Oregon & Massachusetts: 13 each

11. Wyoming, New Mexico & Alaska: 9 each

12. North Carolina, Connecticut & Illinois: 6 each

13. Virginia, West Virginia & Ohio: 5 each

14. Nevada, Arizona & Iowa: 4 each

15. North Dakota & South Dakota: 3 each

16. New Jersey, Indiana & Missouri: 2 each

17. Alabama, Maryland, Rhode Island, & Tennessee: 1 each

Skiable acres (inbounds) might tell a different story.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
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16,328
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The Bull City
Or ski areas per 100 people.

Boone/Blowing Rock would do well there at the county level.. Three within about 25 miles of each other,,, was 4 until the town board of kill Devil Hills decided (*&(^()^)(*%(*(*() golf was more important to the community than the ski hill was..
 

Stev

Orange Mocha Frappuccino
Skier
Joined
Nov 15, 2015
Posts
778
Location
Mt. Sputnik, NV
Boone/Blowing Rock would do well there at the county level.. Three within about 25 miles of each other,,, was 4 until the town board of kill Devil Hills decided (*&(^()^)(*%(*(*() golf was more important to the community than the ski hill was..

Too bad they couldn't do both like Villa Olivia in Illinois.

I experienced a powder night there in 2014.
IMG14915005397325861227561178669397oC.jpg

If you look closely you can can see my fresh tracks on one of my "sidecountry" runs:
IMG14978795397383961221751148065061oCR.jpg

It was a bit cold, so the snow was light.
IMG857195539732266122788477763232oC.jpg
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
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Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,328
Location
The Bull City
Too bad they couldn't do both like Villa Olivia in Illinois.

I experienced a powder night there in 2014.
IMG14915005397325861227561178669397oC.jpg

If you look closely you can can see my fresh tracks on one of my "sidecountry" runs:
IMG14978795397383961221751148065061oCR.jpg

It was a bit cold, so the snow was light.
IMG857195539732266122788477763232oC.jpg

Meh, there are still three other areas there, two of them above 5,000 feet elevation. Couple powder days a year up there but a three hour drive for me. FWIW I learned to ski powder at Buck Hill, MN. Three turns fro summit to base then trudge through the lift corral again LOL
 

Muleski

So much better than a pro
Inactive
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Posts
5,243
Location
North of Boston
I've seen that 48 figure for New York, and having spent a fair amount of time all over the state, it just never ceases to amaze me. Don't really know why, as there are a LOT of very small areas sprinkled all over the state. Michigan with 42 is equally "impressive."
 

luliski

Making fresh tracks
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May 17, 2017
Posts
2,557
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California
Too bad they couldn't do both like Villa Olivia in Illinois.

I experienced a powder night there in 2014.
IMG14915005397325861227561178669397oC.jpg

If you look closely you can can see my fresh tracks on one of my "sidecountry" runs:
IMG14978795397383961221751148065061oCR.jpg

It was a bit cold, so the snow was light.
IMG857195539732266122788477763232oC.jpg
There's only one hill there, right? Depressing hill for me when my family moved from Switzerland to the Chicago suburbs. But I did learn to catch air there, as that's all I did when I skied there.
 

Jim McDonald

愛スキー
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Nov 15, 2015
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2,101
Location
Tokyo
I think that list would look very different ranked by skiable area per 1,000 people :rolleyes:
 

Ken_R

Living the Dream
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Feb 10, 2016
Posts
5,775
Location
Denver, CO
Utah could use more ski areas... surprising it only has 14. I thought there were more. The high numbers in Michigan and Wisconsin surprised me too geeez!
 

New2

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
May 3, 2017
Posts
728
Location
Spokane
14. Nevada, Arizona & Iowa: 4 each
.

Did they count Heavenly as only California? Or did Elko Sno Bowl fail to open last season (OnTheSnow reports they were open 19 days last season, but I'm not sure that's reliable)? I'm pretty certain it would've been newsworthy if Diamond Peak, Mount Rose, or Lee Canyon hadn't opened... so I think it must be either Heavenly or Elko that isn't in this count.

Utah could use more ski areas... surprising it only has 14. I thought there were more. The high numbers in Michigan and Wisconsin surprised me too geeez!

Well, looks like Wasatch Peaks Ranch is still on the market, and they've even knocked $7 million off the asking price... maybe it's time for you to buy and open Utah's 15th ski area!
 

noncrazycanuck

Out on the slopes
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Apr 27, 2017
Posts
1,464
if anyone is interested

last time I checked B.C. has 36 lift served areas, our population is under 5 million
Alberta has another 31 and a slightly smaller population.

Around half would be considered a destination resort. Many of the others have great skiing but are more of a day area.
This doesn't included the many Cat and Heli operations.
 

Bad Bob

I golf worse than I ski.
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Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
5,843
Location
West of CDA South of Canada
I am all about the double digit states in Column "E". A large crowd is just not mandatory.

upload_2017-7-17_18-14-43-png.26819
 

Laurel Hill Crazie

AKA Rob Davis
Skier
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Nov 13, 2015
Posts
1,264
Location
Keystone State
Pennsylvania should have sole possession of 5th place with 27 resorts when you include Laurel Mountain. Just saying. No, no wait, Tenney Mountain reopened in NH last years too, back to a tie.
 

K2 Rat

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Jul 4, 2017
Posts
482
I have skied 20 different areas in New York and it is amazing to think that there 28 more out there. So many small local community ski areas and great to see these are still able to keep operating.
 

BS Slarver

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 20, 2015
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Biggest skiing in America
As a newyorka and believe me, never in a million years did I think I would be saying that ?!?

Anyway.... I believe if you total all of the NY ski area skiable terrain it's smaller than Big Sky.

Is there a ranking of states by skiable lift access acreage ?
 

Mendieta

Master of Snowplow
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SF Bay Area, CA, USA
Anyway.... I believe if you total all of the NY ski area skiable terrain it's smaller than Big Sky.

Is there a ranking of states by skiable lift access acreage ?

It would be nice to see that. However, as @DaveM pointed out at the never-skied-before thread, and I think @K2 Rat hinted above, 48 smaller hills spread around the state provide better value to the general population than two giant ones with giant acreage. I remember reading that many Olympian athletes started training as children in tiny, local hills. If it is a few blocks away, you can simply ski every day, after school. That's priceless!

Not that there would be anything wrong with 48 giant areas, if you can get them :) But there is an intrinsic value in the number of resorts/areas, per se.
 

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