Resort Rankings by Skier Type

[Lofcaudio]

You love a list don't you! I remember you started something like this in Epicski in previous years.

My name is Lofcaudio and I'm a list-a-holic. Guilty as charged.

I assume you've not been to Mammoth as it should appear in a few of your lists too (I reckon it would crack your top 10 favourites).

Correct. It's #2 on my bucket list for North American resorts I've never been to behind Big Sky. (See...I've got a list for everything.)

I'm big on scenery. Care to give your opinion on that?

1. Whistler/Blackcomb
2. Telluride
3. Aspen Highlands
4. Alta
5. Grand Targhee (when not fogged in...good luck)

Speaking of Lake Louise...that would be #3 on my bucket list.

I'm expecting Jackson will do it for me this winter scenery wise too (it would want to as I'm expecting it will be too much mountain for my intermediate family).

Jackson Hole can be a challenge for timid intermediates as the whole mountain is pretty steep. Grand Targhee is very intermediate-friendly.

 

[Bigtinnie]

The Saddle was ungroomed for the Gathering last year, and was shin or knee deep all over... for a bunch of us in the intermediate group it was the deepest snow we'd ever been in. Very different than skiing it as a groomer I'd imagine.

Nice rankings... As an intermediate who's only been to a few western places, I think this is how I'd rank the places I've been as "best for intermediates". (Keeping in mind I've only skied 3 days max at any of these places, so they are likely pretty condition dependent)... I also split out the 4 Aspen mountains and W/B separately :

1. Snowmass
2. Vail
3. Whistler
4. Blackcomb
5. Mammoth
6. Aspen Highlands
7. Copper
8. Aspen Mountain
9. Alpine Meadows
10. Squaw Valley
11. Buttermilk

I'm planning to add Snowbasin, Alta, Snowbird, and Taos to the list this year.

You're gonna love Alta/Snowbird!

 

[Monique]

Skiing wise, Silverton's terrain is about on par with Taos. It's the scampering around stuff that is way sketchier. Not stating my opinion. Just the general consensus among the Taos senior instructors.

I think you need to be an "expert" just to be willing to ride Silverton's lift with a pack in your lap, no bar, and lots of distance between you and the ground.

Or maybe that's "stupid" and "entirely too trusting" rather than "expert."

 

[KingGrump]

Or maybe that's "stupid" and "entirely too trusting" rather than "expert."

Yeah, probably more that.

That line doesn't really describe me in full. Yes, I'm stupid just not the trusting kind. Been a New Yorker way too long.

 

[Jilly]

As @KingGrump noticed....nothing in the east listed. Really?

 

[KingGrump]

As @KingGrump noticed....nothing in the east listed. Really?

Not sure whether you missed my east list in post #19.
I'll post it again.


Can only list the places I have been to recently.

Killington
Stowe
Sunday River

IMO, the two resorts on my western listed is a level above the 3 in my eastern list.

 

[Started at 53]

I see no love for Deer Valley. Of course I am a newbie, but @Mrs. 53 has skied the vast majority of the western resorts and DV is her favorite. I am trying to talk her into a long "weekend" (we like weekdays actually) at Sun Valley.

Would strongly consider going back to Big Sky for a Gathering.

I just checked out Big Sky on FATMAPS and it looks damn good.

I am likely free from work during this year's Utah Gathering, but looking at Alta it is just a bit too advanced for me at this point.

 

[KingGrump]

Alta is great for beginner & intermediates. May have some issues at the Bird.

Edit: DV is not cool. Can't vote for a place that is not cool even it's really nice. BTW, DV is my 2nd favorite place around SLC after the Bird..

 

[Burton]

As @KingGrump noticed....nothing in the east listed. Really?

I love skiing in the East because, well, I love to ski and I live in the East. But terrain wise, I don't think anything breaks a "top 5" list compared to the West, with maybe the exception of Mad River Glen in its own category of one.

My overall favorites:
Grand Targhee is lovely, even when it's socked in. Perfect for uncrowded cruisers.
Jackson Hole is the only place I've felt real fear on skis since I was a kid. Except for Tuckerman's, before I put my skis on.
Beaver Creek is underappreciated as a skier's ski area, but the bumps on the Birds of Prey are legit.
And there's just something about Taos. I'm doing everything I can to make my family better skiers so that they can go to Taos and love it.

Honorable Mention, East Coast would go to Stowe.

 

[KingGrump]

And there's just something about Taos. I'm doing everything I can to make my family better skiers so that they can go to Taos and love it.

Sign them up for a ski week and you can kill two birds with one stone.

If your kids are teenagers and you are travelling during the usual school holidays. Look into the teen ski week program. They have it posted on their site.

 

[TonyC]

Lofcaudio's lists are in general quite reasonable with the likely omissions being places he has not been.
1) Mammoth should be on the intermediate, advanced and variety lists.
2) Squaw should be on the advanced and expert lists.
3) I doubt Lofcaudio has been any of the places I consider on the elite list of uncrowded, other than Grand Targhee.

Snow conditions can play a role in some of these ratings in terms of how consistent the skiing is at particular levels. Moguls are a good example, as they can be unpleasant when snow preservation is not the greatest. The other point with moguls is spacing, which means they primarily are formed by good bump skiers. Mary Jane's mogul reputation has thus become self reinforcing. I found the longer bump runs at Vail and Beaver Creek to be comparable. Those areas have touristy reputations, but I suspect runs like Prima/Pronto, Highline and Grouse are primarily skied by local bumpers. Other good mogul areas: Aspen Mt., Telluride, Sun Valley, Taos.

I'm big on scenery. Care to give your opinion on that? I would say Lake Louise would top my list in that regard (until I get to Europe the winter after next)

Lake Louise, Heavenly and Telluride are consensus favored North American ski areas for scenery. I would put Alyeska in that group too. Comparable and closer to home for Bigtinnie are a few places in New Zealand like Treble Cone. But many places in the Alps are on a completely different level IMHO, starting with Zermatt and Chamonix IMHO.

Nearly two years ago I was hired to create some lists for ranking North American ski areas by various criteria, but nothing yet has come of this. If these people never bring it off, I will probably put the info on my own website.

I'm a listoholic too, but the problem with overall rankings is that everyone's criteria are different. The SKI Magazine overall ratings are notorious for assigning equal weights to 15 odd categories, many of which have nothing to do with skiing. The attractive concept for that project above is that the creators planned to allow users to assign personal weights of importance to each criterion.

 

[dbostedo]

...any of the places I consider on the elite list of uncrowded, other than Grand Targhee...

How close is Snowmass or Highlands to being on that list?

 

[at_nyc]

For us vacationers, Mammoth seems pleasantly uncrowded.

But that's probably because we never ski there on weekends. You S Cal people might have a less favorable perspective on that aspect.

 

[LKLA]

I love skiing in the East because, well, I love to ski and I live in the East. But terrain wise, I don't think anything breaks a "top 5" list compared to the West, with maybe the exception of Mad River Glen in its own category of one.

My overall favorites:
Grand Targhee is lovely, even when it's socked in. Perfect for uncrowded cruisers.
Jackson Hole is the only place I've felt real fear on skis since I was a kid. Except for Tuckerman's, before I put my skis on.
Beaver Creek is underappreciated as a skier's ski area, but the bumps on the Birds of Prey are legit.
And there's just something about Taos. I'm doing everything I can to make my family better skiers so that they can go to Taos and love it.

Honorable Mention, East Coast would go to Stowe.

I would say that for a few days a year, Whiteface is about as good as it gets in the East. By no means is it the ideal place to look to ski for an entire season, but when it is good, it is as GOOD!

 

[TonyC]

How close is Snowmass or Highlands to being on that list?

Not very. The Aspen areas are nearly liftline proof and sectors of them have low skier density. But not nearly as low as these places more off the beaten track.

Canada: Apex, Castle Mt., Red Mt.
Montana: Discovery, Lost Trail
Idaho: Brundage
Wyoming: Targhee
Utah: Powder Mt,. Solitude, Sundance
Colorado: Sunlight, Wolf Creek

In addition to subjective observation, the relationship of estimated skier visits to ski acreage is very low. Before Sibhusky chimes in here, I'll add that Whitefish is not that far off the areas listed above, and far quieter than the Aspen areas IMHO. The Aspen areas do something like 1.4 million skier visits collectively on about 5,100 acres of ski terrain. Whitefish does about 350K visits on 3,000 acres. On my list above nearly all areas are under 200K visits, some are under 100K, and these are not small mountains either.

 

[bbinder]

Personally, I have not skied a western mountain that I did not like a lot. And I have skied quite a few. So for me, these lists are meaningless.

 

[Jilly]

Also no European resorts on that list. Nothing like 100 acres of moguls at Val D'Isere.

 

[Sibhusky]

I'm always caught between being proud of Whitefish and knowing that if we keep having record attendance every year, it won't be so great in the future, @TonyC .

Technically, we're still a hair under 350k at 346k. 157k of those are passholder visits, so a good chunk of those are locals.

http://www.whitefishpilot.com/article/20170411/ARTICLE/170419977

 

[kimberlin]

While I have been to several on the list started by the OP, I will add that ---believe it or not---Arizona Snowbowl has the best beginner terrain I have ever seen at ANY resort.

 

[New2]

Best for Beginners:

1. Telluride
2. Copper Mountain
3. Buttermilk
4. Grand Targhee
5. Breckenridge

Great job with these lists! Some specific thoughts...

I wasn't impressed with Copper's beginner terrain--felt kind of all-the-same, and too many people skiing fast to get to the bottom of the lift. But then I was more focused on exploring other parts of Copper, so maybe I missed some treasures. My list...

1. Telluride (agreed)
2. Powder Mountain (beginners get to explore the whole mountain, and no crowds)
3. Sunrise Park (beginners get to explore the whole mountain; 5 uncrowded lifts dedicated to beginners)
4. Mt. Hood Skibowl (beginners get to explore the whole mountain; the wide-open Lower Bowl is an amazing space for novices to roam free)
5. Arizona Snowbowl (big wide-open runs with plenty of space for beginners to maneuver)

Best for Intermediates:

1. Snowmass
2. Aspen Highlands
3. Snowbasin
4. Vail
5. Mt. Bachelor

This is potentially a broad category, and I love a lot of the blue runs at Snowbasin, but many of them would get a black diamond at other areas. Specifically for less confident skiers or laid-back enjoyment, I think Deer Valley, Telluride, and Alta offer some of the best intermediate terrain.

Best for Steep Groomers:

1. Sun Valley
2. Whistler/Blackcomb
3. Beaver Creek
4. Aspen Mountain
5. Telluride

I agree that Sun Valley and Telluride belong on this list, and haven't skied the other three so can't really compare. But Alta, Snowbasin, and Deer Valley would round this out for me--they've got the steep terrain, and also solid grooming.

I'm big on scenery. Care to give your opinion on that? I would say Lake Louise would top my list in that regard (until I get to Europe the winter after next). I'm expecting Jackson will do it for me this winter scenery wise too (it would want to as I'm expecting it will be too much mountain for my intermediate family).

Lake Louise, Heavenly and Telluride are consensus favored North American ski areas for scenery. I would put Alyeska in that group too.

I agree with Telluride and Heavenly right up at top, and I haven't been to Lake Louise or Alyeska. I'd put White Pass and Sundance on the list, with an honorable mention to pretty much everywhere else in Utah.

Not very. The Aspen areas are nearly liftline proof and sectors of them have low skier density. But not nearly as low as these places more off the beaten track.
...
Utah: Powder Mt,. Solitude, Sundance

In addition to subjective observation, the relationship of estimated skier visits to ski acreage is very low. Before Sibhusky chimes in here, I'll add that Whitefish is not that far off the areas listed above, and far quieter than the Aspen areas IMHO. The Aspen areas do something like 1.4 million skier visits collectively on about 5,100 acres of ski terrain. Whitefish does about 350K visits on 3,000 acres. On my list above nearly all areas are under 200K visits, some are under 100K, and these are not small mountains either.

I agree with Powder Mountain. But I've dealt with bigger crowds at Solitude and Sundance than I've ever had at T-Ride or Crested Butte. And Sundance has just 450 acres to distribute them in-bounds. Both are good choices for getting away from the crowds, to be sure, but I wouldn't call them "elite" in terms of low crowds.