Rank Your Favorite Ski Resorts

[Triggermv]

Everyone, I just got back from a Utah ski trips which went awesome. With that said, I've got a new set of rankings for all the ski resorts I've been to. Here is mine. I'd like to see other people's lists as well.

1. Alta (Utah) - Most Beautiful Views, Best Snow, Best Terrain (especially extreme terrain), Best for Expert Skiers (everything is harder at Alta.. greens, blues, blacks, double-blacks), No Boarders Allowed
2. Keystone (Colorado) - Best Tree Runs, Best Lifts, Best Night Skiing
3. Vail (Colorado) - Biggest Resort by Far, Nicest Resort, Great Runs, Best Back Bowls
4. Brighton (Utah) - Very Simple, 2nd Best Snow, Great Tree Runs, Smallest Lines, 2nd Best Value (I call Brighton Alta-Light)
5. Copper Mountain (Colorado) - Best Value, Nice Runs Overall, Smaller Lift Lines
6. Park City (Utah) - Coolest Town Setting, Big Resort, Good Lifts, So-So Views , So-So Snow
7. Breckenridge (Colorado) - Decent Overall, Very Busy, Too Many Boarders
8. Sunrise Park (Arizona) - Fun Place, Not Colorado or Utah, Still Lots Better Than Iowa
9. Chestnut Mountain (Illinois) - I Like the Runs Better than Sundown, Little further drive than Sundown
10. Sundown (Iowa) - Closest Ski Resort, Best in Iowa

 

[MNCYWX]

Lutsen.

Not a huge skier myself, but that's been the most fun to ski for me. Great scenery looking over Superior. Four different 'mountains' and soooo many trails.

 

[mj4cy]

I have only been to a handful, but I'll rank everything I've been to.

1. Vail - really like the slogan says "Like nothing on earth" Back bowls and blue sky basin are the way to go
2. Keystone - Love North peak. Some very fast blues and some fast wide blacks. Front side gets busy, but big enough to have some fun.
3. Breckenridge - Love peaks 7 and 10. Also love getting to the top above the tree line
4. Afton Alps
5. Sundown Mountain
6. Mount Kato
7. Welch Village
8. Seven Oaks - went there before heading out to Colorado....had more fun getting my gear on and stretching out the ski legs than really enjoying much about the place. Would be more fun there to mess around with learning snowboarding in my opinion.

 

[ISUME]

I feel like you should add an apres ski and nightlife ranking.

 

[CyTwins]

1. Boone
2. Everywhere else

 

[ThurgoodMarshal]

I've only been to Copper, Vail, Breckenridge, and Keystone. As far as rating the overall trip I would put Copper #1 and all the others second. Take that for what it's worth because I usually snowboard instead of ski.

Also if you're going off what's close to Iowa, I would slide Spirit Mountain (Duluth, MN) in at #8.

 

[Doc]

Of the ones I've been to (never been to Utah or Pacific NW)...and bear in mind I'm not an expert skier. I'll do blacks, but not much past that.


1. Vail
2. Arapahoe Basin - I think it's the highest ski area in Colorado, some nice runs above treeline, and in the Montezuma Bowl. It has a great new bar, and people grill in the parking lot there. Love the atmosphere.
3. Copper Mountain
4. Breckenridge - The new Peak 6 is great
5. Mammoth Mountain - The snow wasn't great the couple of days I was there, but it sounds like they're getting dumped on the last month.
6. Keystone -- I probably rank it low because it's the first one of the list I've only been to on the weekend. Crazy busy. It's like Peak 7 at Breck all over the place.
7. Big Bear

 

[JackDog]

Its tough to rank because each one has something unique that I like more than the others. I will rank the ones I've been to based on my experiences.

1. Breckinridge - agree about too crowded but if you stay in the upper lifts, it's not bad. And I love the bowls off the imperial lift. Plus of the towns I've been to the night life was the best.

2. Jackson hole - best double blacks hands down. One run is a 3000 foot drop from top to bottom black.

3. Keystone - agree best night ski. But I actually liked the lifts at breck better

4. Deer Valley - no boarders but not as good for scenery, trees, or badass factor imo.

5. Snow bird - close to park city Utah. Little boring but no crowd. Similar slopes to deer valley

6. Mankato - its Minnesota so it's no mountains but still fun for a small park

7. The crappy little resort on the Des Moines river bluff by Boone. It sucks but had to teach the gf how to ski before going to Colorado

 

[AmesHawk]

Also not been to many outside of Colorado, but out of the ones I have been to:

1) Arapahoe Basin (back bowl gives it the edge, also not near as busy, but cold as hell)
2) Copper
3) Steamboat
4) Winter Park
5) Breckenridge
6) Keystone (didn't think the runs were that great, night skiing was busy as hell, maybe got like 5 or 6 runs in)
7) Loveland
8) Afton - Great night skiing
9) Boone (hey, its like 40 minutes away)

Like to hit up a few more Colorado places in the next couple of years (Crested Butte, Vail, Aspen, and Telluride) then head north into Utah.

 

[cyclonedave25]

Just got back from Colorado last week. Went to Breck and Keystone.

And this is tough, because I like different resorts for different reasons. So I'll rank them like this:

Best resort on a powder day: Vail
Best resort for extreme terrain: Breckenridge
Best tree runs resort: Keystone
Shortest lift lines: Keystone (backside)
Best cruising blues: Peak 7 at Breck and backside of Keystone. Peak 10 at Breck is great if groomed. All black runs, but when they are groomed, they are like steep blues.
Best Mountain town: Breckenridge
Most catwalks: Vail
Most expensive: Vail

Haven't been to Winter Park or Copper Mtn for a decade or so, so I forgot what those are like.

Need to get to A-basin and Jackson Hole sometime as it looks like they have some gnarly double blacks. Really want to try Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole.

 

[Triggermv]

Just got back from Colorado last week. Went to Breck and Keystone.

And this is tough, because I like different resorts for different reasons. So I'll rank them like this:

Best resort on a powder day: Vail
Best resort for extreme terrain: Breckenridge
Best tree runs resort: Keystone
Shortest lift lines: Keystone (backside)
Best cruising blues: Peak 7 at Breck and backside of Keystone. Peak 10 at Breck is great if groomed. All black runs, but when they are groomed, they are like steep blues.
Best Mountain town: Breckenridge
Most catwalks: Vail
Most expensive: Vail

Haven't been to Winter Park or Copper Mtn for a decade or so, so I forgot what those are like.

Need to get to A-basin and Jackson Hole sometime as it looks like they have some gnarly double blacks. Really want to try Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole.

For the ones you've obviously been to on here, I wouldn't call this list too terribly off-base.

 

[TruClone]

These are the only resorts I have been to, not including Midwestern crap.

1. Steamboat
2. Copper Mtn.
3. Vail
4. Arapahoe Basin
5. Keystone
6. Winter Park
7. Heavenly
8. Breckenridge

 

[Triggermv]

From peoples rankings, it looks like I need to hit up Steamboat

 

[theDuke11]

Wolf Creek in Colorado is worth checking out. Also canyons in Utah was another one of my favorites. Breckenridge is my least favorite place to go, and I used to live there.

 

[acoustimac]

Okoboji. 85 degrees and water skiing.

 

[DFWClone]

Purgatory. Best there is.

 

[MrApathy]

eeehhhh I have heard purgatory is not that great. its not that bad either. some might say so-so.

 

[Acylum]

eeehhhh I have heard purgatory is not that great. its not that bad either. some might say so-so.

How did you ever come up with that user name?

 

[TigerCyJM]

From peoples rankings, it looks like I need to hit up Steamboat

It's really nice, not that busy either. It is kind of far away from Denver though.

 

[pulse]

Different places have their own unique special features. The first few are easy for me, the others are all great in their own right.

1. Jackson Hole. This is where I'd go if you said pick any place and lets go. Expert terrain is fantastic and if you haven't done Corbet's you haven't lived.
2. Snowbasin. Great wide open spaces to just glide down the mountain and enjoy the peace, and the lodges wow.
3. Vail. The back side of course.
The rest in no particular order---
4. Steamboat Springs. Great tree skiing.
5. Breckenridge. Skied there a lot as a kid, so holds a special place for me.
6. Deer Valley. Very nice resort like Snowbasin.
7. Alta. Power, powder, powder.
8. Copper Mountain
9. Keystone
10. A-Basin. I only skied half of it (easy part) because it was the beginning of the season and there wasn't a ton of snow so everything wasn't open. But I liked the vibe.