Snow Skiing
The best places to ski depend on several factors:
-
How well you ski
- Whether you ski, snowboard, or both
- Other activities, like snowmobiling
- If you prefer dining out or a kitchenette
- If you require ski in - ski out accomodations
- Your night-life requirements
- Desire for nearby shopping
We prefer to mostly ski - and maybe snowmobile one day -
but nightlife and fine dining aren't important to us on a
ski trip. A ski in - ski out condo with a kitchenette and
a hot-tub on a challenging mountain is what we look for.
Areas skied (in order of preference):
| Area |
Comments |
| Whistler / Blackcomb, British
Columbia |
Bill's favorite!
Biggest vertical in North America! |
| Snowmass / Aspen / Aspen Highlands,
CO |
Alicia says this is
#1 |
| Deer Valley / Park City /
Canyons, UT |
The north canyon rules!
(But beginners should not go to Utah)! |
| Jackson Hole, WY |
Biggest vertical in 48 states
and Yellowstone, too! |
| Chamonix, France |
Mont Blanc is wicked! |
| Vail / Beaver Creek, CO |
Alicia likes Vail a lot!
Bill prefers Beaver Creek; less crowded |
| Kitzbühel, Austria |
The Hannenkamm rocks! |
| Alta / Snowbird, UT |
Alta is how skiing used
to be! |
| Squaw Valley, CA |
Only got one day, but it makes
me want to go back! |
| Mammoth, CA |
HUGE! Isolated. |
| Lake Louise, Alberta |
Louise is sweet! Try
the Men's Downhill run. |
| Taos, NM |
TOUGH! Gotta ski Al's
Run! |
| Bad Gastein, Austria |
Skiing good, ambiance delightful! |
| Breckinridge, CO |
30 minute wait for a 6 minute
"high-speed" lift |
| Courmayeur, Italy |
Worth a try - near Chamonix,
France |
| Copper Mountain, CO |
Crowded |
| Keystone / North Peak / Outback,
CO |
Crowded on Keystone, but North
Peak OK for a few runs and Outback is good. |
| Steamboat, CO |
Good for kids. Nice cruiser
mountain. |
| St. Anton, Austria |
Mostly cruiser mountain if
you don't mind surface lifts |
| Purgatory, CO |
Direct flights, but still
isolated. |
| Samnaun, Switzerland - Ischgl,
Austria |
Straddles Swiss - Austrian
border. You need your passport on a couple of runs! |
| Winter Park / Mary Jane, CO |
Too close to Denver for weekend
skiing |
| Heavenly Valley, CO |
Gunbarrel is wicked, but after
two trips I say the uphill traverses and poor
layout make this a second-tier choice. |
| Killington, VT |
The "Beast of the East"
is a bit lame |
| Sunshine Village, Alberta |
Sunshine is a joke. A lot
of the "vertical" is the tram up to
the base area! |
| Solitude, UT |
The "middle" canyon
- no crowds! |
| Banff, Alberta |
Not a bad "little"
mountain |
| Arapaho Basin, CO |
OK for 1 day if you're in
Summit County - but rather limited |
| Diamond Peak, NV |
Nice little Tahoe slope with
the best view! (It was Ski Incline when I was
there) |
| Grand Targhee, WY |
So-so day trip from Jackson
Hole |
| Mt. Bachelor, OR |
Not worth the trip |
| Ski Apache, NM |
It was Sierra Blanca when
I was there. Great ambiance, so-so mountain |
| Nakiska, Alberta |
Lame mountain that had to
be bulldozed to meet FIS standards for the '88 winter
olympics |
| Angel Fire, NM |
Small venue around the corner
from Taos |
| Santa Fe, NM |
Don't bother stopping on your
way between Albuquerque and Taos |
Wish list:
We haven't skied any of these yet, but we would like to
try, in order ...
-
Sun Valley, ID - great for people watching,
but snowfall limited.
- Telluride, CO - serious skiers only!
- Mount Tremblant, Quebec, Canada (even though eastern skiing
is usually lame, Tremblant is now run by Intrawest, the
folks that started in Whistler and now run a big chunk of
Sandestin, Florida).
- Crested Butte, CO - family oriented cruiser
- Courcheval / Val d' Isère, France - if it's like
Chamonix, sign me up!
- Verbier / Zermatt, Switzerland - another European classic!
- St. Moritz, Switzerland - another good "people watching"
place!
- Valley de Las Lenas, Argentina - BIG altitude (14K
feet)!
- Alyeska, AK - Gotta ski Alaska!
- Big Sky, MT - might be like Mt. Bachelor, but it could
be a find.
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