TOP 25 RESORTS (Per Skiing Magazine) for 2006-2007 Season

[RIDEr]

1. Whistler
2. Alta \ Snowbird
3. Jackson Hole
4. Vail
5. Squaw Valley
6. Mammoth Mountain
7. Aspen \ Aspen Highlands
8. Fernie
9. Big Sky \ Moonlight Basin
10. Snowbasin
11. Park City
12. Kirkwood
13. Steamboat
14. Crested Butte
15. Kicking Horse
16. Mount Baker
17. Telluride
18. Heavenly
19. Grand Targhee
20. Bridger Bowl
21. Snowmass
22. Red Mountain
23. Breckenridge
24. Alpine Meadows
25. Solitude

I boarded 8 of the 25 mountains on this list and don’t completely agree with a few of the mountains on this list, but I wanted to see what other people thought.

No representation from the EAST I am sad by, but understand. The EAST doesn’t have the full resort package. Some mountains have great GLADES, some have great vertical, number of trails, etc… but they do not contain the complete package.

I'll be boarding Big Sky \ Moonlight Basin this year and look forward to why there are in the top 10, but would they be ranked that high if they were still two separate mountains.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

That's wierd, I thought they always had a seperate Eastern list.

 

[RIDEr]

Interesting fact I left out since my naked eye bypassed right by the FULL title...

25 BEST RESORTS TO SKI MORE POWDER !!!

My bad...

 

[thebigo]

I have only skied four on the list but I would rate alpine meadows much higher than heavenly. (itll be five in about 10 weeks :grin: :grin

The entire time I was at heavenly I felt like I was at killington and I dont fly across the country to ski kmart. However my days at alpine meadows were some of the best days ive ever had on skis.

 

[Geoff]

1. Whistler ~20+ powder days
2. Alta \ Snowbird 4 powder days
3. Jackson Hole
4. Vail 1 powder day
5. Squaw Valley
6. Mammoth Mountain
7. Aspen \ Aspen Highlands
8. Fernie
9. Big Sky \ Moonlight Basin
10. Snowbasin
11. Park City
12. Kirkwood
13. Steamboat 6 powder days
14. Crested Butte 1 powder day
15. Kicking Horse
16. Mount Baker 2 powder days
17. Telluride
18. Heavenly
19. Grand Targhee
20. Bridger Bowl
21. Snowmass ~10 powder days
22. Red Mountain
23. Breckenridge
24. Alpine Meadows
25. Solitude

I put the ones I've skied in bold with a count of powder days. If this is a "best place for powder" list, I think it's way off. You don't want places where it tracks out quickly unless they get stupid amounts of snow.

My list:
1. Deer Valley - All those wealthy people don't ski ungroomed terrain
2. AltaBird - Much more snow than Deer Valet but stuffed full of powder Nazis
3. Mt. Baker - It's heavy but it snows there so much it doesn't even bump up
4. Wolf Creek - Most snow in Colorado and very few skier days
5. Monarch - Big snow microclimate and nobody skis there since it's too small
6. Steamboat - Shadows in the aspen trees in bottomless is amazing.

Aspen, Snowmass, and Crested Butte don't make my list because they don't get all that much natural snow. Low-200". I remove Whistler from the list because they now have far too many skier visits. It tracks out anywhere obvious by 11:00. My really memorable powder days at Whistler were all in the 80's when it had fixed-grip lifts and was unknown. You had 2 days of untracked after every storm. Ditto Park City, Vail, and Breckenridge (anywhere on I-70).

I haven't been there but Targhee is supposed to be amazing. Big snow with few skier visits. When they first put in all the sprawling lifts and nobody went there, The Canyons was great on powder days... much better than Park City. They've doubled their skier visits since I've been there so I doubt it's nearly as good now.

 

[kickstand]

The entire time I was at heavenly I felt like I was at killington and I dont fly across the country to ski kmart. However my days at alpine meadows were some of the best days ive ever had on skis.

Amen! Although the views from Heavenly are a bit better than the ones at Killington.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

I've skiied DV numerous times and it really is a secret...the myth is that its just a "well groomed cruising mtn"....nothing could be further from the truth..while out there with my wift, i hired a guide for a half a day and we went to the steeps of Empire Canyon.....holy crap...that is the real deal fellas, and no one around...we met up with some of his buddies while out there (all locals) and they ski DV steeps more than Alta/SB as since no one goes to DV because of the perception, they have fresh tracks for days long after Alta and SB have been skiied off.........

 

[AHM]

Tops for pow....................

1. Whitewater. 1300 vert and Ymir peak/ridge. This is your best bet. It dumps, the locals rock, the terrain is major.
2. Alta/Snowbird: Kings
3. Wolfcreek: never been, but it simply gets the goods
4. Targhee: ditto, but heard too many stories
5. Fernie: never didn't have a pow day here.
6. Snowbasin: no one ever seems to go.
7. Powder King: never been, the farthest north, and about the deepest.
8. Silverton: It's so high, and the skier numbers are 80/day. Hit it on Thurs and you stand the biggest chance of a pow day. Also, I am not sure I have ever seen that much snow in any town, even Baie St Paul in Quebec.
9. Baker: again, never been, but seen way too many pics.
10. Jay: It snows a ton, and I have had some blower days here.

Not a whole lot of resorts here, but some pretty good snow. Big White also seems to get the goods.