SKI Magazine 2016-17 Eastern Resort Rankings

[deadheadskier]

I won't say the skiing is great at Snowshoe, though it can be off the backside. Most of it is pretty tame and around 600 vert.

But the mountain top village sits higher than any lift serviced skiing in the Northeast. 4700+ with a pretty crazy access road to get up there. I'm in no rush to head back there as New England offers so much more, but it was a cool experience living there.

 

[Tin]

But the mountain top village sits higher than any lift serviced skiing in the Northeast. 4700+ with a pretty crazy access road to get up there. I'm in no rush to head back there as New England offers so much more, but it was a cool experience living there.

You fit in with these folks better than your seacoast neighbors....

 

[slatham]

I grew up in the DC area and made several treks to Snowshoe. It is a surprisingly legit Mountian with significant elevation for cold and a true 200" a year. It also has a day or two every year where it offers the best skiing on the east coast, oftentimes the best in the country, if you use accumulated snow as your criteria. Sometimes this is from mid Atlantic storms, but usually it's lake effect that rivals the tug hill.

 

[dlague]

On think Cannon should be ranked better than Mount Snow but as someone mentioned from a family perspective it is a decent order.

 

[BenedictGomez]

No such thing as "hands down." That's an entirely personal opinion.

Ummmmm....... okay?

 

[BenedictGomez]

Snowshoe should be in a separate category since its so far away from the other resorts that I doubt many people are choosing between Snowshoe and New England/ADK.

I imagine Snowshoe and Mont Tremblant both benefit in the polling due to a high number of very localized votes. Especially MT, given a population of a few million people nearby, many of whom likely have skied few other areas on the list.

 

[joshua segal]

Snowshoe should be in a separate category since its so far away from the other resorts that I doubt many people are choosing between Snowshoe and New England/ADK.

You're right. They used to have one list. Then they realized that Eastern skiing and western skiing were so different, so they started having an east list and a west list. Perhaps they should have a third list with top 5 mid-Atlantic/SE list and a top 10 list for the midwest.

 

[deadheadskier]

Ummmmm....... okay?

Did I stutter? I was simply implying that you, nor anyone else, is the authority on what what makes the best ski town.

If your intention was just to state what you like best, it certainly didn't come across that way to me.

 

[EPB]

Did I stutter? I was simply implying that you, nor anyone else, is the authority on what what makes the best ski town.

If your intention was just to state what you like best, it certainly didn't come across that way to me.

In his head one place could be better than another "hands down." That's the way I read it.

 

[cdskier]

Interesting to see who went down and who went up compared to last year...

Tremblant -
Stowe -
Whiteface +2
Killington +3
Smuggler's Notch -1
Sugarbush +6
Sunday River +1
Sugarloaf +3
Jay Peak -3
Okemo -1
Mt. Snow -1
Bretton Woods +1
Stratton +4
Loon Mountain +5
Gore New
Cannon +2
Mad River Glen -2
Mt. Sunapee New
Snowshoe New
Wildcat -4

So 3 areas are now in the top 20 that didn't make it on last year's list (Gore, Mt Sunapee, and Snowshoe). The 3 that didn't make it this year were Holiday Valley (#3 last year), Attitash (#14 last year), and Waterville Valley (#20 last year).

I still am really curious how Holiday Valley went from #3 last year (and being consistently in the top 10 pretty much every year that I can remember) to not even being in the top 20 this year. That's bizarre to see that much of a drop. Personally I never thought it belonged there anyway, but that doesn't change how strange it is for it to disappear after all these years unless they changed the criteria.

 

[joshua segal]

I'm glad to see Killington move up. I think it clearly shows how the work of Mike Salomano is making a difference at a customer level. They've stopped shrinking and they have reclaimed their reputation for the early/late season product. And while they haven't really started to grow again, they've stopped the bleeding and they are doing a lot of catch-up deferred maintenance on their infrastructure.

I do think that if Sugarbush and Killington were both the same distance from the major population centers, that Sugarbush would beat Killington - hands down; but if you moved Snowshoe to New England, it wouldn't come close to this list. But then again, if grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

 

[Jully]

I haven't been to Holiday Valley, but I don't think people in New England appreciate how big time of a resort Snowshoe is. The slopeside village feels like you're at a Colorado resort, not east coast. To give an appreciation of scale, it's probably five times the size of the development at Stowes Spruce Peak. Great restaurants, bars and apres ski, loads of special events, 200" of snow and a legit 1500 vertical off the back side. 500k skier visit a year destination. A large amount of the clientele I met were wealthy people from Atlanta or Charlotte metros who would do a Snowshoe week and Western week each season. With those kinds of attributes it's surprising to me that Snowshoe doesn't make the top 20 every year.

The slopeside village is why I was thinking that they might draw from areas that are only a few hours closer to snowshoe compared to the southern vt resorts as snowshoe is debatably a bigger "resort". I've really good things about it. That being said I had also heard that it was getting a little run down a few years ago. If they're on the list again, maybe that means they've fixed it up a little bit?

 

[steamboat1]

I'm glad to see Killington move up. I think it clearly shows how the work of Mike Salomano is making a difference at a customer level. They've stopped shrinking and they have reclaimed their reputation for the early/late season product. And while they haven't really started to grow again, they've stopped the bleeding and they are doing a lot of catch-up deferred maintenance on their infrastructure.

K is still shrinking. They have one less chairlift this year.

 

[deadheadskier]

The slopeside village is why I was thinking that they might draw from areas that are only a few hours closer to snowshoe compared to the southern vt resorts as snowshoe is debatably a bigger "resort". I've really good things about it. That being said I had also heard that it was getting a little run down a few years ago. If they're on the list again, maybe that means they've fixed it up a little bit?

Wouldn't surprise me if it's run down. A lot of the village is 15-20 years old. Also much of the units are in the rental pool and get beat on.

Unlike New England, Snowshoe doesn't have a lot of weekend warriors. It's a HUGE pain in the ass to get to even from DC, so you get a lot of people who come for the week. It's much busier midweek there than in New England. I handled the catering for the real estate launch of Allegheny Springs, which was their most prestigious lodging property at the time. Almost all the buyers were looking to use their units 1 week a winter and 1 week a summer and that was it. So, with that kind of rental environment, things got beat on hard.

 

[jimmywilson69]

I live closer to Snowshoe than most on this board. Its never even been a consideration for me to go there. Sure the elevations is good, but the skiing is weak. Plus as DHS said, its a MAJOR pain in the ass to get too. Its 5 hours from me in Central PA. I can be in Killington in 7.5 hours.

 

[jimmywilson69]

I've been to Holiday Valley and 7 Springs A lot. While they are decent places, they don't belong in the same category as other resorts in the Northeast. That being said Ellicottville does have that "ski town" vibe which IMO places it higher than 7 Springs which has nothing of the such.

 

[deadheadskier]

My experience with 7 Springs is people primarily go there to party and skiing is secondary. There's nothing like that massive hotel anywhere in New England. Both times I went I was in my 20s and ended up partying with Random people we met in different hotel rooms until very late. Almost more a cruise ship type atmosphere than a ski vacation

 

[cdskier]

K is still shrinking. They have one less chairlift this year.

What did they get rid of now? I don't follow K's updates that closely beyond what they send in their e-mails (which don't usually mention things like lift elimination)...

 

[steamboat1]

What did they get rid of now? I don't follow K's updates that closely beyond what they send in their e-mails (which don't usually mention things like lift elimination)...

Relax it's no biggie. One of the old Snowshed doubles.

 

[cdskier]

Relax it's no biggie. One of the old Snowshed doubles.

Hah, I'm quite relaxed. You brought it up...I just asked for more info.