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North America's top ten ski resorts are...

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
as follows:

(figures in brackets are last year's positions)
1. Vail (1)
2. Deer Valley, Utah (3)
3. Snowmass (4)
4. Beaver Creek (Cool
5. Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia (2)
6. Breckenridge (6)
7. Aspen (11)
8. Park City, Utah (9)
9. Mammoth Mountain, Calif. (12)
10. Steamboat (5)

[Source: October 2004 edition of Skiing magazine, the US publication that polls its readers each year]

These rankings tend to provoke annual discussion on the US discussion boards amongst 'more radical' skiers, since the readership of Skiing tends towards the middle-aged. Would any snowHeads - radical or otherwise - care to comment?


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 9-09-04 15:58; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
[Interesting that a smiley has magically appeared after Beaver Creek. Not my doing. There's a figure 8 in brackets in the text - is this a code we should know about?]
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
David Goldsmith, I've found that before. The 'sunglasses man' being my 'standard' all purpose smiley. If you edit to put a space after the numeral it'll solve it. AFAIK, that's the only digit that behaves that way. Sample (8 )

US Resort ratings - see also the 'What's your experience with Vail Resorts' thread in Resorts for other survey results.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
kuwait_ian, I think I'll leave the smiley there as an oddity. Beaver Creek certainly made me smile because it's the only resort I've skied where every little surprise on the piste was marked by a little flag.

The skiers of Beaver Creek - a resort right next to Vail - extremely wealthy people who hang out in very impressive fake hunting lodges etc. - probably have powerful lawyers. It's a great place to ski, because most of its fans are too busy attending intergovernmental conferences and other 'very important events' to go skiing.

It's attracting quite a lot of interest now because of the 'Birds of Prey' downhill, which is highly rated. Anyway, that's enough about Beaver Creek.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Surprised not to see Jackson Hole. Only resort I've skied in North America was Fernie. But from what I have read, Jackson Hole is the US resort which might tempt me. And I would say I was (late) middle-aged Wink
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Maybe the criteria behind the resort rankings include such things as 'softness of chairlift padding', 'mogul maintenance', 'bathroom toiletries'....in favour of 'natural ski terrain quality'.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
David Goldsmith wrote:
Maybe the criteria behind the resort rankings include such things as 'softness of chairlift padding', 'mogul maintenance', 'bathroom toiletries'....in favour of 'natural ski terrain quality'.


Could be Smile
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I've not skied all of them - just Vail, Whistler, Deer Valley, Park City & Beaver Creek. However, I'm suprised that Deer Valley is so high and that Whistler is so low. I'm also a bit surprised to see Park City on there but no Alta/Snowbird?
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
alan empty, yeah, I agree, but you need to consider the readership of Skiing! They would vote for Dear Valley, just cause it shows how rich they are (having skiied half a day there, I think it is way overpriced & overrated.
Of the ones listed, I have skiied: Deer Valley, Whistler/Blackcomb, Breckenridge and Park City.
And of those, I would rank them:
1. Whistler
2. Breck
3. Park City





4. Dear Valley

...but, of the resorts I've been to in the US/Canada, the following would qualify as "better than Breck":
Alta/Bird
Jackson Hole
Winter Park

So, which of the 4 would be my number 1?
Tough question.
The way to answer it is to rate them...
If you want the all-round ski holiday, including the best Apres-ski in North America, then
1. Whistler (by a long way)
2. Jackson
3. Winter Park
4. Alta/Bird

If you want the best powder it would be:
1. Alta/Bird
2. Jackson (close, but it goes to Alta, from my experience)
3. Winter Park
4. Whistler (it's good pow, but nowhere near as good as the others)

If you want the best skiing:
1. Alta/Bird
2. Jackson (close, but Alta wins cause there's no boarders)
3. Whistler
4. Winter Park

Easiest to get to:
1. Winter Park (Direct to Denver, then a couple of hours transfer)
2. Whistler (Direct to Vancouver, then a couple of hours transfer)
3. Alta/Bird (One stop to Salt Lake City, under an hour tx)
4. Jackson (One or two stops, under 30 min tx)

Lowest cost when you're there:
1. Whistler (CAD is worth even less than the US Peso)
2. Alta/Bird (you can stay, and go out, in SLC for very little)
3. Winter Park
4. Jackson

"Je ne sais quoi" (on slope atmosphere, the "feeling" of the resort)
1. Winter Park
2. Alta/Bird (very close call on first place)
3. Jackson
4. Whistler (let's face it, it's JUST a ski resort)

(sorry, I'm sitting at home waiting for a new electric meter to be fitted. I just picked these criteria as they came into my head)

Based on these, I've now added up the scores, and here are my results:
1. Alta/Bird (13 points)
2. Whistler/Winter Park (15 points)
4. Jackson (17 points)

As you can see, it really is a close call for me!
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I actually like Deer Valley, Fox. The cost aspect wasn't an issue because we had a Ski Utah pass (or something like that) which allowed us to ski whichever resorts we wanted. Most of the stuff I'd heard about it beforehand (on Epic mostly) hadn't been too positive so I was pleasantly surprised. There was some fresh powder on a couple of the days we went and the runs we skied were fairly deserted.

These lists are always going to be totally subjective but what the heck - of the resorts I've spent more than 1 day skiing I would order them:

1. Whistler
2. Vail
3. Fernie
4. Alta/Snowbird
5. The Canyons
6. Deer Valley
7. Park City

But I'd probably give a different order to the top 4 every time I was asked!

I've also skied a day in Beaver Creek, Big Mountain, Solitude, Sundance & Kimberley. Of these I had the most fun in Solitude - great powder day!!

The resorts I most want to visit next are Jackson and Winter Park. The resorts I most want to return to are Whistler and Fernie.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I see my honeymoon destination (Lake Louise) doesn't figure in these ratings? Why not???????????? Mad
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
It's a US mag I think, so it's going to favour the US resorts more than the Canadian ones. I expect that also explains the relatively low position of Whistler.

Lake Louise sounds like a great choice for your honeymoon.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Aspen contends it's lowly ranking in the Aspen Daily News

Quote:
Tis the season for ski magazines that consider snow to be gold to miss the point of Aspen so completely they might as well be pontificating about indoor moguls in Kyoto.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Of course, if Skiing magazine re-jigged their poll to be 'international ski resort of the year' the competition from Europe could be somewhat potent!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Only it wouldnt. Maybe Chamonix, just because they've all heard of it maybe zermatt, possibly st. anton and courchevel. nothing else would likely get a look in.


ski magazine is like the daily mail of the us - big in terms of readership, because of the fact that it is available everywhere and tries to cover every aspect, but especially for the intermediate 2week a year skier. Unfortunately, it has very little actually worth reading/buying if you are more into your skiing than as a holiday once in a while rolling eyes snowHead
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi - then which of these resorts would you recommend to middling intermediates, who like falling out of bed on to the slopes?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Well look at the list - that is the general consenus there!! Laughing

If you can affrod to stay slopeside they all are great for that. Breck is easy to get from town to the slopes, as is Vail if you're in Vail village, same for Whistler. The last two give you more variety of slopes due to their size, but breck has the variety of non ski pursuits, for me at least, although having lived there, means I know more towards where to look!
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Ski Magazine have today released further details of their 'Best North American Ski Resorts' poll. Details here.

They state that it's based on 20,000 subscribers surveyed by an independent research firm. In that sense it seems a more credible exercise than our Snow Awards (results pending), where there seem to be unanswered concerns about the polling methodology.

Mind you, as Fox points out above, the results will reflect the readership profile of Ski magazine which is maybe wealthier and more middle-aged than American skiers generally.
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