YWR Ski Edition
I have a strong view on ski resorts. I’ve spent a lot of time and money skiing different resorts and my pet peeve is that ski magazines always make each one sound great, even when they’re not.
The reality is there is too much flattery going around with lots of crappy places getting glowing reviews. And the absolute worst is when you spend a lot of time and money for a one week ski trip to check out a new place because the ski magazine said so, and it ends up being terrible. The whole family hates you.
So I’m going to share my views on the top resorts.
At the end of the post, I will reveal my new hidden gem. It’s a magical place were the lift tickets are $75, it is 4x the size of Big Sky, almost 2,000 meter of vert, has some of the world’s best off-piste skiing and the people there prefer to stay on piste so they can work on their carving turns.
Yes, a place like this exists.
Full disclosure. This analysis isn’t all inclusive, and it isn’t meant to be. For example, Colorado always seems flat and expensive so I never go there. I am also ranking resorts on what matters to me, which is really good expert skiing, with no crowds and reasonable prices. But you can analyse the table data yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Also the rankings for ‘Crowds’, ‘Off-Piste’, ‘Apres-Ski’, and ‘Snow Reliability’ are my subjective views with 1=best and 10=worst. The data is normalised (number of std dev’s from the mean) with positive scores being good, so up and to the right is the best location on the chart. ‘Accessibility’ is # of hours from a major airport. For Big Sky and Jackson I started the clock from Denver.
K-Means Clustering
It wouldn’t be YWR if we didn’t first do some data analysis.
Below is a graphical representation of the top resorts by ticket price (x axis) and YWR off-piste score (y-axis). The color gradiant is vertical drop. All the data has been normalised.
I ran a 2 centroid K-Means cluster analysis to see if the machines see what I see.
When it comes to ski resorts the US is expensive and crappy, while Europe is cheap and awesome.
US resorts have an average lift ticket price of $216 and YWR off-piste score of 5.1.
Europe has an average lift ticket of $83 and an off-piste score of 2.4.
Interestingly, the machines clustered Whistler and Lake Louise together the European resorts in Cluster 2. To the machines the Western Canadian resorts with their good vertical, above average off-piste scores and slightly lower ticket prices are more European.
Ski Resort Commentary
Squaw Valley: Let’s start with the worst and get better. I can’t bear to call this ‘Palisades Tahoe’, because that represents everything wrong with this legendary resort. I used to love ‘Squaw’. It was the home of Glen Plake, Scott Schmidt and Shane McConkey; the 80’s greats. It was quintessential good ole days California. Sun always shining, big storm dumps, and everyone pushing the boundaries on K-22, the Palisades, and the terrain park. Now it’s massively overcrowded and expensive. Somehow, the crowds driving up from the Bay Area keep getting worse. Plus,the lift tickets are through the roof. And it lost its charm. The reason behind all of this deterioration is that Squaw became a new Intrawest project after they blew up Whistler. The formula is to build lots of condos, build out the base area and triple the price of everything. Maybe a few better lifts to be fair. I’m not being anti-capitalist, it’s just that the whole thing becomes an annoying, overpriced ski Disneyland. Bottom line is if you live in SF I would still go there (maybe), but otherwise I would never fly to ski Squaw.
Big Sky: This used to be my #1 hidden gem. Some of the best skiing in North America, reasonable lift tickets, a massive tram accessing off-piste and no crowds. Then during COVID it somehow got discovered. Now the lift tickets are some of the highest in the US and the crowds are pretty bad too. For Montanans it is still the best ski resort in the state, but the cost and crowds make it verge on unbearable. Big Sky’s saving grace is the terrain is excellent (acres & vert), and the tram is killer. Bottom line: if the lift ticket prices don’t bother you I’d still go there. And yes, it’s crowded, but not like Squaw or Whistler.
Whistler: Whistler is one of the OG greats. It is where D-spins and freeride skiing were born. For me it still has that vibe of where the best go to push the limits. Whistler scores well on vertical and terrain, gets good snow and is 2hrs from YVR. The base area is cool with LOTS of good restaurants and bars. In the summer the mountain biking scene is insane and the extreme athletes drawn to this mountain are the best in the world. And it’s beautiful. The negatives are that it is extremely expensive (like living in an airport) and super crowded. It’s a ski resort sausage factory and a victim of its own success. Bottom line: Close call whether it’s worth going to Whistler. Even if the expense of everything doesn’t bother you the crowds are annoying and just ruin the fun of it (for me at least).
Alta-Snowbird: I’m lumping these together because they are kind of the same thing. The attraction is supposed to be that Alta-Snowbird gets all the same storm systems as California, but it’s colder, so the snow is powder, not wet cement. And it’s 1 hour from the airport so relatively accessible. And the lift tickets used to be reasonable. And the terrain is relatively good. Not amazing, but good. But overall, I think Alta and Snowbird get overhyped in the ski magazines. Yes, if you live in SLC, it’s great, but I’m not sure it would be high on my list of places to fly to again. The resorts are at the end of a narrow canyon road, and don’t have much of a base area. The vert is a bit weak and I never fell in love with the runs, although Salt Lake people love it. The big selling point is you are supposed to get snorkel deep powder. Yes, that happens, but probably not the day you go. Accommodation is another weak point. Maybe things have changed, but we always had to rent a condo back in SLC and drive down the canyon at the end of the day, which was kind of annoying, and often turns into a parking lot. Bottom line: If you are flying and want a western ski resort experience go to Jackson Hole or Big Sky instead.
Sugar Bowl: Sugar Bowl is not a top resort, but it’s worth mentioning as a hidden gem for the Bay Area crowd. It’s 40 min closer than Squaw and doesn't get as many crowds. I still can’t believe paying $162 for a lift ticket, but it’s cheaper than Squaw. If you invest the time you can figure out some good lines to ski and the Belt Room apres scene is fun. Bottom line: I’m always surprised how many Bay Area skiers have never skied Sugar Bowl, but then again I’m glad they don’t.
Jackson Hole: This is supposed to be one of the best resorts in North America, but ends up being annoying, for me at least. Yes, it has lots of nice hotels, and Western themed restaurants and bars where you can eat Elk burgers. The resort is also well known for its off-piste and extreme skiing, but the problem is the place went from undiscovered Western charm to expensive and mobbed with free-ride wannabes. If there is a powder day all these wannabes go insane trying to be first in line for the tram. Bottom line: good resort, but I’d probably go to Big Sky where the crowds are more manageable and the skiers are friendly families from Minnesota who stick to the pistes.
Lake Louise: I haven’t been to Lake Louise in many years, but it’s worth mentioning. It’s good sized, good terrain, 2 hours from Calgary and beautiful. The crowds are usually not too bad because many Calgarians don’t feel like driving the extra 30 minutes and ski Sunshine instead. Bottom line: If you can stay at Chateau Lake Louise or the Emerald Lake Lodge it would be epic.
Verbier: Now we get to the good stuff. REALLY good vert, REALLY good expert terrain and off-piste. The town is fun with lots of Swiss restaurants and bars. Verbier is popular, but doesn’t get slammed with the English crowd like Les 3 Vallees. It’s also a bit more expensive, so it filters out the crowds. This is one of my favorites. The only negatives are cost and maybe that it takes over 3 hours to get there from Geneva. Bottom line: I love it.
St. Anton: I haven’t been to St. Anton for many years, but they were EPIC trips. The ski area is enormous, one of the biggest in Europe, with good vertical and extreme terrain. St. Anton stretches out over a mountain pass and is actually a collection of resorts, including nearby Lech which is cool to visit. The snow is usually good. We had massive powder days when we went. So great terrain, and great snow, but where St. Anton really stands out is on apres-ski. It’s the home of the famous MooserWirt. This is an apres-ski bar 300 yards up from the base. When you are skiing down at the end of the day and the music is going, it’s impossible not to stop, click out of your skis, and just have one drink. Next thing you know it’s 10pm, you’ve been techno dancing on the tables in your ski-boots, and you still have to ski the rest of the run to get home. So much fun! The whole town is fun and has a German/Austrian fairytale look to it. Bottom line: Love it and need to go back.
La Grave: Yes, the name means what you think it means. And to be honest I’ve never skied La Grave, but have mountain biked there for several days. La Grave is one of those unique European situations; like Monte Bianco. It’s an enormous craggy mountain with a gondola station at the top and that’s it. You take your gondola up, go out the door, click on your skis and ski what you want. But you are on your own. The entire mountain is out of bounds/off-piste. And they don’t avalanche control anything. Peeps/shovels and probes are mandatory and you need to have a guide if you don’t know it well. The town is relatively small, but has some restaurants and bars, and the vibe is good because it’s France. Bottom line: An expert only adventure. Never done it, but really want to.
Monte Bianco: This is another European hidden gem and pairs well with a trip to Chamonix (forgot to add it to the list). If you are spending a week at ‘Cham’, carve out 1 day to drive the 1hr 15min through the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Italian side. There you will find the Italians have built a super modern sky tram which takes you up to the Punta Helbronner tram station at 3,466m. Once you get to the top it’s the same as Le Grave. Grab your skis, check your peep, and then push open the door. You will be greeted by a blindingly white mountain expanse which you have all to yourself. The other people you rode up with in the cable car will be back ordering coffee and food at the cafe. Yes, really. It’s more of a tourist attraction and few people go for the skiing. To ski Monte Bianco you need to be a pretty good skier, but not expert. But you need a guide. Bottom line: The US mind cannot comprehend that there is this much untouched skiable powder, lift accessed for $66 with nobody is skiing it. What can I say? It’s Europe. You know, “the little differences”.
Finally, my favorite ski resort in the world. My new hidden gem.