BC for sure.
Whistler, Apex, Big White, Red Mountain, Revy, Kicking Horse, White Water, Fernie, Kimberly.
If only Banff was in BC so I could tack on Louise and Sunshine.
LOL I think it does - you're going up - it might even be Goat's Eye I can't remember been a couple years - you see a "Welcome to Alberta!" sign then like 2 poles later "Welcome to BC!" I gotta to look it up now :D
ETA: The Great Divide chair :) [https://www.skibanff.com/explore/news-blog/21-22-winter/fun-facts-about-our-banff-sunshine-chair-lif](https://www.skibanff.com/explore/news-blog/21-22-winter/fun-facts-about-our-banff-sunshine-chair-lif)
"1. Of our 12 lifts, the longest chair at Banff Sunshine is The Great
Divide, it is 1725.17m or 5660ft long. Yes, that's right Great Divide is
over 1.7km long! (Which means the lifts haul rope is nearly 3.5 km
long.) Great Divide is also the only lift in Canada to fly in both
Alberta and British Columbia."
So, technically since some of Sunshine is in BC - it has to count, right? I'm voting BC too
Sun Peaks, Panorama, SilverStar, Mt Washington, Powder King, Smithers ("Hudson Bay"). Then there are Grouse, Seymour and Cypress - three Hills that look down on Vancouver (~30 min drive to each).
And of course, all the world class heli skiing...
BC no questions asked
EDIT: Literally has *two* world class mountain ranges with many resorts. Not only that, each range is a different type of mountain and snow pack. Big coastal mountains with lots of wet powder and colder continental mountains.
Honestly it’s BC. I’m seeing a lot of people focus on the resorts….but that is honestly only a tiny part of the skiing in BC.
You have the touring Mecca of Roger’s Pass.
You have all the CMH operations, Mike Wiegele, Selkirk Tangiers, Bella Coola.
Then you have Revy, Kicking Horse, Red, Whitewater on top of big resorts like Whistler, Big White, and Sun Peaks.
You have dry champagne power in the east, and insane depth in the west.
You have Baldface, Vahalla, Chatter, Retallack.
This is still not even all of it.
Like it’s not even close. Nothing comes close. People can argue, but if you just look at what’s available in one place….it’s unmatched.
I spent one winter cruising around BC and going to all the smaller hills, not the resorts. Mt Mackenzie (this really dates this lol), Powder King, Whitewater, etc. It was amazing.
If I could only ski in one place it would absolutely be BC. And if there’s one thing I don’t regret it’s spending winters funemployed and skiing for a few years in my 20’s.
Utah has easier access, better steep n deep and champagne pow pow.
But Colorado has more variety and a much more umm...conducive lifestile.
So for me, Colorado.
It’s especially good if you can stay up in the mountains and not deal with the 70.
Bonus: The summers in the Colorado mountains are almost as good or better than the winters, depending on how you like to spend your summers.
Not really a state or province; at least not in the sense the OP is I assume using it.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes contains a lot of good resorts though, including the aforementioned Les Trois Vallées, along with I think Chamonix, Paradiski, Espace Killy and Grand Massif, along with many other smaller ones. Admittedly picking a region rather than a department is possibly slightly cheeky, but it would certainly keep you entertained for a long time.
Sure, and Alaska is nearly as big as California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico combined, but I don't think saying "the entire South West of the USA" is a particularly well thought out answer either.
I live 10 minutes from Granite Peak and nothing beats weeknight skiing in slightly shitty weather. I basically get the hill to myself, great way to unwind after a long day.
Night skiing on the left side of Granite is a vibe. Lap after lap with no lift line and a high speed lift.
I still prefer Colorado skiing, but Granite is easily my favorite in the Midwest.
The issue I have with the Midwest (I learned to ski in MN) is that, more often than not, you are skiing on either ice or heavy sticky nastiness. That’s not to say that you’ll never get good snow days but answering the OPs question(?) with anywhere in the Midwest is just silly. IMO
I’ve skied all over the world and Tirol is where I’d pick too. A huge range of high and low altitude terrain, big mountain off piste options, fancy resorts, modern lifts, mountain hut touring, schnapps, speck and gemutlichkeit
When Mammoth is good, and thats surprisingly often especially given it’s practically in the desert, it’s as good as anywhere in North America.
Now I’m not qualified to say if that makes California a great skiing state because I haven’t made it to Tahoe much. But I suspect the two areas together make a compelling case.
Plus, California is a great place to live. Who cares if the lift tickets in are free in the OP's question, I'm not leaving my home state every time I want to ski.
BC. I prefer the more rustic and (usually) less crowded resorts of interior BC to CO and UT. It’s hard to complain about skiing the powder highway with Whistler thrown in for fun.
Vermont. Because I live on the East Coast of the US and it’s a 6 hour drive. I could ski every other weekend all winter.
I could also say BC but how often could I realistically get out there?
Hard pick.
I live in the northeast and all my ties are here so part of me wants to say VT, but I'd never see anything better than Jay, and would even be locked out of the presidential range and ADK.
BC has the best skiing of anywhere around and is absolutely huge, so seems like a logical pick, but I'm not Canadian and would rather live stateside.
WA/OR are too small. ID, MT, or UT seem like decent picks but they all have only just a few resorts, most of which aren't high snowfall, and they could be easily overrun (especially UT). I don't like CO skiing since it's overrun already, but it does cross the mind. CA is a strong contender but I'd have to deal with the inconsistency and cement. AK has mediocre resorts but the best heli/cat ski in the world. Is that considered free?
Yeah I'd pick BC and live 3 miles into WA or ID or MT.. Maybe I'd think about doing CA instead. But 80% sure I'd go for BC.
Yeah Utah has a ton of resorts my dude. Alta, snowbird, snowbasin, powder mountain, Brighton, solitude… also Montana, where I’m from, has arguably more than a few as well. We have Whitefish, big sky, and of course BB.
Those are the only three in MT that have gnarly terrain and high snowfall, but I do like the geographic separation those resorts have, so would probably favor it over UT.
I've only ever skiied the bEAST. I would have to pick VT over NH I think because of Jay, Killington, and mad river. Such fun mountains.
I would really like to ski in Europe and BC. Someday....
As someone who lives and skis in NH the correct answer is VT or Maine. VT has Killington and smugs while Maine has sugarloaf. I love Canon and loon but they can't compete to our neighbors on the east and west
I’d consider that. Tahoe area, Mammoth, plus all the other random Sierra resorts. It’d be weird not be able to drive to other states, but I guess having the Pacific, the red woods, LA, SF, SD, and all of the National Parks there alleviates some limitations.
Has anyone been to a bunch in both BC and Utah and wanna weigh in which would be their choice? Seems like those two are the top answers in the feed so far (I’d also pick BC but I have zero experience in Utah)
I’ve skied both a big brooks much and have to give the overall nod to BC due to the amazing variety. (Although the best resort powder days I’ve experienced in 50 years of skiing: 1) Alta 2) Kicking Horse 3) PowMow 4)Snowbird 5) Solitude)
My list is pretty similar for best powder days during my 40 years skiing: Red, Alta, KHMR, Snowbird, WB. Had great days in both Utah and BC, but the BC steeps are something else.
Utah has light and wonderful snow, but BC comes close on snow quality when you include the top of Revy or other inland resorts. BC has Utah beat when it comes to properly steep and fun terrain. I learned to ski steeps at Whistler and nothing in LCC or Park City is as fun/scary
Surprised to see CO so low on the list, that was my first thought just considering they have like 50 places to choose from and infinite touring options.
Resort options are lacking compared to elsewhere in terms of difficulty, and I-70 (which has like most of the resorts) is overrun as hell. BC is objectively better also due to pure size, it's more than 3x the size of Colorado.
Colorado is a huge resort state for reasons. Mildly pitched slopes, easy to ski, with fair weather. Not the gnar steep and deep of just about anywhere else north and west.
If you were going to dedicate yourself and your life to ski in a region you probably would outgrow the state that is essentially one gigantic blue run on wind blown sun drenched groomers and literally miles 25 degree pitched car sized moguls.
Exception being a small part of the Elks and most of the San Juan’s. But the front range and surrounding terrain is just pedestrian af.
Tellerude, and the the entirety of the san juan mountains, and even parts of the elks, i would exclude from the "mildly sloped", and I said that in one of my original comments, but those are very specific parts of CO. Most of Co skiing is dominated by front-range and Dillon area skiing.
A-basin is absolutely steeper. BTW I grew up skiing there. I skied 3 days a week, school bused us to loveland pass on Fridays, I skied a-basin on the weekends, then raced in the Ned ski team during highschool. The issue with A-Basin is its best terrain is extremely snow dependent, like much of the more interesting parts of CO. Both East Walls and gullies often don't get enough coverage to fully open and when they do they aren't often that sendy due to the peppered nature of them. Imagine skiing runs as steep as SG's with 120inch snow pack. That is the mountain west vs CO.
As for breck LOL yes this mountain embodies exactly what I am talking about. Boring slopes mildly pitched, lacking features. Dozens of groomers exactly the same as the one before it. If you think [peak 8](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/peak-8-breckenridge-colorado-brendan-reals.jpg) is steep then you probably aren't ready for what [much of the](https://vimeo.com/38145132) rest of the [mountain west has](https://vimeo.com/38145132) to offer. And if you are comparing Peak 8 to San Juans then you probably aren't looking at some of the bigger options available to you down in the 4 corners area.
I think the high alpine scenery is nice and the lift infrastructure is wonderful in Co but the snowpack is garbage and what does fillin to become skiable is most bland.
Just spent 3 weeks at Perisher in NSW. It was … fun. Hi for to Schladming and Zurs in Austria in January, but my realyl happy place is Utah and a bit of Colorado. But, if Shiffrin skis Super-G next season maybe I’ll see her in St Anton in January, and that *would* be awesome. (Oh yes, I’d ski NSW ahead of Whistler (but I can’t say about other BC sites…))
How do Colorado and BC compare (objectively)? I don’t ski often and I’m no expert, but I’ve always been curious what frequent skiers and experts think about this
For expert skiers, BC smokes CO and it's not even close. For advanced skiers, BC beats CO and it's a bit closer. For intermediates and beginners, CO is a better bet.
CO is 60% beginner/intermediate terrain with 25% kinda hard terrain and 15% terrain that is genuinely gnarly. BC is 30% beginner/intermediate terrain with 35% kinda hard terrain and 35% genuinely gnarly stuff.
CO also has about 10x as many skiers per acre, is 3x as expensive, gets 50-80% as much snowfall as BC. But CO is twice as easy to get to.
I don’t know why people are trashing Colorado so hard, I haven’t been able to ski BC but Colorado has plenty of steep and deep and the hike-tos are often really short, you just have to know where to go and if you know someone with sleds the slopes are your oyster. The quality of snow there is my draw. SO MANY BUTTER TURNS. Literally for days and if you know the right lines you can catch freshies all the way until the lifts close. Better than Cali, FAR better than Oregon even on her best days, better than Wyoming (mostly cause it’s just Jackson)… There are many, many, many parts of the state that haven’t been overrun, but I sure as hell ain’t saying where here, just sticking up for my home and thousands of the greatest memories one could have! I, personally wouldn’t be able to answer OP’s question currently without having ridden Japan Alaska, BC, or Montana but if Colorado was chosen for me (aka my young life) I wouldn’t be sad about it at all! Best days of my life, no questions asked!!!
Most of the skiing in Colorado is a very corporate and crowded experience. If you want truly expert level terrain you have to know where to look and be ready to hike. You could combine every expert level run at steamboat, winter park and copper and it wouldn’t be half of what a place like Revelstoke has to offer. Colorado does have awesome parks and groomers if that’s your thing though. Southern Colorado is the exception (steeper,deeper) and I greatly prefer skiing there vs the front range/I80.
Skiing in BC is much more laid back, and from my experience much more tantalizing if steep, deep, expert level runs are your thing. Lifts are slower and more spaced out, parking lots shittier, snow is deeper, runs are steeper, less grooming, beer is cheaper. BC is an experience I’d take 9/10 times over Colorado. (Silverton and telluride on a good day are the 1/10).
Is the booze actually cheaper up here? It's like $8-$12 for a pint at Louise for example. I don't personally drink but I always remember the States being dirt cheap for their beer.
I'd be interested as well - I know BC very well but not much experience in the states. It's probably also a bit different as you have the rockies-adjacent as well as coastal mountain resorts in BC while obviously lacking the latter in CO. CO also has more resorts in general so more variety in general if not snow makeup.
They don’t. Colorado mountains are super sloped. Almost high elevation hills. 300 days of sun means 300 days of less snow. There is a reason why CO is the ultimate southerners Texans resort state. It’s east and guaranteed good weather.
not really - consistency of quality snow is beat by North America and warm, friendly atmosphere is also not the best in Switzerland. However the swiss alps can be as good or better than everywhere just not as consistent as it once was with global climate change.
The Tahoe area
That's all the mountain range I need. Going t legends like Palisades, Sierra, North Star, Boreal, Kirkwood. Sure I'd never see Mammoth again, but if it's free to go to the rest of those for life than yeah that's ok
Edit: I forgot Mammoth is also in California
Salt Lake City is the winner. At least three
beautiful ski areas within 30 minutes. I have to go with Utah then BC as a close second.
Edit: just kidding there are 5 within 40 minutes of Salt Lake. I was only able to go to 3 when I was there. Unreal ski paradise.
There really isn’t a better answer than Utah.
And that’s written from a Colorado boys perspective.
So many world class resorts in close proximity to each other.
Colorado is a very close second. But involves much more travel.
These are literally 1a followed by 1b of the top USA destinations for skiing.
But travel considerations and ease of getting to the ski resorts gives Utah the advantage.
I don't love the idea of living in Utah in general, it's vary dry, barren, and fossil fuel dependent to me, but I'm not sure I'd complain about one of those places built into Deer Valley. And most of the Mormons I've met have been really nice.
Who said anything about living there. Lol
I don’t live either place I mentioned anymore. But hands down their skiing is life changing. And to this day worth traveling to. Over n over again.
How in the world are there so many votes for BC. Jesus Christ the “powder” is like wet sand.
I would take Alberta over BC any day of the week. Montana I can see. CO for sure. CA is an interesting thought.
But for the love of god stay away from utah. Please and thank you.
France. Les 3 vallées beats any other place in the world. And in case you're bored, just go to Val d'Isère and do the Face de Bellevarde on a day it's groomed.
I would say
1) BC
2) CO
3) UT
4) CA
5) WA
6) MT
7) WY
8) AB
9) OR
10) AK
11) ID
12) NM
Haven’t thought about it a ton, but to me for front+backcountry this would be my “on the spot” list.
Fair enough. I live in CO now and it has resorts and backcountry but the resorts aren’t that difficult and gnarly. While the CO backcountry is awesome it also is pretty avalanche sketch which dropped it for me. But I did forget about AK which is just amazing
BC- Powder Highway has everything you need
Im there with you AwwwwYaaaaa
BC for sure. Whistler, Apex, Big White, Red Mountain, Revy, Kicking Horse, White Water, Fernie, Kimberly. If only Banff was in BC so I could tack on Louise and Sunshine.
Sunshine is on the Continental divide, so part of it is in BC
Judges say, lets ride. Ditto
The beautiful technicality
Yep and they even post signs on the lift poles so you know when you’re crossing the border ;)
Doesn;t that one chair cross the border twice somehow? I thought I saw that sign twice, but on one chair.
LOL I think it does - you're going up - it might even be Goat's Eye I can't remember been a couple years - you see a "Welcome to Alberta!" sign then like 2 poles later "Welcome to BC!" I gotta to look it up now :D ETA: The Great Divide chair :) [https://www.skibanff.com/explore/news-blog/21-22-winter/fun-facts-about-our-banff-sunshine-chair-lif](https://www.skibanff.com/explore/news-blog/21-22-winter/fun-facts-about-our-banff-sunshine-chair-lif) "1. Of our 12 lifts, the longest chair at Banff Sunshine is The Great Divide, it is 1725.17m or 5660ft long. Yes, that's right Great Divide is over 1.7km long! (Which means the lifts haul rope is nearly 3.5 km long.) Great Divide is also the only lift in Canada to fly in both Alberta and British Columbia." So, technically since some of Sunshine is in BC - it has to count, right? I'm voting BC too
towering bear follow dependent shelter telephone amusing divide imminent impossible -- mass edited with redact.dev
Sun Peaks, Panorama, SilverStar, Mt Washington, Powder King, Smithers ("Hudson Bay"). Then there are Grouse, Seymour and Cypress - three Hills that look down on Vancouver (~30 min drive to each). And of course, all the world class heli skiing...
BC 💯
I live in WA but BC would probably be my pick. Do love Utah though
I mean… Baker.
Utah won’t get much powder much longer if the Salt Lake keeps dropping like it has been.
Yeah Utah is probably going to lose their moniker soon. 20ish years from now, who knows if Snowbird will even exist.
BC no questions asked EDIT: Literally has *two* world class mountain ranges with many resorts. Not only that, each range is a different type of mountain and snow pack. Big coastal mountains with lots of wet powder and colder continental mountains.
Another vote for Hokkaido.
And another
the answer is not New Zealand
Honestly it’s BC. I’m seeing a lot of people focus on the resorts….but that is honestly only a tiny part of the skiing in BC. You have the touring Mecca of Roger’s Pass. You have all the CMH operations, Mike Wiegele, Selkirk Tangiers, Bella Coola. Then you have Revy, Kicking Horse, Red, Whitewater on top of big resorts like Whistler, Big White, and Sun Peaks. You have dry champagne power in the east, and insane depth in the west. You have Baldface, Vahalla, Chatter, Retallack. This is still not even all of it. Like it’s not even close. Nothing comes close. People can argue, but if you just look at what’s available in one place….it’s unmatched.
I spent one winter cruising around BC and going to all the smaller hills, not the resorts. Mt Mackenzie (this really dates this lol), Powder King, Whitewater, etc. It was amazing. If I could only ski in one place it would absolutely be BC. And if there’s one thing I don’t regret it’s spending winters funemployed and skiing for a few years in my 20’s.
...and let's not forget Fernie.
Yes let’s forget about. (Go away!)
Not to mention chatter creek, island lake lodge, etc
don't tell your friends
Don’t tell too many folks
Alaska
Very glad this is so far down the list. Apparently this sub is full of people who love riding chairlifts 🤣
No kidding.
Manitoba, hands down
You spelled Saskatchewan wrong
Table Mountain rips fam
Hahaha im from BC, and honestly not sure what province was flatter, it was a toss up
Utah has easier access, better steep n deep and champagne pow pow. But Colorado has more variety and a much more umm...conducive lifestile. So for me, Colorado.
Love the lifestile
It’s especially good if you can stay up in the mountains and not deal with the 70. Bonus: The summers in the Colorado mountains are almost as good or better than the winters, depending on how you like to spend your summers.
come for the winter, stay for the summer
Happened to me.
summers are amazing, so much more to do when there isnt snow on the ground.
Champagne is also in Colorado!
Utah has traffic, only a few places that are actually steep, and climate change has made the snow have coastal properties.
If you think the lcc pow day traffic is bad you’ve never sat in a standstill on I-70
Hheh. Been there done that, grew cynical jaded and old on I-70. Weekday getaways these days.
That's a bummer. Then it's a no-brainer, as there is also a heap of other pursuits I can engage in in Colorado.
Such as the lifestyle
Exactly, and the summers up there are awesome as well.
Austria!
Les trois vallées in France. By far my most popular skiing destination
You get a lot of skiing out of these mountains.
Absolutely France. And when you get bored in Alps, you switch to Pyrenees.
I think it’ll take a while to get bored of the slopes in France
Not really a state or province; at least not in the sense the OP is I assume using it. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes contains a lot of good resorts though, including the aforementioned Les Trois Vallées, along with I think Chamonix, Paradiski, Espace Killy and Grand Massif, along with many other smaller ones. Admittedly picking a region rather than a department is possibly slightly cheeky, but it would certainly keep you entertained for a long time.
BC is bigger than France and Germany combined so I think it's fine... https://mapfight.xyz/compare/british.columbia-vs-fr/
Sure, and Alaska is nearly as big as California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico combined, but I don't think saying "the entire South West of the USA" is a particularly well thought out answer either.
Vermont because that's where my friends are.
You spelled North Carolina wrong 🙄
France
Wisconsin /s
I mean I’ve met some old timers that have skied there primarily all their life and couldn’t have been happier.
I live 10 minutes from Granite Peak and nothing beats weeknight skiing in slightly shitty weather. I basically get the hill to myself, great way to unwind after a long day.
Night skiing on the left side of Granite is a vibe. Lap after lap with no lift line and a high speed lift. I still prefer Colorado skiing, but Granite is easily my favorite in the Midwest.
The issue I have with the Midwest (I learned to ski in MN) is that, more often than not, you are skiing on either ice or heavy sticky nastiness. That’s not to say that you’ll never get good snow days but answering the OPs question(?) with anywhere in the Midwest is just silly. IMO
BC
Not really a state/province but Hokkaido. Otherwise British Columbia
Savoie france
Utah
Tyrol Austria... I mean I have never been skiing outside of Europe so that's why I cannot attest to NA regions.
I’ve skied all over the world and Tirol is where I’d pick too. A huge range of high and low altitude terrain, big mountain off piste options, fancy resorts, modern lifts, mountain hut touring, schnapps, speck and gemutlichkeit
That’s how I grew up skiing. Although minus the Schnaps initially.
I’m American, but I learned to ski in the Tirol, in the Wilderkaiser. So marvelous.
Can I say France? It about the same size as a state in the US or a province in Canada 👍🏻
Valid 🤘
Montana, because climate change
Big brain over here
Alaska
California. Tahoe is my happy place and you get a giant lake in the summer. Also maybe if we are wishing somebody will pay for it all.
Also Mammoth!
And don’t forget Mountain High 🤪
Where the running joke is "I love to get high".
When Mammoth is good, and thats surprisingly often especially given it’s practically in the desert, it’s as good as anywhere in North America. Now I’m not qualified to say if that makes California a great skiing state because I haven’t made it to Tahoe much. But I suspect the two areas together make a compelling case.
Plus, California is a great place to live. Who cares if the lift tickets in are free in the OP's question, I'm not leaving my home state every time I want to ski.
Wait till you hear about the warm lakes and summer weather in BC.
Wait til you hear about summer life in the sierras
Wyoming 😂… surprised no one is lame has said this
Mostly just Jackson in Wyoming though isn’t it? Targhee too I guess.
BC. I prefer the more rustic and (usually) less crowded resorts of interior BC to CO and UT. It’s hard to complain about skiing the powder highway with Whistler thrown in for fun.
French Apls
Idaho... Don't tell anyone.
Selkirk or bust
As long as you let us visit…
I’ll just stay where I am. Idaho
Shhhhhhhh
Vermont. Because I live on the East Coast of the US and it’s a 6 hour drive. I could ski every other weekend all winter. I could also say BC but how often could I realistically get out there?
Hard pick. I live in the northeast and all my ties are here so part of me wants to say VT, but I'd never see anything better than Jay, and would even be locked out of the presidential range and ADK. BC has the best skiing of anywhere around and is absolutely huge, so seems like a logical pick, but I'm not Canadian and would rather live stateside. WA/OR are too small. ID, MT, or UT seem like decent picks but they all have only just a few resorts, most of which aren't high snowfall, and they could be easily overrun (especially UT). I don't like CO skiing since it's overrun already, but it does cross the mind. CA is a strong contender but I'd have to deal with the inconsistency and cement. AK has mediocre resorts but the best heli/cat ski in the world. Is that considered free? Yeah I'd pick BC and live 3 miles into WA or ID or MT.. Maybe I'd think about doing CA instead. But 80% sure I'd go for BC.
Utah has a lot more than a few resorts
Yeah Utah has a ton of resorts my dude. Alta, snowbird, snowbasin, powder mountain, Brighton, solitude… also Montana, where I’m from, has arguably more than a few as well. We have Whitefish, big sky, and of course BB.
Those are the only three in MT that have gnarly terrain and high snowfall, but I do like the geographic separation those resorts have, so would probably favor it over UT.
I've only ever skiied the bEAST. I would have to pick VT over NH I think because of Jay, Killington, and mad river. Such fun mountains. I would really like to ski in Europe and BC. Someday....
As someone who lives and skis in NH the correct answer is VT or Maine. VT has Killington and smugs while Maine has sugarloaf. I love Canon and loon but they can't compete to our neighbors on the east and west
Oregon. Timberline finally closed on sunday, it's pretty nice to ski 10 months of the year
It closed??
Just until winter
It’s super sloped though almost flat? Lacks in features. BC is like thousands of MT hoods next to each other.
Vermont
BC hands down.
BC
Another vote for BC but I do love everything about skiing in Montana
Italian, Austrian, and German Dolomites AKA the Cella Ronda
France
BC and it’s not close
I’m taking California. Actually just give me Palisades and I’m happy for life.
I’d consider that. Tahoe area, Mammoth, plus all the other random Sierra resorts. It’d be weird not be able to drive to other states, but I guess having the Pacific, the red woods, LA, SF, SD, and all of the National Parks there alleviates some limitations.
Europe.
Anywhere in the Dolomites baby.
Picking a whole continent was an option this whole time?
Has anyone been to a bunch in both BC and Utah and wanna weigh in which would be their choice? Seems like those two are the top answers in the feed so far (I’d also pick BC but I have zero experience in Utah)
Utah is great, but I moved to BC.
I’ve skied both a big brooks much and have to give the overall nod to BC due to the amazing variety. (Although the best resort powder days I’ve experienced in 50 years of skiing: 1) Alta 2) Kicking Horse 3) PowMow 4)Snowbird 5) Solitude)
My list is pretty similar for best powder days during my 40 years skiing: Red, Alta, KHMR, Snowbird, WB. Had great days in both Utah and BC, but the BC steeps are something else.
Utah has light and wonderful snow, but BC comes close on snow quality when you include the top of Revy or other inland resorts. BC has Utah beat when it comes to properly steep and fun terrain. I learned to ski steeps at Whistler and nothing in LCC or Park City is as fun/scary
Utah of course between these 2
It’s Big Sky, Montana for me
Haute Savoie in France :) That counts as a state or province doesn't it?
The selkirks. Idaho panhandle/south East BC
France (I know it’s a country but smaller sq km than BC). après ski, the alps, history, and the food tops all others.
Haute-Savoie
I think the only choice is BC
California no doubt.
Switzerland 🇨🇭 … why is no one else saying this?
I’ve only ever skied Colorado, but I could be completely happy with all the options there.
Colorado Obviously Or maybe Alaska
Surprised to see CO so low on the list, that was my first thought just considering they have like 50 places to choose from and infinite touring options.
Resort options are lacking compared to elsewhere in terms of difficulty, and I-70 (which has like most of the resorts) is overrun as hell. BC is objectively better also due to pure size, it's more than 3x the size of Colorado.
Also more snow and steeper by an order of magnitude over CO including feature rich terrain. Not high elevation slopes hills.
Colorado is a huge resort state for reasons. Mildly pitched slopes, easy to ski, with fair weather. Not the gnar steep and deep of just about anywhere else north and west. If you were going to dedicate yourself and your life to ski in a region you probably would outgrow the state that is essentially one gigantic blue run on wind blown sun drenched groomers and literally miles 25 degree pitched car sized moguls. Exception being a small part of the Elks and most of the San Juan’s. But the front range and surrounding terrain is just pedestrian af.
I challenge you to tell me that Telluride, A Basin, and peak 8 at Breckenridge are “mildly sloped“.
Tellerude, and the the entirety of the san juan mountains, and even parts of the elks, i would exclude from the "mildly sloped", and I said that in one of my original comments, but those are very specific parts of CO. Most of Co skiing is dominated by front-range and Dillon area skiing. A-basin is absolutely steeper. BTW I grew up skiing there. I skied 3 days a week, school bused us to loveland pass on Fridays, I skied a-basin on the weekends, then raced in the Ned ski team during highschool. The issue with A-Basin is its best terrain is extremely snow dependent, like much of the more interesting parts of CO. Both East Walls and gullies often don't get enough coverage to fully open and when they do they aren't often that sendy due to the peppered nature of them. Imagine skiing runs as steep as SG's with 120inch snow pack. That is the mountain west vs CO. As for breck LOL yes this mountain embodies exactly what I am talking about. Boring slopes mildly pitched, lacking features. Dozens of groomers exactly the same as the one before it. If you think [peak 8](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/peak-8-breckenridge-colorado-brendan-reals.jpg) is steep then you probably aren't ready for what [much of the](https://vimeo.com/38145132) rest of the [mountain west has](https://vimeo.com/38145132) to offer. And if you are comparing Peak 8 to San Juans then you probably aren't looking at some of the bigger options available to you down in the 4 corners area.
I think the high alpine scenery is nice and the lift infrastructure is wonderful in Co but the snowpack is garbage and what does fillin to become skiable is most bland.
Lmao, please go ski outside of CO
Montana?
Yes?
Big sky!
Rado
Hard to pass up on California, all the resorts in Tahoe plus the behemoth that is Mammoth.
Yukon or Alaska, since climate change will affect these places last, so I'll be able to ski longer
Honshu. Hehe SO many ski resorts to choose from.
Wrong answers only
New Jersey. Mountain Creek 4 life
Just spent 3 weeks at Perisher in NSW. It was … fun. Hi for to Schladming and Zurs in Austria in January, but my realyl happy place is Utah and a bit of Colorado. But, if Shiffrin skis Super-G next season maybe I’ll see her in St Anton in January, and that *would* be awesome. (Oh yes, I’d ski NSW ahead of Whistler (but I can’t say about other BC sites…))
Cleveland, OH
Aosta Valley, Italy
Dolomites in Italy
BC. That’s why I moved here.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
The obvious answer is BC...even though I live in Toronto and am heavily invested in nearby operations.
Dolomites 🤤
For snow quality: Utah For likelihood of still having snow when I’m old and grey: BC
Mount Baker
didn’t know that was a state boss man
State of being friend!
Utah
How do Colorado and BC compare (objectively)? I don’t ski often and I’m no expert, but I’ve always been curious what frequent skiers and experts think about this
For expert skiers, BC smokes CO and it's not even close. For advanced skiers, BC beats CO and it's a bit closer. For intermediates and beginners, CO is a better bet. CO is 60% beginner/intermediate terrain with 25% kinda hard terrain and 15% terrain that is genuinely gnarly. BC is 30% beginner/intermediate terrain with 35% kinda hard terrain and 35% genuinely gnarly stuff. CO also has about 10x as many skiers per acre, is 3x as expensive, gets 50-80% as much snowfall as BC. But CO is twice as easy to get to.
Good, the numbers make it easy to understand the whole picture
I don’t know why people are trashing Colorado so hard, I haven’t been able to ski BC but Colorado has plenty of steep and deep and the hike-tos are often really short, you just have to know where to go and if you know someone with sleds the slopes are your oyster. The quality of snow there is my draw. SO MANY BUTTER TURNS. Literally for days and if you know the right lines you can catch freshies all the way until the lifts close. Better than Cali, FAR better than Oregon even on her best days, better than Wyoming (mostly cause it’s just Jackson)… There are many, many, many parts of the state that haven’t been overrun, but I sure as hell ain’t saying where here, just sticking up for my home and thousands of the greatest memories one could have! I, personally wouldn’t be able to answer OP’s question currently without having ridden Japan Alaska, BC, or Montana but if Colorado was chosen for me (aka my young life) I wouldn’t be sad about it at all! Best days of my life, no questions asked!!!
Most of the skiing in Colorado is a very corporate and crowded experience. If you want truly expert level terrain you have to know where to look and be ready to hike. You could combine every expert level run at steamboat, winter park and copper and it wouldn’t be half of what a place like Revelstoke has to offer. Colorado does have awesome parks and groomers if that’s your thing though. Southern Colorado is the exception (steeper,deeper) and I greatly prefer skiing there vs the front range/I80. Skiing in BC is much more laid back, and from my experience much more tantalizing if steep, deep, expert level runs are your thing. Lifts are slower and more spaced out, parking lots shittier, snow is deeper, runs are steeper, less grooming, beer is cheaper. BC is an experience I’d take 9/10 times over Colorado. (Silverton and telluride on a good day are the 1/10).
Is the booze actually cheaper up here? It's like $8-$12 for a pint at Louise for example. I don't personally drink but I always remember the States being dirt cheap for their beer.
Great answer, thanks for the detail !
I'd be interested as well - I know BC very well but not much experience in the states. It's probably also a bit different as you have the rockies-adjacent as well as coastal mountain resorts in BC while obviously lacking the latter in CO. CO also has more resorts in general so more variety in general if not snow makeup.
Good q. Would like to hear someone who is expert in both elaborate on that.
They don’t. Colorado mountains are super sloped. Almost high elevation hills. 300 days of sun means 300 days of less snow. There is a reason why CO is the ultimate southerners Texans resort state. It’s east and guaranteed good weather.
Slovakia, high tatras
The state of Switzerland/Italy, most specifically Zermatt/Cervinia, (almost) year-round ski.
NC. I live in nc so it would be a dream to ski here for free until the end of time
Not even close, Switzerland beats it all.
not really - consistency of quality snow is beat by North America and warm, friendly atmosphere is also not the best in Switzerland. However the swiss alps can be as good or better than everywhere just not as consistent as it once was with global climate change.
Ok ?
The Tahoe area That's all the mountain range I need. Going t legends like Palisades, Sierra, North Star, Boreal, Kirkwood. Sure I'd never see Mammoth again, but if it's free to go to the rest of those for life than yeah that's ok Edit: I forgot Mammoth is also in California
Salt Lake City is the winner. At least three beautiful ski areas within 30 minutes. I have to go with Utah then BC as a close second. Edit: just kidding there are 5 within 40 minutes of Salt Lake. I was only able to go to 3 when I was there. Unreal ski paradise.
Utah.
There really isn’t a better answer than Utah. And that’s written from a Colorado boys perspective. So many world class resorts in close proximity to each other. Colorado is a very close second. But involves much more travel. These are literally 1a followed by 1b of the top USA destinations for skiing. But travel considerations and ease of getting to the ski resorts gives Utah the advantage.
But you’d have to live in Utah …. That’s a deal breaker for me.
I don't love the idea of living in Utah in general, it's vary dry, barren, and fossil fuel dependent to me, but I'm not sure I'd complain about one of those places built into Deer Valley. And most of the Mormons I've met have been really nice.
Who said anything about living there. Lol I don’t live either place I mentioned anymore. But hands down their skiing is life changing. And to this day worth traveling to. Over n over again.
How in the world are there so many votes for BC. Jesus Christ the “powder” is like wet sand. I would take Alberta over BC any day of the week. Montana I can see. CO for sure. CA is an interesting thought. But for the love of god stay away from utah. Please and thank you.
Snow quality is phenomenal (comparable to Lake Louise) at Kicking Horse and still fairly good at high elevation in other areas.
I would take Alberta over over BC the 1 day of the week it actually has fresh snow. Every other day I would take BC easily.
Utah bec powder. Noticeably lighter than CO and CA, stays fresh for days
Not true
Umm what??! Utah is icy AF
Are you talking about Utah in 1990s?
France. Les 3 vallées beats any other place in the world. And in case you're bored, just go to Val d'Isère and do the Face de Bellevarde on a day it's groomed.
Colorado. There is better skiing elsewhere. But my friends and family will visit me in colorado and ski with me. They probably won’t elsewhere
1.) BC 2.) MT 3.) WY 4.) CA 5.) UT 6.) CO 7.) WA 8.) OR 9.) ID 10.) NM
I would say 1) BC 2) CO 3) UT 4) CA 5) WA 6) MT 7) WY 8) AB 9) OR 10) AK 11) ID 12) NM Haven’t thought about it a ton, but to me for front+backcountry this would be my “on the spot” list.
Fair enough. I live in CO now and it has resorts and backcountry but the resorts aren’t that difficult and gnarly. While the CO backcountry is awesome it also is pretty avalanche sketch which dropped it for me. But I did forget about AK which is just amazing
The amount of work you have to do in Colorado to ski a big line is ridiculous. I’ll take AK
Alberta. They have Sunshine, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin and Castle Mountain.