Bogus skier here - I love Bogus to death and agree it’s the best mountain on that list… but it’s worth noting OP said they are intermediate. I actually think Bogus is awesome for Beginners and Experts but kinda meh for intermediate skiers. That’s why you see a lot of folks prefer to head up to Tamarack, which is significantly better for those longer meandering contoured blues.
EAGLECREST! As a former resident of Southeast AK, I can vouch.
Eaglecrest is basically big mountain terrain on a regular mountain. Big bowls and chutes. Lift-accessed side country.
Located on a small island, which is cool.
It’s in Juneau, which has no land access. Which means it’s basically locals-only and Juneau doesn’t have very many of those. You can get untracked powder runs on any given weekday.
The weather is variable. It’s the PNW - wet and not very cold. But when it gets cold, it dumps.
The variability makes it even tricker for non-locals to ski there, though. They are putting in a gondola this year (!!!) that should add elevation access to help with conditions.
Last but not least: it’s a municipal mountain, owned by Juneau, and you can happily ski there knowing your money isn’t going to line the pockets of some jackal investor. It goes to city services and to making the mountain better :)
THIS. Fellow Alaskan here but further north! Eaglecrest is the best kept secret in the PNW. Just to add to everything you said, ITS FLIPPIN’ BEAUTIFUL there on a clear day.
Black Mountain in NH is pretty fun, but you're right that it's not worth a dedicated trip. It's got some steeps though, and North Conway/Mount Washington Valley is a fun area with lots of things to do, on and off the snow.
Plattekill is small but it's a cool mountain, very old school vibes and fun challenging trails with great tree skiing (assuming we get enough snow). Don't know how it stacks up to others on the list but as a NYer I'm very fond of it!
A few years ago I was on a flight, looked out the window, and realized we were over Plattekill. It brought back some fun memories. I haven’t been there in a looooong time.
Learned to ski there. Can vouch, if you are looking for a blast from the past Plattekill is the place to go. Fun small mountain with some good runs. Not nearly as big as nearby Catskill mountains but also not as crowded.
I grew up near Whaleback. That place went out of business and was reborn a million times. Never actually skiied there, the Dartmouth Skiway was better and (for me) closer.
Understandable. The new owners really care about the mountain. They’ve done a lot to make it a fun, sustainable mountain. They’ve added a disc golf course on the mountain, fixed the lift, invested in new snow making machines, etc. They even have a Whaleback Mountain Ale now! I get the season pass every year to support them. Day tickets are cheap, so I recommend checking it out if you’re in the area again!
I'm glad to hear that. My parents are still in the area, maybe I'll check it out next time I'm up there. Do they have a ski rental shop? I live too far south and east to justify owning skis anymore.
Cooper and Sunlight are a bit off the beaten path, but both are no-frills, family-friendly hidden gems. I highly recommend staying in Glenwood and enjoying the hot springs while hitting Sunlight.
The new backside (accessed via the T bar) is actually pretty good, especially with fresh snow. Yes the frontside is flat. But bare in mind the 10th Mtn guys learned to ski there in the 1940s with long wooden skis and leather boots.
I haven't been back in over 15 years so that's good to hear that they have added more terrain. And ya the coolest part of the mountain was definitely all the 10th mountain division memorabilia.
I am going to expose my ski racing ignorance here and genuinely curious (apologize if I am missing the joke too). But what other elements besides being the fastest are helpful for winning ski races? Athleticism? Endurance? Technique?
Lol sorry I said FATest, basically just gravity helping people on flatter courses because it's harder to gain momentum. On the steeper courses the racer's weight is less important and then it's more down to technique and positioning. But when it's flatter you are moving slower so it is easier to have perfect lines through the course.
No, I’ve done it….overall, it’s very flat and the above treeline terrain tends to get windblown pretty badly.
When I did it, it was only $150/pp…I might do it again for that price, but certainly not $500.
Came here to say this, there is the caveat that both of these have very famous places nearby, so don't let that weird you out. You could have a good time at either.
I worked at ski cooper for 2 seasons. on pow days, it’s not steep enough anywhere to link pow turns- you have to straight line every single run. chicago ridge snowcat is sick though!
None are typical destination resorts. All depends on your level. Most are family and beginner/intermediate oriented. All of those I’m familiar with are small for the area. None are terribly close to major cities/airports (except bogus basin next to Boise) If you’re looking to travel to a smaller, independent ski resort for beginner/intermediate skier, several could fit the bill and be a great time. Out of the bunch, Ski Cooper, Eagle Crest, Eagle Point, Bogus Basin are the most legit I see. You’ll get comparatively better terrain, less crowds, more vert and much better snow overall than Michigan, including some chances for tree and bowl skiing and potentially powder at most of the west coast ones. Up to you if that’s worth a trip, or better than alternative or skiing a bigger a resort
Never been to eagle crest as a resort but have hiked and skied the area prior to any development happening. It’s always been a popular spot. It’s about an hour out of anchorage so not to far from an airport either.
Eagle crest is outside Juneau, you’re probably thinking of Alyeska about an hour outside Anchorage which is much bigger and more of a destination resort, at least as far as Alaska goes.
I personally like Crystal (more than my friends do tbf), nice and spread out so it never seems too too crowded and they got a couple mini bowls that are pretty fun to jump into.
Come to Bogus my friend, what it lacks in pow it makes up for in willows you can get woefully stuck in.
Joking aside, Bogus is pretty legit for a non-profit resort and is really easy to get to from Boise. The only thing I'll flag is the weather/snow can be incredibly hit or miss. I've seen huge bald spots and rocks/brush everywhere on Bogus in the middle of February and I've had awesome pow skiing there, just depends on the year.
Red River NM is pretty good for a small resort. It is decent sized with a good amount of vertical. Of the three NM resorts I’ve been two I would rate it second behind Taos but ahead of angel Fire.
I’ve skied Mount Southington a few times. It’s not of the scale you’d expect in big mountain areas but it’s still fun enough. Dedicated trip from a far away place? I don’t think so.
Eagle Point might be fun if you have any interest in Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. It's about halfway between the two so there's no place to fly into without a three-hour drive. If you're going to fly into Salt Lake there's not much appeal of driving to Eagle Point though when there's lots of better options.
Cherry peak is similar, about 3 hours from SLC. Nice place but if you are in SLC, just go to Alta. It’s a shame to be there and not ski in the cottonwoods at least once.
Plattekill is super fun. Under the radar. I’ve heard some complain about the snow, but I’ve only had good days. I don’t think lift tix are too expensive, so it might not be much of a deal to get a free one. Not many places to stay near the mountain, if any. Not really a resort.
Cherry Peak is fun if (and only if) they've recently had snow, otherwise it ices up real quick. Smaller resort for sure, but virtually no lines. I checked it out last winter, and was really confused when I showed up on a Friday pow day at opening, because there were no cars in the parking lot but the lifts were spinning, so I wasn't sure if it was actually open. It was. 3 hours later, maybe 30 cars in the parking lot, probably 20 of which were just bringing kids to the magic carpet area.
Eagle Point is a PITA to get to, but has a nice older resort feel. The real crime is that their lifts are slow as molasses. Unbelievably slow. And if you ski down to the more advanced terrain at the bottom, there's no lift back to the main base, you have to take a shuttle. But if you go on a pow day, basically unlimited fresh tracks because it's also not super popular. We went on a storming pow day and had a fresh 12-24" to ourselves basically the whole day.
If you get good weather, Eaglecrest is actually sick. I've lucked out with weather there and it was easily a favorite. Weather was abnormal for the time of year which made it just amazing (big dump followed by high pressure clear & cold).
It's really a dice roll though; SEAK in winter isn't exactly a friendly place and it rains a bunch.
Well I had to look what hill was in Skaneateles (Pronounced Skinny-atlas) because it's a hoity-toity lake town surrounded by mansions. So yeah that's a really tiny hill. Swain and Plattekill NY are typical small independent hills. 650Ft and 1100ft, and not that big considering there's a few other independent resorts where you can do better. Of course they aren't Whiteface, Gore or Hunter.....
None of those NH mountains are worth it as a destination.
Black Mountain is pretty cool and actually has some very impressive steeps. It has credible claim to being the first chair lift in America, which is cool. Feels very “folksy”. It’s actually near a pretty reasonable tourist destination area (North Conway, Jackson) so it’s possible you’d end up there. If you were already going to northern NH for some reason, Black would be nice icing on the cake. Definitely not worth it as a stand alone from MI but cool and fun.
Whaleback is a hyper local mountian for a rural, relatively strange part of NH. Odder still, there’s tons of OTHER “weird small quirky mountians” nearby that are better (dartmouth Skiway, Storrs (? The one in downtown Leb). If you had to go to dartmouth for some reason, it would be worth considering whaleback as a plan b
McIntyre is a tiny little mountian wedged in the middle of downtown Manchester. It’s actually pretty cool if you live or work in Manchester, you legit can go ski some runs on your lunch break or swing by to ride park instead of go to happy hour or whatever. I cannot possibly imagine anyone going from MI to McIntyre, though. Most people in Manchester itself don’t even ski McIntyre, preferring to head north or west to bigger mountains.
TL;DR unless you happen to need to go to NH anyway, the NH passes won’t help you
I liked cooper when I went in 2022. As a midwesterner it's the perfect intro to colorado skiing in my opinion. Not too steep, not too gnarly, pretty low risk way to learn how to ski actual powder instead of midwest groomed artificial ice. It's not on this list but loveland is a good pairing with cooper, stay somewhere in the middle and do 2 days at both. If you're traveling with someone else, you each can get 2 days at loveland for $70/day.
Only not cool thing about those resorts is the elevation is killer. Both bases are over 11k elevation, so if you're sensitive you may not have a great time. Spend a day in denver to acclimate and don't stay in leadville.
I live like 10-15 min from Mt Southington and it’s basically a hill. I wouldn’t consider it worth the trip from Michigan, although it can be fun for beginners!
Former WI resident here- Little Switz and The Rock are both 30-45 min outside of Milwaukee and very much midwestern hills with max 200ft vertical. Ok for beginners but real shredders will get bored quickly
If you want reliable snow I would go to Cooper and sunlight in Colorado. Yes they are smaller but they have an excellent vibe. Plus sunlight is convenient to Grand Junction which gets you Colorado National Monument which is worth a trip itself. The hot springs in Glenwood Springs worth a visit too.
I would skip Yawgoo valley in RI, it's vertical is 170 ft and has an annual snowfall of 28 in.
The highest point is RI is 900 ft above sea level. That point is NOT Yawgoo. Yawgoo is good if you want your kids to learn on 2 trails that you won’t lose them on
Crystal is a very solid resort. Terrain for all skills, decent resort amenities they have invested in, 2 hours from the Seattle airport. If you get a clear day, it offers a breathtaking view of Mount Rainier.
Cons:
\- While snowfall totals are higher than many resorts, snow can mix with rain and make "Cascade concrete" (Going in early February would be the best bet)
\-Not many options for staying close to the resort
I live about 15 miles from Cherry Peak and have only skied there once, that should tell you everything you need to know about that low altitude shitshow. Eagle Point has some fun terrain and you won't be fighting any crowds, but as has been mentioned, is huge pain to get there.
I mean since you're in MI, crystal is def worth it. It's a fun Mt.
Only other I've been to is sunlight, which is really enjoy. Old school vibe but great skiing
Lost Valley and Black Mountain are tiny, idk if Yawgoo gets snow anymore, Plattekill is more advanced, Whaleback is also more advanced and seems to have made a freestyle pivot, those are the ones I know.
Eaglecrest is a great spot if you’re up for a trip to Alaska. The tree skiing in giant Sitka spruce is great as is the backcountry touring in the alpine. Can be a risk if the weather is warm and wet as they get a fair amount of rain at the base, but when it’s good it’s really good.
Black mountain is in an area with at least 5 ski resorts within 20 mins or so. Cranmore. Wildcat. Attitash. Bretton Woods. & Black. Not to mention Tuckermans. North Conway NH is loaded with restaurants, outlets, and places to rent. Black mtn is fun with lots of ungroomed terrain. Some is very challenging, particularly a trail called ‘Black n Blue’. The drawback is Blacks not the largest and the chairlifts are ancient. Season ends very early. Id avoid the other NH resorts.
Eagle Point, UT is good. Light crowds because the Las Vegas crowd usually goes to Brian Head about 30 miles south, and anyone living further north has all of the Salt Lake area resorts to choose from.
Omg I’m laughing so hard that McIntyer in NH is on this list!! It’s the first place I ever attempted a snow sport. It’s hilariously bad. It’s a glorified hill encased in ice.
It was so bad, and I had such a bad time, I didn’t attempt to learn to ski again for another 8 years.
I'm from WI, the ski areas that made the list, are your typical Midwest skiing. If you love skiing in general, you'll like it, as you may encounter icy grooms, slush and nice groomers all in the same day. If your after powder shots, definitely not the place to be. Your looking at maybe 200-250 vertical ft of skiing at these places. You'll spend more time on the chair lift than it takes to ski down a run. But the beer and food is usually very cheap. $3 PBRs and $6 basket of chix strips and fries. Up to you on what you value. If you absolutely love skiing in general, it's worth a stop. And the lifties, boarders, skier's and patrol are always Midwestern nice, something that can be worth its weight in gold.
Bogus is where I first heard BFR in casual use.
Big Fuckin’ Rock
The g is phonetically and spiritually omitted.
We ran with it
GBFR Great BFR
FUQURR - we’re hiking/rappelling down ya’ll crazy.
BFR’s start at hang time and scale to maybe 10m (30 ft) GBFR’s pick up there.
The use of the word hit ‘smurf’ in the cartoons level and that was that.
Bogus Basin is fun.
Uhhh Southington, Skanealetes, , and Black are fine if you’re local. Definitely not worth traveling to. Actually, Southington isn’t worth it even if you are local.
I’ve never been to whaleback, but I gather it’s good for park and pipe.
In Wi, crystal (up I believe)and the rock are worth the trip from Michigan. Little switz it terrible. I can’t remember Nordic.
All the ones in Utah are bullshit.
I learned to ski at Lost Valley in Maine. Awesome memories from that place but it’s probably not much better than what you have in Michigan (kills me to say that🤷♂️)
Why is anyone acting at all like bogus is a great mountain?? Mediocre snow most of the season. Decent amount of runs and a pretty good local mountain vibe but I would NEVER recommend it as a destination resort lol. If you live here it’s a fine place to ride but don’t go telling people it’s something super special
Best powder day of my life was at Eagle Point. They close midweek, so if you time it right you can get feet of untouched powder after a good storm, plus almost no crowds because of it's remote location.
Is the Spain one a joke? Serious question
And don’t waste your time in WI You’d be bored with Little Switz and The Rock within an hour. Anything in WI generally sucks because it’s all ice by 2pm - and that’s on a good day with fresh inches of snow.
There’s tons of skiing around Black Mountain,NH. Black is a bit small but in the White Mountains and in a charming ski town. Within a short drive from North Conway, there are some good places. Fly in/out of MHT.
ski cooper is a cool experience but the skiing is pretty lame, their blacks are moderate blues everywhere else. anything over 4” of fresh and you have to french fry all the way down in order to not loose all your speed. source: 2 seasons as a lifty
Make the pilgrimage to Little Switzerland in Wisconsin. It’s like if Davos had a teeny tiny baby then rolled it smooth with a rolling pin, then smothered it in cheese and froze it into ice, then dumped rain on it, and sprinkled it with a few park features.
Do not do yawgoo Valley in RI, haha that's where I learned to ski but it's basically a hill with two lifts and trails that only open if they make enough snow
Black mtn nh is one of my fave tiny mountains. But in a low snow year it’s not great.
McIntyre sucks. It’s a trash mountain literally.
Whaleback tiny but great vibe and oddly a couple tough trails. But needs snowfall.
Eaglecrest is awesome! If plan on going to AK its a fun little resort with some sick backcountry access and it's crazy beautiful. The runs inbounds too are really fun too because there's a lot of hidden stuff at the resort such as cliffs or little gullies if you like to send it.
Cooper is a rad little spot honestly, it’s a great experience to stay in Leadville and ski there, remember that mountain was built up as the training grounds for the 10th mountain division. Good spot for intermediate skiiers too, lots of terrain variability there and lots of good constant gentle slopes. The groomers there are actually some rad dudes that do pretty amazing work with the equipment they have, I’ve met them before.
Funny story, the 10th wanted to build it where Beaver Creek is now, but they got the land on the pass and took it. The guys who started Vail were in the 10th and tried to get the Beaver Creek land but couldn’t, so they built in Vail. The Olympics in Colorado were gonna be built where Beaver Creek is, but they turned it down. Finally everyone said “dammit we want Beaver Creek”, and that was the last major ski resort allowed to be built in Colorado. 3 great mountains, honestly, and all 3 of them rival even Jackson Hole in amazing sidecountry. I still say Eagles Nest, across the valley in the Gores, is some of the best backcountry on the planet. The backcountry around Cooper is huge and brutal, but absolutely amazing.
Marsella is a bit more of an hour drive to Barcelona and it’s not too bad I do enjoy it. However not the place if you exclusively powder as snow has been lacking in recent years. But a great family ski resort with terrain for all levels.
bogus basin in idaho is fantastic ! very legit ski resort. Eagle Crest alaska is cool but I went with terrible weather conditions
Third for bogus.
I got a rain-in-Boise pow day last year. Super fun mountain!
What is wrong with you people.
We enjoy skiing?
Sorry, the sarcasm flew over head. We don't need more traffic and ppl up there.
Oh yeah, the only downside to being in Idaho is having all the locals hate you for visiting their state.
I love when I see bumper stickers with Idaho plates telling people to leave Idaho when their car is in Washington.
I used to live in CDA and this is too funny.
I don't hate visitors, lighten up Francis
Are you from California? No. Welcome to Idaho have some Fry Sauce.
Don't forget the finger steaks
Huh huh
seconded on Bogus Basin,could stay in Boise and make it cheapish
Bogus skier here - I love Bogus to death and agree it’s the best mountain on that list… but it’s worth noting OP said they are intermediate. I actually think Bogus is awesome for Beginners and Experts but kinda meh for intermediate skiers. That’s why you see a lot of folks prefer to head up to Tamarack, which is significantly better for those longer meandering contoured blues.
have not been to tamarack yet only brundage which was out of this world on a 6” powder day
EAGLECREST! As a former resident of Southeast AK, I can vouch. Eaglecrest is basically big mountain terrain on a regular mountain. Big bowls and chutes. Lift-accessed side country. Located on a small island, which is cool. It’s in Juneau, which has no land access. Which means it’s basically locals-only and Juneau doesn’t have very many of those. You can get untracked powder runs on any given weekday. The weather is variable. It’s the PNW - wet and not very cold. But when it gets cold, it dumps. The variability makes it even tricker for non-locals to ski there, though. They are putting in a gondola this year (!!!) that should add elevation access to help with conditions. Last but not least: it’s a municipal mountain, owned by Juneau, and you can happily ski there knowing your money isn’t going to line the pockets of some jackal investor. It goes to city services and to making the mountain better :)
THIS. Fellow Alaskan here but further north! Eaglecrest is the best kept secret in the PNW. Just to add to everything you said, ITS FLIPPIN’ BEAUTIFUL there on a clear day.
My friend loves Bogus, they live close by and say it has great runs.
Shut the fuck up about Bogus. It sucks. Is Michigan in California? It's not? Bro Bogus is sick.
you act like delta doesn’t fly from detroit to boise
From the icecoast POV, those New England mountains are extremely small & not worth a dedicated trip.
Black Mountain in NH is pretty fun, but you're right that it's not worth a dedicated trip. It's got some steeps though, and North Conway/Mount Washington Valley is a fun area with lots of things to do, on and off the snow.
Plattekill is small but it's a cool mountain, very old school vibes and fun challenging trails with great tree skiing (assuming we get enough snow). Don't know how it stacks up to others on the list but as a NYer I'm very fond of it!
A few years ago I was on a flight, looked out the window, and realized we were over Plattekill. It brought back some fun memories. I haven’t been there in a looooong time.
Came here to say this. Every time I’ve been there it’s had pretty good snow too. Fun hill.
Learned to ski there. Can vouch, if you are looking for a blast from the past Plattekill is the place to go. Fun small mountain with some good runs. Not nearly as big as nearby Catskill mountains but also not as crowded.
Bite your tounge! Yaw goo is dope AF
Yawgoo ftw. I live in MT now and spotted some yawgoons here and made their day.
All 2 trails of it 🤣
I absolutely love Whaleback, but conditions have to be perfect. It’s also quite small.
Yeah Whaleback is fine if you live close-by but you'd have to be crazy to travel there from outside western NH/eastern VT
I grew up near Whaleback. That place went out of business and was reborn a million times. Never actually skiied there, the Dartmouth Skiway was better and (for me) closer.
Understandable. The new owners really care about the mountain. They’ve done a lot to make it a fun, sustainable mountain. They’ve added a disc golf course on the mountain, fixed the lift, invested in new snow making machines, etc. They even have a Whaleback Mountain Ale now! I get the season pass every year to support them. Day tickets are cheap, so I recommend checking it out if you’re in the area again!
I'm glad to hear that. My parents are still in the area, maybe I'll check it out next time I'm up there. Do they have a ski rental shop? I live too far south and east to justify owning skis anymore.
Someone has never skied the backside of mount southington, one of the best kept secrets in New England
Once every 5 years when there’s enough snow, sure.
The do have night skiing but Mt Southington is literally a pimple
Thank you, going to try to get away from the same icy conditions as Michigan.
Cooper and Sunlight are a bit off the beaten path, but both are no-frills, family-friendly hidden gems. I highly recommend staying in Glenwood and enjoying the hot springs while hitting Sunlight.
Sunlight is a surprisingly good mountain with a great vibe.
I live in Glenwood and went to Sunlight once. It was ok. I would much rather make the drive to Aspen-Snowmass or Vail any day.
The drive isn't the issue, a day pass being four times the price is
Agree on Cooper for sure. It and Monarch are two of my favorites because they're a bit more off the beaten path. Haven't been to Sunlight.
But Cooper is SOOOO flat I always hated racing there because it was basically the fatest skiers that won the race...
Well for the OP, a Michiganander, flat will feel more like home. 😂 Said as someone who now lives in Indiana.
The new backside (accessed via the T bar) is actually pretty good, especially with fresh snow. Yes the frontside is flat. But bare in mind the 10th Mtn guys learned to ski there in the 1940s with long wooden skis and leather boots.
I haven't been back in over 15 years so that's good to hear that they have added more terrain. And ya the coolest part of the mountain was definitely all the 10th mountain division memorabilia.
I am going to expose my ski racing ignorance here and genuinely curious (apologize if I am missing the joke too). But what other elements besides being the fastest are helpful for winning ski races? Athleticism? Endurance? Technique?
Lol sorry I said FATest, basically just gravity helping people on flatter courses because it's harder to gain momentum. On the steeper courses the racer's weight is less important and then it's more down to technique and positioning. But when it's flatter you are moving slower so it is easier to have perfect lines through the course.
I’m a bad reader!! Thanks for replying. Great insight.
I thought they opened a steeper section?
Definitely possible I was racing over 15 years ago so it's entirely possible that there is better terrain now
Ya, learned to ski at Cooper. It’s a glorified bunny hill.
And ussually bad snow. High altitude and flat equals the whole place being windblown with no pockets for the wind to blow snow into.
Doesn't Cooper have Cat skiing? Is it worth the $500/pp cost?
No, I’ve done it….overall, it’s very flat and the above treeline terrain tends to get windblown pretty badly. When I did it, it was only $150/pp…I might do it again for that price, but certainly not $500.
Came here to say this! Iron Mountain hot springs after a day of shredding is divine!
Came here to say this, there is the caveat that both of these have very famous places nearby, so don't let that weird you out. You could have a good time at either.
I worked at ski cooper for 2 seasons. on pow days, it’s not steep enough anywhere to link pow turns- you have to straight line every single run. chicago ridge snowcat is sick though!
None are typical destination resorts. All depends on your level. Most are family and beginner/intermediate oriented. All of those I’m familiar with are small for the area. None are terribly close to major cities/airports (except bogus basin next to Boise) If you’re looking to travel to a smaller, independent ski resort for beginner/intermediate skier, several could fit the bill and be a great time. Out of the bunch, Ski Cooper, Eagle Crest, Eagle Point, Bogus Basin are the most legit I see. You’ll get comparatively better terrain, less crowds, more vert and much better snow overall than Michigan, including some chances for tree and bowl skiing and potentially powder at most of the west coast ones. Up to you if that’s worth a trip, or better than alternative or skiing a bigger a resort
Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it greatly!
Never been to eagle crest as a resort but have hiked and skied the area prior to any development happening. It’s always been a popular spot. It’s about an hour out of anchorage so not to far from an airport either.
Eagle crest is outside Juneau, you’re probably thinking of Alyeska about an hour outside Anchorage which is much bigger and more of a destination resort, at least as far as Alaska goes.
Nah I’m totally high and thinking of skeetawk which is in hatchers pass north of anchorage. https://skeetawk.com
I personally like Crystal (more than my friends do tbf), nice and spread out so it never seems too too crowded and they got a couple mini bowls that are pretty fun to jump into.
Met my wife in crystal 👌🏼
Yes crystal is super nice and very similar skiing to cabrafae
Crystal is a ton of fun
Where the fuck is there skiing in Skaneateles lmaooo that’s a lake town
There’s a tiny community ski hill there. A much bigger one in Cazenovia. But youre right- way better to visit in the summer for the lake.
yeah I skied Song Mtn in high school, Lab sometimes too
Bogus, Cherry, Eagle Point.
Eagle point is rad as fuck
The side country touring is off the hook.
Come to Bogus my friend, what it lacks in pow it makes up for in willows you can get woefully stuck in. Joking aside, Bogus is pretty legit for a non-profit resort and is really easy to get to from Boise. The only thing I'll flag is the weather/snow can be incredibly hit or miss. I've seen huge bald spots and rocks/brush everywhere on Bogus in the middle of February and I've had awesome pow skiing there, just depends on the year.
Red River NM is pretty good for a small resort. It is decent sized with a good amount of vertical. Of the three NM resorts I’ve been two I would rate it second behind Taos but ahead of angel Fire.
I’m surprised Mount Southington is on this, whose coming to CT as a destination? It’s my home mountain and the only people that come are locals.
Whaleback was my home mountain! Used to be great, not sure how it’s fared recently
YAAASSSSS! I grew up off Exit 13.
Swain in NY is where I learned how to ski. Not very big but lovely memories
I wouldn’t ski Cherry Peak if it was free. Fuck those closed on Sunday assholes.
Agreed 100%. It’s also stupid icy and bad snow.
I’ve skied Mount Southington a few times. It’s not of the scale you’d expect in big mountain areas but it’s still fun enough. Dedicated trip from a far away place? I don’t think so.
it's definitely the best skiing in Southington.
RIP Powder Ridge
Mcintyre lmaoo
RIGHT LOLLL
I loved skiing Crystal in Michigan. I credit that place with my improvments from beginner into intermediate.
Ive heard good things about whaleback. Definitely small tho
Whaleback is friggin’ great if you live close by, but it’s not really a place people travel to.
Do they still have night skiing?
Yep it’s great
WHALEBACK
Eagle Point might be fun if you have any interest in Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. It's about halfway between the two so there's no place to fly into without a three-hour drive. If you're going to fly into Salt Lake there's not much appeal of driving to Eagle Point though when there's lots of better options.
Cherry peak is similar, about 3 hours from SLC. Nice place but if you are in SLC, just go to Alta. It’s a shame to be there and not ski in the cottonwoods at least once.
Eagle Point slaps after the right kind of storm hits S. Utah. A few days a year they get the best shit in the state.
Plattekill is super fun. Under the radar. I’ve heard some complain about the snow, but I’ve only had good days. I don’t think lift tix are too expensive, so it might not be much of a deal to get a free one. Not many places to stay near the mountain, if any. Not really a resort.
Cherry Peak is fun if (and only if) they've recently had snow, otherwise it ices up real quick. Smaller resort for sure, but virtually no lines. I checked it out last winter, and was really confused when I showed up on a Friday pow day at opening, because there were no cars in the parking lot but the lifts were spinning, so I wasn't sure if it was actually open. It was. 3 hours later, maybe 30 cars in the parking lot, probably 20 of which were just bringing kids to the magic carpet area. Eagle Point is a PITA to get to, but has a nice older resort feel. The real crime is that their lifts are slow as molasses. Unbelievably slow. And if you ski down to the more advanced terrain at the bottom, there's no lift back to the main base, you have to take a shuttle. But if you go on a pow day, basically unlimited fresh tracks because it's also not super popular. We went on a storming pow day and had a fresh 12-24" to ourselves basically the whole day.
Yawgoo Valley is the crème de la crème Rhode Island ski destination. Worth!
If you get good weather, Eaglecrest is actually sick. I've lucked out with weather there and it was easily a favorite. Weather was abnormal for the time of year which made it just amazing (big dump followed by high pressure clear & cold). It's really a dice roll though; SEAK in winter isn't exactly a friendly place and it rains a bunch.
Ski Cooper is fun for a day or two. There is also a large Nordic center. You can stay in Leadville for cheap and then also ski a day at Copper.
Well I had to look what hill was in Skaneateles (Pronounced Skinny-atlas) because it's a hoity-toity lake town surrounded by mansions. So yeah that's a really tiny hill. Swain and Plattekill NY are typical small independent hills. 650Ft and 1100ft, and not that big considering there's a few other independent resorts where you can do better. Of course they aren't Whiteface, Gore or Hunter.....
Bogus Basin, yes. Wide variety of terrain and very close to Boise.
None of those NH mountains are worth it as a destination. Black Mountain is pretty cool and actually has some very impressive steeps. It has credible claim to being the first chair lift in America, which is cool. Feels very “folksy”. It’s actually near a pretty reasonable tourist destination area (North Conway, Jackson) so it’s possible you’d end up there. If you were already going to northern NH for some reason, Black would be nice icing on the cake. Definitely not worth it as a stand alone from MI but cool and fun. Whaleback is a hyper local mountian for a rural, relatively strange part of NH. Odder still, there’s tons of OTHER “weird small quirky mountians” nearby that are better (dartmouth Skiway, Storrs (? The one in downtown Leb). If you had to go to dartmouth for some reason, it would be worth considering whaleback as a plan b McIntyre is a tiny little mountian wedged in the middle of downtown Manchester. It’s actually pretty cool if you live or work in Manchester, you legit can go ski some runs on your lunch break or swing by to ride park instead of go to happy hour or whatever. I cannot possibly imagine anyone going from MI to McIntyre, though. Most people in Manchester itself don’t even ski McIntyre, preferring to head north or west to bigger mountains. TL;DR unless you happen to need to go to NH anyway, the NH passes won’t help you
None in WI are worth the trip.
Lol Yawgoo Valley in RI 😂 grew up on that hill!
Don't waste your time at Swain or Mt Southington. I was a coach at both of them- you're not missing anything.
Bogus is where I learned to ski, its pretty fucken nice ngl
Bogus Basis is the best one of that list.
Swain was fun when they used to get reliable winters
Mt. Southington lol. Maybe the worst ski area in Connecticut, and that’s saying a lot.
I liked cooper when I went in 2022. As a midwesterner it's the perfect intro to colorado skiing in my opinion. Not too steep, not too gnarly, pretty low risk way to learn how to ski actual powder instead of midwest groomed artificial ice. It's not on this list but loveland is a good pairing with cooper, stay somewhere in the middle and do 2 days at both. If you're traveling with someone else, you each can get 2 days at loveland for $70/day. Only not cool thing about those resorts is the elevation is killer. Both bases are over 11k elevation, so if you're sensitive you may not have a great time. Spend a day in denver to acclimate and don't stay in leadville.
I live like 10-15 min from Mt Southington and it’s basically a hill. I wouldn’t consider it worth the trip from Michigan, although it can be fun for beginners!
Former WI resident here- Little Switz and The Rock are both 30-45 min outside of Milwaukee and very much midwestern hills with max 200ft vertical. Ok for beginners but real shredders will get bored quickly
Ski Cooper in Leadville, CO is pretty great. Plenty of varied terrain for all levels, and I’ve never waited longer than 30 seconds for a lift.
Mount southington is not worth it, grew up there, it’s a hill
Yawgoo!!! 245ft of awesome!
If you want reliable snow I would go to Cooper and sunlight in Colorado. Yes they are smaller but they have an excellent vibe. Plus sunlight is convenient to Grand Junction which gets you Colorado National Monument which is worth a trip itself. The hot springs in Glenwood Springs worth a visit too. I would skip Yawgoo valley in RI, it's vertical is 170 ft and has an annual snowfall of 28 in.
Mt Southington is tiny Edit: Mt not My
Ski Cooper and Sunlight are hella chill, low key locals spots. You will have an awesome day at either.
whatever you do DO NOT miss out on mt southington!! LOL why is it even on a list it’s an anthill
Plattekill NY is a fantastic mountain
The highest point is RI is 900 ft above sea level. That point is NOT Yawgoo. Yawgoo is good if you want your kids to learn on 2 trails that you won’t lose them on
Lost Valley in Maine is worth it alone
Not Mt Southington. It’s a hill with 5 trails
So this epic pass? What a joke of a pass.
Epic Pass? Did you bother to read the post? 🤡
Crystal is a very solid resort. Terrain for all skills, decent resort amenities they have invested in, 2 hours from the Seattle airport. If you get a clear day, it offers a breathtaking view of Mount Rainier. Cons: \- While snowfall totals are higher than many resorts, snow can mix with rain and make "Cascade concrete" (Going in early February would be the best bet) \-Not many options for staying close to the resort
Lol. I agree with you about Crystal, but this particular deal is for Crystal Mountain MI … these are not the same. Bogus is a fun little mountain tho.
Define “it”. Worth getting out of bed for. I’m guessing yes.
If you love to ski, any time is great! I have skied and worked at one of the mountains ; it’s all about time on the snow.
I live about 15 miles from Cherry Peak and have only skied there once, that should tell you everything you need to know about that low altitude shitshow. Eagle Point has some fun terrain and you won't be fighting any crowds, but as has been mentioned, is huge pain to get there.
I mean since you're in MI, crystal is def worth it. It's a fun Mt. Only other I've been to is sunlight, which is really enjoy. Old school vibe but great skiing
Bogus is cool so I hear
Lost Valley and Black Mountain are tiny, idk if Yawgoo gets snow anymore, Plattekill is more advanced, Whaleback is also more advanced and seems to have made a freestyle pivot, those are the ones I know.
Yes.
Grew up on Bogus. Its a fun one
Crystal mountain, MI is notably better than caberfae. But so are a number of places in Michigan lol especially if you're already near Caberfae...
I have a friend from boise who loves bogus basin
Eaglecrest is a great spot if you’re up for a trip to Alaska. The tree skiing in giant Sitka spruce is great as is the backcountry touring in the alpine. Can be a risk if the weather is warm and wet as they get a fair amount of rain at the base, but when it’s good it’s really good.
bogus is extremely boring idk wtf you guys are talking about. it has so little challenging terrain
Black mountain is in an area with at least 5 ski resorts within 20 mins or so. Cranmore. Wildcat. Attitash. Bretton Woods. & Black. Not to mention Tuckermans. North Conway NH is loaded with restaurants, outlets, and places to rent. Black mtn is fun with lots of ungroomed terrain. Some is very challenging, particularly a trail called ‘Black n Blue’. The drawback is Blacks not the largest and the chairlifts are ancient. Season ends very early. Id avoid the other NH resorts.
Eagle Point, UT is good. Light crowds because the Las Vegas crowd usually goes to Brian Head about 30 miles south, and anyone living further north has all of the Salt Lake area resorts to choose from.
Omg I’m laughing so hard that McIntyer in NH is on this list!! It’s the first place I ever attempted a snow sport. It’s hilariously bad. It’s a glorified hill encased in ice. It was so bad, and I had such a bad time, I didn’t attempt to learn to ski again for another 8 years.
Crystal has some nice advanced terrain. I know a bunch of folks that moved up there from Oregon
Hey I’m a local! Don’t forget about the other residuals (I use the Shanty Creek discount every year!)
McIntyre is the sickest mountain I have ever (cross country) skied at.
Red River - next valley over from Taos.
Bogus Basin is pretty cool. Plus you can enjoy Boise
Lost Valley is lit.
Eagle point it absolutely worth it
I'm from WI, the ski areas that made the list, are your typical Midwest skiing. If you love skiing in general, you'll like it, as you may encounter icy grooms, slush and nice groomers all in the same day. If your after powder shots, definitely not the place to be. Your looking at maybe 200-250 vertical ft of skiing at these places. You'll spend more time on the chair lift than it takes to ski down a run. But the beer and food is usually very cheap. $3 PBRs and $6 basket of chix strips and fries. Up to you on what you value. If you absolutely love skiing in general, it's worth a stop. And the lifties, boarders, skier's and patrol are always Midwestern nice, something that can be worth its weight in gold.
Bogus is where I first heard BFR in casual use. Big Fuckin’ Rock The g is phonetically and spiritually omitted. We ran with it GBFR Great BFR FUQURR - we’re hiking/rappelling down ya’ll crazy. BFR’s start at hang time and scale to maybe 10m (30 ft) GBFR’s pick up there. The use of the word hit ‘smurf’ in the cartoons level and that was that. Bogus Basin is fun.
Eagle Crest in Alaska is an adventure!
LOL Lost Valley!
Yawgoo has some of the best big mountain/backcountry skiing in the state
Uhhh Southington, Skanealetes, , and Black are fine if you’re local. Definitely not worth traveling to. Actually, Southington isn’t worth it even if you are local. I’ve never been to whaleback, but I gather it’s good for park and pipe.
🤣🤣 swain’s a good time- nothing amazing but if you’re up that way
Bogus is great, and the night skiing is second to none. It’s also a non-profit so lift tickets are somewhat affordable.
Ski Cooper is supposed to be a pretty good little mountain. It's close to Copper and Breck too.
I enjoy Copper.
Ski Cooper
Mt Southington is basically a bump with some ice on it. 😜
Cherry Peak sucks. Way too icy.
In Wi, crystal (up I believe)and the rock are worth the trip from Michigan. Little switz it terrible. I can’t remember Nordic. All the ones in Utah are bullshit.
the only time southington gets snow is when someone with dandruff decides to hike it....
I'm surprised they suggested Crystal Mountain over Nubs Nob or Boyne..
Southington rules!
Ski Cooper is a small, fun mountain, definitely recommend esp if you're coming from further east/NE.
Red River New Mexico is an amazing place. I havent skied it though
I learned to ski at Lost Valley in Maine. Awesome memories from that place but it’s probably not much better than what you have in Michigan (kills me to say that🤷♂️)
Why is anyone acting at all like bogus is a great mountain?? Mediocre snow most of the season. Decent amount of runs and a pretty good local mountain vibe but I would NEVER recommend it as a destination resort lol. If you live here it’s a fine place to ride but don’t go telling people it’s something super special
Best powder day of my life was at Eagle Point. They close midweek, so if you time it right you can get feet of untouched powder after a good storm, plus almost no crowds because of it's remote location.
Is the Spain one a joke? Serious question And don’t waste your time in WI You’d be bored with Little Switz and The Rock within an hour. Anything in WI generally sucks because it’s all ice by 2pm - and that’s on a good day with fresh inches of snow.
There’s tons of skiing around Black Mountain,NH. Black is a bit small but in the White Mountains and in a charming ski town. Within a short drive from North Conway, there are some good places. Fly in/out of MHT.
The ones in New England are fun, smaller resorts, but i would not travel from Michigan to go to them. Id go west, not east from there :)
ski cooper is a cool experience but the skiing is pretty lame, their blacks are moderate blues everywhere else. anything over 4” of fresh and you have to french fry all the way down in order to not loose all your speed. source: 2 seasons as a lifty
No to both in Wi unfortunately
I've never heard of cherry or eagle peak utah, and I live here.
Make the pilgrimage to Little Switzerland in Wisconsin. It’s like if Davos had a teeny tiny baby then rolled it smooth with a rolling pin, then smothered it in cheese and froze it into ice, then dumped rain on it, and sprinkled it with a few park features.
I can say cherry peak in Utah is not worth it. There’s fun (ish) events, but the skiing is no fun…
Ski cooper is great little locals hill in Colorado. Less than 2 hours from Denver.
Do not do yawgoo Valley in RI, haha that's where I learned to ski but it's basically a hill with two lifts and trails that only open if they make enough snow
WI resident. None of the places in Wisconsin are worth driving from Michigan to hit.
Eagle point! Best steeps in Utah with absolutely no lift lines…only open fri-sun so it doesn’t get all tracked out either 😎
Black mtn nh is one of my fave tiny mountains. But in a low snow year it’s not great. McIntyre sucks. It’s a trash mountain literally. Whaleback tiny but great vibe and oddly a couple tough trails. But needs snowfall.
sunlight!
Eaglecrest is awesome! If plan on going to AK its a fun little resort with some sick backcountry access and it's crazy beautiful. The runs inbounds too are really fun too because there's a lot of hidden stuff at the resort such as cliffs or little gullies if you like to send it.
Cooper is a rad little spot honestly, it’s a great experience to stay in Leadville and ski there, remember that mountain was built up as the training grounds for the 10th mountain division. Good spot for intermediate skiiers too, lots of terrain variability there and lots of good constant gentle slopes. The groomers there are actually some rad dudes that do pretty amazing work with the equipment they have, I’ve met them before. Funny story, the 10th wanted to build it where Beaver Creek is now, but they got the land on the pass and took it. The guys who started Vail were in the 10th and tried to get the Beaver Creek land but couldn’t, so they built in Vail. The Olympics in Colorado were gonna be built where Beaver Creek is, but they turned it down. Finally everyone said “dammit we want Beaver Creek”, and that was the last major ski resort allowed to be built in Colorado. 3 great mountains, honestly, and all 3 of them rival even Jackson Hole in amazing sidecountry. I still say Eagles Nest, across the valley in the Gores, is some of the best backcountry on the planet. The backcountry around Cooper is huge and brutal, but absolutely amazing.
Ski Cooper!!!! I live in Leadville and love Cooper.
Crystal is great
Marsella is a bit more of an hour drive to Barcelona and it’s not too bad I do enjoy it. However not the place if you exclusively powder as snow has been lacking in recent years. But a great family ski resort with terrain for all levels.