Tourfolio

The results are in for the 2009-2010 season! Experts from well-known skiing and snowboarding magazines have ranked the best overall North American winter resorts using common industry criteria, such as; terrain parks, half-pipes, renovations, locations, nightlife and mountain conditions. We are breaking down the choices from Transworld Snowboarding, Ski Magazine and Skiing Magazine along with offering our honorable mentions of resorts not listed in the top five. These resorts should be on your list of places to visit this year as the snow begins to accumulate.

Flickr.com (Photo taken by Stéphane Duquesne)

Transworld Snowboarding

1. Snowmass, CO
2. Mammoth Mountain, CO
3. Buttermilk, CO
4. Whistler Blackcomb, B.C.
5. Park City, UT

Summary: Being home of ESPN’s Winter X-Games through 2012, Buttermilk is a great reason for being in the top five ranking for the best North American resort. The Winter X-Games is an awesome week long competition and should be on the bucket list for any action sport fan. Credit must also be given to Snowmass considering the proximity to Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Aspen Mountain. You just can’t lose out on much by visiting these mountain resorts.

Skiing Magazine

1. Whistler Blackcomb, B.C.
2. Jackson Hole, WY
3. Vail, CO
4. Alta/Snowbird, UT
5. Revelstoke, B.C.

Summary: I completely agree that Whistler Blackcomb should be highly ranked in any overall resort listing. This mountain resort really has anything and everything you could ever ask for on a mountain or in a resort village. On the flipside, I’ve visited Revelstoke during the 2008-2009 season but wasn’t too excited over this resort. There was still tons of construction going on at Revelstoke as it aims to become one of the largest developed resorts in North America.

Ski Magazine

1. Deer Valley, UT
2. Whistler Blackcomb, B.C.
3. Vail, CO
4. Park City, UT
5. Beaver Creek, CO

Summary: Surprising to see Deer Valley take the number one spot but as much as I loved skiing at this resort, they don’t allow snowboarders (but I do need to remember this is a skiing magazine’s rating system). This makes it tough for a family with a snowboarder amongst the ranks. Once again, Whistler Blackcomb and Vail both appear in the listing. I also enjoy seeing Park City making the grade from Ski Magazine and Transworld Magazine as this mountain resort has a lot to offer.

Tourfolio Honorable Mentions

• Breckenridge, CO – The capital of college spring-break for all nearby states. This mountain resort is located over an hour west from Denver but has one of the best resort towns for the great restaurants, bustling nightlife and friendly locals.
• Killington, VT – I have to give some credit to the East Coast considering the competition it’s going against from the behemoth ski resorts in Canada, Colorado and Utah. This mountain resort has a great overall conditions (when it’s not icy) and the nightlife is pretty sweet too.
• Copper Mountain, CO – This mountain resort is located not to far from Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin but manages to hold it’s own. The resort village located at the base of the mountain is very lively making it a great place to explore after a long day of skiing and snowboarding.

Think Snow!