20 Best Ski Resorts In The USA

The US has some of the most renowned ski resorts in the world. Mountains in Colorado are steeped in ski history, while resorts in the Northeast and California offer quick weekend getaways for families on the coasts.

In fact, there are so many ski resorts across the US that it can be hard to know which ones to visit this winter. That’s why I’ve put together a list of the 20 best ski resorts in the US.

Some of these mountains are personal favorites, with challenging terrain best for expert skiers. Others are family-friendly resorts in beautiful destinations. All offer a ton of skiable terrain and a wide mix of terrain features, making them great all-around picks for your next ski trip.

I’ve organized the list according to whether each resort is part of the Epic or Ikon season passes. If you’re skiing more than a few days this winter, these passes are a great way to make skiing more affordable and visit multiple resorts across the country.

Epic Pass Ski Resorts

1. Vail

• Location: Colorado
• Lift ticket price: $208
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Riva Ridge, 4 miles
• Website

For many years, Vail was the single largest ski resort in the US. It’s now been bumped back to third place, but it still offers an incredible amount of terrain. It’s easy to spend a whole week at Vail without skiing the same line twice.

If you visit, be sure to check out the back bowls. These are the wide-open slopes that Vail is best known for. I also love Blue Sky Basin, which offers some really fun tree skiing.

2. Park City

• Location: Utah
• Lift ticket price: $224
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Homerun, 3.5 miles
• Website

Park City combined with the nearby Canyons ski resort in 2015 to form the largest ski resort in the US: 7,300 acres with more than 40 chairlifts and 330 trails. You could spend a lifetime at Park City and not get bored.

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This resort has something for everyone. There’s an enormous terrain park near the Park City base area, while the Jupiter bowl has some gnarly steeps for expert skiers. The terrain gets more difficult the deeper into the resort you travel, so it’s easy to pick what kind of ski experience you prefer.

3. Beaver Creek

• Location: Colorado
• Lift ticket price: $208
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Centennial, 2.75 miles
• Website

Beaver Creek is home to the Birds of Prey World Cup ski course, one of the steepest runs in the US with a drop of nearly 2,500 vertical feet. It’s a great place to practice your slalom turns or test your mettle on a minefield of moguls.

There’s plenty of intermediate terrain at Beaver Creek, too. For those who like a little luxury while skiing, the resort provides hot chocolate at the top of the lift in the morning and warm cookies at the end of the day.

4. Heavenly

• Location: California
• Lift ticket price: $151
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Olympic Downhill, 5.5 miles
• Website

Heavenly is a family-friendly ski resort with more than 4,800 acres of varied terrain. I love skiing at Heavenly, but for me the views are the real treat. From the summit, you can look down on the blue waters of Lake Tahoe in one direction and the Nevada desert in the other.

Another great thing about this resort is that Heavenly Village is right in the town of South Lake Tahoe. So, there’s tons of shopping, dining, and lodging options right at the base of the mountain.

5. Stowe

• Location: Vermont
• Lift ticket price: $135
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Toll Road, 3.7 miles
• Website

Stowe has a long history of producing professional skiers. The mountain has some of the steepest terrain in the northeast and is only an hour’s drive from Burlington, Vermont.

There’s plenty of beginner terrain to explore at Stowe as well. I especially like Stowe’s gladed areas, where the trees are certainly tight enough to keep you on your toes.

6. Crested Butte

• Location: Colorado
• Lift ticket price: $119
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Yellow Brick Road, 2.6 miles
• Website

Crested Butte is a recent addition to the Epic Pass, bringing new attention to this off-the-beaten-path ski area. Crested Butte is known for having some of the steepest and iciest terrain in Colorado, so it’s not for the faint of heart.

Getting to the town of Crested Butte can be a challenge—it’s a 4-hour drive from Denver. However, that isolation keeps the crowds away. Leave an extra day to explore Crested Butte itself, which is an awesome ski town with a lot of local businesses.

7. Breckenridge

• Location: Colorado
• Lift ticket price: $186
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: 4 O'Clock Run, 3.8 miles
• Website

Breckenridge is a massive resort with something for everyone. I’ve spent mellow days there enjoying the groomers as well as hard days lapping steep moguls from E-Chair. The views are epic and the snow is excellent.

The town of Breckenridge offers plenty of options for apres ski. Be sure to check out the nearby town of Frisco, too, which has even more shops and restaurants. Breckenridge is just a 90-minute drive from Denver, so it’s relatively easy to get to.

Ikon Pass Ski Resorts

8. Mammoth

• Location: California
• Lift ticket price: $179
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Road Runner, 3.0 miles
• Website

Mammoth Mountain, on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, is a massive ski area with more than 3,500 acres of skiable terrain. The crowds are kept at bay by the resort’s distance from California’s major cities. It’s 5 hours from LA and 6 from San Francisco.

When it’s snowing at Mammoth, it’s likely dry and cool just to the east. If you have an extra day, it’s worth driving into the White Mountains to see the bristlecone pines, some of the world’s oldest trees.

9. Jackson Hole

• Location: Wyoming
• Lift ticket price: $203
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run:  Rendezvous Peak, 4.5 miles
• Website

There’s nothing quite like taking the tram up to the summit of Jackson Hole. This mountain is located just south of Grand Teton National Park, so the views from the top are incredible.

Jackson Hole offers incredible powder and steep terrain and is a great destination for the advanced skier. It’s famous for Corbett’s Couloir, a nearly vertical chute that only the most expert skiers attempt. If you have an extra day in Jackson, it’s worth taking a snowmobile tour into Grand Teton National Park.

10. Alta

• Location: Utah
• Lift ticket price: $139
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run:  Devil's Elbow, 1.3 miles
• Website

Alta is a skier-only resort—no snowboarders allowed. That keeps the lift lines shorter and helps preserve some of the mountain’s ultra-soft powder. Alta is best known for its expert terrain and is generally less forgiving than its next-door neighbor, Snowbird.

You can stay at Alta, but the mountain village is very small. Public buses run from Salt Lake City to all the major ski hills every day, so Alta can be accessed from a major city in under an hour.

11. Snowbird

• Location: Utah
• Lift ticket price: $142
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Chip’s Run, 2.5 miles
• Website

Snowbird is located right next to Alta in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. It’s open to both skiers and snowboarders, making it a good alternative to Alta if you have riders in your group.

There’s more variety of terrain at Snowbird compared to Alta, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a family resort only. It offers access to several steep alpine bowls and challenging mogul runs in addition to blue-rated groomers.

12. Killington

• Location: Vermont
• Lift ticket price: $129
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Juggernaut Trail, 6.5 miles
• Website

Killington, known as the ‘Beast of the East,’ has the largest vertical drop of any resort on the East Coast. I grew up skiing around Killington and can tell you this is the place to go if you want to get good at skiing in icy conditions.

Don’t let that dissuade you though. For the most part, this is a family-friendly resort with a handful of challenging runs. Killington has a massive snowmaking operation, so the skiing is good even in warmer years.

13. Taos Ski Valley

• Location: New Mexico
• Lift ticket price: $115
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Honeysuckle, 3.0 miles
• Website

New Mexico may not be the first place that comes to mind when you’re thinking about where to go skiing. But Taos Ski Valley rises to 12,481 feet above sea level, so it catches a surprising amount of snow.

Taos is known for offering a good mix of terrain for intermediate skiers and more challenging steeps. After a day on the slopes, you can head to Santa Fe to explore the local art scene. You won’t want to miss the Meow Wolf exhibit.

14. Mt. Bachelor

• Location: Oregon
• Lift ticket price: $103
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Wanoga Way, 4.0 miles
• Website

Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor is now the 6th-largest ski resort in North America thanks to a couple recent expansions. It’s also one of the few places in the US where you can ski on a volcano. Don’t worry—it’s not active.

Mt. Bachelor offers a wide variety of moderate terrain and big views of the Oregon Cascades. The snow can be heavy at times, as is typical for the Pacific Northwest, but the good news is that there’s sure to be a lot of it. The resort gets more than 30 feet of snow in an average winter.

15. Big Sky

• Location: Montana
• Lift ticket price: $223
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Liberty Bowl, 6.0 miles
• Website

Big Sky offers a similar skiing experience to what you can get in Colorado or Utah, but without any of the crowds. This off-the-beaten-path resort is massive, so you can easily make a destination out of it and spend days exploring.

There’s not a ton of lodging at the base of the mountain, so your best bet is to stay in the town of Bozeman. The drawback is that it’s about a 90-minute drive each way.

Independent & Small Ski Resorts

16. Mad River Glen

• Location: Vermont
• Lift ticket price: $65
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Valley, 1.0 miles
• Website

Mad River Glen’s slogan is, “ski it if you can.” That should give you a pretty good idea of the challenging terrain at this resort. It’s one of the steepest ski areas in the east and has something of a cult following in New England.

Mad River Glen is about an hour outside of Burlington, so that’s your best option for lodging if you want to spend a weekend skiing the steeps.

17. Mt. Baker

• Location: Washington
• Lift ticket price: $87
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: White Salmon, 1.8 miles
• Website

Mt. Baker Ski Area is located just an hour from my house in Bellingham, Washington. It’s a small, family-owned resort that hasn’t changed much even as the ski industry has consolidated around it. You can still find cheap lift tickets and you’ll probably be riding the lift with a local on a powder day.

The real allure of this ski area lies in its lift-accessed sidecountry, an area known as Shuksan Arm. This is serious terrain with avalanche potential, so come prepared with partners and avalanche safety gear.

18. Grand Targhee

• Location: Wyoming
• Lift ticket price: $120
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Teton Vista Traverse, 2.7 miles
• Website

Grand Targhee is on the opposite side of the Teton Mountains from Jackson Hole. The runs are much more rolling, so it’s a good alternative for beginner skiers.

My favorite thing about Grand Targhee is the view from the summit. Grand Teton is only a few miles away and you can see it clearly from the resort. If you’ve never been to the area, this panorama is a must-see.

19. Powder Mountain

• Location: Utah
• Lift ticket price: $119
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Rendezvous, 3.5 miles
• Website

Powder Mountain in Utah doesn’t get nearly the same attention as better-known resorts like Alta, Snowbird, or Park City. But it gets the same outstanding Utah powder—what the ski industry touts as “the best snow on earth.”

Powder Mountain is a personal favorite of mine. It doesn’t boast the steepest lines, but there’s extensive terrain to explore. I highly recommend adding a snow cat ride to your lift ticket so you can explore some of the sidecountry at Powder Mountain.

20. Schweitzer Mountain

• Location: Idaho
• Lift ticket price: $110
• Ski lessons: Yes
• Longest run: Little Blue Ridge, 2.1 miles
• Website

Schweitzer Mountain is a family-friendly resort in Idaho’s Selkirk Mountains. While it’s relatively unknown outside the region, it offers almost 3,000 acres of skiable terrain. The mountain offers some of the best tree skiing anywhere thanks to the area’s semi-arid climate.

Schweitzer is a decent way from anywhere, but the closest place to stay is in the town of Sandpoint, Idaho.

Summary

There are so many great ski resorts across the US. While some of the best-known resorts are in Colorado and Utah, the Northeast and West Coast also offer some outstanding ski destinations.

Consider picking up a multi-resort pass like the Epic or Ikon pass so you can visit multiple destinations. If you need help packing for your trip, check out our ski trip packing checklist.