An in-depth video review of Alta, a ski area located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Alta here.
Our ranker-in-chief Sam loses his footing as he attempts one of the most dangerous in-bounds entrances in all of North America.
An in-depth comparison review of Vail and Park City, the two largest ski resorts by skiable terrain in the United States.
A journey down Beaver Creek's long, precipitously-pitched Royal Elk Glade on Grouse Mountain. Runs like this contribute to the resort's very high challenge score in our ratings. This clip was filmed over President's Day Weekend 2020, and conditions were normal for the time of year.
Beaver Creek is a ski resort located in Avon, Colorado—about two hours west of Denver. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/beaver-creek
A lap down Alpine Meadows' Sympathy Face, one of the only trails exclusively served by the Roundhouse lift. This tree terrain is quite technical, with steep, twisty pitches and considerable exposed rock on this mid-December day.
We assess a panini special from Big Sky's Uncle Dan’s Cookies (with locations at the bases of the Powder Seeker and Six Shooter lifts) while exploring the expert Snake Pit run.
This run was recorded in February 2020. Snow quality was very good at the time.
Big Sky is a Montana ski resort located in the Northern Rockies near Yellowstone. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/big-sky
An in-depth video review of Snowbird, a ski area located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Snowbird here.
A run down the expert Murdock Peak area, via the High Peak trail, on Park City's Canyons side. Getting to this above-treeline area—one of the few at Park City—requires a 15-30 minute hike from the top of the Super Condor Express chairlift. The bowl exists at the far end of the Canyons side and can take up to 2.5 hours to travel to from the Park City side base.
Unfortunately, conditions on the day of this run were less-than-ideal. Run recorded March 2021.
Park City Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in Park City, UT, about an hour east of Salt Lake City. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/park-city
An in-depth video review of Mount Bachelor, a ski resort on a volcano of the same name located near Bend, Oregon.
This video was filmed across three different trips in February and April; conditions were typical for the time of year during each of our visits.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Mount Bachelor here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/mount-bachelor
A run down the Alf's High Rustler trail at Alta, a demandingly steep run that requires lengthy traversing to reach. Access comes through one of two sketchy, thin-cover entries.
Alta is a Utah ski resort located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, just outside Salt Lake City. It's known for having some of the best quality snow in North America. Snowboarding is prohibited.
See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/alta
An in-depth video review of Squaw Valley Resort, a ski area located in Olympic Valley, California, just north of Lake Tahoe.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Squaw Valley here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/squaw-valley
An in-depth video review of Alpine Meadows, a ski area located just north of Lake Tahoe.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Alpine Meadows here.
An in-depth video review of Mount Hood Meadows, a ski area located on the southeastern flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Filmed in January and April 2021.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Mount Hood Meadows here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/mount-hood-meadows
See our full Oregon rankings here: https://www.peakrankings.com/oregon-rankings
See our full West Coast rankings here: https://www.peakrankings.com/west-coast-rankings
A run down Little Burn at Copper Mountain, an intermediate trail that seldom receives grooming. This run is a great place to practice bumps with little consequence (except potentially making a fool of yourself in front of lift riders).
Copper is a ski resort located in Summit County, Colorado, about an hour and a half west of Denver. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/copper
Imagine most of you know this mountain quite well, but here's an in-depth video review of Mammoth, a large California ski resort located in the Inyo National Forest.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Mammoth here.
Keystone’s first new lift since 2018 has finally been completed, and we headed to the mountain to check it out for ourselves in December 2021.
For more on Keystone, check out our comprehensive mountain review: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/keystone
Additionally, check out our full Colorado destination resort rankings: https://www.peakrankings.com/colorado-rankings
A ride through Snowbird's Peruvian Tunnel magic carpet, an engineering marvel that considerably improved access from Peruvian Gulch to the Mineral Basin back side. As of today, the Peruvian Tunnel is the only ski tunnel in North America.
Snowbird is a Utah ski resort located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, just outside Salt Lake City. It's known for having some of the best quality snow in North America. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/snowbird
An in-depth comparison review of Alta and Snowbird, two ski resorts in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon just east of Salt Lake City.
An in-depth video review of Killington, a ski area located in central Vermont. Filmed across three different trips in December 2019, January 2020, and February 2022.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Killington here. See our full Vermont rankings here.
An in-depth video review of Kirkwood Mountain Resort, a ski area located about an hour south of Lake Tahoe in Kirkwood, CA.
See our full resort breakdown and written review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/kirkwood
An in-depth video review of Breckenridge, a ski area located in the Colorado Front Range. Filmed in March and April 2022.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Breckenridge here. See our full Colorado rankings here.
A run down Northstar’s Corridor trail in December 2020. From a strictly technical sense, we feel this is Northstar’s most challenging marked run (other black-diamond trails feature fewer obstacles but boast much longer pitches). Thanks to its location below the Comstock Express chair, locals refer to this run as the “Hollywood Line.”
Still, this pitch is nowhere near as formidable as those offered by competing Lake Tahoe resorts. While Northstar receives a 6/10 for challenge in our ratings, this is much lower than the 8/10s earned by Heavenly and Sierra-at-Tahoe—and substantially inferior to the monumental 10/10s boasted by Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, and Kirkwood.
Relatively early-season conditions still existed on the day of this clip, but the obstacles we navigated stay present throughout the season.
Northstar is a ski resort located in Truckee, California near Lake Tahoe. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/northstar
An in-depth video review of Okemo, a ski area located in south-central Vermont. Filmed across two different trips in December 2019 and February 2022.
The savviest budgeting tricks can save you hundreds of dollars on your ski trip, even at the highest-end destinations.
Use our trip planning service! https://www.peakrankings.com/group-trip-planning
A run down Hell's Half-Acre, an extremely demanding high-alpine run within Big Sky's Headwaters area. Reaching this line requires one of the most technical hikes we've done anywhere.
This run was recorded in February 2020. Thanks to recent snowfall and the lack of crowds up here, snow quality was outstanding.
Big Sky is a Montana ski resort located in the Northern Rockies near Yellowstone. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/big-sky
A comprehensive video tour of the Chutes at Mount Rose, including the Cutthroat, Hornet's Nest, El Cap, and Yellow Jacket gates. These runs range from advanced to expert, and the toughest pitches are riddled with steep fall lines, natural obstacles, and high-consequence drops.
Mount Rose is a ski area just outside Reno, Nevada in the Lake Tahoe region. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/mount-rose
See our full Tahoe rankings: https://www.peakrankings.com/lake-tahoe-rankings
A run down the Super Bowl at Mount Hood Meadows, in Oregon. This high-alpine zone is rarely open and takes 1,700 vertical feet of hiking to reach. The area is most often open in the spring, and we hit the resort April 2021 to check out the slope for ourselves.
Mount Hood Meadows is the largest of three major ski areas in the Mount Hood region. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/mount-hood-meadows/
See our full Oregon rankings: https://www.peakrankings.com/oregon-rankings
A POV run down Homewood's expert Quail Face, including a time-lapse of the (relatively lengthy) catwalks to get in and out. This astounding run is arguably the most beautiful trail in Tahoe, at a resort we already rate a 10/10 for Mountain Aesthetic.
Run recorded in March 2020. Conditions were slightly below average for the time of year.
Homewood is a ski resort located on the west shore of Lake Tahoe in California. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/homewood
An in-depth video review of Park City Resort (formerly Park City Mountain and Canyons), a ski resort located near Salt Lake City, Utah.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Park City here.
A run down Idiot's Delight at Alpine Meadows, a truly extreme run with a mandatory drop-in off a cornice and filtering into a perilously tight couloir with no room for error. This line takes a 2-5 minute hike to reach from the Summit chair.
Idiot's Delight filters into the Wolverine Bowl, which comprises solid high-alpine terrain. This area then leads to the Face, a short but steep mogul run.
Alpine Meadows is a ski area located near the north shore of Lake Tahoe, California. While technically part of the same resort as Squaw Valley, the two are separate mountains and are connected by a shuttle service. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/alpine-meadows
A line down the expert Ninety-Nine 90 area on Park City's Canyons side, starting at 94 Turns, jumping into the woods and chutes to the left of that trail, and popping out on the lower half of Moraine. All of these trails are designated as double-blacks, although several were rated as single-black before Park City and Canyons merged in 2015. Run recorded March 6, 2021; cover was below average for the time of year.
Park City Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in Park City, UT, about an hour east of Salt Lake City. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/park-city
Context on Fatal 9990 Backcountry Avalanches:
https://www.parkrecord.com/news/summit-county/longtime-park-city-resident-killed-in-backcountry-avalanche-saturday/
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We explore the Headwall at Jackson Hole, a black-diamond run about a 20-to-30-minute hike off the Tensleep trail. Run recorded in February 2020; conditions were below average at the time.
Jackson Hole is a Wyoming ski resort located in the Northern Rockies near Yellowstone. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/jackson-hole
The current ski season may not be fully over, but now is the best time to start looking for multi-resort passes for the 2022-23 season. The lowest rates for the popular Ikon Pass suite won’t be around for long, with prices going up April 22. Pricing for competing Epic Pass products will likely remain at their present level for a bit longer, but those who want 10 discounted buddy tickets will need to purchase a pass by April 21.
With these deadlines fast approaching, you may be debating whether to pick up one of these passes for next season. You may also be wondering whether any alternatives to these two big-name but costly products exist.
In this piece, we’ll aim to shed light on the differences between the Epic and Ikon pass suites. We’ll also dive into how they compare to the cheaper and lesser-known Mountain Collective and Indy Pass products.
We visited Squaw Valley's KT-22 area on its 2020-21 season closing day—the last day of skiing in the area before the new Squaw/Alpine Base-to-Base gondola cuts through the terrain. In this video, we explain some of next season's expected changes as well as the potential pros and cons of the new setup.
Filmed on April 30, 2021 under very warm, late-spring conditions.
See our full resort breakdown and outgoing written review for Squaw Valley here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/squaw-valley
A run down Northstar’s Sidewinder trail, off the Vista Express, during opening week. During the regular season, this trail features a Burton Progression Park and always remains groomed. The early season presents a unique opportunity for some bump skiing here.
Northstar is a ski resort located in Truckee, California near Lake Tahoe. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/northstar
Our rank order for the major 2022 North American ski resort enhancements, including Keystone's Peru Six-Pack, Okemo's Quantum Six and Evergreen Summit Express, Lake Louise's Lower Juniper expansion, Breckenridge's Peak 7 Freedom SuperChair, Big Sky's Swift Current 6, Snowbasin's Middle Bowl Express, Snow King's Gondola and backside expansion, and Beaver Creek's McCoy Park.
An in-depth video review of Deer Valley Resort, a skiers-only resort located near Salt Lake City, Utah.
See our full resort breakdown and written review for Deer Valley here.
A journey down the expert Peak 5 area on Park City's Canyons side, starting at the top of Mystic Pines and jumping into the Abyss woods at the third gate from the lift. These woods arguably comprise the toughest lift-serviced terrain within all of Park City.
Run recorded March 6, 2021; cover was below average for the time of year but typical for the core season.
Park City Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in Park City, UT, about an hour east of Salt Lake City. See our full mountain review here: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/park-city
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