My ski memoir - North America and Europe
Just recently I was talking to someone about skiing and they were interested in recommendations on where to go for a trip out west. As I thought about it, I realized that my ski experiences are closely intertwined with my life’s evolution, both professionally and personally. As such, I’ve collected my recommendations in context with periods in my life. I hope these reflections help you either get into skiing or add a new destination to your bucket list.
First Ski Experiences
I learned to ski in the early 90s working for Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) in the New York City area. Many of the people I worked with rented beach houses on the Jersey shore in the summer and ski lodges in New England in the winter. I didn’t want to miss out on the weekend ski trips, so it was time to learn to ski.
My first ski experiences were at Camelback Resort and Vernon Valley, which has now become Mountain Creek. These resorts can be incredibly crowded on the weekends, but if you can peel away for a weekday, they are great places to learn to ski. You can get in a ton of runs to hone your skills with the short lifts and quick descents. I highly recommend you don’t start as I did, with a single run down a bunny slope, then following your friend up a lift, even if it's a green. This lack of ski schooling led to a lot of frustration at the start of my ski life. Definitely opt into the ski class, no matter how old you are. Besides skiing, Camelback was a great place for a New Year’s weekend with friends, as there are a lot of housing options in the area. If you live in New Jersey like I did, you cannot beat the convenience of being on the mountain in less than one hour from your house. As you drive into the Delaware Water Gap area, you are also transported quickly from the densely packed urban areas of New Jersey and New York City.
My friend and I then expanded a bit to other ski areas in the Poconos such as Elk Mountain. At the time, this was mainly a local resort, with quaint but slow lifts. It was also insanely cold on a couple of visits. So cold, in fact, that the clutch in my truck froze, and it took some time to get it unstuck. It was a nice place to go, since it was more of a remote experience than Camelback and Vernon Valley, and without a crowd.
New England Ski Weekends
Now that I could ski, it was time to take part in the ski weekends with friends. Most of my friends at the time lived in the New York area, so it was convenient to head out of town for the weekend to the ski resorts in northern New England. It didn’t even cross my mind to consider heading to a western ski resort since this area was where everyone went, and it was convenient to plan a lot of trips in a short period.
The main resorts that we went to were:
My chief memories of Okemo and Stowe are primarily the brutal cold and high winds at the top of the lifts, as well as extremely icy conditions. I thought that skiing was mainly something done on ice since it was rare that there was a powder day, and when there was, the snow would get pushed into piles with ice underneath. Perhaps I was just unlucky in the years that I skied in New England. Of the group, Killington had the best nightlife, is the largest resort of the group, and was the most frequent place we went. I have friends that still have places there for their family since they spend many weekends there in the winter. Okemo and Stowe were great as we transitioned from larger group trips to smaller trips where we’d stay in bed and breakfasts seeking a more chill experience.
The Western Awakening
Around 2000, a friend of mine invited me to Banff, Canada, to ski since he was going to a work conference in the area. He invited along two other friends of his that I had just started to work with as a consultant. I term this period as my awakening, since it was at this moment I realized how fun skiing could be if you had deep snow and an absence of ice. Even though it was exceptionally cold on this trip, hovering around 0 Fahrenheit (-17 Celsius) the entire week, it didn’t matter since I had to work so hard to ski since I had no skills for the deep snow, moguls, and long ski runs. We stayed in two areas, a hotel in the town of Banff where the conference was being held, but also at the most picturesque hotel I’ve ever stayed at, the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Its location alongside a frozen lake nestled into the mountains is a view you’ll never forget when you first see it. The area is now called Ski Big 3, but we just skied at two of them Banff Sunshine and Lake Louise Resort.
Guy Trips
The trip to Banff was the beginning of nearly two decades of “Guy Trips”, where I had been invited into a group that slowly evolved into a group made up of just friends I’d worked with. I’m thankful for that early invitation, as it has led to a lifetime of skiing. Over the next 15 years, I was fortunate to make at least one trip out west each year, and on those trips we visited the following resorts:
Whitefish Mountain
https://skiwhitefish.com/
Categories: Convenient Airport Access, Great Food, Comfortable Mountain
Whitefish, located just west of the Glacier National Park, and an 80 mile (120km) drive to the closest town in Canada, is a great resort for a long ski weekend. We stayed at The Pines Condos that is a very convenient ski in and ski out location. On the mountain, we appreciated the wide runs and quick lifts, but especially liked George’s Gorge. Given the cold, we spent a lot of time warming up at the two main lodges on the mountain, The Hellroaring Saloon and Eatery, and the Summit House Restaurant. For breakfast and dinner, we drove into the towns of Whitefish and Kalispell. Our favorites:
Breakfast
Loula’s Cafe - Try the Biscuits and Gravy and Pancakes
Swift Creek Cafe - Breakfast sandwich was top notch
Dinner
Spencer and Co. Steakhouse - A ton of history and a good basic steak
Tupelo Grille - Southern comfort in the far north
Piggyback Barbeque - Some of the best BBQ I’ve had in the world, period.
Whitefish Lake Restaurant - A great steak and top notch cocktails and service
Telluride Ski Resort
https://tellurideskiresort.com/
Categories: Convenient Airport Access, Great Food
It is known for having one of the most dramatic airports in the world, but what makes it ideal for a ski weekend is that the Telluride Airport is just 15 minutes away from where you will stay. I also appreciated the ski in ski out, as well as the town having tons of great food options, including Sushi.
Big Sky Resort
https://bigskyresort.com/
Categories: Remote Feeling, Quiet Runs, Easy Excursion Access
To get to Big Sky, you’ll fly into The Bozeman Airport and then make the 1 hour drive to the Big Sky Resort. The drive is part of the experience, starting in a plains area, then getting into a winding canyon road following a river. On one trip, we had to slow down for elk crossing the road in a few spots. The resort is very big, and as such, on many runs, we were the only people getting to enjoy the deep powder and nearly endless runs to the bottom.
The reason I rated this resort as having the Best Excursion Access is that you can include some activities at Yellowstone. I’ve heard of there being insane crowds in the summer, but if you have the chance to go in the winter, you can experience the geysers and hot springs nearly to yourself on a guided snowmobile or coach tour.
Jackson Hole
https://www.jacksonhole.com/
Categories: Steep Ski Terrain, Convenient Airport Access, Expert Runs, Walkable Ski Town
While Jackson Hole is extremely convenient to the airport, and the lodges are close to the mountain, this resort is not for the faint of heart. One can even walk from the resort to the Ski Town here. The mountain is mainly expert terrain, and the expert terrain I feel is a step above many resorts in the US. Jackson Hole is known as having the steepest ski terrain in the US, and having the longest vertical drop of any resort in the US.
Besides great skiing at Jackson Hole, for a big mountain experience and fewer crowds, Grand Targhee is just a short drive away. In addition, excursion access is also convenient, in that my friends and I did a snowmobile tour to The Granite Hot Springs. The hot spring is an amazing experience, nestled into the woods with piles of snow around, and a large hot spring you can relax in. Another option for a non-downhill skiing day is to learn how to cross-country ski at the JH Nordic center.
If you really want to test yourself while here, stop by the Snow King Mountain that is even closer to the town. While it is known as the “town hill”, it has the steepest overall slope of any ski hill in North America!
Grand Targhee
https://www.grandtarghee.com/
Categories: Best Day Trip From Another Resort
We went to Grand Targhee just to try something different, since it was only about an hour's drive from Jackson Hole. We were wowed when we got there because there were next to no people the day we went, and the mountain was just very big and wide open, with plenty of skiing in glades and wide open slopes. I highly recommend saving a day on your Jackson Hole trip to experience a unique experience that, to me, was less demanding and more relaxing than the Jackson Hole mountains.
Convenient, but no compromise!
While the first years of guy trips bounced around to a variety of places, one area that we settled into as a default option is the Salt Lake City area because of its convenience. Why this area is so convenient is that the airport is easy to get to, the airport is relatively close to the mountains, and there are three major ski areas, each with its own personality.
Park City Area
The Party City Area is great since it has a relatively large town with tons of restaurants and nightlife options, but also three resorts with plenty of skiable terrain. I never made it to Deer Valley though, which as I understand, if you want the most posh ski experience in the US, this is where to go.
Back when I first went, Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons were separate ski areas, but they have all merged into one large resort, Park City. In fact, it is the largest lift-served ski resort in the United States. What stands out in my mind at The Canyons is the many winding runs through trees that also cross bridges in areas with the ski homes.
Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons
Alta
https://www.alta.com/
Categories: No Snowboards Allowed, Natural Terrain, Convenient to City, Big Bowls
Snowbird
https://www.snowbird.com/
Categories: Expert Terrain, Weekend Crowds, Convenient to City, Big Back Bowl
Solitude
https://www.solitudemountain.com/
Categories: Convenient to City, Big Bowls
Brighton
https://brightonresort.com/
Categories: Night Skiing, Easy Access, Chill, Convenient to City
I skied Brighton a lot since they offer night skiing and I could get a ski in during the work week while visiting a customer in the area. Near to Brighton, there is a great place to get breakfast, or stay for the weekend, the Silver Fork Lodge. Its location is tough to beat to access all the Salt Lake City ski resorts I’ve mentioned here.
Ogden Valley
One of our favorite places to go in the Salt Lake area is the Ogden Valley, especially on the weekends. While some areas such as Snowbird get very crowded, our experience has been that even on weekends, other than the gondola from the base, there are no lines on the mountain at Snowbasin. It’s about a 30 minute drive from the Cottonwood Canyon area, so it’s also easy to mix up locations on the same trip. Our preference on some trips has been to get an AirBnb in the Ogden area which is cheaper that a resort lodge, and makes for very convenient skiing.
Powder Mountain
https://www.powdermountain.com/
Categories: Great for Weekends
Snowbasin
https://www.snowbasin.com/
Categories: Great for Weekends, Ski like an Olympian, Best Top of Mountain Lodge
One of the standout aspects of Snowbasin is you can ski the Olympic downhill, The Grizzly. It even has its own lift, which can be foreboding on a windy day, but I highly recommend checking it out when you go. The lodge at the top is also one of the best in the US. It has plenty of room, posh bathrooms, and one of the largest fireplaces I’ve ever seen. While the food is cafeteria style like just about every other lodge in the US, the ambience is better than most mountain lodges in the US.
Family Ski Trips
About 5 years ago, I was fortunate to add another ski trip into the yearly schedule, one with family. Since the trip needed to be during Christmas break because of the kids’ school, I chose Colorado for the elevation and higher likelihood of snow. After some research, we chose Copper Mountain because of the mountain village being close to the lifts, plenty of dining options, and a really excellent ski school. We were also fortunate that we had the same ski instructor each year, who we even did summer rafting trips with.
Copper Mountain
https://www.coppercolorado.com/
Categories: Best for Family, Plenty of Greens, Best for Learning
Keystone Resort
https://www.keystoneresort.com/
Categories: Best for Family, Night Skiing
While I didn’t got to Keystone with the family, it is known as a good family destination. The Keystone area is also large, with tons of options for everyone.
On a Budget
While I didn’t end up skiing at the resorts listed here, we made the attempt one winter to change up the trip and try a resort that is off the beaten track. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out well since the hotel I picked turned out to not be so nice, and my kids got altitude sickness while we tried to rent our skis. The resort was also overwhelmed during the holiday weekend, so while it’s probably great nearly every other time of year, I’d avoid it in any peak period or weekend. We decided to skip this part of the trip, headed to Buena Vista and then skied a few days in Copper Mountain.
On the plus side, we ended up at an amazing hotel in Buena Vista, Colorado that I wrote about in my post about staying in the Browns Canyon area.
Besides Mohawk Mountain, there is an area that a close friend of mine grew up skiing at with her family, Cooper Mountain. She now returns here with her own kids.
Mohawk Mountain
https://www.mohawkmtn.com/
Categories: On a Budget, Local Gem
Cooper Mountain
https://www.skicooper.com/
Categories: On a Budget, Local Gem
European Work Opportunity
I’ve been fortunate to ski in Europe because of my travels for work and friends who also like to ski. My first European ski experience was over an Easter weekend, so we chose something at a very high elevation in Switzerland, the Aletsch Arena . The particular area we were in was Riederalp. What made Riederalp amazing beyond just skiing is the ski town that does not allow cars. It was an incredibly quaint area to spend a weekend.
Aletsch Arena
https://www.aletscharena.ch/en
Categories: Best Village, Best Ski Lodge Food
One particular highlight of this trip was lunch in a ski lodge on the slopes where I had one of the best meals in my life. It was a risotto, including a locally made sausage with a nice glass of wine. The restaurant sat maybe 15 minutes, which made the quality of the food even more amazing, as this was something I wouldn’t have expected from most major restaurants.
Zermatt
https://www.zermatt.ch/en/ski
Categories: Best View, Snow Running Trails, Highest Lift in Europe, Apres Ski
Zermatt is a ski town with a view of the Matterhorn. It’s an amazing background for your ski weekend. In addition, there are running / hiking trails in the mountains that overlook the town that you can access with a short walk. It’s also home to the highest lift in Europe! Zermatt is very convenient to Zurich, just a 3 hour ride.
Tignes
https://www.tignes.net/ski/domaine-skiable
Categories: High Altitude, Apres Ski
Val d’Isere
https://www.valdisere.com/en/
Categories: High Altitude, Watch out for Avalanch
One thing I’d never seen until this trip was an inbound avalanche. A run was closed because of an avalanche earlier in the week. The premise of an avalanche on inbound terrain seems much less common in the US, so this moment has stood out in my mind.
Nendaz
https://www.nendaz.ch/en/Z13484/ski-area
Categories: Largest in Europe, High Elevation
The Nendaz area is the largest ski area in Europe with over 410km of slopes. It’s very convenient to Geneva, just a two hour fast train ride to the town of Sion, Switzerland.
Ellmau
http://www.ellmau.at/
Categories: Good for Corporate Outing
Ellmau was the most like a New England ski resort that I’ve visited, including icy roads. It stood out though because of the excellent hotel for a corporate outing.
Ultrarunning Inspired Destination
I ended up in the country of Georgia since I was looking to do some running and biking there on a long weekend, but while researching it, I came across the Gudauri Ski Resort. For a full rundown of my trip, check out my article about Outdoor Adventures in the Country of Georgia.
Gudauri
http://gudauri.ski/
Categories: Ski Lift from Hell, Most Unusual Ski Trip
Heading Out
No matter where you ski, I hope you find a delightful break from your ultrarunning activities. Also, remember to always take your running shoes, since there are running opportunities at many of these resorts! There are also 100s of other resorts around the world, these are just a short list of ones that are either my favorite, or favorites of friends who planned the trip. Also seek out new and unusual places, one such unusual place I’d like to visit is Mount Bohemia!
