Do you want to have skiing be the focus of your life? Or a weekend activity?
I lived in Tahoe for several years between college and grad school, and I loved it. I skied Squaw everyday, and had a great time doing it.
If you are going to focus your life around skiing, I would suggest Tahoe or Mammoth. Those are the places I know best. Summit County and Utah would be cool too. Tahoe is a great place to ski everyday, and it is also a fun place to be during the summer. It has a good party scene, although the ratio is bad, but sausage fests are part of living in a ski town.
Given how close you are to Mammoth, and Tahoe too, I would try one of those first. You will definitely find great steeps, lots of snow, and good parks.