also note that these are rating of "Resorts" which includes towns, nightlife, etc and not just the ski mountain. If so, things would be different.
AND, it is probably good that there isn't too much press for places like Alta and Silverton. The people who need to know about them do. Alta doesn't have much of a base at the mountain, so it isn't going to rank highly amoung places like Whistler, Vail, and Aspen.
I just remember sitting at one of the lodges at Alta after an amazing day of skiing and listen to 2 highschool aged kids from some place on the east coast (sounded like Mass) decked out in nordica clothing/boots/skis bitch to thier dad about accomadations, the lifts, the people. "THIS (in a want-to-be snobby voice) didn't cost that much did it? I hope you didn't pay to much for this Dad, this place has crappy food, crappy on mountain lodges, IT SUCKS". There dad willingfully agreed to them and apologized for taking them to such a terrible place. Those people definently don't need to be at a place like Alta.
I see people like them all the time in Vail. I make little sandwitches out of the free crackers and the free veggies from the grill in the Two Elk Lodge and try to look pitiful, and then normally they buy me food to try to look/feel wealthy. I get free food from the employees there anyway, but it is my little way at getting back at them for taking up space in lift lines and being in the way on the mountain. After I get the food, I eat it as quickly as possible so I can get out of there before they A- ask too many questions and find out that my parents probably have a better financial portfolio than they do or B- do some simple reasoning in their heads and find out that if I ski Vail all the time I probably know to bring my own food or that I could quite possibly pay for it myself.