"Top 30 ski resorts in the west" never include OR/WA

dynafitdaffy

dynafitdaffy

Member
https://www.outsideonline.com/adven...orth-america/top-30-resorts-in-the-west-2023/
https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/resort-guide-2022/best-west-us-ski-resorts/
https://www.zrankings.com/ski-resorts/west

I feel like these "Top 30 ski resorts in the west" lists almost never include OR/WA.

The lists are usually the results of a magazine reader survey, like these first two from Outside and Ski Mag, and not the results of editors, so I’m more inclined to trust the lists.

However, based on my intuition, those magazines' fan base are more wealthy and disproportionally live in CO/UT, as compared to the average skier/NSer in the west. I think this explains all those big name CO/UT resorts on the list, and the lack of hidden gem resorts like Loveland or Brighton, as well as the lack of any resorts in OR/WA.

Furthermore, there are some solid resorts in OR/WA that I think should make top 30 (e.g. Meadows, Timberline, Baker, Snoqualamie) but I understand why they don't. It would add geographic diversity to the lists, but these aren't curated lists, so the mags aren't trying for geographic diversity. These are simply survey results from the Outside/Ski mag readers.

What do you guys think? Is the Outside/Ski mag fanbase more wealthy and/or CO/UT based than the average skier/NSer in the west? Should OR/WA be making the "Top 30 ski resorts in the west" list more?

**This thread was edited on Nov 5th 2022 at 4:16:48pm
 
It's just glorified marketing tbh. Any resort issue of any mag has always been a giant marketing spread for resort companies. I've always felt a lot of it too is pay for play. At least with Ski Mag and Deer Valley. They're definitely not using actual data from guest surveys and satisfaction reports on the back end of property management/resort management software because it would tell a different story in some cases. Nor would any resort ever release that info. It's bad for business

.

Tbh I'd be stoked to know my local isn't on any top 10 list or hasn't wound up as SnowBrains next victim of "Hey guys check out this ski area no one goes too lol"

**This post was edited on Nov 5th 2022 at 5:05:41pm
 
14476500:DeebieSkeebies said:
It's just glorified marketing tbh
Click to expand...

yeah, its an ad you cant really expect a true ranking from a mag/website when 9/10 times its paid for.
 
It's mainly marketing to drive tourism. No one from east of the Mississippi is going all the way out to the coast. It's a much shorter drive and cheaper flight to Colorado.
 
I'm cool with it, Mt Hood gets crowded enough with our own local wankers, no need for people from Georgia
 
I'm pretty sure the editors still choose a specific list that readers vote and provide comments on...so yes it's biased. These are great though because it keeps folks to the same places and allows the hidden gems to stay that way. It is a bit odd there's no OR/WA places very often
 
the fact that BLUE MOUNTAIN ONTARIO didnt make it proves to me this is the perhaps the most biased list in history.
 
The fact that sun valley is 1st for both lists tells me all I need to know (edit: didn’t see the z rankings list when i wrote this). But honestly I’d rather them rank resorts like Sun Valley and Vail higher than other mountains with way better expert terrain since it’ll keep the jerries and vacation skiers away from the actual good spots.

**This post was edited on Nov 6th 2022 at 4:42:11pm
 
topic:dynafitdaffy said:
https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/top-30-resorts-in-the-west-2023/
https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/resort-guide-2022/best-west-us-ski-resorts/
https://www.zrankings.com/ski-resorts/west

I feel like these "Top 30 ski resorts in the west" lists almost never include OR/WA.

The lists are usually the results of a magazine reader survey, like these first two from Outside and Ski Mag, and not the results of editors, so I’m more inclined to trust the lists.

However, based on my intuition, those magazines' fan base are more wealthy and disproportionally live in CO/UT, as compared to the average skier/NSer in the west. I think this explains all those big name CO/UT resorts on the list, and the lack of hidden gem resorts like Loveland or Brighton, as well as the lack of any resorts in OR/WA.

Furthermore, there are some solid resorts in OR/WA that I think should make top 30 (e.g. Meadows, Timberline, Baker, Snoqualamie) but I understand why they don't. It would add geographic diversity to the lists, but these aren't curated lists, so the mags aren't trying for geographic diversity. These are simply survey results from the Outside/Ski mag readers.

What do you guys think? Is the Outside/Ski mag fanbase more wealthy and/or CO/UT based than the average skier/NSer in the west? Should OR/WA be making the "Top 30 ski resorts in the west" list more?

**This thread was edited on Nov 5th 2022 at 4:16:48pm
Click to expand...

I don't know about Outside but Ski is ass. The average Ski magazine enjoyer is a rich white liberal who buys new gear every season and goes skiing at Breckenridge once a year. The rankings are paid for. Ex. Vail used to have advertisements in Ski magazine, but they cut out of the deal, and then their resorts dropped in the ranks. Ski journalism is cringe and poorly written, like most journalism, but then they went woke and half of their articles are about how skiing is racist and shit, it's unreadable.

I'm in the East, and consistently Mt. Snow is in the top 3. While I realize that the average NS probably really likes Mt. Snow, park is usually not a factor for it's ranking. Other than Carinthia, Mt. Snow is complete garbage. Flat and boring, and it's the most crowded mountain on the East coast bar none, at least when you take into account what you're getting, which again goes to show how bullshit the rankings are.
 
“think this explains all those big name CO/UT resorts on the list, and the lack of hidden gem resorts like Loveland”

Is loveland actually that great? I always hear about it being a great mountain but the few times I’ve skied there I didn’t really enjoy it. Couldn’t really find anything to jump off of and whereas the wind at abasin fills everything in and makes for great skiing even when it hasn’t snowed in a while, at loveland the wind just seemed to turn everything into ice.
 
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