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I agree with ChrisC about Lake Louise, Telluride and Tahoe, but would put Alyeska up there with them. Weathertoski's list is on another level IMHO. First views of something the likes of which you have never seen before tend to leave the most lasting impressions. In my case that would have...

Alta website shows Supreme Bowl closed, along with Backside and everything off the High T. That’s a lot of Alta’s prime powder terrain. I’d guess the T lost coverage during the March heat wave, not sure that would true for Yellow Trail on the way to Backside.

Isola 2000 has almost exactly the same standard deviation of annual snowfall vs. average (40%) as Mammoth (39%) with that average being half as much (175 vs. 350 inches). However, as at many places in the Alps Isola measures snow at the very bottom of lift service vs. Mammoth about 1/3 of the...

We will be skiing Mammoth April 15-17. Storm total is 16" so far. Mammoth should have no problem lasting until Memorial Day with similar snowpack now (38-107 inches) as at this time in 2011-12 (60-96) and much more than in 2013-14 (40-70) and 2014-15 (18-50). Wolf Creek closed as announced...

I was surprised that Flaine did not have one of those signs at the top with that panoramic view of the north face of Mont Blanc.

It's interesting that Saalbach and St. Anton have the block letter signs. The highest density of on-mountain huts/dining options is surely in Italy. I can believe that the block letter signing started with the purpose built resorts in France. That said, the mountain scenery is a bit less...

Avoriaz and Zermatt were the only ones I noticed on this trip. But we got this one on on the last day of our best Euro ski trip in 2018. German-speaking areas don't necessarily conform to the French block lettering style.

Juneau already has a sightseeing gondola within walking distance from the cruise port. I recall using it after dinner on our 2001 cruise to view the sunset and also a tidal bore moving in the water channel.

Here's some more hilarity.

Friday warmed into the mid-30s F so spring conditions became more widespread, including nearly all pistes in Morillon/Samoens and some first day softening in the lower part of Flaine. We started on Aup de Veran, view down to Flaine buildings: Crossing Diamant Noir we saw this warning sign...

This is fairly routine for us in the Owens Valley on April/May trips to Mammoth. But bug season started way early this year. We had them driving from Big Sky to SLC on March 7. We also had them earlier this week driving from the Alps to the last 3 days of our Euro trip in Florence. On my 5...

I agree with ChrisC that Lake Louise's scenery impresses me more than Sunshine's. Also generate higher spire measures. Mt. Robson's 941 is not far off those big 3 in the Alps, and its Jut is more than any of them, and even a bit more than Aconcagua or FitzRoy. All of these are listed here...

Our day in Auron was a bluebird day. Look at the pictures and there is barely a clue you're so close the the Mediterranean. It could be anywhere in the Alps at a small-on-paper-but-skis-much-bigger-than-it-looks-on-the-trail-map place. It's typical surrounded-by-other-mountains Alps scenery.

Since Jimk missed the original thread on spire measure several years ago, I invite him to read the description here. There are links to several lists by state or region. Clicking on the places you know should confirm that spire measure is a quite good quantification of visual impression...

I retitled to include both Perisher and Thredbo, so presumably either area in title search will find that thread. Users will benefit from getting both TRs at once.

Yes, but the Monterosa exposure issue is a complication. I'm sure it's possible to score impressive off piste corn in the Monterosa but I'd guess that would be very difficult to line up for a non-local. Sometimes the southern storms hit early. That's how we were confident reserving February...

In terms of surrounding peaks, yes. I'll :smileyvault-stirthepot: and ask James where those places would rank in the Alps. Slightly above average I'd say. Alyeska has both water views and surrounding peaks views. In terms of water views, the Tahoe resorts, Heavenly and Homewood in...

I'll remind James again that French is the primary second language in Aosta. Ski trail signs and restaurant menus are routinely printed in French below the Italian. This goes back to Aosta being part of the Kingdom of Savoy from 1032 until Italian unification in 1861. In 2018 we had our...

I scanned pics from my day in 1997 and posted here. I'm inclined to agree that should be the presumption for this thread though I think that bell at Thredbo is a worthy exception. North American areas often have signs, but the person-sized block lettering style copied from the Euros is a...

Not the dramatic spire measures of those top three, but skiing within the glacial features is similar to Vallee Blanche or Schwarztor. So it’s the best glacier skiing experience for those who won’t ski off piste. For scenery Liz favors the Dolomites' unique rock formations. The Dolomites...