Best US Ski Towns

jimk

jimk

Well-known member
USA Today put out a list recently of the 10 best US ski towns. See here

From #10 to #1: McCall, Bend, Stowe, Aspen, Lake Placid, Breckenridge, Truckee, Jackson, Mammoth Lakes, North Conway.

A couple surprises for me and places I've never been are McCall and Truckee. I've driven by Truckee and never stopped. I thought it was just an Idaho Springs type of roadside retail strip, but maybe I'm wrong?
I've visited all the others and they are legit, although I don't know that I would agree with the order. Are Mammoth Lakes and North Conway supposed to be the two best US ski towns? I would disagree with that. My vote for number one would go to Aspen.
 
Those are some respected travel writers, but the question itself is deeply flawed. Best ski town for whom? The obvious divergence is a place to live vs. a place to visit for a typical one week vacation.

Mammoth is elite as a place to live due to length of its ski season but many visitors are deterred by poor access and car dependence while you are there.

For the visitor I agree with JimK that Aspen checks all the boxes, but some might object that it’s nearly impossible to find reasonably priced lodging there.

I share Jason’s view of Bend but many people don’t want to be in a town that’s 25 minutes drive to the mountain. POWDR never tried to make Bend a National ski destination and took resources out of Bachelor, convinced it was only a regional resort.

I’d be interested in the easterners’ view of North Conway. I recall it in the 80’s as the original outlet mall destination, enhanced by no NH sales tax. And even by eastern standards the ski areas are a cut below WhiteFace and much of Vermont.
 
My ski buddy who moved from NYC to Albuquerque decades ago would have Crested Butte in his Top Ten.

Truckee is very different from the ski towns that currently appeal to upscale travelers such as Jackson, Aspen, Breck, or Lake Placid.

Taos is a ski town. I know retirees who spend 4-6 weeks there every winter.
 
Tony Crocker said:
I’d be interested in the easterners’ view of North Conway. I recall it in the 80’s as the original outlet mall destination, enhanced by no NH sales tax. And even by eastern standards the ski areas are a cut below WhiteFace and much of Vermont.
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For the people who drive from the Boston area and CT/RI, North Conway is certainly a popular ski town. Even folks who live in NYC/NJ consider making the drive for NH skiing. Plenty of good restaurants and lodging options at all price points for a ski vacation or long weekend. I've stayed there midweek doing a timeshare trade a couple times while sampling New England skiing. Skiing Wildcat in the morning and Attitash in the afternoon on the same lift ticket before Vail Resorts bought Peak Resorts was good fun even during early season.

North Conway is not that far from Sunday River for someone interested in a day trip. Or as a stop combined with a few days at SR. Families love Cranmore, and the Fairbanks family (also own/operate Jiminy Peak, operate Bromley) caters to that market. Not everyone is looking for "steep and deep" especially when there are lift-served slopes within a few hours drive.
 
As you know, I always opt for small and atmospheric rather than big and hectic: "a pleasant town near a ski area" rather than an official "ski town." My favorites are in Quebec:
  • Magog in the Eastern Townships with Mont Orford five minutes away
  • Saint Sauveur in the Laurentians with several fun molehills close by
  • Baie St. Paul in Charlevoix with Le Massif 20 minutes away
  • Of course, the most unique winter experience in North America (but not by definition a ski town) is Quebec City with Mont Sainte Anne 25 minutes away.
In the U.S., I like Taos and Santa Fe with their ski areas 30 minutes away from town.
 
Tony Crocker said:
Those are some respected travel writers, but the question itself is deeply flawed. Best ski town for whom? The obvious divergence is a place to live vs. a place to visit for a typical one week vacation.
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It is a flawed question.

And if you are interested in winter sports, just by definition most Western destinations would come out ahead due to higher snowfall/less rain.

Some East Coast mountain towns:
  • North Conway/Conway. It's definitely the best in NH. You have all the resorts: Black, Cranmore, Attitash, Wildcat, and even Sunday River, Bretton Woods, Loon Mt are only an hour away. Mt. Washington/Tuckerman's. However, I think more Bostonians wind up on I-93 resorts (Waterville, Loon, Cannon, etc)
  • Waitsfield/Waren, VT. Sugarbush/MRG. Less busy than its neighbor of Stowe.
  • Stowe. Charming, but the access road traffic to Stowe is quite bad.
  • Ludlow. A real town near Okemo, Kilington, Pico, Magic.
  • Lake Placid. Whiteface. Olympics facitilities. Gore. Adirondacks.
  • Some others: Windham, Banner Elk
  • Maine areas mostly are condo outposts.
MarzNC said:
Truckee is very different from the ski towns that currently appeal to upscale travelers such as Jackson, Aspen, Breck, or Lake Placid.
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Truckee has become a much better ski town in the last 20 years. I will eat there before driving back in its dowtown. You could not really buy in Tahoe City, so it became a much better alternative.
 
ChrisC said:
Some East Coast mountain towns:
  • North Conway/Conway. It's definitely the best in NH. You have all the resorts: Black, Cranmore, Attitash, Wildcat, and even Sunday River, Bretton Woods, Loon Mt are only an hour away. Mt. Washington/Tuckerman's. However, I think more Bostonians wind up on I-93 resorts (Waterville, Loon, Cannon, etc)
  • Waitsfield/Waren, VT. Sugarbush/MRG. Less busy than its neighbor of Stowe.
  • Stowe. Charming, but the access road traffic to Stowe is quite bad.
  • Ludlow. A real town near Okemo, Kilington, Pico, Magic.
  • Lake Placid. Whiteface. Olympics facitilities. Gore. Adirondacks.
  • Some others: Windham, Banner Elk
  • Maine areas mostly are condo outposts.
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What about Lincoln? I've stayed there a couple times. It's one of the towns in New England with a timeshare resort that's good for ski season. North Conway and Bethel (Sunday River) are two other ski towns where I've done a timeshare trade for lodging.

Just stopped by Banner Elk on Wednesday on the way to Knoxville. Boone has changed in the last twenty years, but Banner Elk hasn't. Although Sugar Mountain has upgraded the lifts in a major way in the last decade. Beech has improved infrastructure as well but hasn't spent quite as much money. Sugar is a 4-season "ski resort" while Beech will always be a "ski area." Both have slopeslide lodging that is ski in/out but at Beech that's mostly private homes.

Maggie Valley near Cataloochee is a ski town. Cat has a shop in town where people can take care of getting lift tickets, rental gear, and even rental outerwear. Busier in the summer than the winter, but there are several ski/board shops.

Davis, WV is a ski town that was hurt badly when Timberline closed. It's come back nicely after the Perfect family took over Timberline.

One measure of whether or not a town in NY, New England or the mid-Atlantic/SE is a "ski town" is how many ski shops there are. When the local mountain(s) had lifts starting over 50+ years, there is obviously a local market that pre-dates the Internet. :)
 
The above were the eastern insights I was looking for. I had a very negative view of NH skiing based upon the masochistic reports Joegm used to post here from Loon. But James lists three Tier 2 areas in the Mt. Washington Valley, so fair enough for North Conway.

Santa Fe and Quebec City are major tourist destinations on their own and would be if no nearby ski areas existed.

Does a ski area need a certain proportion of skiers outside daytrip radius to be considered a ski town? Big Bear would fail that test though I read somewhere that about a quarter of its visitors stay overnight. I’ve done it once back in 1978.

The question is flawed enough that multiple criteria must apply. A 25 minute distance between town and ski area is not a disqualifier but if so that needs to be a top tier ski area IHMO.

I like MarzNC’s ski shop insight. It demonstrates that skiing is a key part of a town’s culture.
 
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No mention of Sandpoint, Idaho approx. 25 minutes from Schweitzer? A dozen years ago (just after my first visit there), there was a big profile about the town in a NYT article that I linked to below my report. I'm curious if/how things have changed since then.
 
Tony Crocker said:
Which ones are those?
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Probably Nelson and Rossland, in that order. John and I have also had good experiences in town in Revelstoke, although the hassle factor can be higher there. We enjoyed Golden as well, but were only there once and only for one night. Fernie was a bit of a disappointment when we were there for a couple of nights last year, but I'm not sure that was the town's fault.

Tony Crocker said:
everywhere but Banff and Whistler is at least as car dependent as Mammoth.
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No argument from me about that. I'm going mostly on vibes, the friendliness of the locals, decent options for more affordable eating, drinking, and lodging, walkability in town, etc.

Family trips to Banff were great when our daughter was a kid, but we were generally there somewhat past the peak winter tourist season, which probably helped. I wouldn't really want to spend much time in the town of Banff in the summer at this point. Never been to Whistler but have been struck by the number of folks John and I have chatted with at other BC resorts who have told us they own property there but, since Vail, never ski there anymore and instead exclusively rent their property out.
 
MarzNC said:
What about Lincoln? I've stayed there a couple times. It's one of the towns in New England with a timeshare resort that's good for ski season.
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Lincoln NH. I am very familiar with it. It studied the town extensively for my thesis as a counterpoint of how not to do development in New England - compared to Vermont (interviewed Lincoln Select Board Members, Mayor, State Reps, etc on development approval and planning process - or lack thereof). Lincoln NH's massive uncontrolled condo developemnt in the 1980s/90s and the resulting municipal burdens and owner financial losses was a textbook example of poor planning. However, it was a poor logging town so one understands why development was attractive.

Its recovered and become a decent resort area. There was a lot of potential to do things better. However, the town/area is affordable. The overall setting is among the best in New England. It easily has the best hiking in New England. Roads to Cannon/Bretton Woods and the Kancamagus are top drives.

The Dartmouth Outing Club has a couple of cabins on the west side of Lincoln, including one just 15 minutes out of town. I stayed there to do interviews. Also, I have stayed there with friends during Winter Break/Spring Break to ski Loon and Cannon.

I like Loon Mt for skiing. (Cannon is great but it can get blasted by North Winds with a 4k summit). In contrast, Loon sits behind the Presedentials with a summit of only 3k so it's relatively sheltered. (Wildcat/Waterville are also exposed with 4k summits). Loon's lower mountain trails are all too similar but upper mountain are all unique. I never understood when they updated the gondola, a 4-seater was selected. Never skied South Peak but it looks interesting and well done.



I eliminated East Coast Resort mountain towns from a 'Best Of' List that are primarily condo developments. For me, this included:
  • Stratton
  • Mount Snow/Dover
  • Killington
  • Waterville Valley
  • Lincoln
  • Sugarloaf - They did not have a choice; no bed base. Therefore, condos.
  • Sunday River - Same as above.
 
There are some ski towns that actually draw bigger crowds in summer, than winter, such as Jackson, WY, South Lake Tahoe, CA/NV, Taos, NM, North Conway, NH, Lake Placid, NY, Banner Elk, NC, Banff, AB, etc. Those can be great places to visit in winter because there is an abundance of lodging at decent prices.
 
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