North American Resorts That Feel Like The Alps

[jamesdeluxe]

Interesting that the Deer Valley thread, after a detour into its famed cuisine, morphed into a discussion about Europe, which is funny because DV is, to me, about as (western) American as it gets.

Got me thinking... are there any resorts in North America that manage to approximate the Alps experience?

The Hotel St. Bernard at Taos and its all-inclusive deal is pretty close. The late, great Hans Thorner had dreams of turning Magic Mountain, VT into a Swiss themed resort, but it never really materialized. With all the different things you can do there, the Olympic history, and the quaint village, my recent trip to Lake Placid felt pretty Euro-ish. Tremblant is supposed to look European, I guess, but comes off more like Intrawestland. Snowbird and the Cliff Lodge feels like a French purpose-built ski area from the 60s and 70s.

Any others?

 

[Tony Crocker]

In terms of topography, I think the easy answer is Whistler #1 and Mammoth #2 in terms of quantity of above timberline terrain. Whistler also with the big vertical.

The lodges at Alta have some of the ambience of the St. Bernard and Alta's terrain is more alpine and less western than Taos.

Snowbird and the Cliff Lodge feels like a French purpose-built ski area from the 60s and 70s.

I would agree.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

What is "western" topography? Is it all about the tree line?

 

[Marc_C]

What is "western" topography? Is it all about the tree line?

And steeps.
And wide open bowls and faces.
And not all rounded down by glaciers; distinct ridges instead of undulations.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Alta's terrain is more alpine and less western than Taos

Let me try this again... Taos looks relatively alpine to me, but I guess it doesn't have as much wide open terrain as the upper parts of Alta/Snowbird. When you say "Western," what exactly are you referring to?

 

[Tony Crocker]

The very high tree line in the U.S. Rockies is unique among major ski regions of the world, particularly when it's 11,000 feet in Colorado and nearly 12,000 in New Mexico. While I'm a big fan of open bowl skiing, the North America high tree line pays big dividends on stormy powder days when the best terrain would be closed in Mammoth, the Alps, New Zealand, etc.

MarcC's comments relate to features not found in Eastern North America lift service, though they are present in the Presidential range and Chic-Chocs backcountry.

The Alps have some more features rarely found even in the West. More glaciers. More sustained fall lines with big vertical, some of which are not "rounded down by glaciers," as at la Grave.

The Andes and New Zealand are more like the Alps than here in terms of topography. But the lift serviced scale is less than the big places here, except for Las Lenas.

 

[Geoff]

The Andes and New Zealand are more like the Alps than here in terms of topography. But the lift serviced scale is less than the big places here, except for Las Lenas.

The lift serviced scale of Valle Nevado/La Parva/el Colorado is substantial. Most of it is pretty wimpy terrain but the same is true many places in the Alps.

I don't think Taos feels "Alps" at all.

Boston City Hall feels more like Tignes architecture than the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird.

The thing I like best about the Alps is that the resorts are all fairly unique. In North America, everything is fairly homogeneous.