Skiing.

After an inspiring conversation with a friend (Hi Alyssa), I decided I should do a comparison of all of the places I’ve skied.

I broke it down by category, because I do not think it’s fair to compare East Coast to West Coast, or to compare summer skiing to winter skiing. Each category is ranked from least to greatest. To make it more confusing, and because I’m still sort of a math teacher, the categories are also listed from least to greatest. Use your understanding of inequalities to figure out which place is the greatest.

This is pretty long, so if you don’t feel like reading all of it and you’re not so good at math, scroll down to the bottom for my West Coast rankings, and to find out which mountain is my favorite in the world. (Spoiler: It’s Beaver Creek.)

Summer Skiing

I’ve only skied in the summer twice, once in Switzerland (Zermatt I think?) and once in Canada (Whistler Blackcomb). Both were definitely an experience and definitely a lot of fun, but also one timers. Summer skiing is cool because it’s summer, and you’re skiing, and you don’t need much in terms of warm clothing, but it’s actually kind of a pain. It takes a lot to get to the top of the mountain where there’s actually snow left, and once you’re there you realize that it’s actually more of a slush than snow experience. In Switzerland, we had to walk through town from where we were staying to a giant gondola that fit about 25 people per car. Then we went on a second gondola followed by a chairlift to finally reach the few runs that had enough snow to remain open. It was a long drawn out process for not so great snow.

I can’t really rank these two experiences because I don’t remember them well enough to decide which was better, and they were definitely pretty similar to each other. If I had to put one first, I’d say Switzerland solely because I can now say I’ve skied the Swiss Alps.

East Coast Skiing

My general assessment of skiing on the East Coast is that it’s pretty awful (but still better than summer skiing). The mountains are small, the crowds are large, and there is more ice than snow. However, it’s not always possible to get out west, and East Coast skiing is superior to no skiing at all. Also, a few times that I’ve skied the East Coast I went with friends who were beginners, so I decided to take up snowboarding, which made the experience a little bit better because I was learning rather than comparing to the great skiing I’m used to. And I had to stick to the beginner slopes.

4. Deep Creek, MD (Wisp Mountain): It’s important to note that I did not actually ski when I was here, so I can’t accurately rank the ski experience. However, I chose not to ski specifically because it didn’t seem worth it. It was warm, the snow was melting, and it was crowded. I think there may have even been some rain while we were there, which is obviously not conducive to good ski conditions. To be fair, it was the middle of March so it is hard to compare this to the other East Coast mountains that I skied in January or February. It’s also important to note that I am ranking the skiing here. If I were ranking the overall experience, I would probably put Deep Creek at or close to the top of this list. They have tubing hills and an alpine coaster, and some cool antique shops and arcades, making it an overall fun family experience even if you don’t ski, all in a beautiful setting.

3. Hunter Mountain: I’ve been to Hunter Mountain a couple of times with friends, and this is where I began to learn to snowboard. It is a somewhat quick drive from NYC or Long Island, and you can easily do a day trip if you’re open to an early morning departure. The mountain is cute and fun for a day trip. They also have a pretty big lodge that some of our non-skier friends spent the day in with some snacks and hot chocolate. I would definitely recommend it for beginners.

2. Catamount mountain – Berkshires, MA: I stayed here for a weekend and skied for two days. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d ski or snowboard, but in the end I decided to ski. This probably meant I thought the skiing would be good enough, otherwise I would’ve stayed at the bottom with my snowboard and most of my beginner friends who I was traveling with. This was a really fun trip, and as far as east coast skiing goes this wasn’t so bad. Maybe I’m biased because I was with all of these people.

1.  Sunapee, NH: if you look back at this list, you’ll notice a clear trend. The mountains get better as you go north. Obviously. It’s no surprise that mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire are bigger and better than mountains further south. The snow is better, and the weather is better (for skiing purposes). I felt like I was actually on a ski mountain rather than a fun play hill covered in snow and filled with ants on skis. And I was with Tom, who grew up in New Hampshire and actually knows how to ski, so I had a ski buddy. To be clear though, there was still way too much ice for my liking and Tom probably thought I lied to him when I told him I knew how to ski because I was so pathetic, so he probably felt as if he did not have a ski buddy at all. I will continue to avoid east coast skiing as much as possible.

West coast skiing

I honestly haven’t skied enough places out west, and I’d love to see some more (Aspen is first on my list), but here’s a list of where I have been.

5. Cerro Catedral, Bariloche Argentina: I am grouping this one in with West Coast skiing partly because I have nowhere else to put it and partly because this is South America’s version of West Coast skiing. Chile and Argentina are where the Olympic skiers go to train when the snow melts on the west coast because their seasons are opposite ours. I can say with confidence that this was the worst skiing I have ever done. Worse than the East Coast and worse than summer skiing. It was raining, and we were skiing on a lot of mud and rocks, and not a lot of snow. In rented boots.

I cried from the pain. Seriously, here is a picture of it.

When it wasn’t raining it was so windy that the mountain was shut down. At one point, they actually shut down the lift up to the top of the mountain because the winds were so bad WHILE WE WERE ON THE LIFT. It was petrifying, and I was pretty sure I was going to die. I did not die.

We were going to buy a three-day pass on the first day, and they told us we shouldn’t do that as it was likely the mountain would not be open all three days. They were right, it was not, and I’m so glad we only attempted to “ski” one day.

I want to make one thing very clear though. Bariloche is absolutely stunning. The skiing was bad but the trip was incredible. I would definitely go back there in the winter or the summer and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a trip to South America. I’d just skip the skiing.

This is a brief description of my ski day. I sent a lengthy description to my family about all of the awful and hilarious details that night when it was still fresh in my mind. Contact me for a copy of that email.

4. Deer Valley, Utah: I skied here a long time ago and I don’t remember much. If I did remember, it may be ranked at #3 instead of 4. But there are two things that I distinctly remember. First, Deer Valley does not allow snowboarders. I’m sorry if you are a snowboarder and you’re reading this, but this is incredible. They aren’t out there ruining the mountain and washing out our beautifully groomed snow. Second, Deer Valley is the mountain famous for having the largest percentage of groomed runs. I love cruising the groomed blues, so this was great for me. However, like most mountains have recently done, I am pretty sure they have also banned daytime grooming because too many people have skied into the groomers and gotten injured or killed. I don’t have pictures, because when I went to Deer Valley we still used disposable cameras and I’m not about to look through the boxes. Sorry.

3. Yellowstone Club: I had a hard time deciding if I’d rank this before or after Vail because this was a really cool once in a lifetime experience. But I am not ranking lifetime experiences. I am ranking skiing and ski conditions. And Vail is basically the best in the world (besides Beaver Creek), so here we are at #3.

The Yellowstone Club is a member only mountain. You have to live there to become a member and you have to be a member to ski there. There are something like 800 homes total, so theoretically the mountain is empty and huge. We somehow got to spend a few days there once even though we are not members. They have candy cabins all over the mountain, which are really more than candy cabins. They also have hot chocolate, soups, and more, with easy ski access.

Aside from all the hype and overall coolness of the experience though, the mountain is huge but the actual skiable terrain is pretty limited. I felt like I was going up and down the same lifts and runs all week. And there’s also not much food close by. Dinner options are limited to 2-3 restaurants on site, and the next closest food is a 20-30 minute drive down the mountain into Bozeman. It’s great skiing though, and if you are at Yellowstone Club you can have access to Big Sky, which is right next door. I’ve never skied Big Sky, but I’ve heard good things.

2. Vail, CO: Most people link Vail and Beaver Creek together. These people did not spend their lives skiing Beaver Creek. Vail is much bigger and much busier. The skiing is amazing, and it’s clear why this is considered one of the best mountains in the world, but if you could go down the road for something a little smaller, less crowded, and more manageable with the same great skiing, wouldn’t you? (I’m incredibly biased obviously.)

1. Beaver Creek, CO: I don’t even know how to describe how I (and my entire family) feel about Beaver Creek. It’s our happy place. If you know me at all, you know how I feel about this place and you’ve heard me talk about it for the last 25 years. I think pictures will do a better job at explaining the joy. Disclaimer: I’ve been going there since before I can remember (and I actually happen to be in Beaver Creek right this second), so the pictures are endless. This isn’t even close to all that I have.