I agree with most of the rankings based on an advanced/expert skier's perspective. Snow conditions can change the ratings significantly. Went to Red Jan 31st this year and it was just bad. The terrain looked amazing if there was enough snow or not skiing on a sheet of ice. Steamboat at D is a little rough. I agree it only has one section for difficult terrain and it is hard to lap, but can be a lot of fun.
Ahhh dang that suck! Ya snow conditions really play a huge role in how good of a day you're gonna have. Red is definitely worth the trip if they get good snow
I grew up in Alaska and have worked at various resorts in the states and I can still say there’s something special about Alyeska. The turrain in AK Is the reason to be there it’s so awesome. Girdwood is also a really cool vibe for ski towns. It’s definitely not the biggest mountain but the snow it gets is unreal. Definitely something you need to experience! I’m headed to park city this winter for work and I’m so stoked for it. Only resort in Utah I’ve rode so far is Brighton and I fell in love. So stoked.
Great video! Would you consider making a video about the day to day while living in the van during ski season? Curious how easy it is to find things like places to sleep, and fresh water to fill up with.
I have one from last season actually! Might remake it again this year ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fYx6QBmRO0w.html&ab_channel=JoeyTheNomad
Good list...but Breck over A-Basin? Breck is bigger and has decent expert terrain, but I'd wager A-Basin has more legit expert terrain even though it's smaller. Certainly A-Basin has more sustained expert terrain. I've never skied Kicking Horse, but did mountain bike there. Insane terrain. I knew it was a good ski area, but was blown away the first time I took the Gondola up and saw it all.
I personally prefer A basin over Breck but I just felt like Breck had the full package and the expert terrain was easier than accessing when compared to hiking the East Wall at A basin, but I could be convinced to swap them I'm not super set on that ranking lol especially with how crowded Breck gets. Kicking Horse is insane and definitely worth the trip! Pair it with a few days at Revy and if the snows good it'll be the best ski trip ever
I agree here, A Basin is cool but I much prefer Breck for it's ease of access. I was there in early April and I only needed to ride one fixed grip lift, which was only for accessing peak 6. Breck also has much more terrain to explore, even if it's tamer overall.
@@Custom_Stryfe_Mainbreck? ease of access? lol. it takes 30+ minutes to get from the parking lot to the top of the mountain… abasin, park at the beach, up top within 10 minutes
@@nylla6161 That depends on how crowded it is, and what you consider "the top" to be. If you're talking about reaching the hike to the summit of peaks 6 or 8, then yes it will take a while, but that's because you're ascending an extra 800-1000 vertical feet compared to A Basin. If you're talking about just getting to the top of one of the out of base lifts, it only takes about 10 min when there aren't many crowds. And no, Breck won't be crowded if you pick the right time to go- those times being before mid December and after mid/late March.
@@Custom_Stryfe_Main it might be an extra 800 feet, but the bottom half of breck is flat and pointless. E, 6, imperial, t bar, & kensho are the only things worth skiing. 8 minutes on the gondola, 8 minutes on superchair, then you still have another lift or t bar to go meanwhile, pali is 100 feet from my car. with the summit just an extra 4 minute chair. like i love breck, i live in breck, but nothing about this place is easy to access, especially on weekends… couldn’t even imagine going out to ski here on the weekend. good god lol
stone creek chutes and the backcountry glade skiing on the opposite side of beaver creek offer some really fun extreme terrain on a powder day. Beaver Creek B tier on powder days imo
great vid. van question for you as i am beginning van build. where and how do you store your skis? I did not see one of those ski lockers in the back of your van. thx.
thanks! I built a space for them in the back of my van underneath my water tank. Basically they slide in the back and i have space cut out for them to live all the way up to my cabinet. Here's a video showing it ru-vid.comS2m1HGzTVIY
Bro looks like you were ripping that Wiggle off Chair 3 about the same time I was last summer. That thing was Super fun sometimes I could Send a nice Spreadie off the bottom lip. No love for SugarBowl? It's my home resort since I've bailed on Sierra & NorthStar long ago. I go to Palisades late season can't dispute anything that place ROCKS. And it gets CROWDED, especially late season Pow day when everything else is closed, like May 5th last Sunday!
That is when I recorded that so you're probably there too! haha that thing was so fun. And I haven't been to SugarBowl or Sierra since I've mostly skied Ikon and Epic resorts. hard to justify paying for day passes when you've already spent $2k on passes lol. Tahoe in the spring is the place to be though!
Man this was great! We did about half those mountains last season (also on ikon and epic) while camping in the RV full time. and YES Big sky deserves S ranking but totally dependent on the snow haha. You need to go to whitefish! Awesome little local mountain, some awesome steep runs on the outer lifts. Great video. We might make one like this soon.
Nice video! Nakiska's main draw is it's close proximity to Calgary. While the mountain doesn't stack up well against Sunshine or Louise, it's excellent for a quick half day, or if conditions are not the best. The glades on the upper mountain are quite fun when they get enough snow.
You missed the wild west at sunshine, even better freeride area and you can do way more slackcountry at sunshine so that's why I generally rate it above lake louise
It wasn't open when I was there so couldn't try it, but would love to go back. Ya if you're doing the freeride stuff then I can see how it would be better than Lake Louise but tried not to include parts where you need a beacon and extra gear just to get to it in the ratings
@@joeythenomad as a local I've had the chance to talk to some of the people running sunshine and I've asked about the beacon/shovel&probe rule and what I understand is its kind of 2 fold. First it helps to ensure ability levels for entry, if someone screws up its hard for ski patrol and takes lots of them to get people out of delerium or the wild west so it presents a bit of a danger to the rest of the resort and the other reason is to limit people and guarentees you can always find a bit of powder in there. I've noticed over the years way more people at Sunshine ride with avy gear than at most other resorts because of the gates but it's kind of nice because you know if something goes horribly wrong there are way more people to move snow and 2 years ago i watched a quarter of goats eye slide in an alvanche in late April🤣🤣
I record all my ski footage with the Insta360 X4 so that way I can reframe it in post for horizontal for youtube or vertical clips for social media. Also I don't have to worry about mounting at a bad angle or the camera getting knocked into a different position and missing the shot. amzn.to/3LVVtvO
East coast has some sick mountains and I grew up skiing there, didn't include it in this video though because it was already pretty long and didn't feel fair comparing a whistler to Waterville Valley... I'll make another video with East coast mountains only
Some of the clips are me some of them are other people. The flips are usually not me, I'm not that good lol. The big mountain steep chutes and cliffs are what I usually do
@@joeythenomad Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Regardless, you're a badass, and not just on the slopes. I just discovered your channel and I need to subscribe now. Great content and lifestyle.
I hope to visit all these some day! Especially the Canada S tier. I have spent many greats day in UT and agree with all you rankings except I think you should give PowMow another try especially after the new public lifts go in. PowMow stashes last for days and lift lines do not exist ...Snowbird is amazing but tracked out by noon on a fresh day and the red snake up and down takes away from then awesomeness. Baldy hike (very short) can make the fresh turns last till 3 lol. Thanks for the rankings! Helps to get the most from Ikon investment!
Revy and Kicking Horse have the same light Utah snow so thats where you'll wanna go if you like Utah. And I know powmow gets great powder and it sticks around, but i dunno it doesn't seem to have a lot of pitch but maybe i just haven't found where to go. the cottonwood red snake can be pretty bad though...
To be honest, I'm not going to lie. Revelstoke gets skied out in 20 minutes and the line for the gondola (emphasis on the first syllable) can be an hour long on a powder day.
Really?? That hasn't been my experience but maybe I got lucky. Maybe the main runs will get skied out but heading over to North bowl I'd imagine you have plenty of powder laps with how big and open it is, then just lap stoke chair
Personally I think steamboat should be upper B tier to A just because they have no lines most of the time and especially with the new area it’s super fun.
The no lines is great, much different than the 70 mountains lol. I can see how some people would like it but idk just wasn’t my cup of tea, but glad you enjoy it!
Great list. However, I always thought that vail was awesome. Blue sky basin has some super steep runs with a few pretty massive cliffs. I also thought high line is one of the hardest runs I’ve ever done because the moguls were some of the biggest I’ve ever done. I also do think this list focuses too much on how steep the areas are and not the variety ski areas have or the terrain variety they offer. For example, keystone has a much better terrain park and significantly more terrain variety and acres than Brighton does. But that’s just my opinion. I also enjoy some intermediate and advanced terrain when I go and not just expert so I like the variety of places like vail and breck a lot and feel that snowbird mostly caters towards people who wanna do expert terrain most of the day. Great list nonetheless
@@joeythenomad I do agree with that. And nonetheless the video is your opinion too so it’s still a great list. I just have always liked Colorado skiing more than Utah for some reason. Which is an unpopular opinion haha. But great video all the same!
Have to disagree with Sun Valley. D? Really? Ok, a few reasons its rated so high by others. 1. Consistently excellent conditions. It is called Sun Valley for a reason. Bluebird days are very common. And while they get less natural snow than the Rockies, they have very robust snowmaking. You can count on excellent grooming and perfect corduroy. 2. Excellent ski school/instructors 3. On mountain food is a cut above. 4. Breathtaking view from the top. 5 different ranges are visible. 5. A part of ski history 6. A personal reason, being in my 60s now I stay off the Expert terrain. The long, sweeping cruiser and intermediate trails at Sun Valley are just excellent. And You can cruise from the top of the mountain all the way to the base areas on greens and blues. Sun Valley is my "S" tier resort now that I don't chase the steeps. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.
My ratings are mostly based on availability of expert terrain and steeps, and snow quality so thats why its D. Based on what you've said it could definitely be higher but we have different criteria for what we want from ski resorts it sounds like. But if you love it and are getting out there thats all that matters!
Awesome video.I live in co so a basin not being at least a tier is wild to me. Also telluride not being S tier is criminal to me. But I really liked your reviews on Canada resorts that I havnt been to yet.
Those are 2 that I went back and forth on. Personally A basin is one of my favorites in co, its just a lot smaller than others especially if you don't feel like hiking up the east wall. But there's still lots of good stuff and there and Copper is usually where I go when i'm around Denver. Telluride is super close to S tier to me too, I've only had one trip there though so maybe a few more days would bump it up for me lol
Hey Joey, if you ever want to shred up around Whitefish, shoot me a message. We get buddy pass tickets that are $45 and I'd love to show you around! Best in Montana IMHO.
the whistler one isn't really accurate at all. if you go midweek you wont have any crowd issues at all. 4 hours from vancouver never happens unless it snows like 2 feet overnight
As a lifelong Squaw/Palisades skier, I grew up pissed off how every year the mainstream magazines like SKI magazine would always rank places such as Vail, Beaver Creek and Deer Valley at the top of their list of "best resorts". Like, who tf would rather ski there unless you were only there to buy a fur ski jacket and pay $100 for a steak? This video makes me feel vindicated.
I always have pretty good luck at Snowbird,and the locals there always seem to make me feel welcome and some of them even remembered me from the season before. Kinds of coo the hear someone call your name at the bird when you live like 1500 miles away. I always just drive up about an hour before they open and usually get one of the first spots at the top of the parking lot nearest to the tram. Have a nice snack and get in the tram line early if I can to get at least one tram ride for the day because if it gets backed up I opt for laping the other lift beings is so easy to bounce around the resort. I'm usually just ripping n my own so I can cover a lot of ground in only a few hours then call it a day around 1-2 and if its a epic day stay until close. but I try to listen to my body and not go to far. Took a heavy slam there one day only an hour into a foot powder day and had to call it because I injured my wrist pretty badly. I knew if I feel on it again nit would not be good andeven though it didn't seem like a wrist could take you out of snowboarding for the day, at snowbird you don't want to me messing around like that. Brighton is right up there for me too though being a snowboarder. there is some insane steep stuff if you hike the ridges and had a few mandatory airs. Lots of nice medium-large cliffs with good landings at Brighton.
Oohhh that’s a good question! If we’re not counting the effort it takes to get there probably revelstoke or telluride, including travel hassle probably Tahoe for the vibes and different mountain choices. Jackson is also a solid contender it’s hard to choose!
I haven't had super great conditions anytime i've been to snowmass so maybe thats why I couldn't find the big stuff, open to trying again next season though and re-evlauate
I really think A-basin should be S tier. Its not just the ski trails that make Arapahoe basin so good it how the mountain ops have been running their mountain. Lift lines at A basin are always 10 minutes or less. You never feel like your cramped or so many people are around while you are skiing. Other ski areas in Colorado like Wp, Keystone, Breck, Vail, Eldora, and Baver creek feel like its Dodgeball trying just to ski down the mountain which realy isnt fun. Arapahoe basin is making sure they are carbon nutural by 2025 ( or something like that, correct me if i'm wrong😂). Arapahoe basin did just join alterra which people a say could be bad, but Alan Henceroth the cheif operating officer of a basin said nothing will change for arapahoe basin (just parking requirements which could be a good thing). Arapahoe basin terrian is also on another leval. The east wall, pali and steep gullies area are all Phenomenal. Yeah, A basin isn't the best in October- late december with limited openings on the steepest terrian. During the peak season in January-Mid may it could be one of the best ski mountains in The U.S (maybe???) Of course it isn't alta averge of 530 inches a year but 325 inches of snow a year is still really solid. Sorry if I made a mistake only 13yrs old. Still don't know much about Mountain ops of arapahoe basin . Love the video ❤❤❤
A basin is one of my personal favorites so i don't disagree with you, tried to take my personal bias out of this video but ya theres so much good stuff at A basin its just a bit smaller, but everything thats there is amazing
I agree with most of your list. But Big Sky should be down in the B column and Grand Targhee should be in the A column. Park city should be in the B column and Bachelor should be in the C or D column.
I agree Powder Mountain is overrated. Not as fun as I thought it would be (And we hired a private guide to maximize the experience) Agree with you on Snowbasin and Solitude also....good analysis 👍🏻
@joeythenomad have to disagree with your Sun Valley ranking. D is harsh....great lifts, non stop vertical, great grooming, food and lodge. It's not the biggest and the off trail skiing is not the best, but a D? At least a C imo
Decent reviews but I have to say your criteria is missing a handful resorts in Utah that’s if you have yet to experience, then you are limiting yourself from the best experiences in the world. I grew up skiing in Utah but the constant fight with crowds has made me ski less and less. It’s not like when I was young and on a Tuesday after school when you ran up a place like Provo canyon, my friends and I, late in the day, would be on fresh powder making some of the first 5 or 6 tracks of the day. Which leads to Sundance, if you haven’t skied it you haven’t actually skied Utah just alike Nordic Valley, Eagle Point,cherry point, Beaver, snowbasin and Brian head. All of them have expert runs and yes they may not be the little and big cottonwood canyon but they beat any of those four resorts gaining massive headway above of them in the past 15 years. Going skiing and waiting in Disney land lines is not experiencing the Rocky Mountains. Sky a powered day as you a sleekly glide across the top of the lightest and simply put “greatest snow on earth”. Skiing with lines and having to worry abóut getting hit or running into another skier is Disneyland and it’s exploiting the state with the greatest diversity and sheer beauty of any place on earth. I don’t care how good the runs are at snowbird, they are rides not skiing. Stop looking for thrills and explore what brings the greatest thrills in skiing. The feeling of being alone and feeling a connection with the power and wonder of nature as you cut lines across its face and feel a sense of peace Disneyland will never provide. Run into a moose chilling in pond as you ski by. I get it man you had to hit pass resorts. Redo your budget and go check out what skiing is and should be about. You missed some of the best CO resorts as well. Stop góing to the Hollywood spots, the secret is out and you are going to Disneyland. Utah and Colorado are two of the greatest most breathtaking places on earth. With Idaho’s, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming joining the back bone of the Rockies, the greatest range on earth. Skip Canada until you explore these place! I have been all over the world and stood on every continent, no place on earth compared to the call the Rockies sings óut when you approach places like Denver and salt lake international and you are welcomed home by towering giants. you are so right about star valley. That ranking must have been paid for and I had family with a cabin there for years. Fun in the summer but not where we went to ski in the winter, thanks for the video. I have a few years on you but I wish you could have gone to those places before they were rides. There are still gems out there that can connect all of us and help us understand and wrk towards preserving the gem we all call home, earth. It’s never to late but everyone must feels that connection if we really hope to save this wonder of the solar system for our children
@@joeythenomadreach out if you need a guide! Happy to show you the steepest/deepest runs. Meadows in the day and Ski Bowl in the evening is the way to do it. I’d skip Timberline.
@@joeythenomad that is true, but the important thing to recognize about the northern Rockies is that even with little snow, the quality of that snow can still create incredible skiing. Cold smoke can hang around for up to a week without new snowfall and still be incredible as the day it fell.
I've heard great things about Baker but haven't skied there myself so didn't want to include it if i can't accurately judge it. If i had to guess based on what I've heard it'd probably be A though, but again i haven't personally skied there to verify
That's fair, I have skied all the major resorts in the northeast too since i grew up there and will make another video on them, just didn't want this video to be super long and there'd be a definite divide between east and west coast mountains in that list anyway
nice vid man lots of W takes. Gotta disagree with you on sun peaks tho. mountain has an awesome vibe/small mountain community feel. Way more bluebird days than rainy whistler. half the price of whistler. The park is crazy good. One of the best parks in BC by far. i get that the lift layout is a bit weird. i feel like it should be at least b tier. Whistler doesn't deserve S tier if you factor that the snow is usually pretty shit. the prices are insane. the people are snobs. its almost always cloudy. Their park is pretty mid for how huge of a resort it is. Every time I went to whistler this year the chairs opened late. Just not acceptable when they charge 280$ cad for a lift ticket. I think there is way more to a resort's quality than terrain alone. Accommodation, Apresski, on hill events, Park, Price, Vibes, drink specials, Weather.
Thanks I appreciate it! I agree there's definitely more to a resort than just the terrain, but being a guy who lives in a van I'm usually just there for the skiing and maybe the vibes lol. Everyone has different things they look for in a ski resort or ski trip so hard to judge them on everything. This list also isn't necessarily my ordering for where I'd prefer to ski, its just where i think each mountain deserves. Like I'll agree with you on Whistler, snow usually isn't super great except for higher elevation mid-winter, super crowded, cloudy and low viz, but it does have world class terrain. Sun peaks for me just wasn't steep enough or more advanced terrain and I'm not a big park guy. But definitely better weather than a lot of other places and it did have a great small mountain feel which I love. But that wasn't necessarily taken into these rankings.
@@joeythenomad thats fair enough. when i was at sunpeaks this year it was +12C and the flatness and lift layouts had me pretty bummed with how slow the snow was. so i feel ya on that side of things. i've heard whistler can be difficult for van lifers. Would love to see a whole other tier list on how easy it is to camp. happy i stumbled across your page. hope to see you in the mountains next season!
@@liamthomashornby ya whistler you have to go out of town up to green river or down to cal cheak, they're pretty strict about vans in whistler itself and there's not a lot of spots. But a tier list or video on finding spots for camping around ski resorts sounds like a great idea! Hope to see you out there next season!
I grew up skiing the East! Just didn't seem fair to put all the east coast mountains in the same video as the bigger west coast ones. Planning on making an east coast video next
@@joeythenomad you should make a trip back and make sure you hike to north st pats, and hit the new mahogany ridge terrain. The run boulder field is phenomenal. North saint pats seems steeper than what i rode on the cirque headwall at snowmass, and the new mahogany terrain certainly is in areas. Much smaller faces though.
Totally nothing in the east. You need to make a trip. Been everywhere else! Stowe, Jay Peak (remote, but 1hr from stowe, worth tacking on 2 days to explore) killington, whiteface (2x olympics host), sugarbush, sugarloaf are the top 6 and all worth checking out to get a good feel of things. If you want more, loon, canon, sunday river, wildcat (epic views of mt washington and the og backcountry spot tuckerman ravine right there), okemo, and stratton are honorable mentions. All low elevation but that doesnt mean bad vert drop, killington is like PCMR in vert and whiteface is like vail in vert. Steepness is still there in some spots, you would really like GOAT at stowe or the face chutes at Jay. Jay has the best glades but my fav is stowe due to knowing their backcountry treasure spots. The challenge with the east is a whole different skillset, adapting to variable conditions (The slides at whiteface some of the most interesting terrain Ive ever hit, look it up its a whole thing)...I think this could and should be something also badass but a little different flavor of it, that you can use to even further your skill more.
I grew up skiing the East, I'm from NH originally so skied all those places! Just didn't feel fair to compare all the East coast ones to all the West coast ones and put Waterville Valley up against Whistler. I'll make another ranking video for just the East coast ones.
I love A basin and is one of my personal favorites, but trying to be impartial so its a bit smaller mountain compared to others and most of the really gnarly stuff you gotta hike to
