Welcome to my very final passion blog for the year. In this post, I will rank the resorts I have discussed previously, and reflect on the experience this blog has given me. I will be ranking separately the resorts I have been to and the ones I aspire to go to.
Resorts I Have Visited
1. Vail, Colorado
While I have qualms about the Vail Resorts system and how they have taken over small businesses, I really think that Vail gives skiers the best value for the price. The resort is pretty expensive, but the expanse of the mountain more than makes up for it, and its unique trail and back bowl system don’t leave any skiers wanting.
2. Seven Springs, Pennsylvania
Seven Springs, compared to the other mountains on this list, has given me the most diverse experience each time I go there. This is a strong resort with a big trail map, with a diverse setup for beginner and expert skiers to traverse. Also, the possibility of steep angles and higher difficulty of the slopes compared to most North Carolina mountains is worth noting.
3. Sugar Mountain, North Carolina
Surprisingly, I am choosing to place Sugar Mountain over a resort in the Canadian mountains. However, I believe that it is for a good reason. Perhaps this is nostalgia talking, but I believe that any skier from the South looking for a fantastic ski experience should go here- while ones in the North and West have their fair share of resorts to pick from, southern skiers don’t have this opportunity. Sugar Mountain sought to provide this experience, even though developing a resort further north would have been more profitable, as they don’t need to develop as much infrastructure around creating snow. Sugar Mountain is definitely the place to be for Southerners!
4. Stoneham, Quebec
Stoneham was my first international and northern mountain, but it disappointed me after being compared to resorts such as Seven Springs. The trails were longer than I was used to, but there weren’t that many of them and I easily got bored after a few days. It is a great mountain for maybe one day of skiing, but I would recommend transferring over to its sister mountain, Mont Saint Anne (they share lift tickets) if skiing here for longer than that.
5. Beech Mountain, North Carolina
Beech Mountain, while it had a more expansive trail system and vertical drop than Sugar Mountain, has a terrible infrastructure in regards to its lifts and snow blowers. Their lifts are incredibly slow and break down often, and the fact that the snow blowers are turned on during the day (blowing ice into the faces of each and every skier) makes this resort lose many points.
6. Appalachian Ski Mountain, North Carolina
I’m not sure this should be called a mountain- rather a hill. While its park setup is good for a North Carolina mountain, that is its’ best feature and it falls short compared to any northern resort. Aside from the park, it has a severely underdeveloped slope system and could easily bore someone after an hour or two.
Resorts I Wish to Visit
1. Park City, Utah
Park City is the best choice for the top of this list because not only does it have a wide variety of trails and quality snow, but it is also more cost-effective than Switzerland and Canada. The EPIC pass system allows skiers to get some relatively good deals compared to lift ticket prices at other resorts, and you could easily occupy yourself for multiple days at this resort.
2. Mont-Saint-Anne, Quebec
Mont-Saint-Anne, the sister resort to Stoneham, is the blatantly superior sibling out of the two. Not only is there a much more expansive trail system, but the vertical drop is also better. I feel that spending multiple days at this resort is a much better use of any skier’s time than spending that same time at Stoneham. However, the recent news story about the gondola falling off of the track is definitely concerning.
3. Zermatt-Matterhorn, Switzerland/Italy
Zermatt-Matterhorn gains points on this list because of the incredibly unique trails (skiing between countries?!) and amazing views. However, it falls short in accessibility and cost. Switzerland is known for being an incredibly expensive country, and this ski mountain certainly holds up that reputation. Perhaps this mountain would be great for a bucket list, but it isn’t realistic for me to actually visit anytime in the near future.
That concludes my reports on my lifetime of skiing. Hopefully, as I explore more ski resorts in the future, I can reflect on my time writing this and appreciate ski resorts better. Hopefully, I can go to some of the resorts I have written about wanting to visit, and hopefully, I can return to some of the ones I’ve already gone to and reviewed. Either way, creating these reviews has given me a beneficial perspective on what makes a ‘great’ resort and what makes a bad one. With that, I conclude my last passion blog.
Adieu!