Snowbrains: Which US State has the most ski resorts?

[LKLA]

NY State Ski Resorts (Top 30):

1. Kissing Bridge - 700 skiable acres
2. Gore - 446 skiable acres
3. Buffalo Ski Club - 300 skiable acres
4. Holiday Valley - 290 skiable acres
5. White Face - 288 skiable acres
6. Windham - 269 skiable acres
7. Labrador - 250 skiable acres
8. Hunter - 240 skiable acres
9. Hickory - 225 skiable acres
10. Belleayre - 171 skiable acres
11. Titus - 140 skiable acres
12. HoliMont - 140 skiable acres
13. Bristol - 138 skiable acres
14. Catamount - 130 skiable acres
15. Snow Ridge - 130 skiable acres
16. West Mountain - 124 skiable acres
17. Plattekill - 112 skiable acres
18. Greek Peak - 105 skiable acres
19. Peek n Peak - 105 skiable acres
20. Song Mountain - 100 skiable acres
21. Tuxedo Ridge - 100 skiable acres
22. Thunder Ridge - 90 skiable acres
23. Toggenburg - 85 skiable acres
24. Hunt Hallow - 80 skiable acres
25. McCauley Moutain - 75 skiable acres
26. Mount Peter - 69 skiable acres
27. Willard - 50 skiable acres
28. Holiday Mountain - 37 skiable acres
29. Brantling - 35 skiable acres
30. Royal Mountain - 30 skiable acres

 

[Dwight]

Unfortunately, a few more closing in MI and WI.

Just wish unlimited funds for a complete Upper Midwest ski hill visits.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Those numbers surprise me,
Even the smallest of Vancouver's local hills is over 200 acres.
But I am sure there is no difference in enjoyment

 

[BS Slarver]

Thanks @K2 Rat - I was looking for that link.

I've heard the stat that we once had 1000 ski areas nationwide but are now less than 500 ?
Although I'm not sure of that exact number it's a good day no matter how big or small the hill is and glad there are so many in NY !

 

[K2 Rat]

NY State Ski Resorts (Top 30):

1. Kissing Bridge - 700 skiable acres
2. Gore - 446 skiable acres
3. Buffalo Ski Club - 300 skiable acres
4. Holiday Valley - 290 skiable acres
5. White Face - 288 skiable acres
6. Windham - 269 skiable acres
7. Labrador - 250 skiable acres
8. Hunter - 240 skiable acres
9. Hickory - 225 skiable acres
10. Belleayre - 171 skiable acres
11. Titus - 140 skiable acres
12. HoliMont - 140 skiable acres
13. Bristol - 138 skiable acres
14. Catamount - 130 skiable acres
15. Snow Ridge - 130 skiable acres
16. West Mountain - 124 skiable acres
17. Plattekill - 112 skiable acres
18. Greek Peak - 105 skiable acres
19. Peek n Peak - 105 skiable acres
20. Song Mountain - 100 skiable acres
21. Tuxedo Ridge - 100 skiable acres
22. Thunder Ridge - 90 skiable acres
23. Hunt Hallow - 80 skiable acres
24. McCauley Moutain - 75 skiable acres
25. Mount Peter - 69 skiable acres
26. Willard - 50 skiable acres
27. Holiday Mountain - 37 skiable acres
28. Ski Big Tupper -
29. Oak Mountain -
30. Beartown -

We used to race train at Toggenburg outside of Syracuse. Missing on the list, but I think is still open and probably about the size of Song. Amazing that Kissing Bridge has the most acres in New York

 

[Mendieta]

We used to race train at Toggenburg outside of Syracuse. Missing on the list, but I think is still open and probably about the size of Song. Amazing that Kissing Bridge has the most acres in New York

Also amazing that the smallest area I ski here in the West (Mt Rose, NV) is almost twice as large. And I prefer smaller places

 

[LKLA]

We used to race train at Toggenburg outside of Syracuse. Missing on the list, but I think is still open and probably about the size of Song. Amazing that Kissing Bridge has the most acres in New York

Added it.

 

[Muleski]

Some of that NY acreage looks very strange to me. I've spent a LOT of time in NY, at Whiteface in particular. Going back to racing in the late 60's and 70's. Working at a number of races there, including the 1980 Games, US Nationals, and many other FIS races. My family has also free skied almost every inch of the mountain, including a lot of woods, etc. My son has probably logged 500 days there. I asked him about that number, and his comment was that it made absolutely no sense to him. Which leads me to wonder when it was measured, and how. I just looked at Wikipedia, and it shows a touch over just 300 acres, including a lot of woods, the chutes, etc.

I'm no Whiteface "fanboy", but it just seems very light to me. 3200+ feet of vertical. 9 lifts, something like 90 trails, including some wide, long race trails {plural}.

Sugarloaf in Maine has 650 acres of trails, and another 600 plus of woods and "undeveloped" skiing, including Bracket Basin. So almost 1300 in total. Killington states their's at 1500 total acres. I think that Stowe claims 115-120 trails and about 500 acres, which I'm guessing does not include the woods.....just Mansfield, the Gondola area, Spruce, even Toll House.

The number of areas in NY has always been huge. As posted above. the NELSAP folks estimate a minimum of 350 closed areas. You drive through much of the state and there are signs of small closed areas everywhere. Seems like every town in the North Country!

But under 300 acres for Whiteface seems odd. Nobody who was racing there at the 2010 US Nationals, or at the recent NCAA champs likely thought the place was small, IMO.

Just interesting to me.

 

[LKLA]

Some of that NY acreage looks very strange to me. I've spent a LOT of time in NY, at Whiteface in particular. Going back to racing in the late 60's and 70's. Working at a number of races there, including the 1980 Games, US Nationals, and many other FIS races. My family has also free skied almost every inch of the mountain, including a lot of woods, etc. My son has probably logged 500 days there. I asked him about that number, and his comment was that it made absolutely no sense to him. Which leads me to wonder when it was measured, and how. I just looked at Wikipedia, and it shows a touch over just 300 acres, including a lot of woods, the chutes, etc.

I'm no Whiteface "fanboy", but it just seems very light to me. 3200+ feet of vertical. 9 lifts, something like 90 trails, including some wide, long race trails {plural}.

Sugarloaf in Maine has 650 acres of trails, and another 600 plus of woods and "undeveloped" skiing, including Bracket Basin. So almost 1300 in total. Killington states their's at 1500 total acres. I think that Stowe claims 115-120 trails and about 500 acres, which I'm guessing does not include the woods.....just Mansfield, the Gondola area, Spruce, even Toll House.

The number of areas in NY has always been huge. I think the NELSAP folks estimate a minimum of 350 closed areas. You drive through much of the state and there are signs of small closed areas everywhere.

But under acres for Whiteface seems odd. Nobody who was racing there at the 2010 US Nationals, or at the recent NCAA champs likely thought the place was small, IMO.

Just interesting to me.

Like most things, it depends what you mean bu skiable acres! See below -

On the Snow: "Home of the 1980 Winter Olympics with training facilities and dedicated to the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, Whiteface Mountain Resort opened in 1958 and is one of the High Peaks of the Adirondacks in Wilmington, New York. With the greatest vertical drop of the ski resorts in the east, Whiteface offers 288 acres of skier and rider accessible terrain serviced by 11 lifts including one gondola. 87 named trails feature 20% beginner, 42% intermediate, and 38% expert ratings including the Slides which are 35-acres of in-bounds double black diamonds."

Adirondack Net: "Whiteface, which boasts 283 skiable acres, 86 trails and the greatest vertical drop east of the Rockies, received high marks for its Après-Ski (#2), Dining (#2), Family Programs (#2), Scenery (#2), Terrain/Challenge (#2), Lodging (#4) and Overall Satisfaction (#5)."

Whiteface Mountain Website:
Total number of trails: 87
Total distance of skiing and riding: over 22 miles!
Longest run on Whiteface: Wilmington Trail at 2.1 miles
288 skiable acres including:
35 acres of in-bounds, off-piste double-black diamond wilderness terrain skiing on The Slides
53 acres of glades skiing

 

[Muleski]

I've seen it all over the place in print. So I guess it's"right." It's actually shocking to me. I know the mountain real well. I also have 2000+ days on snow at Sugarloaf and Stowe. I coached for four seasons at Killington.
Just makes me wonder how skiable acres versus total acres are measured, and what the consistency is?

And for the record, I don't care. I don't care at all. Does not impact me one bit. OK? Not engaging in any "debate." HaHa!

Lately I have been there to either watch or work at US Nationals, NCAA Championships, and NorAm Finals. The place feels sort of "big"....and measures sort of small, I guess.

Whatever............

 

[KingGrump]

I've seen it all over the place in print. So I guess it's"right." It's actually shocking to me. I know the mountain real well. I also have 2000+ days on snow at Sugarloaf and Stowe. I coached for four seasons at Killington.
Just makes me wonder how skiable acres versus total acres are measured, and what the consistency is?

And for the record, I don't care. I don't care at all. Does not impact me one bit. OK? Not engaging in any "debate." HaHa!

Lately I have been there to either watch or work at US Nationals, NCAA Championships, and NorAm Finals. The place feels sort of "big"....and measures sort of small, I guess.

Whatever............

I hear ya.

Some folks like numbers and some like "feel."
I try to stay out of these number threads since I'm a "feel" kind of guy.

 

[LKLA]

I've seen it all over the place in print. So I guess it's"right." It's actually shocking to me. I know the mountain real well. I also have 2000+ days on snow at Sugarloaf and Stowe. I coached for four seasons at Killington.
Just makes me wonder how skiable acres versus total acres are measured, and what the consistency is?

And for the record, I don't care. I don't care at all. Does not impact me one bit. OK? Not engaging in any "debate." HaHa!

Lately I have been there to either watch or work at US Nationals, NCAA Championships, and NorAm Finals. The place feels sort of "big"....and measures sort of small, I guess.

Whatever............

Ha, I get what you are saying. I could care less what the acreage is as long as there is enough snow/lifts/trails.

We went there for the first time this winter and absolutely loved it. Had three amazing days. No ice, no clouds, tons of snows, the glades were open...Our son loved his ski instructor, my wife loved the skiing the expert trails, and I, well I did not love skiing down challenging intermediate trails too much

 

[crgildart]

Wiki's ski resort data, Acres per state, wiki population data..... Skiable acres per person in each state..



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_North_American_ski_resorts

Data appears to only include a few of the largest resorts though..

Only has Boyne in Michigan?? And lists it as 41 total skiable acres.. Worst Wiki page ever!

 

[Tricia]

Also amazing that the smallest area I ski here in the West (Mt Rose, NV) is almost twice as large. And I prefer smaller places

Oh my friend, my old home ski area Caberfae Peaks 400 ft vert! I should take you there

 

[Muleski]

That Wiki page looks to have a few "holes". I was looking at Maine. Sugarloaf and Sunday River have 2100 acres between them. Wiki data shows less than 1700, and there are another 15 areas, I believe. All small, but still, they would add up. Didn't bother to look at anything else. I'm pretty much in the "who cares" mode, as I think the acreage data is perhaps a bit spotty.

 

[New2]

Ok, I just did. I took only the states with at least 5 resorts from the OP, and used the 2010 population of each State from Wikipedia. Congrats, New England crew!

View attachment 26819

Next you have to get the acreage of each of those resorts, divide that by population.

Wiki's ski resort data, Acres per state, wiki population data..... Skiable acres per person in each state.....

Interesting stuff! But of course, even with fully accurate data, these numbers don't tell everything. Sure, Wyoming and Vermont might have the most skiable acres per resident, but there are tons of people skiing in both states who live elsewhere... lots of Vermont areas are overrun by New Yorkers and other folks from outside Vermont; Jackson Hole's a tremendous nationwide and international destination; and the locals at Targhee are mostly from Idaho (not to mention the tourists).

And this brings to mind a potentially interesting related question... the skier "balance of trade." [nonresident skier days] - [days residents ski outside the state] (or maybe it would make more sense to reverse the order? Not sure). Some are easy... like I said above, Vermont and Wyoming are clearly "net skier importers," while Florida and Texas are obviously "net skier exporters" (no one skis there, but plenty of residents go elsewhere to ski).

In the Western US, I'd guess that net skier exporters are limited to Hawaii (obviously), Arizona (not much of a destination, but a big enough population to prop up SW Colorado, with additional visits elsewhere, too), and Washington (limited inbound skier visits; Spokane & Portland metro population has significant visitation to Oregon/Idaho; plus general outbound tourism). New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska all have relatively low populations and significant inbound ski tourism, so I'd think they're all net skier importers. Nevada and California are harder to place... partly because of the question of how to count Heavenly, and partly because they each have a decent amount of both inbound and outbound tourism. What do you all think?

edit: realized I forgot to categorize Oregon... I think it must be a net skier importer, but different from the others. Out-of-state tourists at Bachelor help, but also there's a healthy number of southern Washington locals who ski on Mount Hood. I suspect they outnumber outbound destination tourists.

Worst Wiki page ever!

That Wiki page looks to have a few "holes". I was looking at Maine. Sugarloaf and Sunday River have 2100 acres between them. Wiki data shows less than 1700, and there are another 15 areas, I believe...

I've seen some pretty dismal homebrew wikis, but that's definitely the worst Wikipedia page I've ever seen! Re: Maine, Sunday River isn't even included... it's just Sugarloaf & Saddleback, which didn't even operate last season!

 

[Sibhusky]

I don't have recent numbers but, a Montana tourism study in 2009-10 had every resort except Big Sky being mostly in-state skiers. Whitefish at the time had 55% in-state. That may have shifted to 50/50, who knows, but if all the smaller sized areas are closer to 70% or higher in-state, I doubt if we've shifted to being net importers yet. I keep looking for a refreshed study, but that was after two years of people standing at the lifts asking questions, so I'd have noticed if they redid it, I think.

Found the old numbers:

 

[Ken_R]

Ok, would be cool to know which state has the most inbounds skiable acreage...and vert.

 

[Sibhusky]

Someone can incorporate this into whatever spreadsheett they are building, put it together for Epic. Sorry it's not totaled, it's a screenshot.

 

[Moose32]

NYS, by a good margin, has the most ski hills. And it lost several over the past couple decades.
Courtesy of Python and Geopandas and this data source.

LGA promotes this when you land in NYC.