As someone who skis for a living more or less, I am always interested in skiing mountains and locations that are wild- uncharted, untouched, and/or not well known by commercial skiers. Fortunately with my job as a ski patrolman, I often get to ski areas of my amazing mountain that are unavailable to commercial skiers, which is great because there really is nothing like fresh powder. Anyways, I was really excited to come across this article in National Geographic that gives the inside scoop on the top 10 up-and-coming towns for skiing.
The first on the list is in my own state of Utah, which goes to show how great of a ski locale we are! The city is Ogden, Utah, and the two main mountains available for skiing there are Powder Mountain and Snowbasin. According to National Geographic, these mountains are made for the dedicated skier constantly searching for powder skiing conditions and wanting to avoid the crowd. Snowbasin is the most state-of-the-art, having a great deal of renovations done for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Gorgeous lodges, chairlifts that are of the newest technology, as well as a tram and two gondolas are all part of the perks of Snowbasin. For a more old-school feel, Powder Mountain has lower speed lifts and more basic lodges, and its slopes are more geared toward intermediate skiers. Personally, I can’t want to get over to Snowbasin, which National Geographic claims, “has expert terrain rivaling anything in Utah and superior steeps.” Sounds like heaven!
Another lesser-known ski location on the list that I’ve got my eye on is Nelson, British Columbia. Whitewater Ski Resort is the main mountain, which is in a mountain bowl formation where you can find the best powder. Here, there’s no high tech chairlifts or swanky lodges- it’s all about the skiing. The area gets around 500 inches of powder each year and the uncharted, backcountry terrain is virtually endless. All of that and no crowds make this a place I need to check out! According to the article, there are no lodges on the mountain itself, but their base lodge has a great restaurant. Without lodges it definitely seems more remote and unconquered- right up my alley!
A third location on this list that caught my eye was Revelstoke, British Columbia. This place is all about the verticals- 5,620 feet of them to be exact. The main ski mountain, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, offers skiers multiple methods of getting to the top of these verticals: chair lifts, snowcats and helicopters are all available from the same base location, which is extremely rare. In fact, it’s the only mountain in North America offering all of this from the same ski base. Personally, I can’t wait to try them all! With this being a mountain known for its verticals, you can guarantee you’ll be skiing among others who know exactly what they’re doing.
The list goes on to name some other great places, bot those three were the main ones that caught my eye. Hopefully by the end of this winter I’ll be able to boast having been to a few!
