Road-trip guide · Ski resorts
Twelve Ski Resorts Worth Building a Road Trip Around
Twelve of America’s great mountains — from Colorado’s legendary Back Bowls to an Olympic peak with the biggest vertical in the East — pulled from our full set of 86. Pick a range, line up a few, and let the snow set the route.
A ski trip is a road trip with a summit at the end of it. The drive up a canyon or a mountain pass — the snow deepening on the shoulders, the peaks stacking up in the windshield — is half the reward, and the resort at the top is the other half. Point the car at a great mountain in winter and everything between the trailhead and the tram becomes the trip.
These twelve are the mountains worth routing a winter around, pulled from our full set of 86 across the Rockies, the Sierra, the Cascades, and the classic peaks of the East. Big-mountain steeps, sprawling all-mountain giants, a few with the longest seasons in the country — each links to its own guide, so you can plan a run of them down a single range.
- 1VailVail, Colorado
A behemoth of terrain crowned by the legendary Back Bowls — the resort every big Colorado ski trip is measured against, cruising from November into April.
- 2Park CityPark City, Utah
The largest single ski resort in the United States, an all-mountain giant rising straight out of the town of Park City — open November into April.
- 3Palisades TahoeOlympic Valley, California
Host of the 1960 Olympics and home of the fearsome KT-22 — big-mountain Tahoe skiing above Olympic Valley, at its best from December through April.
- 4Jackson HoleTeton Village, Wyoming
The iconic American steep — Corbet’s Couloir and the famous big red Tram out of Teton Village — Wyoming big-mountain skiing at its most serious, December through April.
- 5Big SkyBig Sky, Montana
Billed as the “Biggest Skiing in America” and topped by the Lone Peak Tram — a Montana giant with a season that runs November into April.
- 6Sun ValleyKetchum, Idaho
America’s first destination ski resort, still famous for its flawless groomers above Ketchum — a piece of skiing history you can carve from November into April.
- 7Mt. BakerGlacier, Washington
Holder of the world-record snowfall and a legendary dump magnet in the North Cascades near Glacier — raw big-mountain Washington powder from November into April.
- 8Mt. BachelorBend, Oregon
A volcano you can ski 360 degrees around, high above Bend, with one of the longest seasons anywhere — often November clear into May.
- 9Taos Ski ValleyTaos, New Mexico
Steep, soulful, world-class high-alpine skiing in the Sangre de Cristos — the mountain that gives New Mexico a genuine big-mountain claim, December through April.
- 10StoweStowe, Vermont
The self-styled “Ski Capital of the East,” spread across Vermont’s highest peak — the classic New England mountain trip, December through April.
- 11WhitefaceWilmington, New York
The Olympic mountain of the Adirondacks, boasting the greatest vertical drop in the East — big-mountain New York skiing from December through April.
- 12SnowshoeSnowshoe, West Virginia
The South’s premier resort and a quirky “upside-down” mountain — proof the slopes run well below the Mason-Dixon line, in season December through March.
String two or three of these into a winter and the drive becomes part of the trip — the Wasatch peaks above Salt Lake, the ring of resorts around Lake Tahoe, the classic mountains up the spine of Vermont. Roamward maps the scenic way between them, sorts the big-mountain steeps from the family-friendly groomers, and flags the mountain towns worth a night on the way up.
Common questions
What’s the best ski resort for a road trip in the U.S.?
It depends on the terrain you’re after. Vail in Colorado is the all-mountain benchmark, with its legendary Back Bowls, and Park City in Utah is the largest single resort in the country. For serious steeps, Jackson Hole in Wyoming and Big Sky in Montana are the marquee big-mountain names. The best resort is usually the great mountain your route already runs past.
Which states have the best skiing for a road trip?
Colorado and Utah anchor the West — Vail, Park City, and a dozen more within a few hours of each other — while California’s Lake Tahoe and the Tetons of Wyoming stack world-class mountains close together. In the East, Vermont is the classic, led by Stowe, and New York’s Whiteface holds the biggest vertical drop on that side of the country. Even the South skis, at West Virginia’s Snowshoe.
When is ski season in the United States?
Most resorts run from around Thanksgiving through early April, but the biggest, highest mountains stretch it at both ends. Mt. Bachelor in Oregon often opens in November and holds snow into May, and a few high Colorado areas ski even later. The classic road-trip window is December through March, when every mountain on this list is turning.
Can you ski more than one resort on a single trip?
That’s the whole idea behind a ski road trip. Utah’s resorts cluster within an hour of Salt Lake, Lake Tahoe rings a single lake with a dozen mountains, and Vermont lines its best peaks up the same valley road. Base yourself in one town and you can often ski two or three different mountains without a long drive between them.