Liftopia Announces Winners In Second Annual Best In Snow Awards

Honoring ski resorts from Vermont to West Virginia and Colorado to California, Liftopia -- the largest online and mobile marketplace for lift tickets and mountain activities -- today unveiled the 2017-18 Best in Snow Awards, Powered By Liftopia, recognizing the most beloved ski areas in North America. Unlike other ski awards, the Best in Snow Awards is the only ranking that calculates survey feedback from thousands of skiers and snowboarders and incorporates the largest dataset in the industry to determine the ski areas consumers are most passionate about. The Best in Snow Awards bring uber-local, relevant and must-know intel to beginning skiers as well as ski and snowboard aficionados.

With seven categories including the Top 10 Best in Snow, Beginner-Friendly, Most Challenging, Family-Friendly, Best Snow Consistency & Quality, Least Crowded and Best Value, the 2017-18 Best in Snow Awards level the playing field between big and small resorts to uncover the true top ski areas across North America.  Liftopia customers and consumers identified these categories as factors that are most meaningful and useful when choosing where to ski or snowboard, regardless of ski area size. Winners are ranked and divided into five regions: Northeast, West Coast, High West, Southeast and Midwest.

The top two winners of Overall Best in Snow represent opposite coasts, with feedback from spirited fans noting the passion points that make these mountains their favorites. The results found:

• Magic Mountain in Vermont is the Overall Best in Snow in North America winner for the second year in a row and also kept its #1 position in the Most Challenging in the Northeast and North America categories, with customers saying that it is a “hidden treasure” that boasts an “old school vibe” with “people who genuinely care,” offering a “massive variety of trails” for “true, untouched skiing” and “terrain you can grow with.”
• Coming in at #2 for Overall Best in Snow, Alta in Utah is called a “big playground” because of its “laid-back feel” limited to “skiers only” with Utah’s famous “light and feather-like snow” there is “always fresh powder somewhere,” along with “incredible terrain” that “makes everyone happy.” Survey feedback noted that “it just never seems crowded” because even “on the busiest days it's only a five-minute wait” -- with “fun around every corner” and “charming people who are down to earth about skiing.” Alta also ranked #1 in North America for Snow Consistency and Quality.
• Additional winners in the Overall Best in Snow category across North America are Mad River Glen, Vt. (#3); Snowbird, Utah (#4); Arapahoe Basin, Colo. (#5); Powder Mountain, Utah (#6); Jay Peak, Vt. (#7); Mount Bohemia, Mich. (#8); Jackson Hole, Wyo. (#9); and Bald Mountain, Idaho (#10).

Best in Snow by Region is a new category this year, with accolades for Best in Snow going to Revelstoke Mountain Resort in British Columbia, Canada for West Coast (which also won for Most Challenging for West Coast); Alta in Utah for High West; Canaan Valley in West Virginia for Southeast; and Mount Bohemia in Michigan for the Midwest.

The top ten winners in each of the seven categories are ranked by region, with select category winners including:

• Best Snow Consistency and Quality: Bretton Woods (N.H.) won for the Northeast; Anthony Lakes (Ore.) for West Coast; Alta (Utah) for High West; Canaan Valley (W.V.) for Southeast and Cascade Mountain (Wis.) for Mid West
• Most Challenging Ski Area: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) kept the top spot in the High West for the second year
• Beginner-Friendly Ski Area: Bretton Woods (N.H.) kept its position as most beginner-friendly in North America
• Most Family-Friendly Ski Area in North America: Titus Mountain (N.Y.) made it debut at #1 on the rankings
• Beginner Friendly, Family Friendly and Best Value: Bald Mountain (Idaho) swept three categories as winner the High West region
• Least Crowded: This category was carefully calculated using data from visits, skiable acreage, lift capacity and voter feedback, with winners including Snow Ridge (N.Y.) in the Northeast; Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area (Calif.) for West Coast; Soldier Mountain (Idaho) for High West and Canaan Valley (W.V.) for Southeast

“Skiers are by nature adventurous and today’s travelers are looking for the new, the interesting, the unknown areas to vacation. By measuring customers passion for their favorite areas, The Best in Snow Awards give consumers an opportunity to see which ski areas may become their next new favorite. Our method ensures a level playing field for ski areas of all sizes and brings skiers lesser known ski areas in addition to the larger ones we already know and love,” said Evan Reece, co-founder and CEO of Liftopia.

“The Best in Snow method distills the relative passion people have for ski areas of all sizes. This year’s rankings have again revealed what skiers and riders are saying about the snow, terrain, ski schools and the real reasons that make these mountains their favorites,” Reece added.

Methodology

Liftopia has the largest ski marketing and distribution platform with a comprehensive and unbiased overview of the ski industry. To compile the 2017-18 Best In Snow Awards, Powered by Liftopia, more than 12,000 consumers were surveyed to measure their enthusiasm on specific aspects of their favorite resorts such as challenging terrain, crowds, family friendliness, snow consistency and overall quality. Respondents took into consideration criteria such as snow quality and conditions, grooming, accessibility, terrain variety and difficulty, vertical drop, learn to ski and snowboard programs, staff and instructors, resort size, crowds and lift lines, accessibility of lifts and beginner terrain, off-slope activities, the surrounding community, and cost of lift tickets, rentals and programs, among others. The responses were weighted with a proprietary algorithm based on Liftopia’s exclusive dataset that includes skier and snowboarder visits annually, acreage, uphill capacity and average true cost of skiing, to surface the best ski areas overall and across seven categories and five regions. Given all factors and categories, final results were calculated based on what matters most to skiers and snowboarders.

Winners for the Overall Best in Snow, Beginner-Friendly Ski Areas, Most Challenging Ski Areas, Family-Friendly Ski Areas and Ski Areas with the Best Snow Consistency and Quality categories were determined by the total number of votes from survey participants for their favorite resorts in each category, normalized by skier and snowboarder visits annually. Winners for the Least Crowded Ski Areas category is calculated via several factors, taking the total annual skier and snowboarder visits divided by skiable acreage and adding the capacity divided by acreage, as well as participant feedback and votes on the least crowded ski area. Winners for the Ski Areas with the Best Value category were determined by total number of votes for ski area with the best value, normalized by skier and snowboarder visits annually and the average true cost of skiing based on effective ticket prices per resort, including ticket window, advance purchase and season pass data.

The complete list of 2017-18 Best in Snow Awards, Powered By Liftopia, including the top ten winning ski areas in each category and region can be found by visiting bestinsnow.liftopia.com.

Liftopia operates the largest online and mobile marketplace and resort technology platform serving the ski and mountain activity industry. Skiers and riders can purchase lift tickets, equipment rentals, meal vouchers and more from more than 250 ski areas in North America on Liftopia.com and via the Liftopia mobile app, with savings of up to 80% off walk-up window rates when purchased in advance. The brand created the coveted Best in Snow awards in 2016, utilizing a detailed survey combined with a proprietary dataset to rank the North American ski areas that customers are most passionate about. Founded in 2005, Liftopia is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by leading institutional and angel investors.