In Search of Powder…
Since I was a kid I’ve held this belief that the Colorado Rockies have the best skiing in the world. I’m not even from Colorado, but as a Wisconsin boy who’s first experience of mountains was driving along I-70 to Vail, I’ve grown fiercely loyal to my second home. I’m lucky enough to have also shredded Utah, Wyoming and Tahoe, but there’s still nothing like the Back Bowls of Vail. Except when they’re icy, and every turn sounds like you have two machine guns strapped to your feet.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve become a bit of a snob when it comes to the skiing conditions. There’s only 3 inches expected overnight? Yeah, I’m sleeping in. No freshies in the past week? Yeah, I’ll take another beer. Regardless of where I am skiing, more snow always equals a better time. I’ve found that my loyalty has been shifting to the skies.
Snow conditions are a gamble when planning a ski trip months in advance. Even though the weather is notoriously difficult to predict, there has to be some kind of data that could give me an edge before I book?
My heart went a-flutter when I saw the site OnTheSnow has amassed snowfall measurements from hundreds of resorts since 2009. I was able to use data from the U.S., Canada and Europe for my analysis. A quick comparison to SNOTEL data showed OnTheSnow has slightly higher values reported. This makes sense since they are using two different methodologies (in-situ snowpack depth vs. snow board, respectively). Brian Domonkos of the USDA’s Colorado Snow Survey explained to me that SNOTEL data is accounting for the snow settling under it’s own weight. However, finding an untouched patch of powder is pretty rare the day after a big dump, so I stuck with data from OnTheSnow.
The snowiest ski resorts in North America and Europe
It was really hard to not include the places I’ve loved to ski in the top 20 list. Europe didn’t make the cut, while South America and Australia were not included in the main analysis in order to sync up seasons. If you have data from Asian ski resorts, hit me up!
After some discussion with ski enthusiasts on Reddit, it’s apparent that a sole focus on snowfall may be misleading in determining the overall quality of skiing at that resort. Dry powder is the best, yet resorts on the west coast of the US that get the most snow tend to have higher moisture content. Furthermore some resorts are known for their high wind, like Loveland, and when there isn’t fresh snow the conditions can deteriorate quickly.
The interactive version is linked to the screenshot below. It includes the full ranking of 613 resorts in North America and Europe. It is best viewed on desktop or tablet.
The best powder week at every resort
There are a lot of factors to consider besides snow when picking your vacation destination. You may not be keen on the top 20 snowiest resorts because you like the nightlife better elsewhere, or because someplace is much easier for you to get to, or just the cost. That’s cool. However, wherever you go, you should set yourself up for the best possible time by picking a week that historically gets the most snow. This varies wildly by resort!
How should you use these dashboards?
The average snowfalls are probably most useful in finding resorts that are better winter vs. spring skiing locations. Alta Ski Area in Utah, for example, shows consistently high snowfall at the end of March and into early April. Resorts like Jackson Hole in Wyoming get the most snow in December, however the base is bound to be lower too (remember the mantra “face shots are worth the core shots”). What about snow consistency? Loveland and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado are most likely to gift you with fresh snow in the mornings, but Squaw Valley and Kirkwood in Tahoe are more likely for each snowfall to be a major dump–at the cost of them being more rare. With so many things to consider, which resort looks most promising to you?
Methodology and discussion
This is hardly the first attempt by someone to rank the world’s ski resorts. Beyond numerous Top 10 lists, sites like Powderhounds and ZRankings have done some pretty comprehensive analyses including things like nightlife, accessibility, vertical drop, snow quality, etc. Those things are important, but they’re also rather subjective.
What this analysis set out to do was simply showcase which resorts are blessed with the best snow. The weather is a fickle beast, so even if you go to the resort with the highest average snowfall in their best month, you may get unlucky and hit a dry spell. That’s life. That’s part of what makes the knee-deep days that much more special. However, you may be like me and have stuck to the same few ski resorts you’ve always been to. I sincerely hope that after reading this article you have a few more places on your bucket list. That’s the point at which travel logistics and restaurants come into play, and it should be up to you to decide how you want to value those aspects of a ski trip. If you’re looking for a more customized analysis, check out ZRankings.
The data used in this analysis only encompasses the past nine years. More data might make for more accurate depictions of snowfall trends…or it may not. Climate change is real. Just ask my father — he’ll be the first to tell you how much snow Wisconsin used to get “back in his day.”
Sharing and credits
Feel free to share any content you read here given attribution back to this article. All analysis was performed using Tableau. You may download the workbooks to see how the results were calculated but may not publish any commercialized derivative works. Geocoding was provided by LocationIQ. Font designed by Zilap Studio. Icons created by Stan Diers at the Noun Project.
