For Peak Rides, Here's the Best of the Best

by Gavin Ehringer

Outdoors writers dream of an assignment in which they spend an entire season doing exactly what they love most and writing about it.

Several years ago, I got just such an assignment, spending an entire winter season snowboarding in every major resort in the West. I visited 55 ski resorts in 10 states and two Canadian provinces. Twenty-two weeks on the road, all expenses paid.

People ask me which place I liked best. First, let me say that when I returned to Colorado, I kissed the cold, dry snow on the ground. We are fortunate to have the finest snow and the most world-class winter sports resorts in North America. Indeed, the world.

However, ski resorts are a lot like a classroom of children - each has its own personality, and choosing a favorite has a lot to do with one's own preferences. Here's my best attempt at making a "best of" list.

Best trails: Aspen. The thing I like about tiny Aspen Mountain is its layout and the fact that there are no beginner runs. The people you share the mountain with have experience.

With four separate mountains, Aspen has it all. Beginning boarders are most at home at Buttermilk, where freeway-wide runs groomed to corduroy perfection stretch for miles. The fabled Aspen Ski & Snowboard School uses the most advanced learning techniques in the business, making learning easy, fast and fun. Once you advance to the level of intermediate, greater challenges await at Snowmass, whose personality best suits families who enjoy a convenience-rich suburban lifestyle. Aspen Highlands offers steeps that raise the hairs on any expert's neck.

Best snow, best place to raise a family: Steamboat. Locals have a highly technical explanation why Steamboat's champagne powder is the driest and lightest anywhere.

Take my word, it is excellent. Imagine floating hip-deep in eiderdown.

Problem is, you have to be there when it dumps. That's why it's best to live there rather than merely visit. Steamboat's ranching tradition combined with its concentration of Winter Olympians results in a community that churns out well-rounded, well-grounded scholar-athletes. Steamboat boasts of having more Winter Olympians than any ski town in North America, and many of its aging athletes return home to foster the upcoming generations. That same nurturing ethos extends to Steamboat Resort's children's programs, its ski school and its child care.

People here really take to heart the phrase "it takes a village."

Best bummin': Red Mountain, British Columbia. Back in the 1970s, the phrase "ski bum" came to mean someone who landed in a ski town, stayed the season, hardly worked and never missed a powder day. Today, most young ski and board bums have to hold down two jobs just to pay extremely high ski-town rents.

Not at Red Mountain, B.C. This working-class town has a humble pair of mountains serviced by two antiquated lifts. But the terrain is remarkable for its variety, its difficulty and its beauty.

If one minds one's loonies and toonies (Canadian coins), it is still possible to live there for an entire season on lift-operator wages and get plenty of riding days in.

Best value in the Rockies: Wolf Creek. Southern Colorado's well-kept secret, Wolf traditionally has the most snowfall in the state. Its chairlifts are slow, but they get you to the top of some incredible trails and big open bowls.

Nearby Pagosa Springs has a broad selection of inexpensive hotels and motels that serve the summer crowd that comes to enjoy the hot springs. The geothermal pools are just as relaxing in wintertime. The only bummer is getting there by car over treacherous Wolf Creek Pass - take tire chains and hope that the next snow dump comes after you've parked at the motel.

Best snowboarding scene: Copper Mountain. OK, maybe you expected Breckenridge. Breck's support of snowboarding has been long and devoted. However, Copper has worked hard to support local snowboarding events and its pipes and parks are excellent. Copper gets the nod because of its excellent trail layout (beginner runs don't mingle with expert trails) and the reasonable cost of living in nearby Dillon.

Gavin Ehringer covered snowboarding for the Rocky Mountain News for 15 years.