The Best Places to Ski This Season

The ski world’s overarching narrative in recent years has been one of conglomeration. Its two dueling behemoths, Alterra Mountain Company and Vail proportions over the last decade, scooping up resorts around the world and glowing up their infrastructure. The coming ski season promises to be monumental for both companies, with Alterra announcing a transformative $300 million of capital improvements across its portfolio and Vail Resorts rolling out its expansive My Epic Gear program—a high-end rental service offering access to high-quality equipment across its properties.

But it’s not just about the biggest, flashiest resorts this winter. It’s going to be a great season for the independent resorts and tried-and-true favorites, too. Whether you’re going all out with a week at Whistler or just looking to sneak in a day on the slopes in New England, here’s where to ski this season.

Northern Rockies

Everett’s 8800 restaurant, Big Sky, Montana Bald Mountain, Sun Valley, Idaho / Photo: Courtesy of Big Sky Resort

Up north, Big Sky has buzzed with activity and celebrity sightings in recent years, in large part thanks to its neighbor, the tony Yellowstone Club. The resort is in the final stages of its investment strategy, Big Sky 2025, and just unveiled the architecturally dramatic Lone Peak Tram Lower Terminal, ensuring that even nonskiers have a thrilling opportunity to reach the summit. The relatively new Montage Big Sky has rested on its laurels as the first five-star hotel of its kind in the state in recent years, but it is set to face stiff new competition. While the opening of One&Only’s debut North American hotel, One&Only Moonlight Basin, has been delayed, its gondola and lodge will be open in time for this ski season, adding to the area’s luxury offerings.

For something more low-key, check out Sun Valley in neighboring Idaho. In its 1940s and ’50s heyday, it was a hideaway for celebrities including Ernest Hemingway and Marilyn Monroe. Today, it’s a skier’s paradise and will play host to the Audi FIS Ski World Cup finals in March.

Pacific Northwest

Crystal Mountain, Enumclaw, Washington / Photo: Courtesy of Crystal Mountain

The great thing about the Pacific Northwest is how quickly you can go from sea level in downtown Seattle to having your boots in the snow at Crystal Mountain. This regional favorite just opened the doors of the brand-new Mountain Commons lodge, offering an expansive terrace to take in that West Coast sunshine between runs.

For a more robust getaway, it’s all about Whistler. There are tons of on-mountain improvements such as state-of-the-art chairlifts and the new Corona Mountaintop Lodge, but it’s the village updates that continue to make Canada’s largest resort a destination for skiers and nonskiers alike. Opening this season: a great cheese and wine purveyor, Flute & Fromage, for all your snacking needs, and a shop by % Arabica, the cult favorite Japanese coffee brand. The biggest news of all? This February brings the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, including the event’s inaugural winter sporting events for wounded veterans.

California

Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Lakes, California / Photo: Courtesy of Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth

If you’re only seeing the Golden State’s beaches, you’re missing half the fun—and with United’s seasonal direct flights to Bishop from San Francisco and Denver in December, the Sierra Nevada is just a hop away. From there, it’s a scenic one-hour drive up to Mammoth Mountain, where improvements to chairlifts and a new Woolly’s Day Lodge will enhance the visitor experience. Mammoth Lakes is also leading the way in creating sustainable housing for locals. In addition, it unveiled a Lease to Locals program, through which owners are incentivized to rent to year-round residents. These developments are game changers for the vibrant community that makes Mammoth a perennial favorite. Meanwhile, at Palisades Tahoe, California’s largest ski resort celebrates its 75th anniversary with an array of infrastructure updates—including snowmaking technology, best-in-class snowcats running on renewable diesel fuel, and a renovated rental and demo shop, including a new $300,000 Wintersteiger Jupiter, a fully automated service machine for ski and snowboard tuning.

Dolomites

Dolomites, Italy / Photo: Courtesy of Dolomites

The Alps span an enormous region in the heart of Europe, but in-the-know travelers this season are specifically setting their sights on the Dolomites of northeastern Italy, where fantastic cuisine and warm hospitality make for one of the world’s most enjoyable ski destinations. New lifts across the range mean infrastructure updates at some of Italy’s best-loved resorts, including Carezza, Alta Badia and Arabba. There’s also an impressive new ten-seater gondola at San Martino di Castrozza.

Sound like a lot to coordinate on your own? This is a great opportunity to enlist the help of an on-the-ground tour operator. Dolomite Mountains has curated the perfect ski itineraries for clients, incorporating a mix of both resort skiing and the signature ski safari, which can go hotel-to-hotel or through the Alpine rifugio system.

If high-end luxury is more your speed, Forestis—housed in a former tuberculosis sanatorium—will debut an over-the-top accommodation: the Villa. Built by Austrian monarchy, the Villa offers five bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and butler service.

New England

Stowe, Vermont / Photo: Courtesy of Stowe

The cold, gritty ski resorts of America’s Northeast may not attract as much glamour or international buzz as its Western resorts—but what New England lacks in vertical drop and St. Regis hotels it amply makes up for in authenticity and charm. In Stowe, for instance, the arrival of the Awol Stowe boutique hotel brings a contemporary option to this otherwise traditional ski town (the Trapp Family Lodge—as in The Sound of Music von Trapps—is just down the road). Awol offers an experience in line with what hip, modern travelers seek—including a Nordic-style outdoor spa deck complete with seven-foot cedar cold plunge, sauna and firepits.

In other parts of the region, change is still (thankfully) slow to come. Sugarbush in Warren, Vermont, will replace its Heaven’s Gate Triple lift with a new four-person version, cutting access times for its popular upper mountain terrain. And Sugarloaf in Maine’s Carrabassett Valley has debuted its West Mountain expansion, bringing 12 new trails and a high-speed lift to a resort that hasn’t seen much change since the 1970s.