5 Lesser-Known Ski Areas

Everyone knows about Vail and Telluride, but where do you ski if you can’t make the trip to Colorado? According to Patricia Schultz’s newly revised edition of 1000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die, there’s top notch skiing all over the U.S. and Canada. Here are 5 of the best lesser-known spots featured in the book.

1. Lake Louise Ski Resort

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Located within Banff National Park, renowned for its untouchable beauty, Lake Louise is its exclamation point.

The lake sits at the base of the Continental Divide, in a basin trenched by Ice Age glaciers. A vestige of that ancient frozen bulldozer remains as Victoria Glacier, hanging just above the lake’s western shore. From here, glacial stream water tumbles into the lake, carrying with it finely ground minerals, which refract in sunlight to create the lake’s brilliant and almost eerie blue-green hue.

The extravagantly photogenic Lake Louise Ski Resort—with the deserved reputation as the most scenic ski resort in North America—offers a mix of novice, intermediate, and advanced terrain and a range of activities for the whole family, from dogsledding to ice-skating and torchlight ski parades at dusk.

Where: 35 miles/56 km northwest of Banff Township. Ski Lake Louise: Tel 877-956-8473 or 403-522-3555. Cost: lift tickets US$69/C$92. Best times: Jan–Mar for skiing; late Jan for the International Ice Carving Competition.

2. Silver Mountain Ski and Summer Resort

Kellogg, Idaho, U.S.A. 

Silver Mountain Ski and Summer Resort, just west of Wallace at Kellogg, has excellent powder snow—more than 300 inches of it annually—and wide-open, challenging terrain. Even if you’re not a skier, you can ride the resort’s gondola—the world’s longest single-stage people carrier—which lifts winter skiers and summer hikers, bikers, and sightseers up 3.1 miles and 4,000 breathtaking vertical feet.

Where: 49 miles east of Coeur d’Alene. Silver Mountain Resort: Kellogg. Tel 866-344-2675 or 208-783-1111. Cost: lift tickets $53. When: Dec–Mar. Best times: Jan–Mar for skiing.

3. Mount Baker Ski Area

Mount Baker, Washington, U.S.A.

Mount Baker is a stunning 10,781-foot volcanic peak that’s Bellingham’s all-season recreational mecca. The 58-mile scenic Mount Baker Highway (Highway 542) leads from Bellingham past mighty fir forests and misty waterfalls to vista points at Picture Lake, whose postcard-perfect Mount Shuksan view is rumored to be the most photographed peak in the world. The road ends at Artist Point, elevation 5,140 feet, where the colossal white face of Mount Baker fills the sky. Snowfalls here are prodigious: Mount Baker holds the world record (an astonishing 95 feet in winter 1998–99). Skiers and snowboarders flock to the Mount Baker Ski Area, and in summer, the peak is a magnet for hikers and climbers—one of the most accessible glacial summits in the Lower 48.

Where: 90 miles north of Seattle. Mount Baker Ski Area: Tel 360-734-6771. Cost: lift ticket $58. Best times: Jan–Mar for skiing.

4. The Alyeska Resort

Girdwood, Alaska, U.S.A.

Alaska really is the last vestige of America’s frontier, so the term “deluxe hotel” is sometimes a relative term—except when the accommodations in question are the Alyeska. Opened as a ski resort in 1959, the hotel didn’t come into its own until the Japanese Seibu Corporation took over in 1980 and built the luxurious Alyeska Prince. A high-style château that sits in a gorgeous valley surrounded by miles of spruce trees, it is framed by the vast bulk of 3,939-foot Mount Alyeska that looms behind it.

Just 40 miles from Anchorage along the scenic Seward Highway that skirts the Turnigan Arm Waterway, the Alyeska (an Aleut word meaning “great land of white to the east”) sits near the funky town of Girdwood in the Chugach Range. Inside, a million board feet of cherrywood paneling link the guest rooms and the public areas, which include a lobby with riveting mountain views and a stunning indoor pool under a wooden A-frame ceiling. Outside, more than 1,600 acres of slopes offer skiing and snowboarding for all abilities. Heli-skiing is also available, as are snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, dogsledding, and flightseeing. In summer, the resort offers glacier and trail hiking, white-water rafting, salmon and halibut fishing, and bear viewing, plus access to the 18-hole, par-72 Anchorage Golf Course, where during summer you can play from 4:30 a.m. till after midnight.

In the evening, ride the aerial tramway up the mountain for dinner or drinks at the sumptuous Seven Glaciers Restaurant. Its view—possibly the best at any U.S. ski resort—inspired its name: On a clear day, you really can see seven glaciers while sampling from a menu that focuses on Alaskan seafood and game.

Where: 40 miles south of Anchorage. The Alyeska Resort: Tel 800-880-3880 or 907-754-2111. Cost: from $139 (off-peak), from $319 (peak); lift tickets from $60; dinner at Seven Glaciers $70. Best times: Mar for winter daylight and highest average snowfall; June for constant daylight and the driest weather.

5. Okemo Mountain Resort

Ludlow, Vermont, U.S.A.

In these days of big ski resorts owned by absentee mega-corporations, Okemo Mountain Resort (named for an Indian phrase that means “all come home”) is one of the few family-owned mountains remaining in Vermont. Originally founded in 1955 by local businessmen, it was saved from bankruptcy in 1982 by Tim and Diane Mueller, who have since modernized it with up-to-date snowmaking, high-speed lifts, and the largest Super Pipe in the East, along with six terrain parks. It’s one of the state’s most family-friendly ski destinations—small enough for families to spread out without worrying about never finding each other again. Despite the steepest vertical drop in southern Vermont (2,200 feet), a third of its 121 slopes, trails, and glades are gentle enough for the novice skier.

When night falls, head to the former mill town of nearby Ludlow (population 2,449) and check into one of its first-rate B&Bs. The Governor’s Inn is a richly appointed 1890 Victorian home that William Wallace Stickney built for his bride ten years before becoming governor of Vermont. The inn’s delights include eight tastefully decorated guest rooms, three-course breakfasts, and afternoon tea—complete with sweets and tea sandwiches—served in the inn’s charming dining room.

Four miles from town is the Inn at Water’s Edge, a restored Victorian treasure offering 11 cozy rooms and a full English pub. This central part of the state also offers crafts of all kinds—glass, furniture, pewter, and woodwork, among others—so there is plenty to do on a rainy afternoon. Make a late winter/early spring trip to Green Mountain Sugar House, 4 miles north of Ludlow, to see maple sap turned into syrup and sample fudge and other sweet treats, calories be damned.

Where: 91 miles southeast of Burlington. Okemo Mountain Resort:  Tel 800-78-OKEMO or 802-228-4041. Cost: rooms from $172; lift tickets from $86. When: ski season, Nov–Apr. Best times: Jan–Mar for skiing; late Sept–Oct for foliage.

About the Book:

Covering the U.S.A. and Canada like never before, and for the first time with full-color photographs, here are 1,000 compelling, essential, offbeat, utterly unforgettable places. Pristine beaches and national parks, world-class museums and the Just for Laughs festival, mountain resorts, salmon-rich rivers, scenic byways, the Oyster Bar and the country’s best taco, lush gardens and coastal treks at Point Reyes, rafting the Upper Gauley (if you dare). Plus resorts, vineyards, hot springs, classic ballparks, the Talladega Speedway, and more. Includes new attractions, like Miami’s Pérez Art Museum and Manhattan’s High Line, plus more than 150 places of special interest to families. And, for every entry, what you need to know about how and when to visit.

“Patricia Schultz unearths the hidden gems in our North American backyard. Don’t even think about packing your bag and sightseeing without it.” —New York Daily News

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