So the new Ski Magazine rankings issue is out, and I've been perusing it this morning. It got me thinking about the "wish list" of places I'd like to ski. What is y'alls? Here's mine:

Colorado:

1) Crested Butte
2) Telluride (especially with all the new bowl expansions)
3) Monarch

Utah:

1) Snowbasin
2) Alta (yes, I still haven't been there)
3) Powder Mtn.

Idaho:

1) Schweitzer

Montana:

1) Big Sky

Washington:

1) Crystal Mountain

British Columbia:

The interior. I haven't studied it much but have heard wonderful things about Fernie, Kimberly, Big White, Sunshine... and of course Kicking Horse.

Finally, my dream vacation continues to be Portillo, Chile on my birthday.

And, there's also places I've been to that I'm thankful I've had a chance to ski:

a) Solitude, UT
b) Big Mountain, MT
c) Taos, NM
d) Grand Targhee, WY
e) Alpine Meadows, CA
f) Mad River Glen, VT
g) Jay Peak, VT
h) Wolf Creek, CO (this is probably number one)
i) Cooper, CO (and the snowcat skiing I did there in particular)

Those rank up there as some of the places I've enjoyed most in my skiing past. What are yours?

Colorado:
Never skied in CO.

1. Steamboat. I was thinking of checking out steamboat just becuase it is the closet CO area to Logan. Might be making a road trip sometime soon, depending on the weather.
2. Silverton. Sounds like a cool area to go. Just a couple of lifts and lots of hike to skiing.

Wyomin:
Jackson

Utah:

1) Snowbasin Actually I snowboardedthere but never left the beginner area will be going back to ski.
2) Powder Mtn. Want to go back when I am more healthy.
3) Brighton. Never been want to go.
4) PCMR. Never been want to go.


Idaho or MT:

Don't know much about skiing in ID or MT.

Washington:

1) The place the gets 1000" a year would be good. can't remember off hand what it is called.

British Columbia:
If we are talking about lift served then

1. Revelstoke.
2. Whistler.

Never been to Colorado, Think i'd like to start with Vail, because it's Vail, Abasin and wolf Creek.

In Utah i'd love to have el loco diablo, tromano show me around at the Beav, never been to Powder Mtn, and i'd really like to show my stuff at Dear Valley just to see if they'll let me come back .

Never thought much about Idahoe, PNW or Montana but i got some friends i'd like to see at targhee in wy, would like to spend a week, yup that otta be a good taste, at Jackson Hole. I've always thought that Lake Louise in Canada would be a really neat trip with Mrs Jimmy. Haven't been to Tahoe since i wuz a newb that's a whole subject itself but i think Squaw, because it's squaw.

Roger, no love for the Mid-atlantic?? I've never skied anywhere in Virginia, where should i go? I've driven past Montage, Sno: Mtn or what ever they're calling it and think that's one for soon on my way to vermont to ski jay peak....is jay in vermont or NH??

I've been lucky enough to ski at a lot of great places already, no need to list them all but if I could pick only one place to ski for the rest of forever?????


Snowbird without a doubt.

Oh gads I completely forgot about Silverton. Yes I knew I was missing something (probably more), and Revelstoke seems like it's going to be phenomenal... if it isn't already.

My most favorite place in the world is Zermatt, hands down. The most pure air at the head of the Ruhr Valley. Waking up and having the Matterhorn as your backdrop is an amazing site to last a lifetime. With a population of 6 thousand locals who can speak six languages fluently, the town is a paradise. Cars were outlawed decades ago, and the closest one can get with a car is Tasch, about 10 miles away. Zermatt is at the end of the Glacier Express, another spellbindingly beautiful experience. The runs are everywhere from glacier on down, and if you don't want to take the cog rail for an hour, you can take the funicular or the cable car or the gondola or the chairlifts. It is a dream.

East North America: Haven't skied Attitash in a long time. And still, I want to do Tuckermans before I croak.

West North America: Whistler again post-peak tramway. Maybe next year.

Jimmy, I would be glad to show you around at the beav. It is a really cool place to ski. If you have some shorter (around 180cm )fat skis bring 'em becuase the best stuff is in the trees.

Denton and Laurel, glad I had a chance to ski those two. Jay is in VT, NH is home to Wildcat, probably another resort that should be on my "wish list"- as well as Saddleback in Maine and Le Massif in Quebec.

Glad I got to ski Laurel too. Its a cool hill. What ever happened to that place? Still shut?

I guess I have a lot more to be thankful for than to wish for. Some of the other "thanks for" resorts:
Zermatt
Chugach Powder Guides/Alyeska
Val d'Isere/Tignes
Jackson Hole
Whistler/Blackcomb
Snowbird
Sun Valley
Mammoth
Telluride
Vail
Breckenridge

My wish list includes:
Squaw
Silverton
Timberline (Mt Hood)
Snowmass
Chirstchurch
Revelstoke/Kicking Horse
CMH/Wiegele (interior BC)
Bariloche
Crystal/Alpental/Stevens Pass
Davos
Meribel/Courchevel/Val Thorens (des trois vallees)
Antarctica

Oooh Bariloche good call. Man you've been a couple places, haven't you Rusty?

You know, Revelstoke and Silverton have come up three times now. Another DCSki outing sometime in the future... next winter perhaps? Maybe Silverton?

UNOWUT i'm thankful for is the fact that i can get in my car and within

1.75 hours be at 7springs making turns. Ya skiing Laurel is something i'm thankful i got to ski, we'll ski it again just not this year Tromano, best in PA, politics, uget my meanings.....

three hour drive, Timberline Canaan Whitegrass never ski, drink or eat alone in canaan valley, so many friends there

Ok, I'll bite. thankful? yep, the nut is 50 minutes from my front door and as Jimmy sez, 3 hours and I can be sipping or swilling on the deck of t-line, or enjoying the deliteful offerings of the WG Cafe. It's what It's all about. Been west, been east, been north, been south, but the best is where the snow is at the given time.

Jimmy, Snowbird is greater, and made even greater by the fact that you can get a dual area ticket with Alta.
The Colonel

What are your favorite ski runs that you've skied? Here's a few of mine-

-Gondolier at Stowe. Generally I like my diamonds, but there is something about a long blue cruiser that is just manna from Heaven.

-Goat, Stowe

- Dark Side of the Moon at CV before they widened it.

- Cherry Bowl, T-line, my first real experience with tree skiing.

- Evergreen at Jay Peak.

- MRG, Fall Line.

- Horseshoe Bowl Breckenridge

- Another Horsehoe Bowl- hiked-to at Wolf Creek CO. Phenomenal run, especially the drop through the trees.

- Cupp Run, when the dog leg was still there. Especially in the early morning.

- Toni Matt Big Mountain MT

- Scott Bowl Park City

- Six Bells Park City

- The Chutes at Deer Valley

- Lower East Face/Dutch Hollow at The Canyons

- Parachute/Milk Run, Solitude

- Trees off the Scott Chair at Alpine Meadows, CA

- Beerrun at Winterplace. Why? Because there's beer halfway down the run, DUH!

Wow, how could you miss this thread? Just read the last three or so pages to get caught up:

Laurel Mountain Breaking News

The short answer is yes, still shut down but with the best possibility of re-openeing with a complete make-over since it closed but I fear this melt down on Wall Street may kill it.

7Springs: Alpine Meadows (befor eit was bulldozed), goosebumps, Turtleneck glades

Blueknob: Extrovert, shortway, bluetrail

Roger,

I've been to a few places. Once you start "collecting" you'll be surprised at how cool the little places (like Beaver, UT for example) are in ways that will never ever make "the lists".

Silverton is not for rookies. That would be hard to get a gang to.

The coolest thing about the beav is their open ski boundry. And you can pretty much go off any where and be fairly safe. There are thousands of acres of pow accessible from the lifts the majority of which never gets skied. Its also a firly safe palce for a person like me with little avie experience. The mountain is not super steep for any long strech so it (apparantly and according to locals I have talked to) can't really avie or sluff much. There are only a handfull of palces above 35degrees and only for a short distance So any avie that did start wouldn't run far.

I haven't collected that much and I already agree. Wolf Creek and Cooper in CO were absolute blasts. Would love to get to Monarch, Sunlight, Silverton, and Durango too. Bit of a struggle to make a ski week out of a small place but other than that, I prefer them to the bigger hills as a rule.

I preferred Grand Targhee to Jackson Hole. JohnL and I fought about that once before on this board. And it's why I went and ferreted out Denton back in the Mid-A, as well as Laurel, and have a soft spot for Gore in upstate NY. Small is beautiful, baby! (though Gore isn't *that* small, it just seems to glide below the radar screen)

My thankful list is:
* 7th Heaven on Blackcomb
* Peak to Creek on Whistler
* Anything to the skier's right of Chair 6 at Breckenridge
* Flying Eagle at Snowshoe
* The trees to the skier's right of the Skyline Express lift in Vail's Blue Sky Basin

But really I am going to need to do a lot more in person research to be sure. ;-)