2011 Snow East Reader Survey

http://snoweastmagazine.com/pdf/2011RS%20OverallWinners.pdf

What do you think Belleayre fans?

Snow East Magazine Survey screencapped for convenience:

What a joke. It gets sillier every year. I guess they should be admired for publishing the actual results. The blatant ballot stuffing makes of the main list meaningless even as a favorites list.

I don't know which is sadder: this or Ski Magazine's.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

I don't know which is sadder: this or Ski Magazine's.

However, look at the top ones in the sub-catagories....are they that far off?

Agreed with the general consensus.

Has anyone actually heard of Holiday Mountain?? They boast a whopping 400' vertical.

fujative wrote

Agreed with the general consensus.

Has anyone actually heard of Holiday Mountain??

I'd never heard of Snow East Magazine before, let alone Holiday Mountain.

I think the hill referred to in the rankings is Holiday Valley. I've never been there, but it does seem to have a very devoted following.

Take these rankings for what they are - a reader poll. Assuming that they aren't nefariously assembled as X suggests, then they're really just an insight into the audience of that magazine, and maybe a way to fill an off season issue with pages.

How many people could accurately rank every mountain in the east?  Personally I haven't even skied 30% of the mountains in New York, much less the east.

I haven't seen the Ski Magazine ranking. Can someone post a link?

List of my 30% of eastern areas I have skied. NY: Gore, Whiteface, West, Willard, Royal, Big Tupper  VT: Killington, Pico, Okemo, Bromley, Stratton, Mount Snow, Sugarbush, Mad River, Stowe NH: Wildcat, Cannon , Waterville, Pats Peak  That's my range I could even comment on. Surveys are to be taken with large grains of salt. Fun to check out for a few minutes, just to hear about different areas. It's really really hot so i really really appreciate the ski pictures from the other day thanks Harv. Does anyone subscribe to Powder magazine? I just got a ad to buy it for $8 per 6 issue year is it worth it? I'm going to check it out gor that price.

Harvey44 wrote

I think the hill referred to in the rankings is Holiday Valley. I've never been there, but it does seem to have a very devoted following.

Harv, check the links: Holiday Valley is in Ellicottville, just south of Buffalo. Holiday Mountain is in the Catskills, "...easily reached by major highways and is only 90 minutes from New York City via the New York State Thruway to Exit 16."

Many Hinterlanders flock to HV, not so much to HM. But we love HR, even if it is directionally challenged on occasion.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 But we love HR, even if it is directionally challenged on occasion.

 

hehehe. Wait....Which way IS up ?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 But we love HR, even if it is directionally challenged on occasion.

Bad eyesight too.

The cutoff at 1100 feet of vert for small mountains is interesting. Was wondering about the reasoning.

I think Riverc0il uses a 1150 foot cutoff in "The List."

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70s Gore Kid wrote

Ski Magazine surveys, however, have more credence, because they survey their readership, which tends to be more well informed and more traveled.

The SKI Mag survey is not any different. It just has some better filtering. Holiday Valley in NY (15th last year) and Seven Springs in PA(11th last year) routinely end up in the top 20 in the East. There is no way I would ever drive the 5-6 hours from North Jersey to those 2 places over the many lower ranked or unmentioned East ski areas that never appear on the survey.

Here is the 2011 Ski Rankings:

1. Tremblant        6.Sugarloaf        11.SevenSprings         16.Mt Snow
2. Whiteface        7.Sugarbush       12.Killington              17.Snowshoe
3. Stowe              8.Sunday Riv      13.Sunapee                18.Bromley
4. Okemo             9.Smuggs           14.BrettonWoods       19.Jay
5. Stratton          10.Loon              15.Holiday Valley       20.Wachusett

If you where wondering if this was a popularity contest look at #20 also. While Waschusett is a nice day area, who is choosing that over Mad River, Wildcat, Cannon, Burke, Bolton Valley, Waterville, Attitash, Gore, Hunter, Windham, Saddleback, Le Massif, Mt St Anne, The Eastern Townships (Orford, Sutton, Owls Head, Bromont). With equal travel time, is anybody choosing Seven Springs or Holiday Valley over these areas I just listed?

#17 Snowshoe is another one. Anybody from NJ/NY or New England going to make 8-15 hour or longer drive to Snowshoe? I doubt you could find anybody from NJ/NY/NE who has driven to Snowshoe for a vacation.

One of the SKI reader catagories is Lifts. Gore (as usual) is not mentioned. Holiday Valley (#3)has 3 HSQ + 10 other lifts spread over 290 acres with a max vert of 750 feet. Blue Mountain in PA (#7) has 1 HS6 + 11 other lifts spread over 162 acres with a max vert of 1082 feet. Each one of Gore's high speed lifts cover more vertical than the entire HV vert and the entire Blue vert. Blue has 1 high speed lift. How does this rank ahead of Gore? Not to mention the 30 other ski areas you could list.

I understand the popularity of HV and SS. For many people it is the only choice. But if these same people had some of the lower ranked or not mentioned ski areas in their driving ranges HV and SS  would never be mentioned is the survey or would even cease to exist. They really should be ranked in the Midwest. Maybe someday SKI will do that.

     

Can't we all just agree that rankings are stupid, and not worth the bytes on the internet? (Except when we agree with them, in which case they are awesome, and should be treated as gospel).

Gore Mountain: Best Overall Ski Area in North Creek over 1500' vert. They rank pretty high in other sub categories as well....

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Seven Springs also has some great, beautiful architecture.