Most Livable Ski Towns

Article for Liftopia by "noted" freelance writer Gina Begin.

Here, in alphabetical order, are North America’s top 10 mountain towns that provide equally great skiing and great year-round living, as chosen by current “graduated” ski bums:

North America’s 10 Most Livable Ski Towns

1. Alta, Utah
2. Banff, Alberta
3. Durango, Colorado
4. Killington, Vermont
5. Lake Placid, New York
6. Nelson, British Columbia
7. North Conway, New Hampshire
8. Revelstoke, British Columbia
9. St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Quebec
10. Whitefish, Montana


http://www.liftopia.com/blog/ski-bums-pick-north-america-10-livable-ski-towns-year-round/

Another shoutout to Whiteface.  Also, notice how none of the built up places like Stratton/Okemo made this.  I am guessing that they didn't include the manmade villages and only the actual towns which is what this list is for.  I have only been to Lake Placid and Killington on this list, and I can definitely say that Lake Placid is the best I have been in, so I'd put it ahead of Killington.  Only problem is that my dad and I burn ourselves out so much after skiing Whiteface that we are too tired to go and see the town.  Still, Whiteface making many top <insert number here>'s shows that it is in fact a world class ski area that is in NY.

My only issue with the list as a whole:  WHY ISN'T VERNON, NJ ANYWHERE ON THIS LIST!!!!  

Lake Placid, I know quite well.  Agree.  The western towns, I can't say anything.  But Killington?  Long Trail brewery is there, but what else does Killington have that makes it a livable ski town? Stowe blows it away.

They must be considering Salt Lake City as Alta's town.  I love Alta and have been there (and will continue to go) many times, but there just isn't anything in the "town of Alta".

The inclusion of Alta (and for that matter Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Quebec) shows that this writer has a pretty loose definition of what a ski town is. I know that these advertorials exist just to generate clicks and dumb forum posts, and I've fallen into Liftopia's trap, but still...

Yeah Gina is kindof the poster child it girl right now.

I didn't know Killington was really a town. But apparently it is.  Actually I googled it and I'm not still not really sure. They couldn't mean Rutland. Benny? Buehler?

I'd take North Creek over Killington or Rutland.

I never heard of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Quebec.

I does seem a bit phoned in. The alpha order thing is a trick to reduced even further the amount of thought required. Or maybe it was an advertorial without disclosure.  The who "ski town/ski city" thing seems to be getting a lot of play.  Somewhere I saw the top 5 reasons why you should move to ski town... high babe ratio, high wages, happening off season, wtf.

Another strange one is Banff- the town is inside the national park, and the park restricts home ownership to park employees or people who own businesses inside the park, so it would be a tough place to try to live if you didn't meet those requirements.  Canmore, which is just outside the park borders, would probably be a much more "livable" place.

Alta fits perfectly as described, although I may not quite call it a "town" either. But the "livibility" part is on point. I moved to SLC with no job, and within two days had a job with room, board, and a decent paycheck. I'd love to check out some other places (Durango is actually pretty high on the radar for places to settle down), but Alta is just the easiest, cheapest, place to live. Not to mention the skiing is pretty good. Makes it very hard to leave. Note - I have not been to Jackson or Big Sky yet, but both places are much more expensive and muuuuuch harder to find housing. Seems like everyone I know there has to work two jobs to just afford to live there. 35 hrs a week and I'm goood.

What did you do during the summer? Did the lodge kick you out? I'm not sure what the criteria were for liftopia but to me, a liveable ski town means just that...you can live there.  There are practically no private housing options at Alta with just a few more at Snowbird. Not to even mention the lack of commercial establishments.  But otherwise, most people that end up working long term up at Alta seem to live down in the Valley and do the 25-30 minute drive.

tBatt wrote

Alta fits perfectly as described, although I may not quite call it a "town" either. But the "livibility" part is on point. I moved to SLC with no job, and within two days had a job with room, board, and a decent paycheck. I'd love to check out some other places (Durango is actually pretty high on the radar for places to settle down), but Alta is just the easiest, cheapest, place to live. Not to mention the skiing is pretty good. Makes it very hard to leave. Note - I have not been to Jackson or Big Sky yet, but both places are much more expensive and muuuuuch harder to find housing. Seems like everyone I know there has to work two jobs to just afford to live there. 35 hrs a week and I'm goood.

Durango is cool. The skiing is not Alta, but the sunny days and good conditions with lots of other stuff to do does kind of make it seem livable. But it also has a kind of rust belt cowboy vibe, that's a little depressing. Not sure if I could stay there for too long, especially with the other places in Colorado that are more appealing. Salida has everything Durango has but fewer people and maybe even more to do.

As far as this list goes, I would just replace Killington with North Conway and call it fine. But did every magazine publish a stupid list this year?  Might want to hold off before weighing in

Marcski wrote

What did you do during the summer? Did the lodge kick you out? I'm not sure what the criteria were for liftopia but to me, a liveable ski town means just that...you can live there.  There are practically no private housing options at Alta with just a few more at Snowbird. Not to even mention the lack of commercial establishments.  But otherwise, most people that end up working long term up at Alta seem to live down in the Valley and do the 25-30 minute drive.

Staff goes down to about 8 people from maybe 75 in the summer. I came back to New York. But if it's summer, how is it a ski town?

tBatt wrote

Alta fits perfectly as described, although I may not quite call it a "town" either. But the "livibility" part is on point. I moved to SLC with no job, and within two days had a job with room, board, and a decent paycheck. I'd love to check out some other places (Durango is actually pretty high on the radar for places to settle down), but Alta is just the easiest, cheapest, place to live. Not to mention the skiing is pretty good. Makes it very hard to leave. Note - I have not been to Jackson or Big Sky yet, but both places are much more expensive and muuuuuch harder to find housing. Seems like everyone I know there has to work two jobs to just afford to live there. 35 hrs a week and I'm goood.

I don't know. When I choose a place to live, I want a market to buy food, for one thing. That's something you didn't have to worry about with meals provided. What a strange choice for #1. And, yeah, a ghost town in summer, although pretty. Killington, too. First of all, where in "Killington"? The access road or not far off? Rutland? (ugh) Somewhere out in the woods? And why wasn't a town up in Summit county, Co. mentioned?

Weird survey, but, that's why I couldn't "live" in a "ski town". Ain't nothing else to do but ski in a lot of them. (I don't mountain bike much)

Back when I used to teach at Killington we had a place there and spent quite a bit of time there in the summer.  It is very much a ghost town in the summer.  This was 15 years ago but I doubt it has changed much

There is a town of Killington.  They changed the name about 10 years ago.  There is not really any town though in the true sense of what a town is.  The town runs from top of the pass on Rt 4 just past Pico to Bridgewater on 4 and then up the access road

Coach Z wrote

There is not really any town though in the true sense of what a town is.

That was my earlier point and not exactly a big revelation. There's a difference between a municipality that contains a ski area (Alta, Killington, St. Ferreol des Neiges) and a legit town close to one or more ski areas, i.e. with a commercial center, a real supermarket selling stuff at somewhat affordable prices, such as Park City, Lake Placid, etc. That's why Top 10 lists like this and many others read like advertorial bollox.

That said, the article's goal is to get people talking about the ski areas, sell destination visits, etc., rather than be 100% accurate about whether non-employees or non-residents can move there and take advantage of the livability, so I guess this one has achieved its objective.

Not sure why I've posted twice about this; I can usually ignore click bait without much effort. I guess I need a hobby.

Banff is an awesome town but I cannot imagine it being cheap. When I was there some 15 years ago (I can't believe I just said that) it was gorgeous.  

Lake Placid is terrific.  I had a chance to spend my summer vacation here this past year and loved every minute of it.  Granted I stayed at the KOA in WIlmington but I got to either drive to Lake Placid to go for a run or bike there on a daily basis.  The sure was one hell of a vacation.  

Climbing up Whiteface on my bike was pretty cool too :) I could live in LP for the rest of my life and be happy.  Great skiing, cycling, swimming, running and hunting(I think).  All the things I love to do :)

If LP had a bunch of tech companies I would move there tomorrow.

Claude
 
My daughter Claudia has amazing memories of Mirror Lake.  So much so that she had to take a sample of water home as a reminder in a tiny little flask with sand.  Boy that trip was great :)

hey claude,

start up a tech company and move to Wilmington.  Wilmington, the home of Whiteface!  LP is not the home of WF!!!  And its way more affordable in Wilmington!!!!  

Hey ScottJack:

We loved Wilmington as well.  I only did one or two runs in Lake Placid and the rest of my runs and cycling was done in Wilmington.  By the end I could name every hotel/motel/restaurant along the Fox Farm Rd,  Springfield Rd, HWY 86 loop :)

Actually some of the best biking I did was in the Wilmington region.  I did a loop that took me out to Silver Lakes Rd, Turnpike Rd, Swastika Rd, Goodrich Mills Rd, Guideboard Rd, Haselton Rd that was just awesome.  At one point I didn't see a car for 30 minutes or so.  To the point that I started getting worried I got lost.  Gorgeous.  

I liked it so much I had week booked next year.  I have some roads I still need to explore :)

Claude

Climbing Whiteface on the Memorial Highway is one the highlights of my cycling hobby.  

The road riding out of Wilmington is some of the best around and far better than LP.  the MTBing is very good too and LP has great MTBing.

That's a nice road loop you did - it's the main loop of the Whiteface-Wilmington Road Race in June.  (The vast majority of which is neither in Wimington or near Whiteface but....whatever.)  

Wow a rare Noah post where you were not snarky or a troll.  Now you are embracing your inner non troll.

Claude why not move here and telecommute to your tech job and travel when needed.  I do that and the frontier double line in DSL is plenty fast enough for my needs.  The single line DSL didnt cut it but getting a double is only like $30 more a month and my company pays for it anyway.  This is a great place to live.  LP is great but more expensive than Wilmington or Jay where you get way more for your money.  If cycling is your thing there are way more roads on this side of The Notch.

Coach Z wrote

... and the frontier double line in DSL is plenty fast enough for my needs.  The single line DSL didnt cut it but getting a double is only like $30 more a month and my company pays for it anyway.  This is a great place to live.  LP is great but more expensive than Wilmington or Jay where you get way more for your money.  If cycling is your thing there are way more roads on this side of The Notch.

yea don't be half fast!!!