Best ski towns in the US

1. 1. Telluride Colorado

   Best for a historic landmark town with a free gondola

   Telluride was founded in 1878 as a mining camp after silver and gold strikes in the San Miguel valley. The town sits in a box canyon, and its historic district is one of Colorado's 20 National Historic Landmarks. A free gondola, which Wikipedia calls the only one of its kind in North America, links town to Mountain Village in 13 minutes.

   • • Elevation: about 8,750 feet.
   • • Population: 2,607 (2020 census).
   • • Free gondola to Mountain Village: 13 minutes.
   • • Telluride Film Festival held since 1974.

   Telluride: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Denver to Telluride drive

   Hotels in Telluride ↗ Condos and houses ↗ Telluride snow report

2. 2. Aspen Colorado

   Best for four ski mountains and a silver boom town

   Miners settled Aspen in 1879, and by 1891 it was the top silver mining district in the US. The Panic of 1893 crashed silver prices, and only 705 people lived there by 1930. Today four ski areas surround it: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass.

   • • Elevation: just below 8,000 feet.
   • • Population: 7,004 (2020 census).
   • • Free buses within Aspen and Snowmass Village (RFTA).
   • • Home to the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Institute.

   Aspen Snowmass: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Denver to Aspen drive · things to do in winter

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3. 3. Breckenridge Colorado

   Best for a big historic district and winter festivals

   Breckenridge was founded in 1859 and named for prospector Thomas Breckenridge. Gold mining on the Blue River built the town, and the district yielded about one million troy ounces of gold. Its historic district has 249 structures and is one of the largest in Colorado.

   • • Elevation: about 9,600 feet.
   • • Population: 5,078 (2020 census).
   • • 249 structures in the historic district.
   • • International Snow Sculpture Championships every January.

   Breckenridge: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Denver to Breckenridge drive · things to do in winter

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4. 4. Crested Butte Colorado

   Best for a small, colorful old mining town

   Crested Butte grew up around coal and silver mines in the 1870s and was incorporated in 1880. When the coal mines closed, the town shrank. It now has about 1,600 people, and a free bus runs to the ski resort just up the road.

   • • Elevation: about 8,900 feet.
   • • Population: 1,639 (2020 census).
   • • Free town bus to the ski resort.
   • • Named the Wildflower Capital of Colorado by the state legislature in 1990.

   Crested Butte: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Denver to Crested Butte drive

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5. 5. Steamboat Springs Colorado

   Best for a working ranch town that breeds Olympians

   Steamboat Springs began as a ranching and mining town, and both still matter there. It has produced more Winter Olympians than any other town in North America. Howelsen Hill, right in town, is the oldest continually operating ski area in North America.

   • • Elevation: 6,867 feet.
   • • Population: 13,224 (2020 census).
   • • Howelsen Hill: oldest continually operating ski area in North America.
   • • Old Town Hot Springs is downtown.

   Steamboat: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Denver to Steamboat Springs drive · things to do in winter

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6. 6. Park City Utah

   Best for a Victorian main street near a big airport

   Park City was a silver town, and its Silver King Coalition mine was once the richest in the world. Sixty-four Victorian buildings on Main Street are on the National Register of Historic Places. The town co-hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics, with ski events at Deer Valley and Park City Mountain.

   • • Elevation: about 7,000 feet.
   • • Population: 8,396 (2020 census).
   • • 32 miles southeast of downtown Salt Lake City.
   • • Free city bus system.

   Park City: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Salt Lake City to Park City drive · things to do in winter

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7. 7. Jackson Wyoming

   Best for a western town square next to an elk refuge

   Jackson's Town Square has four arches made from more than 8,000 elk antlers, gathered from elk that winter on the National Elk Refuge at the edge of town. Snow King, Jackson's first ski area, rises above town. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is 12 miles north.

   • • Elevation: 6,237 feet.
   • • Population: 10,760 (2020 census).
   • • Jackson Hole Airport is the only US commercial airport inside a national park.
   • • Snow King Resort established in 1930.

   Jackson Hole: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · things to do in winter

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8. 8. Ketchum and Sun Valley Idaho

   Best for a sheep and mining town turned into America's first destination ski resort

   Ketchum began as a smelting town for lead and silver, and by 1920 it was the largest sheep-shipping center in the West. In 1936 the Union Pacific Railroad opened Sun Valley next door, and the world's first chairlifts went in that fall. Ernest Hemingway lived near Ketchum and is buried there.

   • • Ketchum elevation: about 5,800 feet.
   • • Ketchum population: 3,555 (2020 census).
   • • Sun Valley Lodge opened December 21, 1936.
   • • Bald Mountain has 13 chairlifts and 65 runs.

   Sun Valley: 0.0" forecast next 7 days

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9. 9. Stowe Vermont

   Best for a white-steeple New England village

   Stowe was chartered in 1763 and has long called itself the Ski Capital of the East. Its village center is a 153-acre historic district with mostly 19th-century wood buildings, including the 1833 Green Mountain Inn. The ski resort is on Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak.

   • • Population: 5,223 (2020 census).
   • • Mount Mansfield: 4,393 feet, highest in Vermont.
   • • Stowe Village Historic District listed in 1978.
   • • Stowe Recreation Path: 5.3 miles.

   Stowe: 10.9" forecast next 7 days · Burlington to Stowe drive · things to do in winter

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10. 10. Taos New Mexico

    Best for adobe history and an art colony

    Taos Pueblo, next to town, has been lived in for nearly a thousand years and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Artists began settling in Taos in 1899, and six of them formed the Taos Society of Artists in 1915. Taos Ski Valley is 19 miles away.

    • • Elevation: 6,969 feet.
    • • Population: 6,474 (2020 census).
    • • Taos Plaza is the center of the Taos Downtown Historic District.
    • • Taos Ski Valley: summit at 12,481 feet.

    Taos Ski Valley: 0.0" forecast next 7 days

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11. 11. Whitefish Montana

    Best for a railroad town near Glacier National Park

    Whitefish grew up after the Great Northern Railway moved its main line through in 1904. Its 1927-28 Tudor-style depot at the end of Central Avenue is on the National Register and now holds the town museum. Amtrak's Empire Builder still stops there, and Whitefish Mountain Resort is four miles from town.

    • • Elevation: 2,999 feet.
    • • Population: 7,751 (2020 census).
    • • Busiest Amtrak station in Montana.
    • • Winter Carnival the first weekend in February.

    Whitefish Mountain: 2.3" forecast next 7 days

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12. 12. Truckee California

    Best for an old railroad town near Lake Tahoe

    Truckee grew as a railroad town when the Central Pacific reached it in 1868. Its downtown, the Commercial Row-Brickelltown Historic District, has 32 contributing buildings from 1870 to 1930. Amtrak's California Zephyr still stops daily at the historic depot.

    • • Elevation: 6,152 feet.
    • • Population: 16,729 (2020 census).
    • • Downtown historic district listed in 2009.
    • • Donner Memorial State Park is at the east end of Donner Lake.

    Palisades Tahoe: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Reno to Lake Tahoe drive · things to do in winter

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13. 13. North Conway New Hampshire

    Best for a New England village with a ski hill in town

    North Conway sits in the Mount Washington Valley, with Mount Washington to the northwest. Its railroad reached town in 1872, and an 1874 Victorian depot still serves the Conway Scenic Railroad. Cranmore opened in the village in the winter of 1937-38, and Austrian ski pioneer Hannes Schneider came to teach there in 1939.

    • • Population: 2,116 (2020 census).
    • • Elevation: 581 feet.
    • • Cranmore opened in 1937-38 with a single rope tow.
    • • Known for its many outlet shops.

    Cranmore: 5.7" forecast next 7 days

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14. 14. Lake Placid New York

    Best for a two-time Olympic village

    Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980. Its main village sits beside Mirror Lake, which freezes for skating, pond hockey and a toboggan chute. Whiteface Mountain is about 13 miles away.

    • • Population: 2,205 (2020 census).
    • • Elevation: 1,801 feet.
    • • Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run is on the National Register of Historic Places.
    • • Site of the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' hockey game.

    Whiteface: 12.9" forecast next 7 days

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15. 15. Mammoth Lakes California

    Best for big snow and a long season in the Eastern Sierra

    A gold rush in 1878 brought about 1,500 people to Mammoth City, but by 1888 fewer than 10 were left. The modern town was incorporated only in 1984. It sits below Mammoth Mountain, which gets about 400 inches of snow a year.

    • • Elevation: about 7,900 feet.
    • • Population: 7,191 (2020 census).
    • • Mammoth Mountain summit: 11,059 feet.
    • • Yosemite's east entrance is 32 miles north.

    Mammoth Mountain: 0.0" forecast next 7 days · Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes drive · things to do in winter

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