Is Crested Butte the Best Ski Resort in the USA?

Crested Butte

When I opened up the Crested Butte trail map for the first time in my hotel room I was awestruck. I had never seen so much black on a trail map. Black and double-black diamond runs appeared to occupy more than half of the resort. About one-third of the Crested Butte’s 1,547 acres was, it turned out, was in fact extreme double-black diamond terrain.

“Could this be my dream hill?” I wondered.

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Crested Butte Micro Guide

I went on a mission to find the best ski and snowboard vacation experience in the USA. During my trip, I visited Crested Butte, and then compiled what I learned into this micro guide.

The video above contains lots of useful information, but, if you want to carry have this information on the hill where it will really come in handy, bookmark this guide on your phone.

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Best in the West Ski and Snowboard Project

We set out to find the best ski resort in the United States! The results were surprising

Matt and Emilie

In fall of 2013 Emilie and I moved to Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City just so happened to be located at the the geograhic center of the most amazing ski mountains in the United States. I was raised a skier and snowboarder from the age of three, so I jumped at the chance to put together a tour to some of the best ski hills the west. We didn’t visit every hill, but we did visit a lot. We talked to a lot of locals, made guides to the resorts and towns, shot videos with locals’ tips, made some amazing photo essays. It’s all on this page. I hope you find some of it useful! I discovered a few little-known gems that I plan to go back to. I hope you find them too!

About the Best in the West Tour

what makes a hill greatgear

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The Ski Areas

WYOMING

01 Jackson Hole02 Grand Targhee

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CALIFORNIA

squaw valleysugar bowl

sierra at taheoheavenly

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COLORADO

Crested ButteTelluride

Wolf Creek

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UTAH

snowbird

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The First Turns of the Best Season of Our Lives

Matt Gibson snowboard jump
Catching my first air of the 2012-2013 season.

First Turns

I made my first turns of the season on opening day at Snowbird and I began my investigation into whether or not Utah actually has The Greatest Snow on Earth ® as the state’s trademarked motto claims. It’s an investigation that I will work long and hard — even on weekends — to complete.

It’s going to be a rough winter. 

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