Region Category

Top Beginner Friendly Ski Areas in Mid west

These are the ski areas that respondents said are the most beginner-friendly. Participants took into consideration quality of instructors and programs, terrain and snow; crowds; size of resort; and cost of lift tickets, rentals and programs.

#1 Titus Mountain, NY
#2 Eagle Point, UT
#3 Magic Mountain, VT
#4 Snowy Range, WY
#5 Bretton Woods, NH
#6 Belleayre, NY
#7 Bousquet, MA
#8 King Pine, NH
#9 Big Sky, MT
#10 Diamond Peak, NV

Boyne Highlands, MI

Good variety of terrain on fairly short runs and fast lifts.

Image courtesy of Boyne Highlands

Boyne Mountain, MI

Most vertical in Michigan.

Image courtesy of Boyne Mountain

Devil's Head, WI

Off the beaten path & never seems overly crowded.

Image courtesy of Devil's Head

Caberfae Peaks, MI

The terrain is perfect for beginners and the lodge is picnic friendly.

Image courtesy of Caberfae Peaks

Cascade Mountain, WI

Beautiful. Great packages for beginners. Wonderful instructors. Top notch facilities and staff.

Image courtesy of Cascade Mountain

Afton Alps, MN

Lots of different runs. Multiple magic carpets. Affordable. Free parking that is next to the lifts.

Alpine Valley, MI

Chestnut Mountain, IL

They have two great bunny hills that are perfect for beginners and intermediates. It's one of the best spots to practice.

Alpine Valley Resort, WI

Extremely family-friendly and affordable. Provides enough terrain to get the basics down.

#10

Alpine Valley, OH

Shortest lift lines in Ohio.

Discover the resorts that skiers and riders are most passionate about in North America.

Frequently Asked Questions

Discover the resorts that skiers and riders are most passionate about in North America.

How is the 2018-19 Best in Snow Awards, Powered By Liftopia different than other ski rankings? Customers told us they want a ranking system that is new and different and doesn‘t simply reward the same, large resorts. Because Liftopia has an unparalleled dataset of resorts and ski information, we knew we could come up with a ranking system that would be the most useful for skiers and riders, new and old.

Who participated in the survey? We collected thousands of responses from consumers of every skill level (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert). Participants said they normally ski or snowboard anywhere from 1 to 15+ days every season.

Why these categories? These are the categories our customers said were most important to them, and would be most helpful in their search for new ski and snowboard experiences.

I am surprised that there aren’t many big resorts in the list, why is this the case? When we look at the sheer volume of ratings, all of the great large resorts that we know and love are in the list. The resorts that made the top 10 Overall Best in Snow when weighted by our algorithm (skier and snowboarder visits annually, acreage, average true cost of skiing, and uphill capacity) were the ones that have an outsized group of passionate customers.

What is interesting about this list? At Liftopia we personally know so many ski areas, and know that each ski area has its own soul and value proposition regardless of how big it is. We were excited to see some of the resorts we love best rise in the rankings based on how much other skiers/riders love them too. The results also proved how valuable our dataset is to our customers and our ski area partners. Winners like Magic Mountain in Vermont and Mt. Bohemia in Michigan show what we already believed to be true - that customers do have amazing passion for ski areas of all sizes.

2019 WINNERS