2023 PeakRankings Mountain Score and Rankings Adjustments: Full Changes
Several of our resorts have seen either a Mountain Score change or rankings shift as a result of score adjustments we released today. We’ve made these changes primarily to account for experience shifts that occurred at dozens of resorts during the 2022-23 season—but in a few cases, to also more effectively relay the contrasts between each mountain. Below, we’ve compiled the score and rankings changes for each mountain.
Palisades Tahoe Score Revamp
We completely redid Palisades Tahoe’s mountain review to reflect the combination of the Olympic Valley (Squaw Valley) and Alpine Meadows sides. Both resorts are now ranked as one continuous mountain, with the scores in each category updated accordingly. You can find the new category scores and updated mountain review here.
We also updated Palisades Tahoe’s lifts score to reflect the new Red Dog six-pack lift, which is detailed later in this article.
Score Adjustments Based on Experience Changes
Grand Targhee
Lifts Score Change: 5 to 7
For the 2022-23 season, Grand Targhee saw its largest lift-serviced expansion in over 20 years. The Wyoming resort added the high-speed Colter six-pack on the back side of Peaked Mountain, bringing lift service to an area that was formerly only accessible via guided snowcat tours. The Colter upgrade has increased the resort’s lift-served footprint by over 50%, strengthened its advanced and expert offerings, and substantially reduced the amount of hiking required to access certain resort areas. While Targhee’s snowcat tours are now a thing of the past, every visitor of intermediate or better proficiency will notice a substantial impact from this investment.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Telluride
Lifts Score Change: 5 to 6
This remote Colorado resort replaced its slow, fixed-grip Lift 9, also known as the Plunge lift, with a brand-new high-speed quad in what’s generally the same alignment. The ride time has gone down from an agonizing 13 minutes—which was among the longest anywhere in North America—to a much more palatable six-and-a-half. Lift 9 services a significant percentage of Telluride’s expert-level below-treeline terrain, and this upgrade makes it much more enjoyable to lap long, demanding bump runs. The resort closed its Giuseppe’s Restaurant as part of this installation, but plans a replacement for 2023-24.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Jackson Hole
Lifts Score Change: 6 to 7
The storied Wyoming resort replaced its outgoing Thunder fixed-grip quad, which had served the upper-middle section of Rendezvous Peak, with a detachable lift in the same alignment. The Thunder upgrade brings one of the few benefits Jackson Hole previously lacked—lappable high-speed lift service on truly demanding terrain—and offers lappable high-speed access to double-black terrain for the first time in the resort’s history. Moreover, Jackson Hole now offers high-speed lift service in nearly every non-hike area, leaving Sublette as the only primary lift on the mountain that remains fixed-grip.
Our full write-up on this change will be up Tuesday morning.
Vail
Crowd Flow Score Change: 6 to 7
This massive, high-end Colorado resort installed the Sun Down Express chair, offering a second high-speed quad option out of the High Noon area and providing direct lift service within the Sun Down Bowl for the first time. While it technically doesn’t serve any new terrain, the upgraded lift setup brings noteworthy updates to the Back Bowls guest experience, diminishing a serious chokepoint in this area and making it much easier to lap Vail’s Sun Down zone. The vast majority of guests spending time in this area will notice a material difference from the upgrade.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Arapahoe Basin
Lifts Score Change: 3 to 4
For the 2022-23 season, this high-alpine Colorado resort installed the Lenawee Express six-pack, replacing the previous fixed-grip triple chair in the same alignment. This new lift—Arapahoe Basin’s second detachable—brings notable experience improvements, especially for intermediate-level skiers and riders. A-Basin still isn’t even close to the best resort in Colorado for lifts—more than half of its lifts are still slow, and over a quarter of its terrain requires hiking to either reach or get out of—but by bridging the gap in this deficiency, the resort continues to build its value proposition against larger, more developed competitors.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Palisades Tahoe
Lifts Score Change: 6 to 7
Palisades Tahoe saw a massive suite of changes for the 2022-23 season, including the linking of the Palisades (Squaw Valley) and Alpine Meadows sides by lift for the first time. But the resort’s Red Dog upgrade is the primary driver of this score improvement.
Palisades upgraded its nearly three-decade-old Red Dog lift to a high-speed six-pack, cutting down the ride time by over 60%. The Red Dog chair holds down service in one of the resort’s only below-treeline terrain areas, and this upgrade means that guests don’t have to stick to more exposed zones for high-speed lift service. The Red Dog six-pack improves Palisades’ resiliency on stormy days, finally gives the resort some desirable below-treeline terrain, and makes it easier to access high-quality runs directly from the parking lot. All guests of intermediate and better proficiency, especially those who visit earlier in the season, should appreciate the new setup.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Mount Snow
Lifts Score Change: 5 to 6
For the 2022-23 season, Vermont’s Mount Snow saw its biggest suite of investments since the Bluebird Express bubble chair first spun in 2011. First off, the resort replaced the Sunbrook lift with a detachable quad in the same alignment, finally bringing high-speed lift service to this popular area. Additionally, Mount Snow replaced both its Sundance and Tumbleweed lifts with a high-speed six-pack, adding a fourth high-speed lift on the front side of the resort. These lift upgrades make much of Mount Snow’s intermediate terrain more desirable to lap, and they help smooth out crowds, especially on busy days.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Stowe
Lifts Score Change: 7 to 8; Crowd Flow Score Change: 3 to 4; Facilities Score Change: 5 to 6
While it could easily be viewed as just a helper upgrade, the Sunrise Six-Pack upgrade knocked out a lot of Stowe’s problems with just one punch. The new lift adds high-speed lift service to Stowe’s existing green terrain for the first time ever, makes its Mansfield Base Lodge much more accessible, and provides enhanced relief to the popular nearby FourRunner lift thanks to a doubled capacity and halved ride time over the outgoing Mountain Triple. The new lift pod also rarely sees the same crowds as other high-speed lifts on busy days. Ultimately, nearly all Stowe guests will benefit, even if indirectly, from the upgraded setup.
See our full write-up on this change here.
Mount Rose
Lifts Score Change: 7 to 8
Like many of the other lifts on this page, Mount Rose’s Lakeview lift could be viewed as just a helper upgrade. But this new chair brings high-speed service to beginner terrain for the first time and eases the crowds on the neighboring Northwest six-pack during busy times. For regional visitors who are still beginners—and anyone who visits on weekends or holidays—it’s hard not to notice the tangible value.
Our full write-up on this change will be up soon.
Score Adjustments Based on Criteria Recalibrations
Whistler Blackcomb
Crowd Flow Score Change: 7 to 5
Last season, we mentioned that Whistler’s crowds had been getting worse in recent years. But in retrospect, we didn't anticipate just how substantial the crowds could get—particularly on days when unfavorable weather conditions rendered certain mountain areas impractical or even inaccessible. While the resort's lifts still do a decent job of dispersing traffic, the reality of weekend and holiday lines regularly exceeding half an hour in multiple areas has led us to reconsider our previous assessment of Whistler's crowd management setup being above average.
Mammoth
Snow Score Change: 7 to 8; Resiliency Score Change: 8 to 7
Central California’s Mammoth is a funny resort when it comes to on-mountain conditions, boasting strong snow totals and a very long season but wetter accumulation and less consistently cold temperatures than Rockies resorts. Upon reflection, we realize that we had previously given Mammoth a considerable amount of credit in the resiliency aspect due to its extended season, while not fully recognizing the significance of its substantial snowfall given its heavier consistency. Therefore, we have decided to swap the scores for these two criteria. The overall score for Mammoth will remain unchanged, but we believe this update will more accurately highlight the resort's strengths in each individual category.
Banff Sunshine Village and Lake Louise
Challenge Score Changes: 9 to 8
When we first reviewed Banff Sunshine Village and Lake Louise last season, we were blown away by the toughest expert offerings at both resorts, with incredible chutes, couloirs, and cliffs that pushed us to the limit. But in retrospect, we probably let these gnarly lines sway our ratings for both resorts a little bit too much, as these high-consequence areas are not exactly easy to find (and in Banff Sunshine’s case, require avalanche gear to even access). Other resorts that score a 9 for challenge have their extremes more readily accessible, and upon reflection, we feel that a score of 8 in this category is best for both resorts.
Timberline Lodge
Lifts Score Change: 9 to 8
At a first glance, Oregon's year-round Timberline Lodge ski resort impresses with high-speed lift service in every non-beginner mountain area. However, the resort's Palmer lift, which serves the upper third of the mountain, remains inactive through the entire winter season. Additionally, while few guests will ski or ride all the way down to it, there’s no direct lift connection between the beginner-oriented Summit Pass zone and the rest of Timberline's footprint; instead, guests must endure a lengthy shuttle bus ride for their return. Ultimately, only 73% of Timberline's footprint enjoys direct lift access during winter, and in light of this, we now recognize that we previously overrated the resort's on-mountain lift setup.
Stowe
Resiliency Score Change: 7 to 6; Navigation Score Change: 8 to 7
While Stowe’s on-mountain enhancements this winter brought notable improvements, we also caught a couple of categories where we’d probably given it the benefit of the doubt in previous seasons. Stowe’s northern Vermont location allows it to offer more reliable natural snowfall than competitors further south, but its snowmaking isn’t quite as extensive as many of those mountains, and the resort is slower to open many of its trails—especially expert lines—than other mountains with a resiliency score of 7. We also probably shouldn’t have let a navigation score of 8 slip through the cracks; Stowe is still arguably the easiest top-tier Vermont resort to get around, but there are still certain situations that require notable catwalking, making navigation a bit more challenging compared to other mountains we had rated equally highly.
Rankings Takeaways
A few notable rankings shifts have occurred:
Grand Targhee was the biggest beneficiary from these changes, jumping all the way up from 31st to 23rd in our rankings. The resort has jumped ahead of several competitive destinations in Colorado, Utah, Tahoe, and Western Canada.
Jackson Hole has moved up to #2 in the U.S., outranking Snowbird, which is now third in the country. Alta retains the crown in the States by a hair.
Whistler Blackcomb in Canada still remains #1 overall despite the crowd flow score decrease.
Banff Sunshine Village drops from 2nd to 5th in our rankings, with Alta, Snowbird, and Jackson Hole jumping ahead of it.
Vail is now our top Colorado peak, narrowly jumping ahead of Snowmass to claim the state crown. The two resorts earn the same overall Mountain Score, with the tie broken by Vail’s larger skiable footprint.
Lake Louise and Telluride have swapped places, with Telluride moving up to 10th and Lake Louise dropping to 11th.
Mammoth remains the #1 resort in California. The newly-combined Palisades Tahoe puts up a serious fight, now earning the same overall Mountain Score as Mammoth, but higher-quality snow at the latter breaks the tie.
Stowe’s improvements now earn it the same overall Mountain Score as Killington and Tremblant. However, it remains third on the East Coast due to a smaller skiable footprint.
For more information on our methodology, see our ratings thresholds for each Mountain Score category.
