Arizona Ski Resorts Ranked & Mapped
Similar to its next door neighbor, Arizona does not have a lot of ski resorts.
Arizona Ski Season
Arizona has a surprisingly long ski season, which starts sometime in November and usually lasts until April. In the mountains of the Coconino, Apache and Coronado National Forests, these ski resorts provide quite the respite from the stiflingly oppressive summer heat.
The ski resorts of Arizona typically get anywhere between 150 and 250 inches of snowfall each year.
List of All Arizona Ski Resorts
There aren’t many ski resorts in Arizona. They are pretty well spread throughout the state.
| Resort | Pass | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Snowbowl | Flagstaff, AZ, 86001 | |
| Elk Ridge | Williams, AZ, 86046 | |
| Mt. Lemmon | Mount Lemmon, AZ, 85619 | |
| Sunrise Park | INDY | Greer, AZ, 85927 |
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
The Most Difficult Arizona Ski Resorts
The Arizona Snowbowl is the largest and most difficult ski resort in Arizona. Located only a few miles outside of Flagstaff, it’s been open for over 80 years, which makes it one of the oldest ski resorts in the west. The Snowbowl has a harder than average difficulty, stemming from its 2,800 foot vertical drop and over 70% of trails being intermediate or harder.
The easiest ski resort in Arizona is Elk Ridge, which is also the smallest in the state. However, it is now closed permanently. This leaves Sunrise Park as the easiest, but only by a hair.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Arizona Snowbowl | 22% | 43% | 35% | 59% |
| #2 | Mt. Lemmon | 20% | 38% | 42% | 48% |
| #3 | Sunrise Park | 46% | 28% | 26% | 44% |
The Largest Ski Resorts in New Mexico
As mentioned above, the Snowbowl in Flagstaff is the largest ski resort in Arizona. It has the highest summit elevation and steepest vertical drop. However, Sunrise Park is not too far behind. Sunrise actually has slightly more acres and trails than the Snowbowl.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Base Elevation | Vertical Drop | Acres | Trails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Arizona Snowbowl | 11,500 ft | 9,200 ft | 2,300 ft | 777 | 55 |
| #2 | Sunrise Park | 11,100 ft | 9,200 ft | 1,900 ft | 800 | 65 |
| #3 | Mt. Lemmon | 9,150 ft | 8,200 ft | 950 ft | 200 | 21 |
