Vista Ridge
Vista Ridge is a ski area located in the province of Alberta in Canada. The resort is in the town of Fort McMurray, AB.
We recently ranked all of Alberta's ski resorts, so you can see where Vista Ridge stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Vista Ridge is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Vista Ridge. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Vista Ridge's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Vista Ridge around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Vista Ridge Terrain Overview
Vista Ridge has a total of 53 ski trails, which are serviced by 5 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Vista Ridge is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 35 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 14 hectares, 0.1 square miles, or 0.1 square kilometers.
Vista Ridge's slopes see on average 63 inches (1.6 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
53
Lifts
5
Skiable Acres
35(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
63"(160 cm)
Vista Ridge Elevation
Vista Ridge has a summit elevation of 1,230 feet, or 375 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 820 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 410 feet (125 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Vista Ridge has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,230'(375 m)
Vertical Drop
410'(125 m)
Base Elevation
820'(250 m)
Vista Ridge Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
24.7out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski 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.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Vista Ridge has 35 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Since Vista Ridge is an extremely beginner-friendly ski area, it has 45% of its trails are rated as "beginner-level". 40% trails are rated as intermediate.
Beginner
45%(16 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
40%(14 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
15%(5 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Vista Ridge good for beginners?
Vista Ridge is a very beginner-friendly course. In fact, it is one of the easiest ski slopes in all of North America, ranking in the bottom 10% of overall difficulty. 45% of its trails are rated as "beginner".
Vista Ridge Location
Vista Ridge is located in the province of Alberta, Canada. This ski area is nearest the town of Fort McMurray, AB.
Address:
Fort McMurray, AB T9H Canada
View on Google Maps
Website:
vistaridge.ab.ca
GPS Coordinates:
56.66200, -111.13400
Getting to Vista Ridge
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Vista Ridge), its coordinates of 56.66200, -111.13400 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Fort McMurray, AB to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Vista Ridge.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort McMurray Airport | YMM | Fort McMurray, AB | 5 km |
| Fort Chipewyan Airport | YPY | Fort Chipewyan, AB | 234 km |
| Bonnyville Airport | YBY | Bonnyville, AB | 263 km |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Vista Ridge, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Vista Ridge.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|
Vista Ridge Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,230 ft |
| Base Elevation | 820 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 410 ft |
| Trails | 53 (45% Beginner, 40% Intermediate, 15% Expert) |
| Lifts | 5 |
| Skiable Acres | 35 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 63 inches |