The Most Challenging Ski Areas in the Southwest
When thinking of the Southwest Region of the US, skiing is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Sure… Utah is known to have some of the best skiing in the US, but the rest of the states? Well, you’d be surprised.
Explaining our Criteria
Here at Parks & Trips, we created a proprietary Difficulty Score thats generated by combining a number of metrics for each resort. Primarily, we look at the count 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.
Snowbasin: The Most Difficult Ski Resort in the Southwest
Snowbasin, in the Cottonwoods, comes out on top due to its close to 3,000 vertical feet and well over half of its trails being rated for experts only. Nearby Park City comes in second place.
60% of the top ten most challenging ski resorts in the Southwest are located in Utah. New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada have the remaining difficult ski resorts. Texas is the only Southwest state that does not have a ski slope in our top 25.
Taos Ski Valley, NM narrowly rounds out the top three, just barely over Alta. It comes out on top because of its super high summit elevation and insane level of expert-only trails.
Top 25 Challenging Southwest Ski Resorts
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elev. | Vertical Drop | Expert Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Snowbasin (UT) | 9,350 ft | 2,950 ft | 58% | 78.5% |
| #2 | Park City Mountain (UT) | 10,026 ft | 3,190 ft | 50% | 78.0% |
| #3 | Park City (Park City Mountain) (UT) | 10,026 ft | 3,126 ft | 48% | 76.2% |
| #4 | Canyons Village at Park City (UT) | 9,990 ft | 3,190 ft | 46% | 75.8% |
| #5 | Taos Ski Valley (NM) | 12,481 ft | 3,131 ft | 51% | 73.4% |
| #6 | Alta Ski Area (UT) | 11,068 ft | 2,538 ft | 55% | 71.4% |
| #7 | Lee Canyon (NV) | 11,289 ft | 2,779 ft | 45% | 71.1% |
| #8 | Solitude Mountain (UT) | 10,488 ft | 2,494 ft | 50% | 70.2% |
| #9 | Deer Valley (UT) | 9,570 ft | 3,000 ft | 42% | 67.5% |
| #10 | Snowbird (UT) | 11,000 ft | 3,240 ft | 35% | 67.2% |
| #11 | Sundance (UT) | 8,250 ft | 2,150 ft | 47% | 62.4% |
| #12 | Mount Rose (NV) | 9,700 ft | 1,800 ft | 50% | 60.3% |
| #13 | Powder Mountain (UT) | 9,422 ft | 2,522 ft | 35% | 60.3% |
| #14 | Arizona Snowbowl (AZ) | 11,500 ft | 2,300 ft | 35% | 58.8% |
| #15 | Brighton (UT) | 10,500 ft | 1,875 ft | 39% | 56.3% |
| #16 | Diamond Peak (NV) | 8,540 ft | 1,840 ft | 36% | 55.5% |
| #17 | Ski Santa Fe (NM) | 12,075 ft | 1,725 ft | 40% | 55.4% |
| #18 | Eagle Point (UT) | 10,600 ft | 1,500 ft | 45% | 55.2% |
| #19 | Angel Fire (NM) | 10,677 ft | 2,077 ft | 23% | 51.8% |
| #20 | Beaver Mountain (UT) | 8,860 ft | 1,700 ft | 35% | 51.8% |
| #21 | Ski Apache (NM) | 12,000 ft | 1,900 ft | 20% | 49.0% |
| #22 | Sipapu (NM) | 9,255 ft | 1,055 ft | 40% | 48.5% |
| #23 | Pajarito (NM) | 10,440 ft | 1,440 ft | 30% | 48.4% |
| #24 | Mt. Lemmon (AZ) | 9,150 ft | 950 ft | 42% | 48.2% |
| #25 | Nordic Valley (Wolf Mountain) (UT) | 6,400 ft | 1,400 ft | 30% | 48.0% |
