Ratings Adjustment: Alta, Snowbird, and Breckenridge Lift Scores
We recently used an acreage calculator to estimate the hike-to acreage—or in other words, the amount of terrain not directly accessible by lifts—for several resorts. This information is not publicly available for every resort, leading us to go this route. We previously used this methodology to determine the hike-to acres for most Rockies and West Coast resorts, but regrettably, we did not get to all of our Tahoe, Colorado, and Utah-reviewed areas until now.
Alta, Snowbird, and Breckenridge are among the resorts we’ve assessed within the past few days. Based off of our methodology, the hike-to footprint for these resorts mandates a decrease in their lift scores. We also found some potential discrepancies with acreage numbers at some Tahoe resorts; however, we’ll elaborate on these at a future date.
In addition, we discovered that the Alta acreage number we had been using included approximately 400 acres that, while technically within the resort boundary, were marked as out of bounds and only accessible via paid cat skiing. Alta adjusted their claimed acreage to include this terrain for the 2018-19 season, and we feel that their pre-2018 claim of 2,200 acres best represents truly in-bounds terrain.
With these new numbers, Alta’s size score has dropped from a 8 to a 7, given the excluded 412 acres. The resort’s lift score drops from a 7 to a 6, given 500 hike-to acres within the resort’s remaining terrain.
Snowbird’s lift score drops from an 8 to a 7, given 350 acres of the resort’s terrain are hike-to. Breckenridge’s lift score drops from a 7 to a 6, given 838 hike-to acres.
Alta drops down to a tie with Snowbird as the top Utah resort. Breckenridge drops to a tie with Copper for sixth in Colorado. With these adjustments, Jackson Hole is now our top-rated U.S. resort.
Alta Score Change
8
Previous Size Score
7
New Size Score
7
Previous Lift Score
6
New Lift Score
83
Previous Overall Score
81
New Overall Score
Snowbird Score Change
8
Previous Lift Score
7
New Lift Score
82
Previous Overall Score
81
New Overall Score
Breckenridge Score Change
7
Previous Lift Score
6
New Lift Score
74
Previous Overall Score
73
New Overall Score
