The 6 Best Spring Skiing Resorts in North America Spring skiing is a sacred activity in North America. The seriousness of winter was gradually worn away as skier’s and rider’s furrowed brows soften due to playful spring snow conditions, the skin of members of the opposite sex, and strong alcoholic beverages. In North American ski towns, spring is about renewal, alternate activities, goofy costumes, snowller blades, hot tubs, and live music. Many ski resort offer some sort of combination of the above mention sacred springtime activities but only a few offer up the whole enchilada. These are the chosen ones: […] Industry News SnowBrains | February 22, 2025 4 Comments
The Top 5 Chairlifts in the Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest of the USA is very likely the snowiest region on Earth. The average annual snowfall in Oregon and Washington is ridiculous and Mt. Baker ski resort still holds the world record for the most snowfall in a single season at 1,140 inches of snow. Knowing this, you’re going to want to optimize your skiing and riding experience in the Pacific Northwest to make sure you ride as much of that snow as you possibly can. To do […] SnowBrains | June 6, 2022 12 Comments
Top Snowiest Ski Resorts in the USA: It’s no secret that the West gets the most snow. Cold fronts come down from the Gulf of Alaska, hit our North-South oriented mountain ranges, and orographic lifting does the rest. There are 10 ski resort in the west that average over 500” of snow. Sometimes, we don’t realize how lucky we are. These snowfall average compete with anywhere in the world…except Japan. The list below displays the largest annual snowfall averages in North America per ski resort. LARGEST SNOWFALL AVERAGES IN NORTH AMERICA: […] SnowBrains | June 7, 2021 8 Comments
Could You Survive An Unplanned Night Out in the Mountains? Last week, eight of my friends spent an unplanned night in the mountains in a rainstorm in Japan. They spent the night out on a deep snowpack at about 1,600 meters (5,250 ft). It was the worst night of the year to spend a night out. There was even lightning and thunder this night. After they got back and had a few days to digest everything I asked them a few questions about their trip. I wanted to know what gear they had with them, what they did that worked, and what gear they wish they had with them. […] Featured Article Miles Clark | February 10, 2021 10 Comments
How to Become a Ski Bum in 5 Easy Steps: First of all, I’d like to say that this is my personal view of how to become a ski bum. Obviously, there a few ways to pull off the ski bum thing. In my experience, the elements listed below are key to making it happen. I’m certainly eager to hear how others have made it work. 1. Get Rid of Your Car Cars are expensive and unnecessary to a real ski bum. If you wanna be a ski bum, you need to get rid of that gas guzzling, money burning, stress inducing, metal nightmare that society […] Featured Article Miles Clark | May 7, 2020 30 Comments
Top 9 Snowiest Ski Resorts in the Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest of the United States of America is the snowiest place in North America. It may be the snowiest place in the world. The two states making up the bulk of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon & Washington, have very few ski resorts that receive under 400 inches of snow annually & Mt. Baker has the world record for annual snowfall at 1,100 inches of snow. The Pacific Northwest is the king of snowfall, yet it continues to fly […] SnowBrains | October 5, 2019 16 Comments
The Top 9 Snowiest Ski Resorts in North America: It’s no secret that the West gets the most snow. Cold fronts come down from the Gulf of Alaska, hit our North-South oriented mountain ranges, and orographic lifting does the rest. There are 10 ski resort in the west that average over 500” of snow. Sometimes, we don’t realize how lucky we are. These snowfall average compete with anywhere in the world…except Japan. The list below displays the largest annual snowfall averages in North America per ski resort. It’s no secret that the West gets the most snow. Cold fronts come down from the Gulf of Alaska, hit our North-South oriented […] SnowBrains | September 30, 2019 58 Comments
Friday Fun: Top 9 Ski Resort Breweries in the United States of America Having a good brewery in your ski town is key. If you have a good brewery in town, you worship it. If you don’t, you long for one. USA Today put together there list of the best ski resort breweries in the USA and Bend, Oregon’s Dechutes Brewery took top honors. Bend is located adjacent to 9,068-foot Mt. Bachelor ski resort and its 463 inches of average annual snowfall. After a solid powder day, […] Friday Fun SnowBrains | September 20, 2019 10 Comments
Bend, Oregon = Highest Brewery per Capita in USA + 463” of Snowfall per Year “Among cities in beer-crazy Oregon, Bend now has the most craft breweries per capita. Some locals have started calling this ‘Beer City USA.’ More breweries are opening soon.” – Seattle Times Bend, Oregon has 17 breweries, one great ski resort (Mt. Bachelor), & a population of 80,000. That’s a brewery for every 4,205 humans in Bend. According the the Seattle Times quote above, this gives bend the highest micro-brewery per capita in the nation and the title of ‘Beer City USA.’ This makes Bend an extremely attractive place to visit for all of us snow/beer freaks out there. It doesn’t hurt that Mt. Bachelor averages 463” of snow each winter, either… […] Featured Article SnowBrains | December 12, 2017 17 Comments
How To Forecast Mountain Weather: Being able to forecast mountain weather is a crucial skill when traveling or living in mountainous terrain. Wether you’re deep in the backcountry, at a ski resort, completely lost, driving over a mountain pass, or chillin’ in a backcountry cabin, it’s important to understand what the skies are telling you about the coming weather. If you are deep in the backcountry, being able to forecast mountain weather could save your life. Below are a few tips that will help us all forecast mountain weather when in the mountains. Weather is always very unpredictable and these tips aren’t 100% fool-proof, but these are good tools to keep in you […] Weather SnowBrains | August 10, 2017 4 Comments
“What Rescue Gear Do You Take Into the Backcountry?” Many of us spend a lot of time in the backcountry without thinking of self rescue. If something does go wrong it can go exponentially wrong and your partner’s life can end up resting square in your hands. If your partner gets hurt, you’re certainly going to ask yourself these 3 important questions below. I asked these three questions to my ski partners today and below are their answers. There is some great insight into what rescue gear we should all be carrying when we venture into the backcountry. Q1. What rescue gear do you have with you in the backcountry? Q2. Can you […] Featured Article Miles Clark | June 20, 2016 6 Comments
Why Does the Pacific Northwest Get SO Much Snow? It’s no secret that the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America receives copious amounts of snow. Oregon and Washington get hammered every winter with constant snowstorms all season long. There’s really no such thing as a bad winter in the Pacific Northwest… Mt. Baker in Washington has the world record for annual snowfall at 1,140 inches in a single year and they average 655” […] Weather SnowBrains | February 4, 2016 11 Comments
Great Star Wars Parody: Snow Wars… Mt. Bachelor Strikes Back “It’s a dark time for the local ski bum. Between global warming, corporate powder, and taking selfies, fresh tracks and face shots seem more elusive than ever. But, a new hope sits on the horizon. A forecast for an epic dump overnight brings the local ski bums to gather at the local ski shop/ bike shop/ coffee house/ hipster bar to bask in the stoke of the impending schralpage…” So begins Snow Wars: Mt. Bachelor Strikes Back, the killer Star Wars parody brought to you by 88 […] SnowBrains | May 4, 2015 0 Comments
18 Ski Resorts OPEN in North America This Weekend A lot of ski areas on this list were dormant during the week but will be erupting to life this weekend with no holding back. Nearly every ski resort on this list will have live music, food, beer, bikinis, and good times this weekend. If you’re not completely over winter, and you’re a near one of these ski resorts, we strongly recommend getting a fun spring skiing costume together, an assortment of grill-able meats, and your favorite beverages of choice and getting yourself up to the hill. Park, pipe, shorts, bikinis, hot tubs, hot springs, ice cream, beer, beer guts, sunglasses, stinky sunscreen, hot dogs, ball caps, sunburns, and costumes. […] SnowBrains | May 1, 2015 0 Comments
Top 10 Deepest Snowpacks in the USA: There are still 11 ski resorts open in the USA right now. A few of them still have some hefty snowpacks. April was good to many ski resorts in the West including the biggest storm of the season for Utah. Tahoe also saw its largest storm of the year in April, but no one remains open in Tahoe. Mammoth is still rockin’ though and should stay open into mid-May. The East Coast continues to dominate the season with recent snowfalls boosting their snowpack numbers. […] Industry News SnowBrains | April 29, 2015 0 Comments
18 Ski Resorts STILL OPEN in North America: Ski season just ratcheted down another notch today with another tier of ski resorts closing for the season. Luckily, 17 ski resorts are still open and rockin’. Oregon, California, Colorado, Maine, Utah, Vermont, and Canada are still in the game. For many of us, spring skiing is the best time of year and this year is no exception. Park, pipe, shorts, bikinis, hot tubs, hot springs, ice cream, beer, beer guts, sunglasses, stinky sunscreen, hot dogs, ball caps, sunburns, and costumes. Lets do this. […] Industry News SnowBrains | April 27, 2015 2 Comments
23 Ski Resorts STILL OPEN in North America: Skiing and riding is still very much a thing in USA. While many ski resorts called it quits yesterday, many others are powering through deeper into April and some into May. For many of us, spring skiing is the best time of year and this year is no exception. Park, pipe, shorts, bikinis, hot tubs, hot springs, ice cream, beer, beer guts, sunglasses, stinky sunscreen, hot dogs, ball caps, sunburns, and costumes. Lets do this. For many of us, spring skiing is the best time of year and this year is no exception. […] SnowBrains | April 20, 2015 2 Comments
The 6 Ski Resorts Still OPEN in the Pacific Northwest: The Pacific Northwest of the USA has only 5 ski resorts still open. It was a strange year up there, but these resorts are still kicking and there is still fun to be had. The higher elevation ski resorts such as Mt. Bachelor have well this year as they’ve been able to avoid lower elevation rains and hang onto the snow they have. Bachelor still has a 94″ base a mid-mountain. The Pacific Northwest of the USA has only 5 ski resorts still open. It was a strange year up there, but these resorts are still kicking and there is still fun to be had. The higher elevation ski resorts such as Mt. Bachelor have well […] SnowBrains | April 10, 2015 5 Comments
Top 7 Best Spring Skiing Destinations for 2015: Spring skiing is one of the best times of year in North America if not the best time of year. Shorts, T-shirts, bikinis, beers, BBQs, skateboards, bikes, pond crossings, sunglasses, hot tubs, pools, sunscreen, sunburns, park jumps, half pipes, corn skiing, picnics, hot springs, ice cream, swimming, road trips, backcountry, good times, and good friends. Unfortunately, much of western North American doesn’t have the snowpack to deliver spring skiing this year. Thus, we need to be intelligent with where we choose to spend […] SnowBrains | April 1, 2015 0 Comments
9-15″ of Snow Forecast for Mt. Bachelor, OR Mt. Bachelor ski resort in Bend, OR has the deepest snowpack on the West Coast at 88″ and they’re about to add over a foot of snow to that base. NOAA has 9-15″ of snow forecast for Bachelor on Monday and Tuesday. Bachelor has gotten 6″ in the past week and the photo above proves that it was fun. We have an active weather day today. Currently it is snowing in the Cascades. Snow levels are around 3000-4000 ft. We have a winter weather advisory in effect for the Cascades, and are expecting snow totals of around 5-9 inches in the North Oregon/South Washington Cascades, and snow totals of around 7-12 inches […] Weather SnowBrains | March 23, 2015 0 Comments