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Here are my top nine personal favorite ski resorts as a professional freeskier:
9. Mount Bachelor, Oregon
This is where I learned to ski. It was a very special place in my heart. I did a full ski season here in the ’96-’97 season when I went to school at Cock on a Rock in Bend, Oregon, baby. Mount batchelor is great for pro skiers because it gets amazing amounts of snow, has a huge snowpack, and has wind lips all over the place that you can do jibs and tricks off of. When the summit does open, there’s a legendary cornice that the best huck their meat off of and try big tricks.
8. Kirkwood, California
This is the second place that I cut my teeth. I spent two seasons at Kirkwood on the U.C. Berkely Ski Team and my first ski bum season in 2001. I loved skiing Once is Enough, the Heart-Shaped Chute, and all that stuff off the ridge like Big Jim’s, etc. Kirkwood is epic for pro skiers because it is full of cliffs, natural hits, chutes, and technical terrain. It doesn’t hurt that it averages 500 inches of snowfall and has solid sidecountry terrain, either.
7. Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a four-letter word for steep. I did my first ever free skiing competition there. Kachina Peak before the chairlift—epic!
6. Alta, Utah
I love Alta. It’s so simple. You get on the Collins chair and ride it all day long, lapping the High T and High Rustler. My favorite thing about Alta is Mount Baldy—they let us ski it before and after they’re open, and then again during the season once Patrol drops the rope on it.
5. Kicking Horse, British Columbia
I spent two months there in 2018. The sidecountry is insane. It’s like the Jackson Hole of the North–chutes and pillows. They’ve got 86 inbound chutes alone. Then you go out-of-bounds, and it just gets wild. The avalanche danger there is gnarly, so you must be on top of your game.
4. Revelstoke, British Columbia
I’ve spent a lot of time at Revelstoke, and for good reason. The pillows, crazy backcountry, and the sidecountry from Revelstoke are so good. You’ve got Rogers Pass right there–that area might be Earth’s one and only true ski paradise.
3. Mammoth Mountain, California
For the past 15-plus years, I have spent almost every May in Mammoth. Its terrain park is insane, and the grooming is so good. They salt everything. It’s a huge, beautiful mountain, and the Eastern Sierra all around it has some of the best skiing on Earth.
2. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
I have spent a ton of time there, and I’ve been partially based there since 2017. The sidecountry of Jackson Hole is on another planet. It’s phenomenal—it’s insane. It’s top-to-bottom, with three to four-thousand-foot powder runs, scary chutes, and airs. It is so insane out there. I love Jackson Hole.
1. Palisades Tahoe, California
I love this place. KT-22, The Fingers, Granite Chief, backflips off the Palisades, V Rock, I could go on and on and on. This has been my home base for over a decade now. In my opinion, Palisades Tahoe has the best inbounds terrain in North America.
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