The chairlift was based on a banana loader
Union Pacific invented the first chairlift in 1936 for its new Sun Valley resort in Idaho. Engineer Jim Curran adapted a system used to load bunches of bananas onto boats, replacing the hooks with chairs.
Ski Resorts in the USA
15 resorts with real-time weather data
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USA ski resort map
USA has 530 ski resorts by skiresort.com's count. Find Powder carries live snow reports for 15 of them, mapped here with the main cities and the airports that serve them. Zoom in to see every name, or jump straight to a region.
Pinch or use the buttons to zoom, drag to move around, or pick a region above. On a computer, hold Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) and scroll.
- Ski resort
- City
- Airport
California (2)
- Mammoth Mountain · 3,369m · snow history
- Squaw Valley · 2,758m · snow history
Colorado (6)
- Aspen Snowmass · 3,812m · snow history
- Beaver Creek · 3,488m · snow history
- Breckenridge · 3,962m · snow history
- Steamboat · 3,220m · snow history
- Telluride · 3,875m · snow history
- Vail · 3,528m · snow history
Idaho (1)
- Sun Valley · 3,048m · snow history
Montana (1)
- Big Sky · 3,418m · snow history
Utah (4)
- Alta · 3,258m · snow history
- Deer Valley · 3,000m · snow history
- Park City · 3,230m · snow history
- Snowbird · 3,354m · snow history
Wyoming (1)
- Jackson Hole · 3,185m · snow history
Airports for skiing in the USA
The airports with scheduled flights closest to the USA resorts we cover, nearest first. Several of the best gateways are across the border. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance — mountain roads can easily double them.
- Salt Lake CitySLC
36 km to Snowbird, with 4 of the resorts on this map within 150 km.
- Reno TahoeRNO
52 km to Squaw Valley.
- Fresno YosemiteFAT
113 km to Mammoth Mountain.
- DenverDEN
124 km to Breckenridge, with 2 of the resorts on this map within 150 km.
- SacramentoSMF
130 km to Squaw Valley.
- City of Colorado Springs MunicipalCOS
138 km to Breckenridge.
- Boise Air Terminal/Gowen FieldBOI
150 km to Sun Valley.
- Oakland San Francisco BayOAK
238 km to Squaw Valley.
Cities on the map
Denver — 95 km from the nearest resort · Salt Lake City — 28 km from the nearest resort · Reno — 52 km from the nearest resort · Fresno — 118 km from the nearest resort · Sacramento — 129 km from the nearest resort · Colorado Springs — 127 km from the nearest resort · Provo — 39 km from the nearest resort · New York City — 2,713 km from the nearest resort · San Jose — 252 km from the nearest resort · Draper — 19 km from the nearest resort
Map shapes: Natural Earth. Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Cities: GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Distances are straight-line from the airport or city to the nearest resort on this page.
USA skiing and snowboarding facts
The USA recorded more skier visits than any other country in 2024/25. The chairlift was invented there, and the modern snowboard grew from the Snurfer, created in Michigan in 1965.
530
Ski resorts
10,996 km
Of slopes
3,073
Ski lifts
61.6m
Skier visits 2024/25
USA has 530 ski resorts by skiresort.com's count, with 10,996 km of slopes served by 3,073 lifts. In the 2024/25 season they recorded 61.6 million skier visits. Counts differ between sources, because each draws the line between a ski resort and a village tow in a different place.
Largest ski area
250 km
Big Sky Resort
Highest ski area
3,914m
Breckenridge
Biggest vertical
1,340m
Snowmass
Snowboarding began with two skis braced together
In 1965 Michigan's Sherman Poppen created the Snurfer by cross-bracing two skis and adding a string at the front for steering. He sold close to a million of them by 1970.
Snowboarding reached the Olympics in 1998
Snowboarding made its first Olympic appearance at Nagano in 1998, with men's and women's giant slalom and halfpipe.
Figures describe USA as a whole, not just the resorts we track. Skier visits are shown only where a national industry body or two independent reports agree.