There are over 6,000 ski resorts worldwide, but where is the best place to snowboard or ski, and why? Many people travel to specific resorts, but why does it matter what resort it is?

For example, there are two mountains in Utah called Snowbird and Brighton. Snowbird is made up of about 24% snowboarders, and the rest are skiers. Brighten is the opposite, as 69% of people on the mountain are snowboarders while the rest are skiers. 

But what causes these different percentages of skiers and snowboarders? Who the mountains are best for is mainly based on opinion, but what factors are these opinions based on?

Kieran Bauman, a junior at Foothill High said, “My dad is a professional skier, we travel to Utah together a lot. We just got back from Utah and visited both ski resorts, Brighten and Snowbird. We are both intense skiers and noticed how much we love Snowbird compared to Brighten. It was all because of the bumps and the amount of skiers at that resort. When we visited Brighten we noticed immediately all the snowboarders and how different the mountain was made for snowboarders.”

Usually, skiers like mountains with many bumps that aren’t flat. Snowboarders, however, usually hate that environment and cannot ride in those conditions. This is because of the way skiers turn. The bumps provide an obstacle, but because snowboarders don’t make the same turns the bumps don’t affect them in the same way. 

One place where there is usually an even amount of skiers and snowboarders is at parks, which have jumps, boxes and rails. There are parks at many ski resorts, and they do not focus on what someone is riding.

Not every resort is at the same level either. Some places have huge mountains with 165 lifts to go up, but there are also places with around 10 lifts. People who are beginners usually start at resorts with a small amount of lifts because they’re easier to navigate and not as steep as others. The ones with a lot of lifts are typically more intense and favored by veterans. The ski resort in Big Bear is small, but many people go there because they like how it is built.

 Kenna Shuster, a junior at Huntington Beach High School said “I have a place in Big Bear. My family and I try to go every weekend. We love to go because it is a close drive compared to all the other ski resorts. We also love Big Bear more than the rest because we aren’t the most advanced with a bunch of snow and huge mountains, so we really enjoy Big Bear.” 

At smaller resorts, there is usually no specific number of beginners compared to advanced people, and there are many different runs and lifts. Some runs have no jumps or rails, there are parts with a tiny slope for beginners and there is a run that is almost straight down for advanced people. It’s all mainly based on what you are riding, your level, and where you want to travel.