Which US Region Produces the Best Skiers? 3,000 Readers Voted

It’s Sunday, and you know what that means—we’re back with the results of another POWDER Weekly Poll!

This week, we asked, which US region produces the best skiers?

Here’s what 3,554 skiers had to say.

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POWDER Weekly Poll Results

Poll Highlights

• Total Votes: 3,554
• Number of Votes on Instagram: 3,118
• Number of Votes on Website: 436
• Most Popular Option: The Rockies (1,467 votes, 41% of voters)
• Least Popular Option: The Midwest (195 votes, 5% of voters)

Poll Observations

• This question is complicated by the habits of skiers who go on to become stars. Where do big mountain fanatics often gravitate when trying to become a professional? You guessed it. Colorado, Utah, or Wyoming, among others. Hot spots like Alta Ski Area and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort are crawling with skiers from all corners of the country.
• Still, plenty of skiers think that the East Coast is one of the preeminent breeding grounds for rippers. The thinking goes that if you can survive the variable conditions in Maine or Vermont, you can ski anywhere (although this winter, that premise has, at least temporarily, been flipped—the biggest powder totals are stacking up in the Northeast). 
• One possible follow-up question shared on our Instagram had us thinking: “Where is skiing the most financially accessible? Is there a correlation between the affordability of skiing and the quality of skiers from the region?” There’s no denying that the best skiers—at least those that go on to compete at the highest level—are the ones that have access to the best resources, from frequent ski days to top-notch coaches. Neither comes cheap, so perhaps mountains with lower costs of entry churn out more skilled skiers. There are undoubtedly would-be greats who come from families that can’t afford skiing where they live.
• The West Coast was surprisingly low on this list. Why? We aren’t sure. California, Washington, and Oregon all have their fair share of local big names, from Ingrid Backstrom to Sammy Carlson (perhaps less respondents are from the West Coast—more on that later).
• Midwest skiers have gone on to become professionals, too. The street skiing maestro Mike Hornbeck is from Michigan. The hometown of Nick Goepper, an Olympic medal favorite in the halfpipe, is Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
• That brings us to another comment we appreciated: “The best skiers are those that love skiing most. That happens immeasurably everywhere.”

What We Could’ve Done Better

• As one commenter noted, this poll probably reflects the geographic distribution of our followers. Fair enough. The author of this article, who’s from the West Coast, instinctively clicked that option on the poll. At the very least, though, it was interesting to get a rough gauge of where poll respondents were tuning in from. 

About the POWDER Weekly Poll 

We launch our weekly polls at 3 p.m. Eastern Time every Monday. They remain open until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time the following Friday, with the results dropping on Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. You can participate and see the results right here on our website or by visiting our Instagram page.

While you’re at it, drop us a line or leave an Instagram comment if there’s a poll you’d like to see next. Skiers have plenty of opinions and preferences, and we want to know which ones might land on top of the heap.