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Skiers pick their favorite destinations for this winter's ski season
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Skiers' choice: Colorado grabs top spots in survey of North American slopes
Mail from the trail: What's YOUR favorite ski resort?
December 14, 1998
Web posted at: 3:31 p.m. EST (2031 GMT)
(CNN) -- Colorado is apparently a kind of skier's nirvana.
The state's ski resorts garnered eight of the top 10 spots in a ranking of North America's 50 best resorts by readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
The top 10 are:
Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, Vail, Colorado.
Sonnenalp Resort, Vail, Colorado.
Chateau Whistler Resort, Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia.
Vail Marriott Mountain Resort, Vail, Colorado.
Lodge at Vail, Vail, Colorado.
Vail Cascade Hotel and Club, Vail, Colorado.
St. Regis, Aspen, Colorado.
Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa, Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Banff Springs, Sunshine Village, Banff-Mt. Norquay, Alberta.
Peaks Resort and Spa, Telluride, Colorado.
Condé Nast surveyed 1,539 readers in its 1998 ski poll, asking them to evaluate 154 ski resorts in 54 mountain areas of North America. Eight-four percent of the respondents ranked themselves as intermediate, advanced intermediate or expert on the slopes.
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Best Town Ambience
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1. Vail
2. Lake Placid-Whiteface Mountain, New York
3. Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia
4. Park City, Utah
5. Crested Butte, Colorado
6. Mont Tremblant, Quebec
7. Sun Valley, Idaho
8. Sunshine-Banff-Mt. Norquay, Alberta
9. Okemo, Vermont
Source: Condé Nast Traveler (Dec. 1998)
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The skiers were asked to judge resorts based on terrain and conditions, accommodations, town ambience/amenities, lifts and lines, food and service. The December issue of the magazine details the results of the survey.
Why are the best the best? Here are some highlights of the top five, according to Condé Nast Traveler's survey:
Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, The survey noted Vail, Colorado, has an "exclusive, European air" and provides easy access to the Vail slopes that earned it top honors in the survey's terrain and conditions ranking. Many rooms have fireplaces, down comforters and terraces. The resort also offers free transportation to Vail and Beaver Creek, a family-oriented ski area.
Sonnenalp Resort is made up of three houses in Vail Village. It's called "quaint and intimate" and is said to "bring the massiveness of Vail down to a homey level." Tops in the survey for food.
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Chateau Whistler Resort in Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia, sprawls at the base of Blackcomb Mountain, which is the location of North America's highest lift-assisted vertical drop, at 5,280 feet (1,584 meters). Blackcomb is a wide-open, glacier-formed peak, while Whistler Mountain offers "more chiseled tree runs" and has the village, with its shops and restaurants, at its base.
Condé Nast Traveler readers like the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort because it offers "convenience and affordability." A few years ago, the resort enlarged its health club and added shops in the lobby. A few minutes' walk from Lionshead Gondola, the Vail Marriott is "not smack in town or on the mountain, but close enough." Nearby Lionshead offers entertainment and dining.
If you stay at the Lodge at Vail, "you can practically feel the breeze from the Vista Bahn chairs" as they swoop by, according to the magazine. The hotel is the oldest in town, dating to the 1960s. Last year, it was renovated, adding a new wing and a Tuscan restaurant. Nearby Game Creek Bowl has "short runs that are great for intermediates."
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