Planning to Head for the Hills? Here’s Who Has the Goods

With the vernal equinox just around the corner — March 19 to be exact — perhaps it’s time to starting thinking about a spring fling in the mountains.

But where, exactly, should one consider taking a holiday this time of year?

It generally depends on a multitude of factors — is it a family holiday or is it a partying get-away or is it something in the middle — but the most common denominator is whether there’s any snow or not.

Rest assured, vacation planners, that there is plenty of product to go around. Some resorts just have more of it than others is all.

The Pacific Northwest and the northern and north-central Rockies have been pounded this winter — for instance, Mt. Baker in Washington has received 517 inches of snow this winter while Snowbird in Utah and Jackson Hole in Wyoming are in the mid-400-inch range. Meanwhile, it’s been relatively lean times for the Sierra — Mammoth Mountain  in California has had just a paltry 147 inches of snow this season— and the mountains of the East Coast.

With that in mind, here’s a brief rundown of who’s got what around North America.

Rockies

The 10 resorts with the biggest reported snowpacks are:

• Whitefish, Montana, with a 10-foot, 11-inch base
• Alta, Utah, 10 feet, 3 inches
• Snowbird, Utah, 10 feet, 1 inch
• Big White, British Columbia, 9 feet, 11 inches
• Whitewater, British Columbia, 9 feet, 6 inches
• Fernie, British Columbia, 9 feet, 6 inches
• Schweitzer, Idaho, 9 feet, 2 inches
• Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 8 feet, 8 inches
• Grand Targhee, Wyoming, 8 feet, 8 inches
• Revelstoke, British Columbia, 8 feet, 6 inches

West Coast

The 10 resorts with the biggest reported snowpacks are:

• Alpental, Washington, with an 18-foot, 2-inch base
• Mt. Baker, Washington, 16 feet, 4 inches
• Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon, 14 feet, 9 inches
• Mount Seymour, British Columbia, 12 feet, 7 inches
• Timberline, Oregon, 12 feet
• Grouse Mountain, British Columbia, 11 feet, 9 inches,
• Alyeska, Alaska, 11 feet, 4 inches
• Cypress Mountain, British Columbia, 10 feet, 11 inches
• Crystal Mountain, Washington, 9 feet, 8 inches
• Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, 8 feet 5 inches

East Coast

The eight resorts with the biggest reported snowpacks are:

• Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont, with an 11-foot base
• Whiteface, New York, 9 feet, 6 inches
• Snowshoe, West Virginia, 8 feet, 6 inches
• Stowe, Vermont, 7 feet, 7 inches
• Okemo, Vermont, 7 feet, 2 inches
• Killington, Vermont, 6 feet, 4 inches
• Le Massif, Quebec, 5 feet, 11 inches
• Sugarloaf, Maine, 5 feet, 1 inch

Midwest

The six resorts with the biggest reported snowpacks are:

• Granite Peak, Wisconsin, 8 feet, 10 inches
• Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota, 6 feet
• Boyne Highlands, Michigan, 4 feet, 4 inches
• Boyne Mountain, Michigan, 3 feet, 6 inches
• Mt. Bohemia, Michigan, 3 feet, 4 inches
• Blue Mountain, Ontario, 3 feet, 1 inch