The ski industry is turning up the volume this season – not with cheap thrills, but with sharper, smarter energy. There are new trails, new flights and new reasons to visit the world’s most coveted peaks. Luxury is getting more fluid and, much like the rest of the travel industry, turning its attention towards experiences.
Diversity is finding its footing like never before, too, and even the smaller resorts in less-visited destinations are offering serious reasons to rethink the same old, same old this year.
Still, there’s also something to be said about the staying power and iconic status of the sport’s longest standing resorts: Whistler and Jackson Hole, for example, are celebrating their 60th anniversaries this winter, and both are still at the top of their game.
Utah
Stay: Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, Park City Utah
Efficient and polished, Utah has quietly become America’s smartest ski state. Salt Lake City is easily reached via numerous direct flights, making it a convenient option for even a weekend trip if you’re coming from the coast.
A lot of Colorado’s best resorts require temperamental connecting flights or a harrowing drive up I-70, but here you can get from Salt Lake City International to clinking champagne at the Pendry Park City in approximately 45 minutes.
This season brings the debut of the new Sunrise Gondola at Park City Mountain Resort, nearly doubling uphill capacity and easing the dreaded morning queue. Deer Valley, meanwhile, unveils the final phase of its historic Expanded Excellence plans: a monumental expansion of approximately 3,700 skiable acres. This means more than doubling the size of the resort and adding nearly 80 new runs and seven chairlifts, as well as a glittering Grand Hyatt in its new East Village base area.
Over at Sundance, founded by the late Robert Redford, the new Inn at Sundance brings a proper hotel experience to the beloved ski area, which until now offered mostly privately owned rental homes.
Chile
Stay: Hotel HF
After the Northern Hemisphere’s spring snows have melted, set your sights on Chile’s jagged, breathtakingly high peaks. The Andes have long been a secret weapon for those who crave year-round skiing, but they’re about to become even more attractive.
The Durango, Colorado-based Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) has acquired the country’s largest ski resort, Valle Nevado, and its neighboring resort La Parva, investing more than US$4 million (about €3.4 million) in infrastructure and hospitality updates.
MCP also has designs on buying further local resorts that, if successful, would make this the largest interconnected ski resort area in the Western Hemisphere, on the same scale as Italy’s Dolomiti Superski or France’s Les 3 Vallées, and larger than Canada’s Whistler.
An easy two-hour drive from Santiago and strong snow forecasts, Chile is one region to watch. Ski it now before all your friends do.
Idaho
Stay: Sun Valley Resort
Value resorts feel cool again – and Idaho leads the way. Tamarack Resort is surging in popularity thanks to its lodge and expansion plans. Sun Valley, of course, remains the area’s most popular retreat – Hemingway used to escape there.
But there are hidden gems, too, such as Schweitzer. The resort is emerging from a facelift spanning a boutique hotel, spa, high-speed lift and backcountry center offering cat-skiing.
Check out Schweitzer’s Kids Ski Free Week, when children can ride at no cost. The resort also offers a Fly Alaska, Ski Free promotion through which guests arriving on Alaska Airlines can show their boarding pass for a complimentary lift ticket.
The Dolomites
Stay: Aman Rosa Alpina, San Cassiano
The Italian Alps are having their moment thanks to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, which have spurred a massive transformation of hospitality.
Dolomiti Superski, an almost unknowably vast, interconnected web of peaks and valleys, is the heart of the action. There are new gondolas and extended terrain, but also a cultural evolution: cooking classes, art installations on the slopes, and skiing that’s as fine as anywhere in the Alps.
Cortina d’Ampezzo, the glittering unofficial capital, leads the charge. Aman Resorts opened Aman Rosa Alpina in neighboring San Cassiano, and the forthcoming The First Cortina hotel (opening in summer) promises a sleek counterpoint to the town’s Romanesque architecture.
In the vast, rich context of the Alps, the Dolomites stand out as strikingly authentic and culturally satisfying. Bookings are approaching record levels, driven by the combination of quality and the desire for something a little different.
Colorado
Stay: Kindred Resort
The Centennial State is a classic ski destination, but this season it’s also at the forefront of reinvention. At Keystone, the Kindred Resort finally opens its doors, giving the area its first true luxury hotel.
Beaver Creek, Vail’s more intimate and sophisticated sibling, is expanding its beloved food festival The Alpine Table with local chef collaborations. And Colorado’s resorts will host events championing diversity: the National Brotherhood of Snowsports Black Ski Summit at Keystone and the annual Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center Day of Inclusion, a powerful statement of adaptive recreation across the resort.
Of course, Aspen continues to be Aspen, the epicenter of the sport. The Aspen Meadows Resort has added barrel saunas and recovery programs that make rest day a worthy inclusion on any itinerary, and February brings the highly anticipated debut of the White Elephant Aspen, a design-driven hotel with other locations in Palm Beach and Nantucket. That opening will stand out even in Aspen’s crowded luxury hotel scene.
Add it all up and Colorado remains the most robust ski experience in North America: luxurious yet inclusive, approachable yet thrilling enough to satiate the daredevils.
Hokkaido, Japan
Stay: Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Deep powder and cultural immersion are the name of the game in Japan’s ski scene. Resorts are opening for longer seasons, infrastructure is improving and more eyes than ever are on this corner of the globe.
Niseko remains the alpha and omega, and this year will see night skiing extended through March as well as spring operations running to early May. Visiting in April? Check out Swatch Nines (6-11 April), the famed freestyle skiing and snowboarding competition, which is bringing its death-defying jumps to Japan for the first time.
Elsewhere in Japan, a new US$1.4 billion (about €1.2 billion) mega-resort project in the town of Myoko has stirred debate about balancing economic benefit while curbing overdevelopment. If you’re buying lift tickets, expect to encounter the new two-tiered pricing system, where foreign visitors pay more.
Alterra Mountain Company is also adding seven new resorts – including Shiga Kogen Mountain Resort and Furano Ski Resort – so there will be more visitors than ever to East Asia’s ski destination.
