1. An Evaluation of the Best Ski Areas in the Northwest, U.S By Dan Restivo

2. Objective To create spatial data for all 60 ski areas in the Northwest U.S—Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. To evaluate ski areas based on the their performance in important categories of information and rank ski areas from the best (#1) to the worst (#60)

3. Fields MTN_Name: The name of the ski area State: The name abbreviation of the state in which the ski area is located Mdwk_Price: The cost of a full day adult lift ticket during mid-week Peak_Price: The cost of a full day adult lift ticket during a peak day, such as a holiday or weekend Avg_Snow: The average annual snowfall on the ski area, in inches Vertical: The difference in elevation between the highest in-bounds location on the ski area to the lowest in-bounds location, in feet SkiableAcr: The in-bounds skiable area, in acres Trails: The number of trails at the ski area Chairs: The number of chair lifts at the ski area. This value does not include rope-tows or moving walkways Park: If the ski area has a terrain park or halfpipe, [Park] = 1. If not, [Park] = 0 Website: The official website of the ski area

4. Analysis Score: An evaluation of the ski areas performance with respect to other ski areas in the Northwest, based on field values [Score] = (0.2*((91-[Mdwk_Price]/91)) + (0.27*([Avg_Snow]/647)) + (0.15*([Vertical]/4350)) + (0.2*([SkiableAcr]/3812)) + (0.08*([Trails]/150)) + (0.05*([Chairs]/19)) + (0.05*([Park]/1)) Rank: The rank of the ski area with respect to other ski areas in the Northwest, according to [Score]. The ski area with the highest value of [Score] was ranked #1, while the ski area with the lowest value of [Score] was ranked #60.

5. Summary of Results – The Top Ten Ski Areas RankMountain NameStateScore 1Big SkyMT0.72 2Mount BachelorOR0.63 3Jackson HoleWY0.61 4Moonlight BasinMT0.60 5Grand TargheeWY0.60 6Mount BakerWA0.60 7Mount Hood MeadowsOR0.59 8TimberlineOR0.56 9Crystal MountainWA0.56 10Summit at SnoqualmieWA0.56

8. Conclusions Baker performed as expected in WA Steven’s Pass did not do as well as it should –Proximity –Season Pass –Mountain shape –Lift speed Anyone can use this data and adapt the evaluation to their own preferences!

9. Thanks!!!