SNOWBALL EFFECT

Across western North America, top resorts are adding more terrain, bigger and faster chairlifts, and new on-mountain lodging

- CRAI BOWER

SKI SEASON in the western United States and Canada doesn't look like it did a decade ago.

Despite the fact that climate change has made snowfall far less predictable, resorts have never been more crowded. This is partly because so many of the region's best mountains now accept the multiresort Epic and Ikon passes, making it cost-effective to spend more days at more destinations, and also because the COVID-era uptick in the sport has endured. Long lift lines and packed runs, as well as sold-out slope-adjacent hotels, are now the norm.