Magic Mountain named ‘Best in Snow’ by Liftopia

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Liftopia, a ski and snowboard ticketing portal, has named Magic Mountain in Londonderry No. 1 among its Top 10 Best in Snow winners for 2016-17, according to a press release issued last week.

Liftopia takes reviews from thousands of skiers who use its services to see which resorts are best in a number of categories including beginner friendly, family friendly, most challenging and least crowded among others.

And when all the votes were tallied across North America, Magic topped the list.

“All of us at Magic are excited about receiving this award,” Geoff Hatheway, president of Ski Magic LLC, which recently purchased the resort, said in the press release. “We really owe this award to our enthusiastic fan base who is excited to see Magic become an even better throwback ski experience for generations to come.”

Two other Vermont ski mountains also made the Top 10 Best in Snow. Mad River Glen in Waitsfield placed 3rd and Jay Peak in Jay ranked 5th. In New Hampshire, Bretton Woods ranked 6th and Wildcat Mountain ranked 7th.

For the Northeast, Magic came in 1st for Most Challenging; 3rd for Least-Crowded (the only one in Vermont); and 2nd for Best Value. Below are the Northeast categories and Vermont resorts recognized.

• Three Vermont ski areas placed in the Top 10 in the Beginner-Friendly category for the Northeast: Bolton Valley (4), Bromley Mountain (5) and Smugglers Notch (10).
• In the Top 10 Family-Friendly resorts for the Northeast: Bolton Valley (4); Smugglers Notch (7); Jay Peak (8) and Bromley Mountain (9).
• Besides Magic (1) in the Top 10 of Most Challenging slopes in the Northeast are: Mad River Glen (2); Jay Peak (4); Killington (8); and Stowe (9).
• Vermont resorts ranked in the Top 10 with Best Value in the Northeast are: Magic (2); Mad River Glen (3); and Jay Peak (5).
• Vermont resorts ranking in the Top 10 in the Northeast for Snow Consistency and Quality: Jay Peak (2); Killington (4); Okemo Mountain (6); and Stowe (9).

To compile the awards, Liftopia surveyed their customers to measure their enthusiasm on specific aspects of their favorite resorts such as family friendliness, challenging terrain, crowds and snow consistency and quality. More than 10,000 responses were then weighted, with a proprietary algorithm based on Liftopia’s exclusive dataset that includes resorts’ total visits per season, acreage and average lift ticket prices to surface the best ski areas overall, across seven categories and five regions.

“For years consumers have told us they wanted to know which ski areas that other customers loved the most,”  Evan Reece, co-founder and CEO of Liftopia, said in the press release. “We crafted the Best in Snow Awards using details from a consumer survey and our proprietary data to uncover the ski areas people are most passionate about, all over North America.”

Methodology and the complete list of winners in the 2016-17 Liftopia Best in Snow Awards can be found at http://bestinsnow.liftopia.com/.