You could easily argue that skiing, in and of itself, is a luxury sport. The gear is expensive, as are all the associated accouterments like season passes and lessons. Some destinations take this foundational element and run with it, housing enormously fancy hotels with fine-dining opportunities to match. These are five of the most luxurious ski resorts in North America.
Talking about luxury and skiing—at least in the North American context—without mentioning the Yellowstone Club, a fully private ski resort in Montana, is impossible.
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1. Yellowstone Club, Montana
High-class lodging: Let’s be real, you—or I—probably won’t be getting into the Yellowstone Club anytime soon unless that pending marriage into the Gates family works out.
Who’s it for: Almost no one. The Yellowstone Club is so exclusive that only the ultra-wealthy can gain access to it.
Talking about luxury and skiing—at least in the North American context—without mentioning the Yellowstone Club, a fully private ski resort in Montana, is impossible.
Known for being the stomping grounds of the elite, notable current and former members of the Club include Justin Timberlake, Bill Gates, Tom Brady and Jessica Biel. The Yellowstone Club doesn’t share membership requirements on its website, but in 2022, The San Francisco Standard reported that entrance fees cost $400,000, followed by $60,000 annual fees—and you need to purchase a property within the Club to become a member.
The high barrier to entry nets unfettered ski resort access with unparalleled service (according to an anonymous Club member who spoke with The Standard , concierge members will actively prevent you from carrying your own skis). These private slopes feature more than 100 runs across 2,900 acres—they say money can’t buy you happiness, but it can certainly help you avoid lift lines.
Top-notch amenities don’t mean much if the skiing isn’t great, but Deer Valley has that base covered, too.
Who’s it for: Groomer and glade hounds who appreciate the finer things in life.
Amongst the dense collection of Salt Lake City, Utah, area ski resorts, Deer Valley is often considered the most luxurious—with pristine groomed slopes and numerous nearby five-star hotels, it’s easy to see why.
One of these establishments, the St. Regis, has its own funicular cable car that connects the Snow Park Residences with the upper resort building. The hotel’s reservable Wine Vault dining location houses a 10,000-plus bottle wine collection. Top-notch amenities don’t mean much if the skiing isn’t great, but Deer Valley has that base covered, too.
Its already large terrain footprint—2,342 acres—will expand in the coming years to encompass a new base area, the East Village , eventually reaching 5,726 acres. For early risers, the resort offers exclusive mountain access between 8 am and 9 pm at the starting cost of $10,000 for up to 20 skiers. If riding the lifts with just you and your crew isn’t luxurious, we aren’t sure what is.
Who’s it for: Aspen can be over the top and a bit flashy, but that’s part of the fun—particularly if you have a penchant for people-watching.
Studded with multi-million dollar slopeside homes, numerous luxury stores (Moncler or Prada, anyone?), and a renowned music venue that draws popular headlining artists, Aspen, Colorado, is the pinnacle of skiing glitz and glamor.
Aspen Snowmass, the town’s ski area, covers four mountains—Buttermilk, Aspen Mountain, Highlands, and Snowmass—which, together, encompass over 5,700 acres of skiing, all accessible with a single lift ticket. At Highlands, the Cloud 9 Bistro is famed for its swanky champagne-spraying parties .
For ski-in ski-out access, there’s the Little Nell, a hotel established in 1989 that sees a rotating cast of upper-crust skiing clientele dressed in designer clothes. One of the hotel’s restaurants, the Ajax Tavern, has a menu item that perfectly encapsulates Aspen’s blend of high luxury and ski culture: a Wagyu double cheeseburger.
Vail Mountain pushes the snowsports resort ethos to its limit—upon visiting, you may even find yourself overwhelmed.
Who’s it for: They say everything’s bigger in Texas—that rule also applies to Vail Mountain. You can’t go wrong here if you’re serious about skiing and top-notch accommodations.
It might be fair to say that the titular Vail Mountain is the blueprint for Vail Resorts’ wide-reaching resort empire. Jam-packed with enormous luxury hotels and sprawling lift-accessed terrain to match, this destination pushes the snowsports resort ethos to its limit. Upon visiting, you may even find yourself overwhelmed. The Arrabelle at Vail Square is smack in the middle of all the action—and only a few steps away from the Eagle Bahn Gondola, which transports skiers to the Eagle’s Nest restaurant. From there, the mountain’s your oyster.
While Vail Mountain offers plenty of terrain for beginner and intermediate skiers hoping just to cruise, the Back Bowls are a paradise for those seeking more challenging fare. This 2,785-acre zone (that footprint is larger than many ski areas) has seven bowls and 47 trails, all ripe for exploration. Once the day is done, lounge by the pool at one of Vail’s many accommodations before hitting the town: given the breadth of options on tap, you’re sure to find something you’ll like to eat and drink.
Despite its proximity to serious money, Whistler Blackcomb remains a skier’s mountain with a thriving big mountain and park scene composed of hardcore ski bums.
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5. Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia
High-class lodging: Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler , Fairmont Chateau Whistler Who’s it for: Whistler Blackcomb features some of the best and gnarliest big mountain skiing on the planet, so serious skiers will thrive here—especially if they like to pair on-slope action with real luxury.
Whistler Blackcomb mirrors Vail Mountain’s on-and off-the-slope maximalist tendencies, so it should come as no surprise that, several years ago, Vail Resorts acquired the Canadian destination which, by almost every metric, could qualify for a “best of” list (Whistler Blackcomb also made our best of aprés-skiing list). So, unsurprisingly, high-class accommodations and dining opportunities also make the resort a standout in the luxury ski resort market.
The Four Seasons Resort and Residences and the Fairmont Chateau Whistler boast numerous amenities and a range of suites for ski travelers pursuing ultimate comfort. The base village-slash-town matches this high bar with standouts like the Araxi Restaurant and Oyster Bar, which serves up local ingredients alongside a towering list of wine with over 11,000 bottles. The thing about Whistler Blackcomb, though, is that, despite its proximity to serious money, the resort remains a skier’s mountain with a thriving big mountain and park scene composed of hardcore ski bums. On any given day, you might catch the next big name in freeskiing as they float a backflip—or two—below the Peak Express.
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