I had some conversations in a Skiing Forum last week and I got the idea that I should figure out how many mountains I could get to without a plane.
So for the last 6 days I've researched 412 ski areas in North America. (Mostly in the US) and came up with this handy little spreadsheet.
I've made it so anyone with a link can leave a comment, so if you see I've made a mistake, feel free to correct me. Or if you think you have a better way of getting somehwhere, would love to hear about it.
Results: There are around 87 ski areas I could walk out my front door and never sit in a personal vehicle to arrive at, which is pretty awesome. Most are out west or in the North East. There are 29 more resorts with a mostly complete transportation network, and I'd have to use taxi services pretty sparingly.
Shuttle/Transit: Yes - pretty much means you can get from Amtrak/greyhound station to the ski area with regularly scheduled transit/shuttle options
Yes-Partial: Pretty much depends on day of the week, or peak season whether its yes or partial.
Partial - you can get from the transit station to the ski area with minimal hired travel options. Some are transit gets you close and you have to figure out the last two miles, some are the resort area has ample local transit, but no connection to the Amtrak/Greyhound station.
No - I found no viable option of getting to the ski area without being required to hire a private vehicle for significant portions of travel between the station and the ski area.
Methodology for this spreadsheet:
I started with this Wikipedia article.
I then located each ski hill using a combination of google maps and openskimap.
I then calculated the closest Amtrak and greyhound bus station. Not all Amtrak stations are strictly the closest physical station. Some list the station with the fastest greyhound connection.
Pretty much exclusively Wyoming and Montana have this issue.
I then used google maps to check for public transit between the relevant transit stations and the ski area. I also checked the ski resort websites for getting here/shuttle information.
I used this map for Amtrak stations. And used this page for greyhound stations.
Problems: I'm sure I'm missing some ski areas from the list, I have already added a few the wiki article missed. I'm sure there's tons of Canadian resorts I could update for, I just don't know a whole lot about their trains or bussing, and I don't have a passport, so the priority for me is low.
I'm also sure some Amtrak stations are incorrect because the map I was using is somewhat out of date. And it doesn't list all Amtrak stations. I refined my system as I went, so the later in the alphabet the state, the more accurate the Amtrak station.
When I started I had planned to list the owners of every ski area, but that turned out to be time consuming information to dig up. So I stopped doing that. For the most part I don't care beyond the big 4 corps.
Things I will probably end up doing. I'll probably end up filling in every ski areas average closing/opening dates, and finish updating average snowfall amounts from on the snow
Interesting Factoids:
I found 4 mountains that advertise you can rent them for a day. Certainly cheaper than I'd expect, not affordable, but certainly less than expected.
Steeplechase has an interesting season pass partner program.
Badger Pass is operated by the same company that provides Amtrak with concessions, and yet Amtrak does not return the favor with transportation. I call bullshit.
Yeah, unfortunately the best thing they could have done for native bees is plant native flowers under the panels and keep no honeybees.