The Best for a Quick Ski Trip: Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City may be the most populous city in Utah, but that doesn't disqualify it from also being a ski town. With popular resorts like Park City, Snowbird, and Deer Valley all less than 45 minutes from the airport, it's easy to catch an early morning flight to SLC and be on the slopes by lunchtime. The sheer number of hotels and restaurants in the city ensures you won't pay inflated ski-town prices for lodging and après, and if you book an evening return flight, you can get in a full day of skiing before you go. You'll find direct flights to Salt Lake from nearly all major U.S. cities on the East or West Coasts, ensuring minimal flight time and maximum ski time.
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The Best for Small Crowds: Sandpoint, Idaho
Die-hard powderhounds have probably already dream-planned a ski trip along Canada's famous powder highway, but there's no better place to start a road trip full of face shots than Sandpoint. The uncrowded ski town gets as much powder as its Rocky Mountain neighbors to the north and has advanced enough tree skiing (and cat skiing) at nearby Schweitzer Mountain to make it a good place to gauge how long your legs can last at resorts across the border. But since so many skiers fly straight to Calgary, Alberta, entirely skipping Schweitzer, it's never as crowded as better-known destinations to the south or north.
Sandpoint is an easy, sub-90-minute drive from Spokane, Washington, making it the best ski town in the U.S. if you want to hit the grocery store, get your skis waxed, grab a good dinner without a reservation, and get back to your hotel in time for an early wake-up call—all without hitting much traffic in the process.