By Dan Balkin
The internet states there are about 6,000 – 6,100 ski resorts in the world. Fact or fiction? I lean toward fiction. Why? China, for instance, according to the China Ski Industry White Book (not on any bestseller list), claims to have 748 active ski resorts as of 2025. That would mean China has more ski resorts than any other nation on earth. What the White Book doesn’t mention, however, is that this includes artificial slopes, indoor slopes, and many tiny hills about 100 feet high with only a beginner lift such as a magic carpet – one magic carpet. The number of real ski resorts in China? About 25. One more piece of perspective: China only has 16 resorts with four lifts or more. Please exhale – we still are ahead of the Chinese in skiing. What state in the U.S. has the most ski resorts? Colorado, Utah, perhaps even Vermont? Nope – it’s New York. We have 52 ski resorts, the most in any state.
Remarkably, in the 1980s, there were almost double that number – almost 100. What happened? Demographics. With less kids around, ski areas in our region that had unsteady revenue streams, such as Poverty Hill, Bluemont, and Wing Hollow, folded. Is it fact or fiction that the fastest anyone has ever skied is 153.53 mph? Fiction, because that’s the record held by some incredibly fearless Italian woman named Valentina Greggio. The fastest anyone has ever skied is a guy who clocked in only marginally faster at 158.76 mph. Crazy. Fact or fiction: is skiing, as evidenced by these speed records, the fastest non-motorized sport in the world? That’s a fast fact. Is there a ski resort that makes snow when it can and operates sporadically in the northernmost reaches of Florida? No, but there is one in Alabama! It’s called the Cloudmont Ski and Golf Resort, and as we can gather from their location, golf is their main source of revenue. Their hill is only about 150 feet tall and just opened for the season in early February when the polar vortex allowed them to spew out enough artificial snow. If we include this Alabama ski slope there are ski areas operating in 37 states. Many internet sites only list 36 states because Cloudmont operates very sporadically. Fact or fiction – Does Utah have 15 ski resorts? A surprising fact. One would imagine, given the popularity of Utah as a ski destination, and considering that Utah is the 11th largest state, there would be more. Utah fun fact: What under-the-radar but stunningly beautiful ski resort was named after a movie character? In 1969, Robert Redford purchased a ski resort and renamed it Sundance after his role in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Fact or fiction: Are the years 1090 -1153 important not only in the history of skiing, but of dog breeding? This is not just a fact; it’s a saintly fact. Those are the years that Bernard of Clairvaux – commonly now known as St. Bernard – spent over four decades doing missionary work in the Alps. He established hospices at dangerous, high-altitude mountain passes to protect travelers, hikers, and pilgrims. In 1923, Pope Pius the XI, an avid mountaineer, declared him the patron saint of skiers and mountain climbers. St. Bernard dogs – those saintly animals – were developed in the Western Alps, specifically at the great St. Bernard Hospice located on the Italian – Swiss border. Dogs were interbred with other large breeds to create the St. Bernard. Monks at the hospice used these dogs to assist them in finding lost travelers and pilgrims who were heading through the vast Great Saint Bernard Pass on their way to Rome. Fact or fiction, is the Great Saint Bernard Pass still open in 2026? Yes, but because of its remote location and heavy snowpack, it’s only open a few months a year. Finally, where do HoliMont and Holiday Valley fit into the pecking order of U.S. ski resorts? The U.S has nearly 500 ski resorts, and over half of them, like our local resorts, have a vertical drop of less than 1,000 feet – but even resorts with towering mountains don’t have an Ellicottville. St. Bernard would tell us we are blessed.