5 of the Most Charming Ski Towns in the USA

When snowflakes fall and chairlifts rise up groomed mountainsides, all ski towns charm.

But in the era of consolidation, mega-resort builds, and Epic, Ikon and Indy ski passes, there’s an avalanche of allure out there. So how do you define a “charming” ski town?

It’s a feeling.

According to Kristi Brown Lovell, former ski racer, now product tester and mountain sports ambassador who has skied around the world for 30 years, “A charming ski town, like my hometown Stowe, is a magical place that visitors fall in love with, yearn to return to, and even move [to] because they feel the local community’s strong, beating heart.”

Here are five of the most charming ski towns in the United States.

Stowe, Vermont

Stowe’s ski legacy runs as deep as its annual 300-inch snowfall in the surrounding Green Mountains.

In 1934, Stowe started the nation’s first ski patrol. The first ski lift (a rope tow) launched in 1937 on Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak and part of today’s Stowe Mountain Resort ’s diverse terrain. In 1950, the Austrian-inspired Trapp Family Lodge opened the nation’s first cross-country ski center.

Stowe’s early American Colonial Period buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places house locally owned businesses. Residents love Laughing Moon Chocolates and craft beverage makers PK Coffee, The Alchemist brewery, Stowe Cider and Green Mountain Distillers. Exhibits rotate at Helen Day Art Center, and the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center hosts national headliners.

Find souvenir snow globes, maple syrup and Vermont Flannel Company clothing at 125-year-old, 5th-generation family-owned and operated Shaw’s General Store where you just may bump into local snow sports celebs Jake Burton Carpenter of Burton Snowboards and Olympic snowboarder Ty Walker.

Crested Butte, Colorado

Double-black-diamond terrain in the rugged, forested Elk Mountains draws extreme skiers and snowboarders to Crested Butte, which opened Colorado’s first ski gondola in 1962. Decades later, the boho beat goes on.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and recently named one of Colorado’s 23 state-certified Creative Districts, Crested Butte’s Victorian era buildings, artists’ studios, Center for the Arts, performance venues and public art fill Elk Avenue. Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum traces the town’s 1880s coal mining origins and ski history, and page-turners browse Townie Books. Olympian slalom skier David Chodounsky and half-pipe snowboarder Aaron Blunck, are locals.

McGill’s dishes hearty breakfasts, Camp 4 Coffee makes spiced hot chocolate and après-ski is epic at Irwin Brewing Company. Soupcon serves French bistro cuisine..

Lodgings rich in mining history are comfy Elk Mountain Lodge, a restored 1919 miners’ hotel; romantic Purple Mountain B&B; and former saloon, the Eleven Experience’s luxury Scarp Ridge Lodge. Free buses painted by local artists shuttle Crested Butte Mountain Resort guests into town.

Taos, New Mexico

Come to Taos Ski Valley for powder. But stay for culture 20 minutes away in high desert, artsy Taos framed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Art arrived in Taos well before skiing. For 1,000 years, Native Americans have crafted pottery in their multi-story adobe home Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the 1920s, painter Georgia O’Keeffe, author Willa Cather and photographer Ansel Adams came to Taos. In the 1950s the Blake family start the valley’s ski industry.

Stroll Taos’ historic district of adobe buildings awash in colorful murals. The $25 Museum Association of Taos Pass covers admission to the Hardwood Museum of Art and four additional institutions. The venerable Taos Art Museum is inside painter Nicolai Fechin’s stunning, Pueblo-Mission Revival style residence-studio.

Opened in 1936, Taos Inn Adobe Bar pours nearly 40 different types of tequila, hosts live music and makes killer margaritas said to be enjoyed by Robert Redford. At the renovated 1931 hotel Sagebrush Inn & Suites, bands jam amidst Taos artists’ masterpieces adorning Sagebrush Cantina restaurant and dance bar, patronized by Dennis Hopper.

McCall, Idaho

The 1880s logging settlement turned outdoor playground on Payette Lake in the Payette National Forest is just two hours from Boise and within minutes of three affordable ski resorts.

Brundage Mountain Resort , Tamarack Resort and Little Ski Hill get 300 inches of annual snowfall and have summit elevations of 7,000 feet or higher. It’s around $60 for an adult daily lift ticket; $20 at Little Ski Hill.

There’s lots to love: lakeside beauty, Old West architecture, snow sports galore and quirk. Locals snowshoe in peninsular Ponderosa State Park, snowmobile to Burgdorf Hot Springs, ice fish and snow bike. Join them tube racing and playing snowshoe golf at the annual, 10-day McCall Winter Carnival, held since 1924.

Get a taste of the town at Foglifter Cafe, Pinecone Cafe, McCall Candy Company and craft breweries on the McCall Ale Trail. Lakefront hotels are posh Hotel McCall with the Spa del Sol and family favorite, cozy Rustic Inn McCall.

Truckee, North Tahoe, California

Truckee has Wild West history, Hollywood cache and Olympic ski pedigree.  Within a ten-mile radius, choose from eight ski resorts in the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains.

Squaw Valley hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics, and opened the world’s first ski-through Starbucks. Since the early 20th century, Truckee has served as a stage set for many films. Cottonwood Restaurant and Bar occupies the former Hilltop Lodge, one of the nation’s oldest ski lodges built in 1928 of salvaged railroad ties. Truckee was founded in 1863 as a train stop on America’s first Transcontinental Railroad.

A good bar crawl begins at Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, slinging booze since 1883. Rock out with locals to live bands in 1896 bar Pastime Club. Toss back a few more at gastropub Mellow Fellow, Tourist Club (known locally as T-Club) and Moody’s old school supper club in the restored Truckee Hotel. Wine bars are Uncorked and stylish Trokay, also a sophisticated restaurant serving contemporary American fare.

Jewel blue Lake Tahoe is 15 miles from Truckee. Vintage yacht Safari Rose runs winter sightseeing and sunset cruises.