Skiing is an expensive sport and Vail is more expensive that most mountains, with $189 lift tickets at peak times, but if you’re in central Colorado to ski—and more people go here than anywhere else—this is the first place you should go. Vail has the best skiing in the most resort-dense stretch of mountains in the United States. There are several reasons why this is a fact: terrain, snow, lifts.

Vail has the best snow, no debate necessary, in this region of the state; this is one of those things that’s a pure quantitative measurement—we love those kinds of things here at ZRankings. Vail’s terrain is good, and although it’s not the unequivocal No. 1 in these parts, it’s certainly in the discussion. Vail has done an excellent job building out one of the most extensive lift systems in North America, necessary to cover the resort’s 5,289 acres, a number that’s big enough to look European.

The ZRankings team quite enjoys the backside of Vail, as there’s powder to be had even a couple of days after the storm in exchange for a few minutes of toil, namely sidestepping, skating and sweating. There’s an extra portion of satisfaction that comes from mining good snow from a place as well-tread as Vail; we recommend you get that feeling for yourself.

Some of our favorite shots on the mountain are in an upper sidebowl, called Game Creek Bowl, where the trees are well spaced and there’s all types of terrain for everybody in your posse. Locals like this spot, too, so it can get skied off rather quickly. After that, Blue Sky Basin is a worthy playground and skier’s far left is well gladed and smooth. The best and most consistent fall lines, however, sit above Chair 5, which is where most people seem to funnel to on a powder day. It’s good skiing. If you’re lucky enough to catch it on a weekday with some new snow, ski hard and ski fast. As that threadbare adage suggests, find your friends later.

New for this year: Several of the resorts in the Vail family will be participating in a new snow reporting program that gives prospective skiers real-time readings and views from several points within the resorts. Cameras have been affixed in front of stakes that show, quite clearly, how much snow has recently settled to the ground. The stake at Vail’s Blue Sky Basin can be seen here, amongst the other web cams. The snow stake program is a simple thing, but it’s an awesome thing as it puts real information on snowfall in skiers’ hands, something we wholeheartedly embrace here at ZRankings. Vail has a history of truthfully reporting its snow totals (not all resorts do) and this project furthers its credibility.