If you’re looking for long trips down the mountain on your snowboard, you may find yourself high in the mountains, or “at elevation.” The greatest concentration of high-elevation snowboarding and skiing is in Colorado, particularly in the aptly named Summit County.
| Mountain | State |
Base (ft) |
| A-Basin | CO | 10,789 |
| Loveland | CO | 10,600 |
| Copper | CO | 9,712 |
| Breckenridge | CO | 9,600 |
| Crested Butte | CO | 9,375 |
| Keystone | CO | 9,280 |
| Winter Park | CO | 9,000 |
Other mountains, both in and outside Colorado, put you more than a mile above sea level.
| Mountain | State |
Base (ft) |
| Durango | CO | 8,793 |
| Telluride | CO | 8,735 |
| Solitude | UT | 8,175 |
| Vail | CO | 8,120 |
| Snowmass | CO | 8,104 |
| Beaver Creek | CO | 8,100 |
| Mammoth | CA | 7,953 |
| Aspen | CO | 7,945 |
| Snowbird | UT | 7,760 |
| Big Sky | MT | 7,500 |
| Heavenly | CA | 7,200 |
| Moonlight Basin | MT | 7,000 |
| Steamboat | CO | 6,900 |
| Park City | UT | 6,900 |
| The Canyons | UT | 6,800 |
| Sierra at Tahoe | CA | 6,640 |
| Jackson Hole | WY | 6,311 |
| Mt. Bachelor | OR | 6,300 |
| Squaw Valley | CA | 6,200 |
| Bridger Bowl | MT | 6,100 |
| Snowbasin | UT | 5,850 |
| Sun Valley | ID | 5,750 |
Most Americans aren’t used to living at such high altitude, as you can see from this list of American cities.
| City | State |
Elevation (ft) |
| Miami | FL | 11 |
| Boston | MA | 20 |
| New York | NY | 30 |
| Philadelphia | PA | 40 |
| Portland | OR | 50 |
| Baltimore | MD | 100 |
| Los Angeles | CA | 330 |
| Seattle | WA | 350 |
| Dallas | TX | 463 |
| St. Louis | MO | 465 |
| Chicago | IL | 596 |
| Cleveland | OH | 690 |
| Nashville | TN | 700 |
| Pittsburgh | PA | 770 |
| Minneapolis | MN | 820 |
| Kansas city | MO | 882 |
| Atlanta | GA | 1,050 |
| Phoenix | AZ | 1,085 |
| Las Vegas | NV | 2,000 |
| Boise | ID | 2,730 |
| Salt Lake City | UT | 4,266 |
| Albuquerque | NM | 4,950 |
| Denver | CO | 5,277 |
So if you are (statistically) the average American, you may have some trouble adjusting to the higher elevation. If you are especially vulnerable to altitude sickness, pay attention, when you plan your snowboarding trip, to the base elevation of the resort. That’s where you will sleep. You might find the following lists useful. They contains all U.S. ski areas with good-length trails (a vertical drop of 2,000 feet or more) but base areas of less than 5,280 feet (one mile).
You’ll find more choices in the eastern U.S.
| Mountain | State |
Base (ft) |
| Saddleback | ME | 2,120 |
| SugarLoaf | ME | 1,417 |
| Sunday River | ME | 800 |
| Cannon | NH | 2000 |
| Loon | NH | 950 |
| Waterville | NH | 1,984 |
| Wildcat | NH | 4,062 |
| Burke | VT | 1,267 |
| Jay Peak | VT | 1,815 |
| Killington | VT | 1,150 |
| Okemo | VT | 1,194 |
| Smugglers Notch | VT | 1,030 |
| Stowe | VT | 1,280 |
| Stratton | VT | 3,960 |
| Sugarbush | VT | 1,483 |
| Gore | NY | 1,500 |
| Whiteface | NY | 1,220 |
The list is shorter for the west.
| Mountain | State |
Base (ft) |
| Alyeska | AK | 250 |
| Whistler | BC | 2,214 |
| Mt. Spokane | WA | 4,200 |
| Crystal | WA | 4,400 |
| Mission Ridge | WA | 4,570 |
| Timberline Lodge | OR | 4,850 |
| Mt. Hood Meadows | OR | 4,523 |
| Silver | ID | 4,100 |
| Montana Snowbowl | MT | 5,000 |
| Whitefish | MT | 4,500 |
| Turner | MT | 3,842 |
You might also consider several resorts in the Salt Lake City area. Though their base elevations are more than a mile high, you can sleep in Salt Lake City (elevation 4,266) and make day trips to the mountains. You can even take a city bus (denoted by *) to the slopes rather than drive.
| Mountain | State |
Base (ft) |
| Solitude* | UT | 8,175 |
| Snowbird* | UT | 7,760 |
| Park City | UT | 6,900 |
| The Canyons | UT | 6,800 |
| Snowbasin | UT | 5,850 |
(Not on the list: Brighton*, with a vertical drop of 1,745, and two resorts–Alta and Deer Valley–that do not allow snowboarding.)
(Data for cities comes from City-data.com. See Geology.Com for some interesting facts, including a list of the highest elevation in each state.)