Since forever skiers have been about numbers. Vertical, snowfall, ski days, turning radius or whatever. But a few years ago, in our forum, a young lift savant proposed the use of a skier density index. The ratio was calculated by dividing Uphill Capacity by Total Acreage.
At first it seemed too simplistic to provide much value. But the more we looked at the results, the more we saw patterns.
There’s a tendency to want a frankenstein variable that factors in a mountain’s natural snowfall. Something to address the chance that you’ll actually get to ski untracked snow, in a given season. But then, all of a sudden you’ve opened it up pretty far, bringing in many more factors.
While there may be something of value there, for this purpose we’re sticking with Skier Density. How many skiers occupy each acre when the mountain is fully open?
Several of the lowest density mountains, in both New York and Vermont, are regularly featured on this site.