Jackson Hole Mountain Resort remained among the top 10 favorites in Ski Magazine’s annual reader survey of West Coast ski resorts but is no longer at the top of the survey.

While last year Jackson Hole rose from No. 6 to No. 1, this year the survey placed it at No. 8, and it remained at No. 3 in customers’ “overall satisfaction.”

Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia took the top spot.

Ski Magazine editor Greg Ditrinco said the resort’s placement in the top 10 for three years running indicates “that the resort has positioned itself differently than in the past.”

For decades, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort was seen as “a really kick-butt destination for skiing,” Ditrinco said Thursday. Its emergence as a top destination among a broader population of skiers shows “that’s not the old Jackson Hole, it’s a new Jackson Hole.”

JHMR Chief Marketing Officer Adam Sutner and President Jerry Blann told the Jackson Hole News&Guide that Ski Magazine’s top 10 is a good and healthy place to be, especially with internal customer satisfaction surveys and attendance numbers showing increased success. As for Ditrinco’s assessment, Blann said, “I think he’s dead on. We’ve been outspending our competition for years.”

The annual survey asked Ski Magazine readers to rank resorts they have visited over the past two years from one to 10 in 19 categories. Readers rated everything from grooming and terrain to nightlife and lodging quality. Local character, lifts and weather also were factors. This year, the magazine dropped social media presence as a category.

In an odd twist, the area’s scenery dropped a point despite the mountains remaining about the same.

“Sometimes those go up and down,” said Ditrinco, along with factors like the weather.

“The scores were tightly bunched together, especially at the top,” he said. Among the top-ranked resorts “the difference is pretty thin.” The survey was meant to profile top ski resorts in the country.

Blann said the resort has its own research methodologies, and while a top spot on the survey was great for a year, his customers are voting with their feet. More visitors came to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort last season than the season before, and the resort retains its skiers.

JHMR chalks the ranking up to the methodologies used by the magazine and noted that its raw score dropped just 3.73 percent from last year.

In summarizing the ranking, the magazine’s online survey results pointed out last year’s high snowfall.

“Three hundred forty-six inches of fluff blew in between Jan. 1 and April 6, when the mountain closed, making it the deepest winter in 20 years. So there’s that. Then there’s the terrain. Forty-degree steeps in the Alta chutes. Thirty-foot leaps off Corbet’s Couloir. Technical glades in Saratoga Bowl. Some of the best and easiest-to-access backcountry anywhere,” the narrative said.

The magazine quoted one of the respondents who ranked the mountain resort. He said he loved many of the resort’s qualities such as “trees, cliffs, steeps, snowfall — what a great place to explore!” reader Gordy Megroz said.

The resort was ranked No. 1 for “Challenge” and also earned No. 3 spots for character and scenery.

“But Jackson isn’t only about the skiing,” the survey concluded.

“Massive views of Grand Teton National Park garner it a No. 3 for Scenery; archways made of elk antlers, classic watering holes like the Cowboy Bar, and a more laid-back, we’re-not-in-Aspen vibe earn it another No. 3 for its charming Western Character,” the survey concluded.

The 2013 survey, which produced last year’s rankings, had 40,000 responses among Ski Magazine fans who generally reviewed several resorts.

Ditrinco said this year’s survey drew 41,000 resort evaluations from as many as 14,000 Ski Magazine readers, with more than three resorts reviewed on average by each respondent.

This article appeared in the Jackson Hole News & Guide on September 19, 2014.