Skiers Want Value, Snow & Space, Survey Finds

UK skiers prioritise value for money and fewer crowds on the slopes, according to community ski resort review site Snomad's pre-season ski resort finder quiz.

The findings show that value for money remains top priority, with 54% of respondents prioritising this, followed by quiet slopes at 39% and the quality of skiing at 35% ranking second and third respectively.

Unsurprisingly, over half of the respondents 52% want "ideally, lots of snow," whilst a slight surprising - yet pragmatic 19% are content with "enough to ski is fine by me."

What's particularly striking is Snomad's success in attracting younger demographics, with the 18 – 44-year-olds accounting for nearly 55% of respondents and 70% of all site visits.

This younger profile mirrors a wider shift: 18-44s lean heavily on peer reviews and ratings to make purchase decisions - ski trips included.

Snomad founder Dan Lever said: "With the cost-of-living squeeze and year-on-year rises in resort costs, value sits front and centre, while the strong pull of quiet slopes suggests many are looking beyond the most mainstream, high-cost, peak-week hotspots. It points to a preference for lesser-known, great-value resorts that still deliver standout quality of skiing, without the hassle of long lift queues."

The Snomad resort quiz algorithm uses a dataset of 220,000+ community-submitted ratings across 20 resort categories and 1,075 responses collected between 1 July – 21 September 2025 including ski lift efficiency, ski schools, après and value for money plus other data such as resort statistics, to match users with suitable resorts based on their answers.

I was going to put "...Survey's Shock Findings" as the headline but managed to stop myself.

Hmmm , fewer crowds, better snow... I've made this comment before. Speaking only for Canada (where I live) , small market hills offer, in many cases, better crowd size and better terrain than the big market hills non-Canadians probably associate with Canadian skiing. Fernie , Kicking Horse and Castle Mountain offer a superior skiing experience (in my humble opinion) than Sunshine, Lake Louise, Jasper, Whistler... why ? It's all about the skiing , not the tourism .. I'll use the least known hill in my list , Castle Mountain... it's , by skiable area the 2nd largest (in Alberta) after Lake Louise (yes bigger than Sunshine), it's one of the most technical hills I've skied (Kicking Horse I'd rate #1) and crowds? Given its huge area , seeing a group of 5 come towards you is a major traffic event ... also it means on "face shot days" , of which we have many (being right on the Continental Divide), deep snow does not get used up for days . Sunshine by contrast , deep untracked snow rarely lasts past 11am. One caveat , if you are not an advanced skier/rider, and the hotel/restaurant/shopping/closer to an airport experience rates higher than the skiing experience,
Sunshine may be a better choice .

OK that does sound very good... And similar scenario in other countries, usually with a more affordable lift pass as an added bonus!

100%! I didn't do an in depth analysis, however I'd expect the money you save by enjoying one of these rock star smaller ski areas would likely pay for your travel expenses. Also, large resorts cannot duplicate the "local vibe" small towns offer.