Pikimal Names Top Ski Resorts for Upcoming Season

Nov. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Pikimal today released their Piki Picks for the ski resort category. The site combined thousands of facts with user input to objectively find the best ski resorts in the world for the upcoming season.

Members of the Pikimal site specify what criteria and factors relating to ski resorts are most important to them, such as snowfall and number of lifts. The rankings are then calculated using a special algorithm that compares the factual data against these user preferences.

The overall winner is the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado. The runner-up is the Whistler/Blackcomb Ski Resort in British Columbia, Canada. And coming in third, the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California.

In order to create a valid collection, over 800 resorts were considered and ranked based on snow fall and quality, number of trails, length of runs, cost, food and nightlife, and other visitor services. What is notable about Pikimal’s approach is that it does not restrict the site to providing only one generalized top ten, but allows for the quick generation of “best lists” based on any number of features.

Many sites and magazines rank ski resorts to let their audience know which choices are the best, but it’s necessary for them to simplify what’s important about a resort in order to do so. One person may only consider expert-level runs in their idea of the top, while others worry more about value. This problem can only be solved by allowing users to specify the importance of criteria in order to provide personally relevant results. This is what Pikimal is attempting by combining factual data with user input to create customized top ten lists.

Below are some of the various top tens for ski resorts available on the Pikimal site. These are the top ski resorts right now, but as user-preferences evolve, so do the rankings.

The winners are:

Top 10 Best Overall
#1 Vail Ski Resort
#2 Whistler/Blackcomb Ski Resort
#3 Squaw Valley USA
#4 Breckenridge Ski Resort
#5 Aspen Mountain
#6 Heavenly Ski Resort  
#7 Aspen Highlands
#8 Big Sky Resort
#9 Jackson Hole
#10 Zillertal

Top 10 Ski Resorts for Value (Lift Passes Around $30)
#1 Hidden Valley
#2 Donner Ski Ranch
#3 Canaan Valley Resort
#4 Berkshire East
#5 Pebble Creek
#6 Ski Butternut
#7 Plattekill Mountain
#8 McCauley Mountain
#9 Sleeping Giant Ski Area
#10 Ski Denton

Top 10 Ski Resorts for Experts
#1 Aspen Highlands
#2 Vail Ski Resort
#3 Whistler/Blackcomb Ski Resort
#4 Aspen Mountain
#5 Big Sky Resort
#6 Breckenridge Ski Resort
#7 Squaw Valley USA
#8 Zillertal
#9 The Canyons
#10 Heavenly Ski Resort

Top 10 Ski Resorts in Australia/New Zealand
#1 Falls Creek
#2 Mount Hutt
#3 Treble Cone
#4 Coronet Peak
#5 The Remarkables
#6 Mt. Ruapehu-Whakapapa
#7 Cardrona
#8 Roundhill
#9 Temple Basin
#10 Manganui

See the Winners Page at: http://pikimal.com/pikipicks-skiresorts

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Pikimal was founded in February 2010. We plan to separate great products from great marketing and make decision-making simple and collaborative. We allow users to pick nearly anything and determine what about that topic matters specifically to them.