Best Ski Resorts for Advanced Skiers

If you’re an experienced skier and don’t want to spend time searching out steep and deep terrain at a midrange resort, it’s wise to book into one of the world’s classic resorts, famed for their terrain for expert skiers, on and off the groomed slopes. You want a good chance of deep powder too, probably some off-piste tree skiing, maybe even a Heliski option. 

So, let’s get straight down to it, here are some of the world’s best expert ski resorts most likely to appeal to the experienced skier. 

Verbier 

Verbier is famed for its expert-level on and off-piste terrain which represents more than a quarter of its overall ski area before you even get onto the rest of the 4 Valleys. The high altitude slopes off the top of Mont Fort and Mount Gele are a particular draw and typically get deep snow throughout the season to add to the attraction and make Verbier undisputedly one of the best expert ski resorts.

Chamonix 

Chamonix, which hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924, is a top choice for expert skiers, drawing experts from all over the world each winter. A regular stop on the Freeride World Tour its off-piste terrain is unmatched, with The Valle Blanche, the world’s longest lift-accessed off-piste descent the jewel in the crown. Although most take the relatively easy ‘tourist route’ through this stunning glacial terrain, there are far more challenging lines that guides will be happy to lead you to. The high-altitude Grande Montets terrain above Argentiere opens up another 2,000m of vertical with some of the Chamonix Valley’s best snowfall up high too.

Whistler 

2010 Winter Olympics host Whistler Blackcomb is famous for its steep terrain, including the Olympic Downhill courses making it one of the most advanced ski resorts. However, it is Whistler Blackcomb’s huge scale and massive vertical with everything from high alpine terrain with couloirs and chutes in abundance above the treeline, to huge powder bowl skiing to great descents through the trees and powder stashes a plenty that make this one of North America’s best expert ski resorts.

St Anton 

St Anton has been a cult ski destination for more than a century and is another on the global must-ski list for all experienced skiers. There are powder stashes and off-piste itineraries to enjoy all over the Arlberg region but the Valuga Ridge, the region’s highest slopes, open up some fabulous descents. It’s such serious terrain that you are only allowed in the lift to the top if you have a qualified guide in the lift with you.

Val d'Isère 

Val d'Isère is another of Europe’s most challenging ski destinations, with the famous La Face World Cup descent with its steep and sometimes icy, moguled descent one of its most challenging. But the resort is most famous for its off-piste powder, which feels endless. Guides can lead you to some of the most exciting spots at Le Fornet and Le Grand Vallon is a deep bowl with wonderful runs through the trees.

Zermatt 

It’s no coincidence that most of the ski areas in this particular list would also be on a list of the world’s top 10 ski areas by almost all other measures too. So, we come to Europe’s highest slopes below the breathtaking Matterhorn at Zermatt, one of the best expert ski resorts there is. First, we should note this is a huge area straddling the border with Cervinia in Italy. There’s expert terrain of every type. The National black piste above Patrullarve is one of the best steep groomers down through the forest, while Stockhorn is famed for both its bumps and its powder. Heliskiing is also possible from here descending from the peak of Monte Rosa and the Alphubeljoch.