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The 7 Best Ski Resorts for Mogul Skiing in the U.S.

Originally posted on Powder | By Izzy Lidsky | Last updated Mar 2, 2025 6:12 AM ET

Moguls—some skiers hate them, some skiers love them, but they're part of resort skiing whether you want them to be or not. They also hold their own discipline in competitive skiing, where skiers smash through mogul fields as fast as they can before doing a trick on a freestyle jump at the end. In my opinion, it's one of the coolest styles of competitive skiing to watch.

If you're like me and raised at a resort chock full of moguls by a tele-skier who loved them, you also grew up loving moguls, and the thrill of a clean line through perfect chalky bumps or an amazing pole-plant is almost as good as a powder day. If you, too, have inherited a deep love of one of skiing's most controversial terrain features, check out these resorts for some of the nation's best bump skiing.

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1. Sun Valley, ID

Sun Valley has been described as an 'upside-down egg carton' due to a few of its famous mogul runs. Runs like Rock Garden, Holiday, and Expedition are great places to spend time smashing bumps. Sun Valley's moguls tend to be a little more even and spaced out which also makes it a great place to ease into mogul skiing as opposed to some other mountains.

2. Mad River Glen, VT

Mad River Glen is widely known as one of the most difficult ski resorts in the east, hence the tagline 'Ski It If You Can.' With moguls being one of skiing's trickier skills, it only makes sense that Mad River Glen is chock full of un-groomed, expertly mogul-ed terrain.

Mad River Glen is one of three mountains in the US that doesn't allow snowboarders, which means moguls tend to form more uniformly, but that also means the troughs between them can get deeper.

Whatever doesn't get groomed at Mad River Glen usually turns to moguls, which means you're skiing bumps on about 70% of the mountain. If you're looking to get better at mogul skiing maybe try a different mountain, but if you're hoping to test your skills in the bumps, Mad River Glen is a great place to do it.

3. Jackson Hole, WY

I'm gonna be honest: I was reluctant at first to put Jackson on this list, but after further consideration, I realized it does have a place here due largely to one run: Thunder Bumps. The run, officially called Thunder, runs right under the lift with the same name and is 1,400 feet of mogul skiing heaven and most skiers' worst nightmare. It's long, steep and north facing, which means when it's good, it's great and when it's mean, it's really mean. Legend has it ski careers have been made by Thunder Bumps, and those brave enough to do a Thunder BN on Gaper Day would go down in Jackson Hole history.

Thunder Bumps aside, Jackson has some other great mogul runs that cement its place on this list. A few runs over from Thunder is Tower 3, directly below the third tram tower and is essentially an in-bounds couloir that when skied off, makes for some incredibly technical mogul skiing.

Any of Jackson's Bowl runs (Rendezvous, Ten Sleep, Cheyenne, Laramie, Riverton, Saratoga), Paintbrush, much of Moran Face, and the Hoback's all have great mogul skiing if you catch it in between storms. In the springtime, wiggles or deep trenches through a certain line of moguls pop up around the mountain and make for spicy springtime lines and to test how closely you've really been following the moguls all winter.

4. Palisades Tahoe, CA

Few mountains have so many good skiers that even the steepest, gnarliest runs turn into moguls, but Palisades is one of them. Olympian gold medalist Johnny Mosley would know—arguably, the resort's most famous bump run is named after him.

Just left of Mosley's off the KT-22 lift are also Chute 75 and West Face. Both runs sit at a 45-degree angle and feature some of Tahoe's best and most difficult mogul skiing. Late in the season, as the snow starts to soften and turn to corn, Palisades also has some of the best spring mogul skiing. Who doesn't love slush moguls?

While Palisades takes this spot, Heavenly Resort, just around Lake Tahoe, also deserves an honorable mention for runs like Gunbarrel, where Mosley and Glen Plake rose to fame as mogul skiers.

5. Killington, VT

Olympians have been made at Killington, and not just racers. Famous mogul skiers like Donna Weinbrecht, Hannah Hardaway, and Evan Dyvbig all cut their teeth skiing moguls at Killington. Specifically, Outer Limits, which is half a mile of good, old fashioned east coast mogul skiing. Outer Limits is the site of not only epic bump skiing but has hosted several contests, including the resort's famous Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, which is known not just for world-class freestyle but the party that goes with it.

6. Taos, NM

Amongst many things, Taos is also known for its mogul skiing. The resort is committed to its mogul-loving skiers and has catered some of their terrain to it. Snowboarding, which isn't great for forming good moguls, wasn't even allowed at Taos until the 2008/2009 season. The most notorious bump run at Taos, Al's Run, points straight to the base of the mountain, under two lifts, and is 2,000 feet of steep, uninterrupted mogul skiing. What's better than tackling one of the most difficult types of terrain in skiing with an audience?

7. Winter Park/Mary Jane, CO

Of all the ski resort lists I've ever written, this claim is the one that I will absolutely die on a hill for. Mary Jane, the sister peak to Winter Park, has the best mogul skiing. The mountain has tons of off-cambered steep runs with moguls that will make you quake in fear and question the health of your knees at the bottom.

Runs like Long Haul, Trestle, Railbender, and Cannonball will have give the fittest of skiers jelly legs, and that's just a fraction of the mogul runs at Mary Jane. The resort knows its reputation, and does their ski patrol skills testing on a run called Outhouse, which is 2,000+ feet of steep, gnarly, mogul skiing. They also offer full day bump skiing clinics.

If you're up to the challenge, skiing Mary Jane will make you appreciate moguls like no other mountain. Growing up with Mary Jane as my home mountain is undoubtedly the reason I love skiing moguls so much today, much to the dismay of most of my ski partners.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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