In its final ranking of the most popular ski resorts for the 2011 calendar year, SkiReports.com ranks California’s Mammoth Mountain as the most popular ski resort in North America. With a total of 99,458 Facebook fans, Mammoth beat out the other top four as follows: California’s Heavenly Mountain, British Columbia’s Whistler Blackcomb, Colorado Resorts Vail, and Breckenridge respectively.

Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory started as a lift ticket operator at the resort in 1978 and can now boast at being the head of the most popular resort in the world. When Mammoth became the first resort with 50,000 fans, he won a friendly wager with his Whistler Blackcomb counterpart, Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen.

Though our sources say that Gregory has yet to receive his winnings of a “spendy bottle of champagne”, he will no doubt enjoy the satisfaction of being the first resort to 100,000 fans even more.

SkiReports.com’s 10 most popular resorts:

1. Mammoth Mountain, CA (99,458 fans)
2. Heavenly Mountain, CA (93,887 fans)
3. Whistler Blackcomb, BC (87,477 fans)
4. Vail, CO (79,765 fans)
5. Breckenridge, CO (66,060 fans)
6. Jackson Hole, WY (62,088 fans)
7. Keystone, CO (56,145 fans)
8. Northstar at Tahoe, CA (49,498 fans)
9. Beaver Creek, CO (40,068 fans)
10. Mountain High, CA (39,742 fans)

At number 11 on the list, Mountain Creek in New Jersey comes in as the most popular resort on the east coast.  Only an hour’s drive from New York City, it is seven hours closer than the East Coast’s second most popular resort, Maine’s Sugarloaf Mountain. Many of Sugarloaf’s followers will tell you that its remote distance from New York lends to its unique charm and loyal following.

The East Coast’s top 5 resorts are:

1. Mountain Creek, NJ (30,715 fans)
2. Sugarloaf, ME (29,283 fans)
3. Killington, VT (27,101 fans)
4. Sunday River, ME (25,388 fans)
5. Snowshoe Mountain, WV (25,061 fans)

Though there are many ways to compare mountains, SkiReports.com focuses on total Facebook fans as a metric which incorporates total visits, mountain loyalty, and effectiveness of communication between a resort and its patrons. Mammoth’s Social Media Director, Steve Krcmar, stated, “Social media facilitates two-way communication between Mammoth and our guests.

Our visitors are a passionate bunch, and our goal is to stoke them out with videos, photos, contests, and info, as well as listening to their suggestions and remedying their complaints.”

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