Utah ski resorts received some high ratings from skiers.

SKIING Magazine, for example, placed four Utah resorts among the top 25 of more than 500 ski areas in the country. For the fifth year in a row the Snowbird/Alta union was the readers' No. 2 resort pick in North America and the No. 1 resort in the United States. Snowbird and Alta are connected by a common lift and can be skied with the purchase of a common pass.

SKI Magazine listed seven Utah resorts in its rankings of the top 30 in North America. They are Deer Valley No. 2, Park City No. 5, The Canyons No. 15, Snowbird No. 21, Solitude No. 25, Alta No. 28 and Brighton No. 29.

Skiers gave Utah resorts high ratings for their snow conditions, placing six resorts among their top 10. Powder Mountain was No. 1, Alta No. 2, Snowbird No. 3, Brighton No. 4, Solitude No. 6 and Deer Valley No. 8.

Access, of course, is another area where Utah resorts score high marks. Utah resorts occupied seven of the top spots. Park City Mountain Resort was No. 2, Deer Valley No. 3, The Canyons No. 4, Snowbird No. 5, Solitude No. 6, Alta No. 8 and Brighton No. 9.

Based on readers' overall satisfaction, meaning resorts they enjoyed the most not only for skiing but for other amenities, four hit the top 10. Alta was No. 1, Deer Valley No. 4, Snowbird No. 7 and Powder Mountain No. 8.

For the third year in a row, Park City Mountain Resort was given the Terrain Park of the Year award by Transworld Snowboarding; Freeskier ranked Snowbird/Alta No. 3 among the top Rocky Mountain resorts, Colorado resorts included; and Park City Mountain Resort came in No. 4 by Freeskier voters for having North America's greatest terrain parks.

All in all, the bottom line is Utah has available to its skiers some pretty great skiing.