Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of the magazine, said ballots were sent out to more than 20,000 readers by an independent research firm and more than 7,000 skiers responded to the survey.

In order to add credibility to the survey, requirements were that voters could only rate those resorts they had visited within the previous two seasons. Resorts were rated in 18 areas.

Of the 18 categories, the one considered to carry the most weight is "overall satisfaction." Deer Valley was ranked No. 4 in that category, "which shows Deer Valley really does deliver the goods," Wheaton said.

Three Utah resorts were among the Top 10 in overall satisfaction — Alta (1), Deer Valley (4) and Solitude (6).

In the area of access, Utah proved once again that its ski areas are among the most accessible in the world. Of the 10 spots open, Utah resorts filled seven — Park City Mountain Resort (1), Deer Valley (2), Loveland, Colo. (3), The Canyons (4), Solitude (5), Alta (6), Brighton (7), Snowbird (8), Loon Mountain, N.H. (9) and Copper Mountain, Colo. (10).

The ski resort survey is the most comprehensive and longest-running in the winter sports industry. Readers of SKI Magazine ski an average of 23 days a season.