Under the hood
How the WTSN Score works
One number, from 0 to 100, that answers a simple question: of the mountains you can reach, which one is the best ski day right now. Here is exactly what goes into it, and what never does.
What the score is
Every mountain in a search gets a WTSN Score from 0 to 100. It is built live, for the trip you described, from the things that actually decide whether a day is worth it. A higher score means a better ski day for you on that day. It does not mean a bigger or more famous mountain.
The score is personal to your search. Change your start town, your pass, how far you will drive, or how much snow you are chasing, and the number changes with you. That is the point. A great day for someone in Boston is not the same as a great day for someone in Burlington.
What it weighs
Every mountain gets one score for your exact ski day, built from six things. We are open about what they are. We do not publish the exact recipe, because the weighting is the part competitors would copy, but the factors are no secret.
- Snow. The forecast for your day, plus how reliably this mountain gets snow over a season, measured against how much you said you wanted.
- Skiability. Temps and wind, because ten degrees with a thirty mph gust is not the same ski day. On a warm day this includes how much of the mountain stays above the rain line up high.
- Terrain fit. Vertical, acreage, and trails against what you said you want. Size matters when it matches your trip, not as a blanket bigger-is-better rule.
- Drive. Real road time from your start point, weighted by how far you said you were willing to go.
- Value. Walk-up ticket price, unless your pass covers the mountain, in which case price stops counting against a place you ski free.
- Crowds. A forecast of crowd pressure, not a turnstile count. We model who each mountain draws, how the calendar and day of week load it, what fresh snow and clear-sky days do to demand, and how well lifts and parking absorb a rush.
The confidence tag on the crowd card is honest about the inputs: High means we have both a forecast and your location; Low means we are working with less.
What moves the score
Your priority buttons genuinely change the math, not just the sort order. Forecasts refresh through the day, drive times come from real routing, and the score moves when the inputs do. The model itself is deterministic: the same inputs always produce the same score. There is no randomness and no editor nudging a favorite up the list.
Why a small mountain can beat a big one
This is the part people push back on, so here is a worked example.
Take a Saturday in late January. No fresh snow anywhere, a warm and busy weekend, and a skier starting in the Mount Washington Valley deciding between two New Hampshire mountains.
Illustrative numbers for one day, not a live result. They flip the moment conditions do.
On that day, for that skier, Black wins. It is closer, quieter, cheaper, and the snow is no worse. Sunapee is the bigger mountain, but the things that make a Saturday great for this person are drive, crowds, and value, and Black takes all three.
Now drop a foot of snow overnight, or put a skier who wants long vertical and a full mountain in the seat, and Sunapee jumps ahead. The bigger mountain holds more terrain and rewards a powder day. Nothing about the order is fixed. It tracks the day and the skier, which is the whole idea.
What the score will not do
It is not for sale. No mountain can pay to rank higher. Advertising partners are always labeled, and their placement never touches their rank or their score.
It does not pretend to count heads. The crowd read is a forecast of crowd pressure based on nearby metros, pass pull, destination draw, calendar load, and lift capacity, not a live measurement of how many people are there.
It is not a universal mountain rating. The score is scored for your search. It answers what is best for your trip today, not which mountain is best in the abstract.
Common questions
Can a small mountain really beat a big resort?
Yes, when the day favors it. Close, quiet, and cheap beats far, busy, and pricey when the snow is a wash. On a powder day the big mountain usually wins back the top.
Why did the score change since last time?
The forecast moved, or your inputs did. New snow, a warmer day, a busier weekend, a new start town, a different pass, or a new priority setting all shift the number. The model is fixed, the world is not.
Does anyone pay for placement?
No. Ranking is decided only by the model. Partners are labeled and never ranked any differently for it.
Is this better than asking a local?
A longtime local will know details no model can fully capture: which lot fills first, which lift line moves, which run holds cold snow. Most skiers do not have a trusted local at every mountain within driving range. WhereToSkiNext is built for the skier comparing several unfamiliar mountains and trying to make a better decision quickly. It is a faster, more informed starting point than opening several websites and guessing. It is not a replacement for someone who has skied every local hill for ten years.
See your ranked list
Set your start point, ski day, pass, and priorities. Get the score for every mountain in range.