ALTA

This is the holy grail of ski resorts.  No snow boarders are allowed so the mountain lacks the chaos on many common northeastern mountains.  The 3000ft vertical is impressive but once your at the top, you notice that a sign says 10550ft and a sudden feeling settles in your stomach that you are 2 MILES high.  Once that fear is gone, you can actually ski down the mountain.
The snow is absolutely perfect, not too heavy but not too fluffy.  The mountain has terrain of every kind, bowls, groomed trails, moguls, and even the crazy stuff that u need to hike to. The groomed trails are easy enough for anyone capable skiier with lots of more challenging terrain off  to the sides or through the woods on the sides of the trails.  The first couple of runs were easy groomed trails that were great.  This caused me and my brother to try some of the harder trails and bowls.  This means we had to hike for 30 min across a mountain face in full skiing gear with the sun beaming down on you.  I think this was the warmest I've ever been while skiing Ha. Once i cooled down, I actually started to ski the bowl which was the size of 3 footballs fields and had 3 ft of powder on it. It was unlike anything i have ever skied, i had to rediscover how to turn and even lost my ski in the powder for 10 min.  But nevertheless, this snow combined with the amazing conditions makes for some of the best skiing ever.   The rest of the day consisted of skiing close to every trail on the mountain and trying to find a trail that could finally stop me.
In total, ALTA is the pinnacle for every mountain to achieve.  They don't have long lines, they have the best snow and offer trails that no one else in the US can.  This is truly a skiers paradise and one on the best mountains in America.