Over the past week, New England skiers and snowboarders were asked to make their voices heard in a bracket filled with the region’s top ski areas. The goal was to see which winter destination readers considered the “best.”

As was expected, the results produced a wide variety of choices. A few takeaways:

A total of 164,613 votes were cast in the bracket.

Every ski area in the bracket was picked to win at least 10 times.

Wachusett ranked highest among Massachusetts resorts, garnering 1,576 total votes.

While Maine and Vermont monopolized the top five, Cannon Mountain ranked as New Hampshire’s top entry, receiving 8,169 total votes.

The overall top spots belonged to:

1. Killington, Vermont: Receiving the most first place votes, as well as the most overall votes (13,101), New England’s biggest ski area was declared its best.

2. Sunday River, Maine: The Maine resort fell just 15 shy of Killington in total championship votes.

3. Stowe, Vermont: One of the region’s oldest resorts clearly showed it still has broad appeal.


4. Sugarloaf, Maine: Sugarloaf finished only six championship votes behind Stowe.

5. Mad River Glen, Vermont: Even while probably collecting zero votes from snowboarders, Mad River’s unique style helped vault the Vermont spot into the top five.