What is the best big city close to skiing?

I was hoping to take many factors into account, including quality of life in the city, cost of living, cost of season pass, drive time to mountain, quality of snow, etc. I think cities within 90 - 120 minutes of the mountain should be included. My top three are Denver, Seattle, and Portland.

Public Comments

1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. denver colarado!!!!
3. definitely denver..im not a fan of northwest skiing--wetter snow not the dry champagne powder of colorado; plus you cant beat colorado's sunny skies...i choose denver followed by salt lake city here's more proof : colorado has by far the cheapest pass called the colorado pass http://www.snow.com/passsales/ plus denver is cheaper to live than those other two and better quality of life: sunny skies beat rainy skies anyday