New member's input.
Holidays and blue-sky January, February and March weekend days are always crowded at every resort, no exceptions, at least here in the Tahoe Basin area. It doesn't matter who owns them. Late March, April, May and June have become some of the best skiing months because the crowds are gone and of course corn is some fantastic snow. Stormy days have always been my favorite because of the lack of crowds and lines and remain so to this day, we've had many the past two weeks here in the Sierras.
I've recently had discussions with some local rippers and we've come to the conclusion that many new members to the sport view skiing as some sort amusement park outing. Ride the lift, whoo-hoo, and come down the mountain some how, some way. Skiing is an athletic sport, those of us who do it know, and the inundation of holiday and weekend crowds is filled with many non-athletic individuals out for the amusement park atmosphere. Once they're gone the mountains return to normal; good local skiers who love the sport. We just have to deal with it and keep an eye onstormy days, late winter and spring when they're off to Disney World or Dubai.
My spirits will never be dampened by crowds. Of course I live 30-45 minutes from five resorts so I'm a bit spoiled.