If they’re willing to pay for you to apply just do it as long as you can apply to some of your favorites. As someone above mentioned, even with great stats, some of Ivy and near-Ivy are still a long shot. Let the schools reject you and you won’t have to explain. Then compare the acceptances down the road.
@ski_racer - Two very good schools that I have not seen mention are CU Boulder and Colorado School of Mines. Both are within an hour of great skiing. University of Denver and Colorado College are also great schools along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, arguably the best skiing in the world (I did say arguably). All 4 are highly rated nationally, regionally and technically. Do what you love! Get a great education but also fuel your passion! You can apply to those lottery schools but also apply to the schools that you want to attend. Just having the stats are no guarantee you will get in. Go look at the decision threads for schools like Stanford and Princeton. Every kid has unbelievable stats and most did not get in.
@jpc763 I have visited Mines and it was great. I just need to be sure that engineering is for me though. I guess getting rejected would solve my problem, but I don’t really want to spend the money to apply in the first place (except Princeton because I think my mom is going to make me apply). $75 or so is a lot of money to me that could be spent elsewhere.
Why are you so concerned about what relatives ask you? Just say you aren’t interested in applying, that’s it. If they press just say you don’t want to talk about it any further.
@ski_racer - Consider CU Boulder. Eldora is not a world class mountain but it is 21 miles from CU and you can hop on a bus after school! Winter Park is less than 2 hours drive.
Disclaimer - I live in CO and have skied all over the US, Canada and Europe. I am partial to the resorts here!
Piling on for CU Boulder.
Adding UVermont.
Apply to the Honors college at both.
Defend the Honors opportunities.
Add Colorado state, Montana state, same thing to defend that wirh Honors.
Why be one among many, when you can have tons of special attention and opportunities?
Don’t apply to UNR though, it’d decredibilize your efforts as it’s in the bottom of all state (non directional and even directional) universities. Apply by October and applybtoball possible merit scholarships. If you win big scholarships it may suddenly make more sense to your parents 
Add a few universities your grandparents are into.
Middlebury has its own ski resort, right? As does Dartmouth.
If you’re concerned about $75 application fee then are you concerned with final cost of the school you go to? One way to explain to relatives is if you pick schools where your stats put you in contention for merit scholarships. Or once you get a good list, go through and run all the net price calculators. If money is an issue, then maybe showing those results to parents, etc will convince them to widen their college search for you.
And I wouldn’t suggest applying to every one on your original post - some you can rule out based on major, location or whatever. Just pick a few of that type of school to satisfy. Then your own list.
@jpc763 both schools were mentioned. CU is at least a 2 hour drive from any of the major ski areas, CSU is more like 3 hours - on a no snow/no traffic day. CSM is closer. If you are routinely making it from Boulder to Winter Park in 2 hours, you are one fast driver.
He wants an argument that CU is just as good as Princeton. That argument only exists for a specific major (ex., aerospace engineering) or if the relatives would consider fit. FOR THIS STUDENT, CU might be a much better school because it will make him happy, but his relatives don’t really care about that, they want to brag that he’s going to Princeton or Harvard or Stanford.
He didn’t say if cost is a factor, but if the family is lower income, the Ivies+ might be cheaper than CU or Mines.
Who is paying for your college expenses? That is key to how you handle the comments. The person who pays gets to make the rules.
I would lessen the talk about wanting to be near ski resort when you speak to relatives. Find schools that fit you well, including ones near ski resorts, but focus on talking about non-ski reasons why you want to attend.
This one has the major I want, that one has a great reputation with major employers in XYZ field, I visited that Ivy school and did not find the Math Dept had professors that were engaging with their students. The food was awful at Fancy College, the freshman dorms are old and smelly, you get the idea.
I think you are fine to make ski conditions one of the factors in your college search, just don’t lead with it when you interact with relatives.
@powercropper, totally agree or one may think OP has come down with a case of affluenza…
There was a D3 comment above. I believe that skiing is only D1 (regardless of what division other sports are.) Alough it may not matter - the OP seems to have disappeared like a mogul under a sno-cat…
Right, if your relatives press you to apply to certain schools, ask them if they will pay for the app fee and costs if you get in.
@gardenstategirl Sorry, I work three jobs right now. And I’m on track for USCSA.
@powercropper My granddad, but he’s not the one who cares so much. It’s my aunts and uncles and my other grandma (not his spouse)
You mentioned that your Dad went to Montana State. The extended family survived that decision, so no doubt they will survive whatever decision you make. I second the decison for Univ of British Columbia. Whistler/Blackcomb is heaven on earth. Personally, I think you should go to the best college you can get into that offers the life you want. New England isn’t Colorado, but there are some great ski resorts there. Waterville Valley is one of my favorites in NH. Good luck.
Assuming you really have the stats, apply to lots of places and figure it out later. If you want to ski at the collegiate level, contact coaches and start your conversations about attending. My son is a scholarship cyclist at a school not well know outside the biking community. (Ft Lewis college in Durango Co. It in’t Stanford but, easy access to great skiing.) Davis and Sacramento are an easy day trip to Sugar Bowl and Sierra at Tahoe. Oregon Institute of Tech and Southern Oregon aren’t at all far from skiing. Boise State too. My point is, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of legit colleges (UNR included) a reasonable drive from a good ski hill. Apply to a bunch of them, see who lets you in. Reach out to the clubs/coaches now and see how they are structured and supported by the school. It varies more than you’d think school to school. It is time consuming and you have to drive it yourself.
I assume you’ve seen this list.
http://www.uscsa.com/member-schools.html#RANGE!A1
I agree with some of the other comments above, when talking about perspective school, discuss the school’s merit rather than the epic powder available at a nearby resort.
Speaking of affluenza… If you earned a pilot’s license, you could easily buzz from Palo Alto to Truckee or South Tahoe for a day of skiing… (I am only half kidding, I am a pilot and have done that trip several times - AWESOME way to spend a day)
Do you even want to apply to college this year? Tell the meddling relatives that you’ve decided to take a gap year. Then do that. You might even be able to get some southern hemisphere skiing in while you have that time off.
Then when you are ready to be done ski-bumming, apply to the colleges that do suit you best.
not to drift too far off topic but, we are talking about essentially a club sport at a prestige university like Stanford… so, here goes… Kate Courtney is a talented and remarkably down to earth young woman I have had the pleasure to meet a few times over the last 3 or so years. Right now, she is one of the top female mountain bike racers in the world and is vying for a slot on the US Olympic team. She raced on the Cardinal club team as a freshman (national champ 2013) and sophomore national champ 2014.and she only rode a few races because of scheduling conflicts with her new sponsor Specialized. https://www.usacycling.org/2014/collegiate-mtb-nationals
a link to the 2013 and 2014 results.
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/kate-courtney-xc-mtb-next
and a link to a recent interview where she talks about what it takes and the compromises she’s made.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2014/05/14/the-most-accomplished-stanford-athlete-youve-never-heard-of/
and one from the Stanford paper.
Because she competes at the level she does, Stanford makes room for her… Giving her lots of flexibility to pursue her goals of being an Olympic champion by racing in Europe on a Wednesday. They do the same for Katie Ledecky, another elite athlete in an individual sport currently at Stanford. I don’t think you’d find similar latitude at UNR or UC Davis. So, if your goal is to compete at the next level - choose a school that will work with you as your career gains momentum. If you just want to have fun - that’s not a consideration.
@thrillcosby, wow - your comment is pretty shocking to me: subpar pay, subpar job, I guess subpar life, if you go to a “subpar” school. Geez!