Best Ski Resorts in the Vermont

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From its quaint country stores to its picturesque covered bridges, Vermont is brimming with character. No matter the time of the year, this small but mighty state is one of the most beautiful in the United States, chock-full of hiking, biking, skiing, and snowshoeing, with vibrant culinary and brewery scenes, to boot.

Also Read: The Best Ski Resorts in Colorado

But oh, the skiing. Vermont is home to over 20 downhill ski resorts each with their own unique vibe and terrain. From Okemo’s kid-friendly offerings to Mad River Glen’s independent spirit, Vermont skiing means different things to different people. Good thing there’s enough variety, charm, and amenities, and challenge to go around. Use the intel below, from our annual Resort Guide rankings, to find the right spot for you in the Green Mountain State this winter.

The 9 Best Ski Resorts in Vermont

9. Mount Snow

The most accessible Vermont slopes for millions of city dwellers, Mt. Snow skis bigger than its 600 acres.

Strengths

✅ Access

✅ Après

Weaknesses

❌ Service

❌ Challenge

What Readers Say

“Skis bigger than it is and you can work around the mountain to avoid crowds. It’s the easiest resort in Vermont to get to from the Boston area, so you have to deal with volume. Skiing can be really good when the snow is good … and then not so much when icy, especially the North Face.”

Summary

Mt. Snow takes a lot of heat from readers, but that’s par for the course for a place that’s both easy to get to—about 2.5 hours from Boston and four hours from NYC —and offers unlimited access on the Epic Pass. So yeah, it’s going to be crowded during the core winter months, and that might feel overwhelming, especially when you’re fighting your way into and out of the parking lots and the main base area. The key is to navigate away from the base as soon as possible, which, for advanced and expert skiers, means seeking out the black-diamond runs on the North Face.

For families, readers love the top-to-bottom greens and blues at Mt. Snow, and also appreciate the layout at the Carinthia base, home to some of the best terrain parks in the East. Survey respondents approved of the recent lift upgrades, which have improved base-area congestion, but say that it can still take quite a while to get up and onto the slopes on crowded winter weekends. But that’s the double-edged sword of being accessible from such a large metro area. Said one survey respondent: “It can get super crowded and getting on the initial first lift can take up to 45 min depending on the weekend.”

8. Okemo Mountain Resort

Known for its fast lifts and great grooming, Okemo is a family-friendly resort that takes pride in providing a quality snow surface even during low-snow winters.

Strengths

✅ Grooming

✅ Snow

Weaknesses

❌ Challenge

❌ Local Flavor

What Readers Say

“Fun mountain with a good variety of glades and plenty of fast lifts. I love that there are three peaks, and how each of them has its own feel. Mountain ops is accountable and honest, and the South Face is awesome for experts and advanced skiers, with lots of black diamonds and interesting features.”

Summary

Despite a drop in the rankings this year, survey respondents were very complimentary about the ski area’s efforts around grooming and snowmaking—two very important core metrics. “I was there early in the season with little snow, but they made the most of it,” commented one skier. The efficient, modern lift system also got a good amount of praise, especially the two high-speed bubble lifts that shield people from the elements on cold, windy days.

Located in central Vermont, Okemo offers decent access, which tends to bring the destination crowds, especially during the holidays. Given its unlimited access on the Epic Pass this isn’t surprising, and frequent Okemo visitors would like to see better queue management on those days. The resort can be a little sleepy after the lifts close, but for Okemo’s target demographic—families—the slopeside lodging options and kid’s programming more than make up for it. “Okemo is definitely family-oriented, especially for people who want to stay on-mountain or ski-in/ski-out,” commented one visitor. “There’s lots of novice terrain, but not much nightlife or après activities.”

7. Stratton Mountain

A convenient and accessible southern Vermont destination resort that’s amenity-rich and boasts plenty of mellow, cruisey skiing.

Strengths

✅ Lifts

✅ Grooming

Weaknesses

❌ Local Flavor

❌ Parking

What Readers Say

“Stratton is convenient and well managed. It can be crowded and expensive, but as someone who skis there every weekend, I know how to manage it and never really wait in lines.”

Summary

If there’s a trend to be noted so far, it’s that readers are dinging the accessible ski areas this year as being crowded, and are seemingly more willing to travel further for a less-congested experience. That’s the case at Stratton, the closest Ikon resort to the Tri-State region with unlimited days on the full Ikon Pass and the Base Pass. Not surprisingly, crowds and parking woes were all over the comments. On the flip side, readers were pleased with the overall conditions of the slopes, the easy access to the mountain via the modern lift system, and the breadth of amenities and dining in the village. “Really nice base village with fun places to eat, drink and shop,” shared one respondent. The lodging scene is also robust, if rather expensive.

Overall, skiers pegged Stratton as a great destination for a family vacation, or those wanting lots of mellow cruisers in a cute, if-somewhat manufactured mountain ambience. “Families for sure will love Stratton!” said one vacationer. “It’s great for families with small kids and also older kids who are not expert skiers. Stratton has limited expert terrain to keep an advanced skier interested for an extended trip.”

6. Sugarbush Resort

A northern Vermont destination resort praised for its challenging terrain, friendly service, and beautiful, yet remote, location.

Strengths

✅ Variety

✅ Service

Weaknesses

❌ Family Friendly

❌ Grooming

What Readers Say

“Sugarbush is a great resort. Even on a weekend, it’s not very crowded. The terrain offers a strong variety. It’s probably the hardest skiing I’ve ever done. The Castle Rock chair is an absolute challenge. The staff, on the mountain and at the clinic, are terrific. My son had a bad fall on our second day, and the staff really helped us find services. Lastly, I liked the lodge on the Lincoln Peak side. It was quiet but accessible.”

Summary

One of the more remote Vermont resorts, Sugarbush serves up a pretty well-rounded package when it comes to destination skiing. On the mountain, skiers praised the great variety of terrain suitable for all ability levels, plus a good amount of expert terrain for advanced skiers to explore. If you’re someone who likes your slopes more natural—read: moguls and more natural terrain features—then you’ll love Sugarbush’s offerings. If you prefer perfectly manicured corduroy, you’ll find some of that, but it’s not a ’Bush specialty. (One local skier calls it “a little rough around the edges” when it comes to grooming.)

Village amenities are pretty plentiful, with ample lodging, dining, and après to satisfy most comers, although the general consensus was that this is a spot that’s best for experienced skiers and people who want to challenge themselves on some of the steepest and most adventurous slopes in Northeast. “Great for people who love skiing and appreciate that a light touch from mountain ops makes everything better.”

5. Stowe Mountain Resort

Some of the most difficult and legendary terrain in the East bolstered by a quaint, amenity-rich village that oozes Vermont charm.

Strengths

✅ Après

✅ Challenge

Weaknesses

❌ Family Friendly

❌ Parking

What Readers Say

“This resort has everything—some tough terrain, and good family and beginner areas. The snow is always fantastic and the mountain is massive, so you never get bored. The new area on Spruce Peak is really beautiful with the skating rink in the middle. This is the closest thing to a big West Coast resort there is on the East Coast.”

Summary

Stowe holds steady at the same rank it earned last year, telling us that readers still appreciate everything that makes this northern Vermont destination resort special, yet remain frustrated with the resort’s shortcomings, namely its crowds and parking. Leading with the positives, Stowe’s challenging terrain, including Mt. Mansfield and Stowe’s legendary Front Four, is hard to beat in the East. “Hard-chargers will find plenty of challenge,” said one survey respondent. There’s also ample blue cruisers and learning terrain, judging by the solid score for terrain variety.

Charming downtown Stowe, with its white clapboard storefronts and myriad boutiques and galleries, is arguably the most classic ski town in the East. As such, it attracts the crowds, making the weekend parking and ski experience a bit lacking for some readers. Despite charging for parking last season, skiers still dealt with heavy access road traffic and full parking lots to start their day. “The parking situation remains a bit of a mess,” reported one reader. “The gondola connecting the two base areas is helpful and I went mid-week, which is key.” If you can avoid weekends and holidays, Stowe will treat you to one of your best ski vacations ever. “Stowe has the snow quality and challenge to please every member of our family, and Stowe Village is amazing.”

4. Killington Mountain Resort

The biggest resort in the East shines thanks to great snow, a wide variety of terrain for all, and some of the best amenities in the region.

Strengths

✅ Snow

✅ Terrain Variety

Weaknesses

❌ Family

❌ Value

What Readers Say

“Nice capital improvements on the mountain. The nightlife, terrain, and lifts are awesome. Killington is one of the best resorts in the U.S., and I’ve skied all over the country. Besides the new village going in, Pico needs to be connected to Killington via lifts and terrain! The Beast rocks!”

Summary

The East Coast’s largest ski area took a bit of a tumble in the rankings this year, with respondents sharing concerns over crowding and the cost of everything from lift tickets to lunch. Located in south-central Vermont within striking distance of the New York and Boston metropolitan areas, Killington has long been a popular destination. After all, it’s got some of the best variety of terrain in the East, and is a place where every level of skier can find suitable terrain.

It’s also just a great time: From the nightlife along the access road to the weekend festivals and events, Killington has the size and draw to offer the type of experience skiers get at the Western destination resorts like Vail and Park City. Readers were impressed with not only the snow quality, but how well mountain ops grooms and curates it, and they also lauded the resort for its dedication to capital improvements, from upgraded lifts to new and improved lodges and facilities.

But alas, it’s reasonably convenient location and its Ikon Pass access—seven days on the full pass and five on the Ikon Base—does bring the crowds, so avoid weekends and holidays if you don’t want to wait in long lines. Also bring your lunch if you don’t want to drop big bucks on lodge food. (“Don’t charge an arm and a leg for a small Powerade,” complained one skier.) But when it comes to getting on the slopes early in the season and partying long into the spring. The Beast simply can’t be beat. “First to open. Last to close. The best in New England!”

3. Smugglers’ Notch Resort

Smuggs is simultaneously beloved by families for its kid-friendly programming and hard-chargers for its legit expert terrain.

Strengths

✅ Family

✅ Lodging

Weaknesses

❌ Lifts

❌ Dining

What Readers Say

“Local flavor, family-first mindset, great employees—these are the reasons we keep going back to Smuggs and they welcome us as locals every time. Mother Nature does not cooperate all the time but mountain ops does a great job leveraging the snow they have and making plenty where they can.”

Summary

The worst thing about Smuggs is that first ride up Madonna in the morning—you haven’t warmed up yet and the 13-minute ride to the top isn’t going to make you any less cold. And it’s just a two seater, so you better find someone to snuggle up with, because the pay-off is worth it. If you’re looking for the sketchiest, steepest, tightest lift-served skiing in the East, this is where you’ll find it, and some of it is right under the lift, including some drops where you can earn ooohs and ahhhs from riders above. Oh, plus the Black Hole. They put three diamonds on it for a reason (and readers smartly rank Smuggs highly in both terrain variety and challenge). Just start exploring the trees and don’t be surprised if you stumble on some kids from the nearby University of Vermont campus hanging around and taking a breather.

But the beauty of Smuggs is in its wide range of appeal. The ski school is renowned in New England as a top place to bring your young learners, and they’ve invested in multiple tubing areas, a skating rink, an indoor pool, and a massive snowshoe and Nordic trail system for anyone looking for off-slope diversions. Aside from its prehistoric lift system—which keeps the slopes less crowded, Smuggs faithfuls are quick to remind—the ski area earned low marks for its meh cafeteria fare and muddy parking lots. But maybe that’s all part of the throwback charm. “It’s quiet and challenging and definitely not a money grab,” said one Smuggs skier. How refreshing.

2. Jay Peak Resort

Come for the powder, stay for the classic Vermont steeps, winding wooded runs, and fun family water park at this remote, often uncrowded ski area.

Strengths

✅ Snow

✅  Challenge

Weaknesses

❌ Access

❌ Grooming

What Readers Say

”You’re not gonna find anything better in the East. It’s a pain in the ass to get there, it’s cold as hell, and the terrain is mostly advanced and beyond. So everyone there is a little nuts and it’s awesome.”

Summary

Why do people travel the length of Vermont up to Jay, where you can dial in French-speaking radio stations from Canada? Quite simply, the snow. At 350-plus inches of annual snowfall—thanks to the “Jay Cloud”!—no other mountain in the East can stack up with Jay’s frequent dumpings. Combine that with plenty of steeps and it’s worth an extra couple hours in the car. The Tram is pretty special, too. On a clear day, you can see four states and Quebec from the 4,000-foot Sky Haus peak, and the Face Chutes you can drop into will challenge even the most technical skiers. If you follow them down into the Everglade, all the way through Kokomo, and run down the end of the three-mile Ullr’s Dream, you’ll feel it in the quads. But the Tram doesn’t offer a lot of capacity (it’s slow), and those Chutes are rough if the snow’s not great, so the Jet Triple and Flyer Quad are better options for doing laps and give you a mix of challenge and cruiser. “It’s a true skier’s mountain,” says one survey respondent. Readers ranking the lifts toward the bottom of the pile is no mistake; they could use an upgrade. Maybe new owners will oblige. In the meantime, you can enjoy the indoor waterpark, skating rink, movie theater, and hotels with the family.

1. Mad River Glen

Mad River Glen returns to the top of the rankings for its second year in a row, and remains beloved for its unique mix of rugged terrain and diehard community.

Strengths

✅ Challenge

✅ Value

Weaknesses

❌ Grooming

❌ Nightlife

What Readers Say

“MRG is top-to-bottom an amazing mountain where even just two or three hours is as good as a full day elsewhere. That’s why people are so excited to go there and leave with such a glow.”

Summary

Any resort scoring No. 1 in both the survey categories of overall satisfaction and likelihood to return is obviously doing something right. And yet Mad River is definitely not for everyone. It’s not for snowboarders, for one. It has been more than 30 years since a snowboard has graced Mad River’s slopes, and the shareholders—the resort has been owned by the collective Mad River Cooperative since 1995—don’t have any plans to change. Unsurprisingly, the result is a skier’s ski mountain, where the focus is on what many believe is the best expert terrain in the East, catching powder when it falls from the sky, and turning young beginner skiers into older expert skiers. “By learning to ski at Mad River Glen, I can comfortably and confidently say I can ski any mountain in the world,” shared one MRG lifer.

Despite not having corporate resources, Mad River ranks well in the family category, and its Practice Slope and Birdland chairs offer plenty of beginner terrain. For families with a variety of abilities, having the whole mountain accessible from a central base area makes it easy for everyone to find their comfort trails and then meet up later. In fact, of all the complaints levied by readers against the resort (and there weren’t many), the most resonant voiced frustration about the limited parking. (“Figure out a way to transport people to alleviate parking on powder days.”) When it snows, people show. In droves. That’s partly because Mad River has minimal snowmaking and doesn’t do a lot of grooming, but it’s also because this is a mountain for people who like to make jump turns and get thigh workouts in the bumps or between the trees, less so for folks who like to drop an edge.

And then there is the Single Chair. Yes, it’s 5,000-plus feet all by its lonesome, in the cold, and a line that can make you wait a bit on a good-snow weekend, but having a technical masterpiece like Fall Line all to yourself is worth it when the snow weighs down the pines and all you can hear are the distant whoops of joy from your fellow skiers. “It’s my absolute number one happy place.”