The 2025-2026 SKI Magazine Rankings are In

[4aprice]

Yep Camelback had a horrible year last season with lots of problems from lifts to snow making piping amongst other things. Probably the main reason for their ranking is the Camelback Lodge and Aquatopia. Those facilities are very nice. But. They just hired a new vice president/GM whom I happen to know. Great guy who knows the mountain and I believe will be a good leader. He was decent friends with my daughter when she worked there and has sat around our kitchen table and discussed Csmelback and skiing. Ullr Fest is this weekend ( a good excuse to go hang in the Thirsty Camel for a night) and I am thinking of going up there and trying to see Jason. Having lost some faith in the place I now have some hope

 

[jimk]

When I was a young person I used to read these rankings and the mini-reviews of resorts with great interest. Now that I've visited virtually all possible mtns that recur in the polls I have my own preferences and assessments. I find some of the choices in the annual rankings to be absurd. I love places like MRG, Saddleback, and Wildcat, but to rank them over Stowe, Killington or Sugarloaf is nuts. Whatever system they use to develop the rankings is obviously very flawed, but I guess I understand that it would make for very boring reading to keep the same rankings year after year.

 

[Smellytele]

When I was a young person I used to read these rankings and the mini-reviews of resorts with great interest. Now that I've visited virtually all possible mtns that recur in the polls I have my own preferences and assessments. I find some of the choices in the annual rankings to be absurd. I love places like MRG, Saddleback, and Wildcat, but to rank them over Stowe, Killington or Sugarloaf is nuts. Whatever system they use to develop the rankings is obviously very flawed, but I guess I understand that it would make for very boring reading to keep the same rankings year after year.

Everyone has different preferences. I would rank saddleback and MRG over Killington and would have rated Wildcat higher as well pre vail. Sometimes I like them more than sugarloaf as well.

 

[BenedictGomez]

lets not forget, someone keeps ranking camelback very high in the Country for ski joints. And they struggled last year to make snow in like the coldest December in YEARS.
View attachment 66743

Camelback is extremely marketing savvy and marketing duplicitous. I'm sure they know exactly how each of these rankings gets scored and has a way to spam the surveys with positive reviews, even if it took Chinese or Turkish result farming (I'm not even entirely kidding). Camelback also takes my award for most ridiculous snow reporting, 1" is a "powder day", etc....

 

[Internet Ski Pro]

Camelback is extremely marketing savvy and marketing duplicitous. I'm sure they know exactly how each of these rankings gets scored and has a way to spam the surveys with positive reviews, even if it took Chinese or Turkish result farming (I'm not even entirely kidding). Camelback also takes my award for most ridiculous snow reporting, 1" is a "powder day", etc....

no doubt. they totally know how to get on peoples surveys, and probably spend some $$ doing it. They lose points with me for anything that resembles a "mountain vib" as you are taking a lift that goes directly over a huge portion of the water park, reminding you exactly that you are pretty mush skiing at Sesame Place. And to stay with the Sesame Place theme, they charge for parking, and dont allow much in the way of tailgating.

i skied there last year on Christmas day. the first few runs on the extremely limited terrain with one lift, was good for like 3-4 runs, and then it went to shit, in both conditions and crowds. What ever lift it was that was open, the newest one i think, was very fast, and incredibly short. It has to be the shortest high speed in the country.

 

[BenedictGomez]

they charge for parking,

Wow, I had no idea Camelback was charging for parking, I havent skied there in I'm guessing 6 years.

Even when I lived an hour from the Poconos we almost never skied there, as the little bit longer drive to the Catskills or the (much) extra effort to n.VT was such superior skiing in every way. But it was nice to hit Shawnee (my favorite in the Poconos) and Blue or Camelback for maybe 2 or 3 days a season. But honestly, paying for parking would be the Poconos death knell for me. I just wouldn't bother.

 

[x10003q]

Seven Springs and Holiday Valley should be in the Midwest rankings.

 

[Internet Ski Pro]

Wow, I had no idea Camelback was charging for parking, I havent skied there in I'm guessing 6 years.

Even when I lived an hour from the Poconos we almost never skied there, as the little bit longer drive to the Catskills or the (much) extra effort to n.VT was such superior skiing in every way. But it was nice to hit Shawnee (my favorite in the Poconos) and Blue or Camelback for maybe 2 or 3 days a season. But honestly, paying for parking would be the Poconos death knell for me. I just wouldn't bother.

passholders (not me) got free parking. at least the first year it was just a paper tag kinda thing hung from your mirror. i saw a picture of one, and thought to myself it would be ridiculously easy to counterfeit.

pay to park in the Poconos is thankfully not catching on anywhere else that i am aware of. Blue Mountain has a paid lot, that they paved and put lines on. its super nice. and nobody parks there.

i was skiing there on my Ikon pass, so it was almost "free". there is no way i would have paid for the day though.

 

[4aprice]

passholders (not me) got free parking. at least the first year it was just a paper tag kinda thing hung from your mirror. i saw a picture of one, and thought to myself it would be ridiculously easy to counterfeit.

pay to park in the Poconos is thankfully not catching on anywhere else that i am aware of. Blue Mountain has a paid lot, that they paved and put lines on. its super nice. and nobody parks there.

i was skiing there on my Ikon pass, so it was almost "free". there is no way i would have paid for the day though.

I had a pass Camelback for the last 20 yrs before this one. I don’t like the parking situation there either but like you said season pass holders get it for free. As an Ikon holder I will get back probably for my full allotment of days this year as I still have friends there including the new General Manager who I think is going to be good for the mountain. But it’s hard to criticize them too much because those lots (including the higher price lots up close) are full every weekend. BTW from what I understand the parking is run by some outside entity not the mountain. Wouldn’t surprise me if Blue slid that same direction as they are run by the same company. Camelback lost a lot of parking when they built the hotel.

But on to this coming year. I’m a little excited as I know the new GM and think he is a good hire as he knows the mountain and cares about the mountain. They have already announced a new attack plan as they are looking to start on the east side this year. Stevenson was refurbished this summer so she should be ready to roll. There have been improvements to the snow making system which is very good when operating correctly. Maybe this will carry on to the back end of the season as well. If you ever have been to the mountain after the season is over you can see that Cliffhanger holds snow amazingly well. Usually they close the west side to get the Camelbeach park ready for summer. The east side could probably remain open if they blew a little more on Cliffy. Trails End deck could become a great spring hang out. ( are you seeing this Jason?). A PA version of Superstar.

As you said last year was kind of a disaster for Camelback. Whatever the problems it looks like they have reflected and are moving forward to improve things. (And like I said I have faith in the new GM). When things are going well there it is a fun place to ski. Combined with Blue one can get in a really fun weekend in the “back yard” aka the Pocono’s, My hope is for a good cold December and January where they can get some good snow down before my travel season in ( NNE and Colorado) February, March and April

 

[kendo]

But on to this coming year. I’m a little excited as I know the new GM and think he is a good hire as he knows the mountain and cares about the mountain. They have already announced a new attack plan as they are looking to start on the east side this year. Stevenson was refurbished this summer so she should be ready to roll. There have been improvements to the snow making system which is very good when operating correctly. Maybe this will carry on to the back end of the season as well. If you ever have been to the mountain after the season is over you can see that Cliffhanger holds snow amazingly well. Usually they close the west side to get the Camelbeach park ready for summer. The east side could probably remain open if they blew a little more on Cliffy. Trails End deck could become a great spring hang out. ( are you seeing this Jason?). A PA version of Superstar.

Saw that announcement. Opening Cliffhanger early and burying it for late season would be great. I haven't skied there in years since going with Peak then Epic - but would spend a weekday or two lapping Cliffy if opened in Dec and would return in April if open.

Marketing should offer a special weekday ticket price for Epic passholders (or a Stevenson only lift tix) to get them back in the mix... and maybe convert them back into returning customers.