NEXT SEASON POLL

[BodeMiller1]

Have at it........

"It's a wise person who rules the stars, it's a fool who's ruled by them.

The Cosmic Muffin

WBCN Boston The Rock of Boston

 

[4aprice]

Just recently I've seen the prognostication of a "weak La Nina" for the upcoming season. Hopefully that bodes well for winter in both Colorado and New England. A little bit excited as I traded my local areas pass (still get days there with my Ikon) for an Indy pass. Lots of choices and the ability to play the weather/condition game. Have started back up the the summer conditioning game and will get at it in the fall with several indoor sessions at the ramp in the Meadowlands,

 

[B-Eastski]

I cannot believe the Hope to ski Okemo crowd beat the Hope to ski Smuggs Crowd!

 

[joshua segal]

I cannot believe the Hope to ski Okemo crowd beat the Hope to ski Smuggs Crowd!

Smuggs has great trails, but the antiquated lift system is a turnoff for me. In this era, I can’t imagine riding M1 on a cold January day.

 

[B-Eastski]

Of all places to have on the hope to ski list Okemo is near the bottom. Your math is not correct. Okemo has one of the more odd lift systems where you wait in a long line to get on a lift only to then wait in a very long line to get on the six pack. The amount of time waiting in lines and riding the lift is in the end much longer then Smuggs slow lifts. I have been there on many weekend days and waited no more than 10 minutes. Also off map at smuggs is some of the best on the east coast outside a few other places, no one has ever said that about Okemo.

 

[urungus]

Of all places to have on the hope to ski list Okemo is near the bottom. Your math is not correct. Okemo has one of the more odd lift systems where you wait in a long line to get on a lift only to then wait in a very long line to get on the six pack. The amount of time waiting in lines and riding the lift is in the end much longer then Smuggs slow lifts.

Smuggs terrain is certainly superior, but if you are spending more time waiting/riding lifts at Okemo, you are doing it wrong. Starting the day at Okemo with the short lift is annoying, but Okemo is not unique in that it takes two chairlifts to reach the summit (off the top of my head, Sugarbush, Sugarloaf, and now Cannon). And most importantly, you only need to ride the short lift once at the start of the day and then you can ride high speed detachables the rest of the day (and avoid the Sunburst 6 if it is busy)

 

[Quietman]

I love riding old Hall double chairs, and the ones at Smuggs are really cool, but I also really like to ski and not wait in slow moving lines. I get that some people really like Smuggs, I am not included.
I just really wish that Vail would give Wildcat some love this year!

 

[Smellytele]

I am glad people like okemo…

 

[deadheadskier]

A lot of people complain about the lift setup at Okemo and I'm really not sure why unless people prefer to ski run outs. I grew up skiing Okemo. I liked not having to ski the run out to the base until the end of the day. We'd bring a lunch bag up to stash at the Sugar Shack Lodge and only return to the base when we left for the day.

Plus 1 on Okemo being infinitely better than Smuggs at avoiding lift lines as well. Smuggs obviously crushes Okemo for trees and expert terrain, but there's really only two slow doubles worth skiing there. Smuggs is second only to MRG as places you get the least amount of skiing in on a decent Saturday. Mid week Smuggs and MRG are fantastic, but avoid both on weekends.

 

[joshua segal]

I love riding old Hall double chairs, and the ones at Smuggs are really cool, but I also really like to ski and not wait in slow moving lines. I get that some people really like Smuggs, I am not included.
I just really wish that Vail would give Wildcat some love this year!

I get all I want of riding Hall Doubles at my home area.!

Re Wildcat: I really don't know if last year was a one-season equipment issue, if it was badly managed or if it was a management/Vail issue. That should be clear by Jan. 1, 2026.

 

[deadheadskier]

Last year??? Wildcat has been a disaster for half a decade now under Vail.

 

[Smellytele]

I get all I want of riding Hall Doubles at my home area.!

Re Wildcat: I really don't know if last year was a one-season equipment issue, if it was badly managed or if it was a management/Vail issue. That should be clear by Jan. 1, 2026.

The vail ball washer is back!

 

[cdskier]

A lot of people complain about the lift setup at Okemo and I'm really not sure why unless people prefer to ski run outs. I grew up skiing Okemo. I liked not having to ski the run out to the base until the end of the day. We'd bring a lunch bag up to stash at the Sugar Shack Lodge and only return to the base when we left for the day.

Plus 1 on Okemo being infinitely better than Smuggs at avoiding lift lines as well. Smuggs obviously crushes Okemo for trees and expert terrain, but there's really only two slow doubles worth skiing there. Smuggs is second only to MRG as places you get the least amount of skiing in on a decent Saturday. Mid week Smuggs and MRG are fantastic, but avoid both on weekends.

It has been ages since I've skied Okemo, but I always thought they had a very good lift setup. I liked not having to ski back to the base until the end of the day as well... I also thought it was relatively easy to avoid major lift lines. Again though, this was 20ish years ago at this point. I'm sure things have changed a bit.

 

[joshua segal]

Depending on what numbers one uses, we are now closer to the 2025-6 season then the 2024-5 season. For the 2-areas at which I do 90+% of my skiing:
Crotched Mountain opened on 12/6 and closed on 3/24 which yields August 1 as the date that happened.
Killington opened on 11/6 and closed 5/10 which yields August 8 as the date that happened.

 

[4aprice]

It has been ages since I've skied Okemo, but I always thought they had a very good lift setup. I liked not having to ski back to the base until the end of the day as well... I also thought it was relatively easy to avoid major lift lines. Again though, this was 20ish years ago at this point. I'm sure things have changed a bit.

They got rid of all the high speed Poma's years ago. (just kidding)

Skied Okemo a bunch back in the Maxx Pass days. Wife enjoyed it, thus I liked it. (Happy wife...) Stratton (ikon) has become its replacement in S Vermont.

 

[Riverskier]

Depending on what numbers one uses, we are now closer to the 2025-6 season then the 2024-5 season. For the 2-areas at which I do 90+% of my skiing:
Crotched Mountain opened on 12/6 and closed on 3/24 which yields August 1 as the date that happened.
Killington opened on 11/6 and closed 5/10 which yields August 8 as the date that happened.

I think of the season as 11/1-5/1 for SR/SL, exactly 6 months. Of course it varies, but based on that I have always thought of 8/1 as the halfway point, which means we are MORE than half way through the off season!

 

[thebigo]

I think of the season as 10/31-5/1 for SR/SL, exactly 6 months. Of course it varies, but based on that I have always thought of 8/1 as the halfway point, which means we are MORE than half way through the off season!

Fixed it for you.

 

[raisingarizona]

A lot of people complain about the lift setup at Okemo and I'm really not sure why unless people prefer to ski run outs. I grew up skiing Okemo. I liked not having to ski the run out to the base until the end of the day. We'd bring a lunch bag up to stash at the Sugar Shack Lodge and only return to the base when we left for the day.

Plus 1 on Okemo being infinitely better than Smuggs at avoiding lift lines as well. Smuggs obviously crushes Okemo for trees and expert terrain, but there's really only two slow doubles worth skiing there. Smuggs is second only to MRG as places you get the least amount of skiing in on a decent Saturday. Mid week Smuggs and MRG are fantastic, but avoid both on weekends.

At 50 I think 1200 to 1500 vertical pods are better than larger vert with run outs. The AZ Snowbowl is a great example of that. I really wish they went with an upper mountain 1500 vertical fixed grip over the 2k vert gondola disaster that they went with instead. The runout at the Bowl gets SO old.

At this point I stay away from skiing on weekends all together. It's not worth the effort imo. I've has so much incredible top notch skiing during my life that I won't do the modern weekend ski experience BS. My time is much too valuable for that nonsense. Back in the early 90's there were barely any lines at Smuggs or MRG. It snowed a shit ton those winters of 92-93 and 93-94 too. I mostly spent my weekends chasing snow at MRG and Plattekill. It was dope.

The majority of "skiers" prefer a place like Okemo with high speed chairs and well groomed, low angled ski runs. I get it. It's not hard to understand and there sure as heck ain't anything wrong with that either.

 

[jimmywilson69]

A day on snow is better than a day off snow...

I've had decent powder days at okemo. Hell this past winter, on a 6" day, I dropped into a Glade at like 10 AM and had first tracks. Rinse and repeated that for a while.

We yearly combine Killington and Okemo into 1 trip. My wife is an intermediate skiers and enjoys Okemo which is okay by me. She also likes Killington as there is plenty to ski there for both of us.

Very easy to ski around crowds at both places.