Most Overrated and Underrated Ski Resorts in the east

[Slidebrook87]

Overrated: Mount Snow, Killington
Underrated: Sugarbush, Magic

Change my mind.

I agree, although Killington looks pretty epic. I’d love to ski there some day.

 

[ss20]

Lot's of Killingto hate here...it's not the same place as it was in the 90s and early 00s with 1 million+ skier visits. Also they've taken away a lot of the criss-crossing trails and reduced intersections.

I will admit, you need a dozen+ days to learn "how" to ski there. Huuuuge variations of terrain depending on wind, elevation, and sun exposure. Seriously it can be night and day at Bear vs the Canyon. Also your first dozen days will be spent traversing lol...that reputation is real...but again that goes away once you learn "how" to ski it.

 

[drjeff]

Lot's of Killingto hate here...it's not the same place as it was in the 90s and early 00s with 1 million+ skier visits. Also they've taken away a lot of the criss-crossing trails and reduced intersections.

I will admit, you need a dozen+ days to learn "how" to ski there. Huuuuge variations of terrain depending on wind, elevation, and sun exposure. Seriously it can be night and day at Bear vs the Canyon. Also your first dozen days will be spent traversing lol...that reputation is real...but again that goes away once you learn "how" to ski it.

Agree 100%!

Killington certainly takes a while to "learn" and when one does that, they can find just about anything they're looking for. It's far more than just the North Ridge early season and Superstar late season that many essentially only use it for

 

[Slidebrook87]

I’d love to go there and “learn the mountain”, but everybody in my family hates it...

 

[skiur]

Agree 100%!

Killington certainly takes a while to "learn" and when one does that, they can find just about anything they're looking for. It's far more than just the North Ridge early season and Superstar late season that many essentially only use it for

This is exactly why I made K my home mountain, no place else in the east with the variety that K does and that is talking about the on map stuff, once you learn the off map stuff its pretty endless. I couldnt ski any other resort in the east 30+ days a year.

 

[bdfreetuna]

:lol: the only way this works is if we agree on a preexisting set of ratings.

"I thought most people thought Killington kicks ass"
"Huh I thought most people agree Killington sucks"

If we are going based on skier visits, it would be impossible to say as the #1 ranked Eastern resort that Killington is "overrated". It's got the highest rating of anyone!

 

[deadheadskier]

Overrated and Underrated by whom?

Everyone has different tastes.

Wildcat is my favorite place to ski in New England. For many people it wouldn't make their top ten. Killington is the most popular ski area in New England and it doesn't make my top ten.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[ScottySkis]

Roxbury NY hate the hill in that town lol

 

[ss20]

:lol: the only way this works is if we agree on a preexisting set of ratings.

"I thought most people thought Killington kicks ass"
"Huh I thought most people agree Killington sucks"

If we are going based on skier visits, it would be impossible to say as the #1 ranked Eastern resort that Killington is "overrated". It's got the highest rating of anyone!

Killington is like Apple...you're a huge fan or will never step foot on the premises.

I love it for the endless variety and "weather-proofing" it has. By that I mean it's nearly impossible for the whole resort to be on windhold, or boilerplate, or any of the other sh!t we have to deal with on the East Coast.

Last year that was a snowstorm in March I believe. Killington got a decent dump maybe 8"-12". Sugarbush got something stupid like 24"+. I was at K and there was a stiff wind but nothing affected operations too much (maybe a lift or two went on windhold, I don't remember). At SB apparently they had essentially everything shutdown and crazy waits for a couple lifts that were open. Don't quote me but I remember reading on here waits longer than 30 minutes.

If all of Killington goes on windhold you've got bigger issues than your ski day being ruined lol. Same with Bretton Woods.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Killington is like Apple...you're a huge fan or will never step foot on the premises.

I love it for the endless variety and "weather-proofing" it has. By that I mean it's nearly impossible for the whole resort to be on windhold, or boilerplate, or any of the other sh!t we have to deal with on the East Coast.

Last year that was a snowstorm in March I believe. Killington got a decent dump maybe 8"-12". Sugarbush got something stupid like 24"+. I was at K and there was a stiff wind but nothing affected operations too much (maybe a lift or two went on windhold, I don't remember). At SB apparently they had essentially everything shutdown and crazy waits for a couple lifts that were open. Don't quote me but I remember reading on here waits longer than 30 minutes.

If all of Killington goes on windhold you've got bigger issues than your ski day being ruined lol. Same with Bretton Woods.

I love it on weekdays for being able to ski different trails on a whim in totally different directions and not have to ski the same thing twice. Works for me on hardpack/groomer days as well, as you said, some trails are bound to be good anyway. The woods stay sheltered enough that they ski well with enough base. Also Killington has just about more skiable woods than anyone in the East except probably Sugarloaf. Jay would be close but their terrain is a little different. There is pretty good variety of woods too and it would take someone quite a few trips to learn them all.

On weekends I've crossed it off my list of viable places to go and actually enjoy myself. Skiing is not a sport I engage in particularly for extraordinary proximity to humans. I enjoy the occasional conversation on a chair lift, but that's about as much people as I want to see.

On slow weekdays there are few places you get as much terrain to yourself as Killington. If conditions are mediocre they groom over the whole resort, nobody shows up, and you can ski from K peak to Bear Mt / Needles Eye base really putting on the speed.

 

[ss20]

I love it on weekdays for being able to ski different trails on a whim in totally different directions and not have to ski the same thing twice. Works for me on hardpack/groomer days as well, as you said, some trails are bound to be good anyway. The woods stay sheltered enough that they ski well with enough base. Also Killington has just about more skiable woods than anyone in the East except probably Sugarloaf. Jay would be close but their terrain is a little different. There is pretty good variety of woods too and it would take someone quite a few trips to learn them all.

On weekends I've crossed it off my list of viable places to go and actually enjoy myself. Skiing is not a sport I engage in particularly for extraordinary proximity to humans. I enjoy the occasional conversation on a chair lift, but that's about as much people as I want to see.

On slow weekdays there are few places you get as much terrain to yourself as Killington. If conditions are mediocre they groom over the whole resort, nobody shows up, and you can ski from K peak to Bear Mt / Needles Eye base really putting on the speed.

Yeah they run more lifts than just about anyone in the Northeast midweek and you can absolutely spread out. Weekends I won't touch December-mid March.

 

[abc]

In terms of awful places, I was not very impressed with Mt. Peter NY, Whiteface, and Bretton Woods, but hey, it's skiing.

I happen to LOVE that "awful" Bretton Woods!

It's a family place just like Okemo/Stratton. It's great for that audience. There're tons of woods ranging from tame for the little ones to just giggle their way through (you can actually hear the giggle from adjacent trails!), or tighter one for Mom or Dad to enjoy once the little ones are tired. It's not crazy busy like Okemo/Stratton either. Best of all, it's got its own snow machine made by the weather god.

I'd consider BW underrated if Okemo and Stratton is "appropriately rated".

The only thing it doesn't have? Heart stopping steeps for those who's idea of skiing is limited to such.

It's a long way for me to get to. But I had excellent days when I went.

I too would rate Whiteface as "overrated". Primarily because I was lured there on the reputation. But so far, I haven't really found anything particularly special about the mountain.

The village of Lake Placid, on the other hand, is lovely. (and that's the only reason I've gone back despite not having much success on the skiing part. Though nowadays, I also bring my cross country skis when I go up there)

 

[bdfreetuna]

BW > Stratton or Okemo any day of the week. BW has more and better tree skiing and it's the #1 mountain in the East for lengthy low angle groomers. Stratton and Okemo just don't have the location to fully compare.

I'm also not familiar with crowds at BW that could come close to Okemo or Stratton mob scene.

Whiteface is overrated unless the Slides are open (which I've never skied). There is very little tree skiing otherwise and what they have isn't always open. Whiteface is for steep hard packed groomers, and I've come to appreciate that. It's hardcore Eastern skiing but basically taking a time capsule back 20+ years. Hope to ski Slides eventually though!

 

[kingslug]

Tough to over/under rate a place. Depends on what YOU like. I'll never ski Stratton any more but it does exactly what it sets out to do for people looking for that experience.
Now Magic is truly under rated but you have to want that type of experience. People who go to Stratton all the time would not go there and vice versa.

 

[drjeff]

Tough to over/under rate a place. Depends on what YOU like. I'll never ski Stratton any more but it does exactly what it sets out to do for people looking for that experience.
Now Magic is truly under rated but you have to want that type of experience. People who go to Stratton all the time would not go there and vice versa.

There was a great line from Magic's GM, Geoff Hathaway, on the Storm Skiing Podcast where (paraphrasing here on my part) he essentially said that there are some people that will never ski Magic because it doesn't have (and apparently at least under his tenure there absolutely no plans EVER to have one there) a high speed quad, which he then followed up by saying, that they were totally fine with those folks never coming to try out Magic! :lol:

 

[bdfreetuna]

Magic is in a nice position where more parking and uphill capacity (and snowmaking to extend season) are the priority. That says their product is in demand. Not a bad location either to peel of NoVT skiers on snow days.

 

[kingslug]

I have to hit Magic again..

 

[Tonyr]

Killington is like Apple...you're a huge fan or will never step foot on the premises.

I love it for the endless variety and "weather-proofing" it has. By that I mean it's nearly impossible for the whole resort to be on windhold, or boilerplate, or any of the other sh!t we have to deal with on the East Coast.

Last year that was a snowstorm in March I believe. Killington got a decent dump maybe 8"-12". Sugarbush got something stupid like 24"+. I was at K and there was a stiff wind but nothing affected operations too much (maybe a lift or two went on windhold, I don't remember). At SB apparently they had essentially everything shutdown and crazy waits for a couple lifts that were open. Don't quote me but I remember reading on here waits longer than 30 minutes.

If all of Killington goes on windhold you've got bigger issues than your ski day being ruined lol. Same with Bretton Woods.

I was lucky enough to be at Sugarbush the weekend in March last year when they got 2 feet of snow. The waits were long on that Saturday and Sunday but it wasn't due to wind holds. There was an accident on the road that wiped out all power on Mt Ellen so everyone who missed Friday all came Saturday to Lincoln peak. Then Sunday everyone went to Mt Ellen to hit the untouched snow from the day before. It was really just bad luck, I was glad to be there on Friday though.

Tony

 

[ss20]

I'm gonna shout-out Catamount for underrated. You can search my post history for depth but to summarize they don't groom everything flat like their competition (Jiminy Peak, Mohawk, Butternut). Trails ski much longer than 1,000ft vertical. Catapult is legitimately steep and typically bumped up.

With a whole bunch of new terrain this year and gradual improvements over the last decade they've slowly become as-large if not larger than Jiminy Peak and Berkshire East.


Oh and Berkshire East is overrated. The bike trails, glades, and natural trails are fun but much much much better skiing at Magic or Mount Snow is available 30-45 minutes away. And their claim for 1,100 vertical feet is a total lie it's 900.

 

[FBGM]

Looks like some people failed 5th grade geography.