Most Overrated and Underrated Ski Resorts in the east

[bdfreetuna]

I'm gonna shout-out Catamount for underrated.

Never skied there but I'm a little motivated to check it out. I have a hard time believing it skis bigger than Jiminy or B-East but I'd like to find out if it does!

 

[ScottySkis]

Never skied there but I'm a little motivated to check it out. I have a hard time believing it skis bigger than Jiminy or B-East but I'd like to find out if it does!

I skied Catamount about 10 times and b eeast once
I liked Catamount more
And have not skiing Catamount in 3 or 5 years

 

[abc]

Looks like some people failed 5th grade geography.

I don't know where you're coming from. But Berkshire East is not easy to get to for many people.

I never skied there because of that. But I go there in the summer a lot. I just can't see driving there in the winter. I definitely prefer Mount Snow given the terrain and vertical there.

I'll make a sacrilege statement to say Magic is overrated. Its location means it doesn't often get the kind of snow its reputation rely on. And when the condition is occasionally right on, the lines are intolerable.

I much prefer Plattekill. Even though it's further south (closer to NYC), and don't have as much terrain (size/vertical) or even snow, what it has skis well. The main thing is, there's no crowd!

But as I write it, I can see what makes some place over or under rated. It's really what one compares it to. If Plattekill isn't here (or further away from where I live), I think I'd like Magic more.

 

[mister moose]

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.

​

Catamount has some good variety, and yes Catapult is legit steep for Mass (for about 4 turns). It's well south of Jimminy, so much closer. For the Berkshires it would be my first pick too. Butternut is awesome for light blue intermediates.

Berkshire East has the price of the drive on Rte 2 in from 91. You might as well go to Mt Snow and have far better terrain and conditions.

Most underrated Blanford. Decent sized smallish, skiable, off the radar.

I don't know where you're coming from. But Berkshire East is not easy to get to for many people.

I'll make a sacrilege statement to say Magic is overrated. Its location means it doesn't often get the kind of snow its reputation rely on. And when the condition is occasionally right on, the lines are intolerable.

So your complaint is that you're not willing to wait for good (ie better than rapidly skied out alternatives) skiing on a powder day?


Most over rated run at Killington: OL Usually ice bumps, and only half width at that since they don't blow it full width. Sure, it's good a few days a year.

 

[abc]

So your complaint is that you're not willing to wait for good (ie better than rapidly skied out alternatives) skiing on a powder day?

Not if I have other options that are as good without the wait.

The "goods" of Magic, according to the opinion here, are the glades. Glades are rarely "rapidly skied out" in any mountain, even the busy mega resorts. There simply isn't enough people skiing the glades. Further more, glades tend to have million lines in a small patch, so traffic doesn't have as much impact as on groomers.

I will stand in lines for ages to ski open powder runs, if the slow lift means few others are able to get on it before me. But there's no point in standing in lines for ages to ski glades.

Like I said, over or under rated depends on what to compare to. Plattekill have equally low lift capacity, but without the crowd to make the line. So snow stays good for a decent while, and I don't have to wait much. In comparison, Magic seems overrated.

 

[EPB]

Jay Peak.

In full disclosure, I love the place, but if you follow Ski The East, they're are a lot of fan boy/girls that act like it's a transcendent eastern skiing experience. I think it's very good (about 4th-7th in the east IMO), but not a clear cut #1 like I hear quite a bit over there.

Sent from my VS988 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[mister moose]

Jay Peak.

When it's good, it's vewy, vewy good.
When it's bad, it's vewy, vewy bad.

Choose wisely.

 

[Killingtime]

: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!

I've done 30+days at K for the last 13 years. It's a great mountain with terrain that will put most other east coast resorts to shame. Just have to know how to navigate the crowds. Since I just sold my home there, I'll be branching out a lot this season. It will be interesting and I hope not too disappointing. Looking forward to NH though. Other than Loon, haven't spent much time there.

 

[Zand]

When it's good, it's vewy, vewy good.
When it's bad, it's vewy, vewy bad.

Choose wisely.

I think the biggest key for Jay is that it can be very very good while everyone else is mediocre.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I think the biggest key for Jay is that it can be very very good while everyone else is mediocre.

That goes for December powder days with 100% mountain open as well as April spring skiing with 100% mountain open.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Giving Jiminy Peak an "Underrrated" mention...

1. Nobody here seems excited to ever ski it
2. They make snow and open trails almost as quick as Mount Snow and quickly provide options down the hill (good early season game)
3. They have a few trails that are legit steep down the front, and often a little icy/skied off. Few would say their terrain lacks any challenge. These trails also go straight down almost full vertical drop.
4. Late season game is pretty good for Massachusetts.

Based on how crowded it gets and their parking lots I wouldn't say it's Underrated though.

I also have a hard time believing Catamount has steep trails that compare to Jericho, Whitetail, and a few others at Jiminy. If they do it must be much shorter vertical. Or AM I WRONG?

 

[Tonyr]

That goes for December powder days with 100% mountain open as well as April spring skiing with 100% mountain open.

I was at Jay last year within the last week of April and 80% of the mountain was open. 3 days beforehand they were 100% open which is pretty incredible for that late in the season especially when you take into account that the mountain is half the elevation of the majority of resorts out west.

 

[hub8]

I don't know where you're coming from. But Berkshire East is not easy to get to for many people.

I never skied there because of that. But I go there in the summer a lot. I just can't see driving there in the winter. I definitely prefer Mount Snow given the terrain and vertical there.

I'll make a sacrilege statement to say Magic is overrated. Its location means it doesn't often get the kind of snow its reputation rely on. And when the condition is occasionally right on, the lines are intolerable.

I much prefer Plattekill. Even though it's further south (closer to NYC), and don't have as much terrain (size/vertical) or even snow, what it has skis well. The main thing is, there's no crowd!

But as I write it, I can see what makes some place over or under rated. It's really what one compares it to. If Plattekill isn't here (or further away from where I live), I think I'd like Magic more.

Thanks for the comparison. Very helpful for someone like me that loves Plattekill after a dump, but has never been to Magic.

 

[hub8]

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

My son and I were at LP on that Friday and ME on Saturday. ss20 was kinda right, the only lift open at ME was Sunshine. We were praying for Inverness to open the whole day, as it didn't look that bad. Well, I am agnostic now. MRG from what I heard had atrocious line too.

It is good to know that Killington didn't have any wind holds, but I imagine the given the difference in forecast for snowfall, I will probably repeat the same mistake next time.

 

[ss20]

Giving Jiminy Peak an "Underrrated" mention...

1. Nobody here seems excited to ever ski it
2. They make snow and open trails almost as quick as Mount Snow and quickly provide options down the hill (good early season game)
3. They have a few trails that are legit steep down the front, and often a little icy/skied off. Few would say their terrain lacks any challenge. These trails also go straight down almost full vertical drop.
4. Late season game is pretty good for Massachusetts.

Based on how crowded it gets and their parking lots I wouldn't say it's Underrated though.

I also have a hard time believing Catamount has steep trails that compare to Jericho, Whitetail, and a few others at Jiminy. If they do it must be much shorter vertical. Or AM I WRONG?

I never liked Jiminy because it's groomed flat on 100% of their stuff. The Frontside stuff is steep but all skis the same. If you're a Carvaholic that wants to rack up 8,000 vertical feet an hour, it's heaven midweek. 5 minutes up, 2 minutes down. 1,100 vertical feet. Rinse and repeat til you're up to 50k ft at 2:30.

I won't say with certainty Catapult is as steep as Jericho but it's pretty darn close if it isn't. It's steeper than Whitetail or Whirlaway or any of the other single-blacks on the frontside. Roughly 500-600 vertical foot drop sustained at-pitch. They have cut two more double diamonds this year, one of them parallel to Catapult which if my i-spying from the chairlift eyes are correct will be steeper than Catapult. I hope one of them is dedicated to bumps December-March no groom.

 

[Smellytele]

Not if I have other options that are as good without the wait.

The "goods" of Magic, according to the opinion here, are the glades. Glades are rarely "rapidly skied out" in any mountain, even the busy mega resorts. There simply isn't enough people skiing the glades. Further more, glades tend to have million lines in a small patch, so traffic doesn't have as much impact as on groomers.

I will stand in lines for ages to ski open powder runs, if the slow lift means few others are able to get on it before me. But there's no point in standing in lines for ages to ski glades.

Like I said, over or under rated depends on what to compare to. Plattekill have equally low lift capacity, but without the crowd to make the line. So snow stays good for a decent while, and I don't have to wait much. In comparison, Magic seems overrated.

I have skied many glades that were skied out. Single line glades can be sketchy after only a few skiers.
As for Magic I wouldn’t say overrated as everyone knows when it has the goods and doesn’t.
I do have some “friends” who hate it but they also love Bretton Woods and Okemo.

It really comes down to what kind of skiing you like, crowd tolerance and clientele tolerance.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[raisingarizona]

Not if I have other options that are as good without the wait.

The "goods" of Magic, according to the opinion here, are the glades. Glades are rarely "rapidly skied out" in any mountain, even the busy mega resorts. There simply isn't enough people skiing the glades. Further more, glades tend to have million lines in a small patch, so traffic doesn't have as much impact as on groomers.

I will stand in lines for ages to ski open powder runs, if the slow lift means few others are able to get on it before me. But there's no point in standing in lines for ages to ski glades.

Like I said, over or under rated depends on what to compare to. Plattekill have equally low lift capacity, but without the crowd to make the line. So snow stays good for a decent while, and I don't have to wait much. In comparison, Magic seems overrated.

I’m pretty sure the listed average annual snow fall is more at Plattekill than Magic. I think by 25 inches or so.

 

[abc]

I
It really comes down to what kind of skiing you like, crowd tolerance and clientele tolerance.

I confess never noticed who else were there, wherever I skied.

I noticed the numbers alright, but not who they are.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

My son and I were at LP on that Friday and ME on Saturday. ss20 was kinda right, the only lift open at ME was Sunshine. We were praying for Inverness to open the whole day, as it didn't look that bad. Well, I am agnostic now. MRG from what I heard had atrocious line too.

It is good to know that Killington didn't have any wind holds, but I imagine the given the difference in forecast for snowfall, I will probably repeat the same mistake next time.

mad river didnt run the single that day, and the double was delayed if i recall correctly. it was pretty easy to ski from the double and then hike up to the midstation of the single and beyond, but not many people were doing it. unreal untracked powder skiing that day, tho a little dense that snow was.

 

[raisingarizona]

mad river didnt run the single that day, and the double was delayed if i recall correctly. it was pretty easy to ski from the double and then hike up to the midstation of the single and beyond, but not many people were doing it. unreal untracked powder skiing that day, tho a little dense that snow was.

I miss that place. The terrain below mid station under the single is so much fun. I have very fond memories of my last two winters out east spending many weekends skiing at MRG and Plattekill. Those were the winters of 93 and 94. There was a lot of snow those years.