Most Overrated and Underrated Ski Resorts in the east

[JimG.]

I agree that an actual guide is best. But a map will do; with some smart recon you can avoid trouble.

 

[raisingarizona]

I agree that an actual guide is best. But a map will do; with some smart recon you can avoid trouble.

Out west, Steamboat is the most overrated imo. I guess it’s great for tourist skiers but man, the terrain is so boring and uninspiring for skiers seeking features.

 

[Slidebrook87]

I think Sun Valley is pretty underrated. I’ve never skied there, but it looks like they have some awesome terrain.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Out west, Steamboat is the most overrated imo. I guess it’s great for tourist skiers but man, the terrain is so boring and uninspiring for skiers seeking features.

Could not agree more. Steamboat is a joke of intermediate bullshit

 

[machski]

I think Sun Valley is pretty underrated. I’ve never skied there, but it looks like they have some awesome terrain.

Big mountain, it is fun but doesn't really have any of the western big mountain lines. I'd actually put it in the same bucket as Steamboat, a notch higher because of the history. You have to time it right, can be dry there. Sits in a weird spot out west.

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[VTKilarney]

Underrated: Cloudmont in Alabama. Because operating a ski area in Alabama is insane.

 

[fbrissette]

Underrated: Cloudmont in Alabama. Because operating a ski area in Alabama is insane.

I thought you were pulling our legs so I had to check it out. You would have to be pretty desperate to ski there. I wonder how long their season is. Insane is the right word,

 

[JimG.]

Out west, Steamboat is the most overrated imo. I guess it’s great for tourist skiers but man, the terrain is so boring and uninspiring for skiers seeking features.

Never been to Steamboat but have heard that what you say is true. But not sure what that has to do with someone to show you lines or give you maps of good lines at Wildcat.

 

[Cornhead]

Underrated: Cloudmont in Alabama. Because operating a ski area in Alabama is insane.

Apparently Jenny is misinformed. And politically incorrect.

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[2planks2coasts]

Plenty of AL & GA based colleagues have skied Cloudmont and lived to tell the tale. Further north, I think Shawnee Peak of Maine is Underrated. In the shadow of the much bigger NH and ME places, it has decent terrain and I've not seen a lift line the 3 times I've been.

Most overrated would have to be Hunter.

 

[deadheadskier]

Shawnee is definitely an overlooked mountain. I love that there's barely any run out and has a very consistent pitch. It skis bigger than it's 1300' vertical. Some really good flow to their trails. Big fan of the lift line trail on Sunnyside. Only complaint is I wish they ran the Sunnyside chair 7 days a week. I think they'd be better if closing the Pine Quad midweek instead of Sunnyside.

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[Cornhead]

McCauley Mt, Old Forge NY, the gnarliest 660ft you'll ever ski. And it'll cost you a whopping $35 weekends, $25 weekdays, $12 Fridays. Owned by the town of Webb, if your kids go to school in the town, they ski free until they graduate high school. Pretty good doses of lake snow too.

A true unspoiled gem, much like Plattekill was before it blew up on the internet from idiots talking about it...oh shit. That's ok, it's in the middle of nowhere, I don't expect to see lines of cars down their access road any time soon.

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[MEtoVTSkier]

The same has happened with fishing as well

OMG yes. It's sickening at times...

 

[kingslug]

I woukd think Hunter gets ragged on the most of any ski resort..certainly not over rated..

 

[EPB]

I woukd think Hunter gets ragged on the most of any ski resort..certainly not over rated..

Agreed. The only way you could call it overrated would be vis-a-vis skier traffic. I thought about saying that heavily trafficed areas are good candidates. Then I remembered that the masses choose their ski areas for many other factors than visiting the best ski area/terrain.

Hunter is what it is - a steep-in-spots 1500 foot vert mountain 2 hours from greater NYC that draws a ton of traffic and doesn't get much natural snow.

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[Tonyr]

I woukd think Hunter gets ragged on the most of any ski resort..certainly not over rated..

We are up at Hunter for the first time ever this weekend. I had low expectations considering all of the complaints and crowding issues we've heard but decided to try it this weekend since the mountain was added to the Epic pass. So far I am pleasantly surprised, the terrain here is pretty good, even the runs not open looked like they'd be challenging. I guess we will see how Saturday and Sunday shakes out with the crowds. The longest we waited in line today was between 5 and 10 minutes for the Kaatskill Flyer which moves really fast once you get on. The other lift next to it was empty. I can certainly live with that.

Tony

 

[Slidebrook87]

We are up at Hunter for the first time ever this weekend. I had low expectations considering all of the complaints and crowding issues we've heard but decided to try it this weekend since the mountain was added to the Epic pass. So far I am pleasantly surprised, the terrain here is pretty good, even the runs not open looked like they'd be challenging. I guess we will see how Saturday and Sunday shakes out with the crowds. The longest we waited in line today was between 5 and 10 minutes for the Kaatskill Flyer which moves really fast once you get on. The other lift next to it was empty. I can certainly live with that.

Tony

I went to Hunter last year and discovered the same thing. It has good terrain variety and plenty of ways to avoid its famous crowds. The terrain is unmatched by any ski resort nearby (other than maybe Windham) and it’s lift system is solid. I never waited in a lift line longer that man 5 minutes. I didn’t eat lunch, but I don’t suspect that it was anything special.


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[BenedictGomez]

Windham's terrain stinks compared to Hunter, and I'd rather ski Platty than any of the three.

 

[ne_skier]

Thread's kind of dead but whatever
As someone who lives close to it, I can assure you Mountain Creek is waay over on the overrated side. It looks big, but there isn't much terrain. Vernon is an OK amount of terrain, but the insane amount of people the Cabriolet pumps up on the mountain washes it out fast, plus with the blue runs left off the cabriolet more often than not being closed you'll find yourself skiing the same two runs all of the time. Granite is really not much more than a transfer mountain, especially if Grand Prix is closed. It's no wonder that in the 80s they had a double chair built purely so one could completely bypass this area when heading to South. Sojourn is well...a lift and a trail, both for transfer reasons and both slow and long. Lift can be kind of cool at night if you have the time. South has more terrain density than the rest of the mountain, and it's cool if you like terrain parks. If not, don't bother. Bear doesn't have much terrain and more often than not South is 100% park. The lifts, despite being installed fairly recently in 1998 are both in pretty bad condition from what I assume is just a lack of maintenance. They are some of the slowest running detachables I've ever been on and I wouldnt be shocked if there's a reason other than cost for why they run them so slow. Mountain Creek corporate probably loves the Cabriolet as it pumps capacity up the mountain on a cheaper alternative to a gondola. If you really dont like sitting down and you haven't been stabbed by a ski pole in a while, it's a great lift. I haven't experienced this at a busy time, but I can't imagine it's fun when the Cabriolet goes on wind hold because of how much of a wind sail that lift is (They started cutting holes in the little cabin things to avoid this) and all of that "super high capacity" gets diverted to the triple. Fun fact, Granite was actually built with detachable line gear (Except grips and terminals of course) so it could be easily converted, but for reasons stated before, that's never happening.
Yeah, that was more or less a rant, I'm bored lol. Anyways if you're a day tripper residing in NJ I suggest you just take the extra time and head over to Camelback or Shawnee.

 

[ss20]

Honestly I skied Mountain Creek once while it was on the Max pass thought it was good based on the horror stories I had heard. Skied big and things weren't just straight down the fall line. Of course, my expectations were set at zero lol.