urungus
Well-known member
A couple of Sugarbush reviews on Trip Advisor … apparently the jerries don’t like moguls
www.tripadvisor.com
Reviewed January 9, 2018
I flew up to Burlington for a weekend at Sugarbush. I'm a Mountain Collective passholder and it's the only mountain on the east coast that's a part of that program. I really wanted to love this mountain, but it has for me what are two huge and fatal flaws - wildly inconsistent trail ratings and "no easy way down" lifts. I started out with some runs served by the Gate House Express and North Lynx lifts. Blues (Birch Run) were easy for me, black diamonds (Sunrise, Sleeper Chutes, Water Fall) were slightly challenging but fun. I'm ready to expand the mountain so I take the Castlerock Connection, which is a godawful trail. It's way, way, way too flat at the top, which is a theme at Sugarbush. Lots of flats to get from one place to the other. That takes me to the Castlerock Double, which is all diamond or double diamond runs, but I figure hey, the others were good. Not so. I made the disastrous mistake of going down Middle Earth, which to me appeared to be at a 45 degree incline with moguls taller than me. I hate mogul skiing. I'm a downhill guy. It was a complete drag falling down the run and praying to make it without injury. Now, I'm sure Sugarbush's response would be: hey, there's a (small) sign that says "all runs have moguls, no easy way down". Two points on that. One: I didn't even see the sign. Two: that doesn't excuse the utterly ridiculous inconsistency in trail ratings. I understand they're going to vary from mountain to mountain, but at one resort, they should be roughly in the same ballpark, difficulty-wise. Sugarbush? I think a quote from Pulp Fiction best summarizes the situation:
"Ain't the same f--kin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same f--in' sport."
They need to seriously revise their trail rating system. I don't know if it's adding an advanced intermediate designation, moving trails from diamond to double diamond, but I know I won't ski there again unless they do something about it. And beyond that - lifts that have "no easy way down" are just poor design. Perfectly designed resorts (looking at you, Whistler) have runs for all abilities off every lift because guess what? That's what people enjoy. They don't want to constantly be pulling a map out to try and figure out where they'll be safe & have fun. They want to ski. They want to hop on a lift and have a good time.
And the final insult: the "semi-easy way down" trail I eventually took was called Troll Road. I felt like I was the one being trolled by this nonsense trail. It was super-flat and no fun at all. I basically felt like the resort designer was giving me a big middle finger because I wasn't man enough to make it down the difficult runs.
Sugarbush could be a really great mountain. They need to address what's noted above. And a final note: better signage for the Castlerock Pub. I had to walk around the outside of the building to find it, and I'm not the only one. People near me were commenting about how they would have eaten here if they had known about it. They need a sign at the stairs with a giant down arrow and a sign that says "beer this way".
Date of experience: January 2018
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WORST SKI RESORT IN THE USA. NOTHING IS GROOMED, HUGE MOGULS EVERY INCH OF THE MOUNTAIN
Mar 2023
WORST SKI RESORT IN THE UNITED STATES, and they don't answer their phone number for lodging. DO NOT GO HERE!!!! BROKEN AND OUTDATED LIFTS, NOT GROOMED AT ALL, 100% MOGULS, not kid-friendly. Do NOT believe any review more than ONE green circle.
I've been skiing for 45 years, been to 40 resorts at least- California, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Germany, Austria. First time skiing in Vermont. Had a great day at Killington 45 miles away. Then went to Sugarbush. First of all, this tiny town has very limited lodging. We called their main lodging phone number at 6 p.m. and no one answered for the rest of the night (recorded messages- CLOSED). Really? -you close your phone lines for lodging and your resort at 6 p.m. or earlier, and have no one to answer the phone? No lodging in Montpelier either. We ended up staying the night in Burlington, Vt. which was 1 hour and 15 minutes away. We drove here the next morning. 2nd- we got a bad parking spot, and there is no tram, shuttle bus to bring you up to the ski resort entrance like some other resorts do. 3rd- Rude employees! 4th- Been skiing 45 years, and been to 40 ski resorts, and this is the first resort I ever been to that they do NOT groom any run at all. As a result, 100% of the runs have huge moguls, ice, sloppy snow, and at the bottom of the runs... huge ruts, and ripples. We saw many, many kids crying because of the moguls, and adults were NOT HAVING FUN AT ALL slowly weaving in-and-out of the non-stop moguls. We saw a big grooming fleet off to the side just sitting there, and obviously they do NOT have employees to run them and groom nightly like every resort does, or they are cheap and lazy. 5th- there is a very long connecting lift called "Slide Brook Express Quad" that connects the left side of the resort (Lincoln Peak Village) with the right side of the resort (Mt. Ellen Base). It was Saturday when we were there, and it was extremely crowded, and we heard that this lift supposedly never runs because it's broken. Seriously? The lifts at this resort were mostly old, and slow. Just a few Express lifts and the employees do NOT know how to run lift lines! 6th- been skiing 45 years, so I know the difference between a "blue square intermediate" run and a "black diamond expert" run. Several of the blue square runs were mis-labeled (on purpose probably to attract families with kids, or learners). I know the difference, and these should be black diamond expert runs (again- huge moguls).
Why on earth would you come to this horrible ski resort, when Killington is only 45 miles away and has nothing but groomed runs, a huge terrain park, express lifts, and helpful and nice employees. DO NOT GO TO SUGARBUSH!
Written March 14, 2023
I wanted to love it but... - Review of Sugarbush Resort, Warren, VT - Tripadvisor
Sugarbush Resort: I wanted to love it but... - See 350 traveler reviews, 146 candid photos, and great deals for Warren, VT, at Tripadvisor.
www.tripadvisor.com
I wanted to love it but...
Review of Sugarbush ResortReviewed January 9, 2018
I flew up to Burlington for a weekend at Sugarbush. I'm a Mountain Collective passholder and it's the only mountain on the east coast that's a part of that program. I really wanted to love this mountain, but it has for me what are two huge and fatal flaws - wildly inconsistent trail ratings and "no easy way down" lifts. I started out with some runs served by the Gate House Express and North Lynx lifts. Blues (Birch Run) were easy for me, black diamonds (Sunrise, Sleeper Chutes, Water Fall) were slightly challenging but fun. I'm ready to expand the mountain so I take the Castlerock Connection, which is a godawful trail. It's way, way, way too flat at the top, which is a theme at Sugarbush. Lots of flats to get from one place to the other. That takes me to the Castlerock Double, which is all diamond or double diamond runs, but I figure hey, the others were good. Not so. I made the disastrous mistake of going down Middle Earth, which to me appeared to be at a 45 degree incline with moguls taller than me. I hate mogul skiing. I'm a downhill guy. It was a complete drag falling down the run and praying to make it without injury. Now, I'm sure Sugarbush's response would be: hey, there's a (small) sign that says "all runs have moguls, no easy way down". Two points on that. One: I didn't even see the sign. Two: that doesn't excuse the utterly ridiculous inconsistency in trail ratings. I understand they're going to vary from mountain to mountain, but at one resort, they should be roughly in the same ballpark, difficulty-wise. Sugarbush? I think a quote from Pulp Fiction best summarizes the situation:
"Ain't the same f--kin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same f--in' sport."
They need to seriously revise their trail rating system. I don't know if it's adding an advanced intermediate designation, moving trails from diamond to double diamond, but I know I won't ski there again unless they do something about it. And beyond that - lifts that have "no easy way down" are just poor design. Perfectly designed resorts (looking at you, Whistler) have runs for all abilities off every lift because guess what? That's what people enjoy. They don't want to constantly be pulling a map out to try and figure out where they'll be safe & have fun. They want to ski. They want to hop on a lift and have a good time.
And the final insult: the "semi-easy way down" trail I eventually took was called Troll Road. I felt like I was the one being trolled by this nonsense trail. It was super-flat and no fun at all. I basically felt like the resort designer was giving me a big middle finger because I wasn't man enough to make it down the difficult runs.
Sugarbush could be a really great mountain. They need to address what's noted above. And a final note: better signage for the Castlerock Pub. I had to walk around the outside of the building to find it, and I'm not the only one. People near me were commenting about how they would have eaten here if they had known about it. They need a sign at the stairs with a giant down arrow and a sign that says "beer this way".
Date of experience: January 2018
***********************
WORST SKI RESORT IN THE USA. NOTHING IS GROOMED, HUGE MOGULS EVERY INCH OF THE MOUNTAIN
Mar 2023
WORST SKI RESORT IN THE UNITED STATES, and they don't answer their phone number for lodging. DO NOT GO HERE!!!! BROKEN AND OUTDATED LIFTS, NOT GROOMED AT ALL, 100% MOGULS, not kid-friendly. Do NOT believe any review more than ONE green circle.
I've been skiing for 45 years, been to 40 resorts at least- California, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Germany, Austria. First time skiing in Vermont. Had a great day at Killington 45 miles away. Then went to Sugarbush. First of all, this tiny town has very limited lodging. We called their main lodging phone number at 6 p.m. and no one answered for the rest of the night (recorded messages- CLOSED). Really? -you close your phone lines for lodging and your resort at 6 p.m. or earlier, and have no one to answer the phone? No lodging in Montpelier either. We ended up staying the night in Burlington, Vt. which was 1 hour and 15 minutes away. We drove here the next morning. 2nd- we got a bad parking spot, and there is no tram, shuttle bus to bring you up to the ski resort entrance like some other resorts do. 3rd- Rude employees! 4th- Been skiing 45 years, and been to 40 ski resorts, and this is the first resort I ever been to that they do NOT groom any run at all. As a result, 100% of the runs have huge moguls, ice, sloppy snow, and at the bottom of the runs... huge ruts, and ripples. We saw many, many kids crying because of the moguls, and adults were NOT HAVING FUN AT ALL slowly weaving in-and-out of the non-stop moguls. We saw a big grooming fleet off to the side just sitting there, and obviously they do NOT have employees to run them and groom nightly like every resort does, or they are cheap and lazy. 5th- there is a very long connecting lift called "Slide Brook Express Quad" that connects the left side of the resort (Lincoln Peak Village) with the right side of the resort (Mt. Ellen Base). It was Saturday when we were there, and it was extremely crowded, and we heard that this lift supposedly never runs because it's broken. Seriously? The lifts at this resort were mostly old, and slow. Just a few Express lifts and the employees do NOT know how to run lift lines! 6th- been skiing 45 years, so I know the difference between a "blue square intermediate" run and a "black diamond expert" run. Several of the blue square runs were mis-labeled (on purpose probably to attract families with kids, or learners). I know the difference, and these should be black diamond expert runs (again- huge moguls).
Why on earth would you come to this horrible ski resort, when Killington is only 45 miles away and has nothing but groomed runs, a huge terrain park, express lifts, and helpful and nice employees. DO NOT GO TO SUGARBUSH!
Written March 14, 2023
