Vermont Ski Areas with the most Elbow Room

[deadheadskier]

Most recently in the top to bottom trails thread, but several other times, I have read people post how Stowe has too much lift capacity. Having skied every ski area in Vermont, except for Burke, Cochran and Middlebury, I always thought that this claim seemed off to me.

So, I did some research (what can I say, I love statistics) and came up with these findings in terms of the capacity each ski area in Vermont has for putting skiers on an acre of their terrain per hour. The only mountain absent is Magic as I couldn't find a number for their lift capacity.

Obviously there are number of factors that go into how 'crowded' a ski area feels, but if you were to ride on a busy Saturday or Holiday, based upon pure numbers, this would be the list in terms of most elbow room on the slopes in Vermont.

1. Burke - 14 skiers per acre
2. Stowe - 25.41
3. Smuggs - 28.8
4. Suicide Six - 30
5. Bromley - 30.15
6. Middlebury - 30.90
7. MRG - 31.07
8. Jay - 31.6
9. Bolton - 36.36
10. Ascutney - 39
11. Killington - 43.01
12. Mt Snow - 47.88
13. Sugarbush - 50.1
14. Stratton - 50.68
15. Okemo - 52.8
16. Pico - 66
17. Cochran - 66.66


Perhaps I'll get bored someday and do a list for all of the Northeast

 

[riverc0il]

this would all be assuming 100% lift capacity all day from open to close and no stopping of fixed grip lifts, correct? while i agree that burke should be standing at the top of the list, some other areas could use some adjusting based on realistic factors such as some places never send up every lift full and are only very busy at certain times of the day whereas other areas are packed open to close and try to fill every chair. areas with more fixed groups would also have a natural adjustment due to chair stopages whereas areas with high speeders don't tend to stop as much.

i would put magic right up there with burke. two slow double lifts that both pretty much cover all of their terrain, though i don't know the length or speed of the lifts nor the capacity or acres of the area. actually, magic should really be tops on this list where it works out that way statistically or not, magic is less crowded than burke most weekends.

the stowe stat is surprising and seems misleading. are we controling for how ski areas list their acreage? some list them just trails and others list boundary to boundary acres. are you controling for this issue? with three high speed lifts in addition to what, two fixed grips? stowe has a HUGE capacity for dumping skiers onto the hill. i find it hard to believe stowe has that many in bounds arces. their trails certainly feel WAY more crowded than a place like bromley and ESPECIALLY more crowded than MRG. the single can be packed all day and you can still have a trail all to yourself.

interesting statistics, thanks for sharing!

 

[AdironRider]

The least crowded resorts could also have the longest lift lines perhaps? With the limited uphill capacity and a crowded day, that could get real old real fast. Ive been to Stowe and its often taken 20+ minutes just to wait in the lift line.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Very cool stats, i would have thought that numbers 11 and 16 would be flip flopped.

 

[deadheadskier]

Some mountains due advertise boundary to boundary acres - Smuggs being one of them at 1000 acres. Their actual trail acreage is 250, which is the number I used.

MRG advertises 115 acres of marked trails and an uphill capacity of 3,574 skiers per hour

Stowe advertises 485 skiable acres with an uphill capacity of 12,326 skiers per hour. Upon relooking at the site I got the information off of, they do not list the two detachables at Spruce, so this number is low. I would guess their capacity then is more like 16,000, yeilding a number of 32.9 - so I guess more the middle of the pack. Then again, those lifts are over on Spruce. When specifically looking at Mansfield where 75% of the acreage lies - there is really only four lifts to access it all - the Gondola, Four Runner, Double and Triple. All things considered, its not a lot of uphill capacity for 300+ acres of trail terrain.

http://www.vermontskiresorts.com/statemap.cfm/vt/Vermont

is the site I got the uphill capacity and acreage information from.

I guess what spurred me to do the research is that I have skied Stowe on the busiest days of the year and it never seems to be as crowded on the trails as Killington, Okemo, Mt Snow, Stratton, Bromley, Pico, even Sugarbush or Smuggs on their busiest days. I just think Stowe gets an undue bad rap from crowds in comparison to the other major resorts in the state.

 

[riverc0il]

I guess what spurred me to do the research is that I have skied Stowe on the busiest days of the year and it never seems to be as crowded on the trails as Killington, Okemo, Mt Snow, Stratton, Bromley, Pico, even Sugarbush or Smuggs on their busiest days. I just think Stowe gets an undue bad rap from crowds in comparison to the other major resorts in the state.

this is an accurate statement from my experiences as well. thanks for the update. i skied stowe when they were packing em' onto the four runner and the double but still felt like i had plenty of room, and that with three trails and some glades not open on the forerunner side. maybe that was because so many people were hiking to the gondola side, heh.

 

[JPTracker]

Here are some stats that came from the Jay Peak Real Estate office:

Mountain / Mountain Capcity / Bed Base

Jay Peak / 7,500 / 1,400
Jay Peak w/ West Bowl & full build out / 10,000 / 4,500

Sunday River / 9,000 / 8,500

Okemo / 8,500 / 8,500

Killington / 12,000 / 16,500

Stowe / 8,500 / 12,500

Sugarloaf / 7,500 / 6,500

Mt Tremblat / 7,000 / 14,500

Sugarbush / 7,000 / 8,000

Smuggler's / 7,000 / 5,000

Loon Mt / 8,000 / 9,500

 

[thetrailboss]

Here are some stats that came from the Jay Peak Real Estate office:

Mountain / Mountain Capcity / Bed Base

Jay Peak / 7,500 / 1,400
Jay Peak w/ West Bowl & full build out / 10,000 / 4,500

Sunday River / 9,000 / 8,500

Okemo / 8,500 / 8,500

Killington / 12,000 / 16,500

Stowe / 8,500 / 12,500

Sugarloaf / 7,500 / 6,500

Mt Tremblat / 7,000 / 14,500

Sugarbush / 7,000 / 8,000

Smuggler's / 7,000 / 5,000

Loon Mt / 8,000 / 9,500

Whoa. Those are some pretty interesting numbers. Thanks for the info!

 

[Marc]

I bet all the areas on NELSAP have better numbers than all the ones you just mentioned...

 

[noski]

Here are some stats that came from the Jay Peak Real Estate office:

Mountain / Mountain Capcity / Bed Base

Jay Peak / 7,500 / 1,400
Jay Peak w/ West Bowl & full build out / 10,000 / 4,500

Sunday River / 9,000 / 8,500

Okemo / 8,500 / 8,500

Killington / 12,000 / 16,500

Stowe / 8,500 / 12,500

Sugarloaf / 7,500 / 6,500

Mt Tremblat / 7,000 / 14,500

Sugarbush / 7,000 / 8,000

Smuggler's / 7,000 / 5,000

Loon Mt / 8,000 / 9,500

Interesting, but I wonder how accurate.... or how old the information is. The MRV bedbase is thought to be much closer to 4000- maybe less... Over 100,000 bed nights have been lost due to years of condos moving out of the rental pool. I suspect these numbers are from years and years ago.....

 

[JPTracker]

Interesting, but I wonder how accurate.... or how old the information is. The MRV bedbase is thought to be much closer to 4000- maybe less... Over 100,000 bed nights have been lost due to years of condos moving out of the rental pool. I suspect these numbers are from years and years ago.....

I got this info about a year ago. I believe that the Bed Base is all housing on the mountain both in the rental pool & not. I not sure what is ment by mountain capacity since they all seem to be smaller that the uphill capacity of the mountains.

 

[2knees]

How about Bear Creek (the semi private area just south of killington) and Magic.

 

[billski]

saddleback

deadhead,

did you crunch Saddleback? It always feels like I'm the only one skiing there....

p.s., Magic's capacity is 3200/hour

 

[andyzee]

Riverc0il is correct in saying this matters when lifts are at full capacity, but still interesting stats. Magic, Lift Capacity: 3500/140 acres=25. At 25 it would come in second place.

 

[billski]

...

Riverc0il is correct in saying this matters when lifts are at full capacity, but still interesting stats. Magic, Lift Capacity: 3500/140 acres=25. At 25 it would come in second place.

I would argue that these max numbers stand up on weekends during peak times and holidays. It's mid-week and early/late season that it's a wildcard. My favorite time to ski is right after a large dump, staying nearby, when the highway travel is difficult. Sadly, there haven't been many days like that in the past decade....

Magic doesn't suprise me at all, having skied there in the past year.

Another interesting statistic is lodge capacity. they all feel over capacity, then again they sit vacant all summer...

 

[snowconehead]

What?

As far as I'm concerned, and I have extensive skiing experience, it isn't the ski area that guarantees the elbow room, it's the time and circumstances. A big snow year will open a lot of trails and make places like Killington midweek, non-peak rather desolate. I've been at Burke during an Eastern National race midweek. The lift lines were long and the lodges full to the brim. It was rather enjoyable rubbing elbows with the gals in tights, but a bit un-nerving. Blue Hills can be both the most crouded ski area in existance and the quietist, all in one day!!! Go up there in the morning when there's no snow on the ground in the city. Then wait for the ski teams and high school kids to show up in the afternoon.

How about Bear Creek (the semi private area just south of killington) and Magic.

I didn't know this was semi-private. I'ld like to ski it sometime. Is it worth it?