Best ski resort in New England?

don't know where you from, but if your coming from westchester/ ct/ nyc / nj area, i wouldn't suggest much more beyond southern vt as the drive you claim now oh man 5 hours isnt to bad, but eveyr single weekend or wheneber will be hell.

I'm from just outside of Boston. So anywhere in New England will be less than like 5 hours. Thanks for the info on Stratton though, sounds like a place to check out, I'm hoping to go to the rail jam this year, I've heard from friends there that it was sick.

Well Killington had over 100 features last year in Dream Maker, Timberline, and the Stash. The jumps are bigger at Killington then Bush but smaller than Carinthias. Dream Maker is always a blast tho.

semi dub post but i want to try and actually help, and i grew up skiing sugarbush, so here goes:

in terms of sidecountry it has to be some of the best in the east. i've never skied anything better than what sugarbush has to offer. i haven't skied everywhere in the east (no stowe or jay peak as the two major ones i've missed), but i havent seen any sidecountry better than what sugarbush has. in comparison, killington and sugarloaf both seem almost childish next to sugarbush in terms of trees and things. MRG is also going to be better on a good snow day, cause its MRG. and obviously its right down the road so an awesome option for any really good days after a lot of new snow. to try and put some context on it: i have a friend who grew up racing at killington (and before you get into the racers are douches thing, he's one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet, and from what i could tell, all the kids he raced with also seemed like decent enough people) and a few years ago me, him, and another friend went to ski there for a couple days. typical new england skiing, not great snow, and everything was getting skiied off well before the day was done, it was still fun at killington but certainly nothing to write home about. after that me and the not killington friend went to sugarbush for a day. same type of snow conditions, but we spent almost the entire day skiing trees that aren't marked as glades by the resort, found good snow in there the whole day, and had a blast. my friends said hands down sugarbush was more fun and some of the best eastern skiing he'd done, and, terrain wise in the trees, as good as anything he'd done out west (he didn't grow up on the east coast and learned to ski out west).

only real parks are on graduation and riemergasse on mt. ellen. graduation park is smaller for less advanced park skiers and riemergasse is bigger. they put features up sometimes at the base of lincoln peak, but never anything big and no jumps. jumps aren't quite as big as other places, but normally kept in good condition.

in terms of passes. if you qualify for 420's (ha) do that. its full mountain for around 300$. the only legit place i can think that might come anywhere close to as good a deal is saddleback. if you don't qualify for 420's then honestly i'd say you'll probably be plenty happy getting a mount ellen only pass. my house is closer to the lincoln peak side so i start there and spend a lot more of my time there than mt. ellen (not to say mt. ellen is worse, i love it every time i go over there, read on). the slidebrook chair is awesome and fun to ride, but it does take around 17 minutes and closes a lot due to wind and cold because its so long and exposed in areas, and if it's closed taking the bus back and forth just isn't worth the hastle. the terrain is good enough on either side that waiting for the bus and riding it over isn't worth the time. the only thing you'd really be missing on lincoln peak is castlerock and heaven's gate. castlerock is awesome cause its castlerock and heaven's gate is awesome because of the trees off of paradise (and also organgrinder and jester, but not quite as awesome as paradise), and you can always buy a day ticket if you ever get the urge to explore lincoln peak for a bit.

sorry that was so long, but hopefully it helps answer your questions pretty well.

sparknotes:

sugarbush sidecountry: awesome, as good as pretty much anything in the east, or better.
sugarbush parks: on mt. ellen, good.
sugarbush passes: get 420's if you qualify, if not you'll probably be happy with just mt. ellen pass unless you really aren't concerned about the money and want the full mtn.

one more thing i forgot for passes, just so you know, mt ellen does typically open later and close earlier than lincoln peak, but only by a couple weeks each way. and i'm not sure but i think that if you have a mt. ellen only pass they let you ski lincoln peak when it is open and ellen isn't. at least at the end of the season, not as sure about the beginning

Fuck you man.

Honestly, between all the mountains in the east its pretty similiar. If you want best all around I would probably go to stowe, but its fucking expensive as shit. Killington is fun however haven't really been there when the majority of their terrain is open in like november, and it usually gets kinda crowded at least for early season. Good mountain nonetheless. Like I said before I don't think you will be dissapointed with Burke. People say the park isnt great but you can hot lap all day 9-4, and the park in my opinion is always fun. The bush is great, same with sugarloaf. Ultimately, its east coast skiing so its all pretty similiar in the end.

fuck I was meaning for you not to see that lolz

If you don't want to hit a bunch of dope rails in a row, certainly do not go to Mt Snow.

If you think there isn't fun trees and bumps at Mt Snow, then you haven't seen the whole mountain proper. On the whole, is it a relatively flat mountain? Yes, that's part of what makes the park so dope. Do portions of the mountain have good pitch and fun trees? Yes, plenty.

Stratton/Okemo: $749 (need more info on Stratton's park (like edits))

I ski both sunday river and sugarloaf. Sunday river is more of a family/tourist resort, but it also has a lot nicer parks. While sugarloaf is about to be the largest NE resort with the additon of all the new glades and terrain. Sugarloaf has more gnarly terrain, but sunday river has better parks and more of a family environment. I love and recommend either. Its just up to you and what you would prefer. Hope it helps!

I've been skiing east coast for 25ys and have hit every major resort many times over, yet year after year I renew my river pass. most consistent conditions, earliest and latest season, and good everything (trees, park, steeps, stashes, snow making, lifts, lines, variety) not amazing on any one particular thing, but loon makes up for any park complaints and loaf makes up for steeps and has gnarlier terrain. close to Boston and many options for renting homes and cheap lodging. The pass price for those 3 mountains is a pretty good deal too.. The one thing that sucks about the river is Boyne policy on wind lift holds. Compared to previous management on this issue they are a bunch of pussies. Jay is best for Pow and trees, but can suck for lifts and lines on weekends. Good place to visit in march or April for big dumps. Bush is really legit from all angles but its kinda a PITA to get to, the town is limited, and I don't recall it being cheap (lifts and lodging)...Wish the river/boyne would buy them back... Killington is fun and has a lot of variety, but it's kinda gone downhill in vibe and price since ASC broke up. stowe is expensive but has dope terrain. Visit if you find a cheap ticket deal. Mt snow is good for park, but it pretty much sucks beyond that. Sorry ns, I know a lot of you love it, but I hate that one trick pony of a mountain... Sorry, but the rest really aren't worth mentioning...

Weird, I had lots of spacing and breaks, but it put everything into one paragraph when posting... iPad issues?

i like sunday river, good parks, a whole bunch of variety

4 Hours With Christian Franchino from jamie bischof on Vimeo.

Cannon Mountain

Grew up skiing here until my Aunt moved to Alta, hahaha, there is some sick sidecountry up there for sure. I skied the park there this season and it was actually really good for New Years time.

The Attitash park is unskiable on the weekend or holiday weeks. Jumps/features are mediocre at best. The "park" trail is mainly used by beginner/intermediate non-park skiers and management likes it that way. There's no fencing or delineation for the park whatsoever. There's a constant flow of non park skiers (aka gapers) coming from all directions into the jump lines, on to the kickers and through the landings. Almost impossible to hit the jumps safely. 

Crotched's pretty good. The small park's fun and the big park's decent. They're getting a high speed quad which will make it 4 minutes to the top. Management is always working to make the parks better.  The drive from metrowest Boston is not bad but a bit frustrating as the last 25 miles or so are on small roads.

Wildcat's can be great to ski (if there's snow) there's some good off piste ie; thompson brook etc. Park is usually a few rollers, a 15ft jump and maybe 3 or 4 box/rails. The super fast quad makes for a nice 2k vert lap. Wc's best on a pow day or in the spring otherwise it get's boring pretty fast.

Mount Sunapee. The park has a solid jump line, and multiple rail lines. No halfpipe, but the rest of the park makes up for it.

im not trying  to hate but compaired to almost every other resort in ne the north face of snow sucks, gets tracked out and bumped out within minutes, snow gets scraped within hours to expose huge natural features etc...its decent to dabble with stuff other than park but by no means can trees/ and shit compare, like someone said, every since a few years ago when snow started really caring about how many features they have its just 10's of 20' foot flat boxes, not to much variation of any sort, granted I usually stay out of the park now, maybe that's why my opinion is swayed.

Is it really any good, because live pretty close to it and I remember it being bad. Thanks again to everyone, 10/10 for all the advice. I wish I could make a poll about it hahaha.

dont know how far away you are from upstate NY but Whiteface has a really lappable park. 2 parks, they are mediocore. definitley not good as mount snow. but the passes are farley cheap and its a pass to 2 mountains, whiteface and gore. and whiteface is soooo much fun for powder. but unfortunatley that doesnt happen that often. fuck the east

dis kid know what he saying bro. funnest and best park on da eastcoast bredda. transworld approved

SugarBush has everything that I like a sweet Park and an all around sweet terrain

Sugarloaf. This question is answered easily. And make sure you do a trip out two to saddleback. Together they are two of the most fun mountains in the east. Great parks, light crowds and the vibe in these mountains is far better than anywhere else. I would call it a x factor really. As it is hard to put your finger on but these two spots just kick ass.

Loon Mtn!

Saddleback is under rated

sugarbush is where its at

I wasn't really a fan of Sunapee's park. The jumps were good but I felt like the reail setup was weak. The skiing is good. Not sure about the sidecountry because both times i went it was either too icy or there wasn't enough snow.

I feel like loon would be a good choice, great park, solid trails, not too sure about the sidecountry because i've only gone there late season.

FYI just got an email from Attitash that they're moving the park to a really low traffic area of the mountain. Guess maybe they listened to our complaints last year! So it could be a lot better.

Plus if I got a Mt Snow pass and want to just check out Attitash for a day or two I could for no extra cost.

Also, a good thing to know, you can get a pass to both Burke and Jay Peak for $509...pretty good deal.

A good think to know quite good indeed

loaf or sugarbush. maybe mt snow if you care just about park. but da loaf is on par with jay for snow and backcountry shit like that. parks are dope too, only bad thing is theyre a bitch and a half to lap and its a 4 and a half hour drive or more from boston. mt snow has shitty snow but the parks are the best. with a loaf pass you get days at sunday river93 hours from boston) and loon maybe 2 1/2 from boston

If your gonna be spending 90% or more of your day in the park then go with WV. There's almost never more than a minute wait to get on the park lift, which is a poma ( t bar ) so you can literally lap the whole park in less then 3 minutes. The amount of jumps you get in during a day is insane. The park has been ill lately too, because they got loons best cat driver / jump builder last season.

The trees at Mt.Snow suck dude. The best places to ski trees in the east is Stowe, Jay, Sugarloaf, and Smuggs.

Of those places, Stowe is my favorite. It's all preference though.

Definitely go to northern Vermont, better snow and less people

yeah saddleback has an all around chill vibe and lots of great people. it is pretty affordable and offers a lot of glade/pow skiing. park is kept on point but may not be as big as other mountains

yeah, I'm highly considering this pass. I hear Loaf is sick, Loon and Sunday River are also some of my favorite mountains. (BTW Loon is like 3 hrs from Boston or just outside of it, where I live.)

meh. "vibe" is completely subjective, and so hard to determine as an x factor. i think sugarbush and MRG both have a way better vibe than sugarloaf, and in terms of crowds i feel sugarbush is just as good as sugarloaf. if sugarloaf has less crowds, its not by much.

Mt.snow is a go🎿🗻

i from PA and we head up to Killington VT once a year. There are so many trails, definetly enough to keep you busy for a few days.

I would recommend Sugarbush just cuz its reliably good. The park is above average and it definitely fits your qualifications in terms of steeps/trees. What I would recommend, is get the Mt. Ellen only pass (Where the park is), becuz along with the park, its uncrowded compared to lincoln peak and has the best terrain in my opinion. Then, also get a Mad Card (discount thing) at Mad River Glen, which is pretty much the most fun place to ski on the EC when there is snow.

went to stratton and was pissed how i had to pay to get into the terrain park....but i can guess why.

I've skied Mad River since I was little, but didn't know I could get a pass to both.

U cant get a combo pass for both... What I was suggesting was that you get a Mt. Ellen pass which is cheaper than the whole Sugarbush pass (and you can ski at Lincoln Peak late season after Mt. Ellen closes), and get a mad card for pow days and spring days when they have a deep snowpack (see details towards the bottom of this http://madriverglen.com/deals/?Page=price.php )

Aren't you, like, 14?

Stough

Thanks again to all of you guys for the advice, ++++K

have to go with killington but im very biased. They have pretty affordable lodging if u look into it. The access rd is a lot of fun and they constantly have buses running up and down it so that you can get where you need to go. And i personally think it is one of the most versatile ski mt on the east coast. It has the larger park dream maker, and then the smaller park over on timberline. They have outerlimits and superstar if you want to kill moguls and then you have some great woods over on bear and near k1. Ive grown up skiing there and worked there this past winter so take my advice with a grain of salt, but personally i love killingotn.

I've heard really good things about Sugarloaf, Mt Snow, and Killington. Vermont is basically the Rocky Mountains in the East