Initial Impressions: Independent Northern Vermont Resorts

A view of the notorious Jay Peak summit ridge from the Bonaventure Quad chair.

We spent part of this season road tripping around Vermont, hitting several resorts in the northern area of the state for the first time. Most of the resorts we previously reviewed are on Epic or Ikon, but this year, we focused on the independents, including Jay Peak, Smugglers’ Notch, Mad River Glen, and Bolton Valley. These resorts aren’t the biggest or most built-up in Vermont, but each brings its own unique strong suit to the region.

Thanks to a major weekend snowstorm, we enjoyed favorable conditions throughout much of our trip. Here are our initial impressions on these four compelling New England destinations.

Jay Peak

Jay Peak is likely the best mountain in Vermont—if you go on a weekday with no wind, and you’re not a beginner.

The resort easily boasted the most intense in-bounds terrain of any Vermont resort we’d experienced, with blood-curdlingly steep lines off the tram that plunged right into tight glades. If we had dropped in without fresh snow, it would have been basically impossible to maintain control on the tightest lines off the summit ridge.

While there was demanding terrain to be found nearly everywhere at Jay, the overwhelming majority of it was serviced by the resort’s Aerial Tram—the only one in Vermont. On the weekday we visited, there were no lines for the tram, making it easy to lap the mountain’s toughest, most unique terrain. But we imagine that on a weekend or holiday, the tram’s low capacity would make repeat laps off the summit difficult to accomplish.

That being said, Jay’s terrain stood out even off of the tram. The resort’s glades really stood out, with solid intermediate and advanced options off every lift (and unlike some competing mountains, enough cover to actually ski them). Groomers were decent as well, although the resort’s beginner terrain offerings were lacking.

Jay is also known for having the highest snow totals in Vermont, and on our trip, we certainly felt a stronger snowpack than other Vermont resorts at the time. The condition of non-snowmaking terrain especially stood out. In some places, there were still some powder stashes to be found days after the last storm—something extremely rare anywhere on the East Coast. However, the resort wasn’t immune to all the issues that plague East Coast resorts, and a few trails were too icy or rocky to be enjoyable.

While Jay’s snow totals might suggest a reliable season, the resort’s wind exposure really seemed to get in the way of that during our visit. A few lifts, most notably the Flyer Quad, were directly in the line of wind funnels and became really uncomfortable to ride at times during our visit. Thankfully, the Bonaventure and Jet lifts that serviced other key mountain pods seemed to be more sheltered, but both were quite slow.

Jay Peak offers two days on the Indy Pass, and we used this product to redeem our access. Unlike some nearby competitors, the resort has no weekend blackout dates on the pass, making it much more practical to plan a trip for.

A view down the Pumphouse chute at Jay Peak, which starts with a tantalizingly steep pitch. The line plunges directly into a forest of unskiable evergreens, requiring exceptional speed control that’s often impossible on its wind-scoured pitch.

Smugglers’ Notch

Smugglers’ Notch is one of those resorts that feels like it hasn’t changed at all in the past 50 years. This is both a good and a bad thing.

We were lucky enough to visit Smuggs during a comfortable bluebird day, amplifying the strengths of the remote resort. The mountain felt quite charming and undeveloped, with upper-mountain areas offering incredible views of the surrounding snow-capped mountains and valleys—including the utterly striking Mount Mansfield. We felt runs on the mountain were well designed, with many offering the winding, narrow profiles Vermont trails are fabled for.

However, these trails were served by one of the most antiquated-feeling lift systems at any resort we’d been to in recent memory. Every chair at the resort was an antiquated fixed-grip double. Some of these lifts were quite long, making for lift rides that took over 15 minutes, among the longest anywhere in New England. Every lift at the resort was slow, but the biggest mistake of our day was getting on the blue Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift at Morse Mountain—this lift looked exactly the same as all the other chairs at Smugglers’ Notch, but it ran at a considerably slower speed, making for what might have been the most lethargic lift ride we’d experienced anywhere.

Smugglers’ Notch consisted of three distinct mountains, including Morse, Madonna, and Sterling. Morse was our first stop at Smuggs, which was where the resort’s only green terrain could be found. The area had one or two blues and blacks but was clearly targeted towards beginners, and the lack of more experienced traffic during our visit made for a great learning environment. However, it was clear that the resort’s smallest mountain was not well integrated into the rest of the resort. The trek from the main Madonna/Sterling base was not an enjoyable one, requiring a long, flat catwalk that was nearly impossible to keep speed on—and one that beginners certainly would not enjoy. The trek back to these larger mountains wasn’t much better either.

Madonna and Sterling stood out considerably more in its intermediate, advanced, and expert terrain offerings. Many blue runs were well-groomed, with the most iconic views of surrounding wilderness coming from these runs. The black runs we sampled were steep and mostly ungroomed; while nice pockets of snow could be found throughout, so could deceivingly icy spots. The resort also had some tantalizingly steep, narrow double-black runs and glades, requiring tight, well-executed turns to avoid obstacles in certain sections. We unfortunately were unable to sample Smuggs’ Black Hole trail—the only triple-black-diamond trail in the East—during this visit.

Unlike many Vermont resorts, Smugglers’ Notch is not on any pass product, and we had to pay full-price for lift tickets. However, weekday lift tickets were on the cheaper side for northern New England, costing less than $85 per day for adults during our visit. Half-day tickets, which could be used for either the AM or PM, were $20 cheaper.

A look down some glades and associated obstacles on Madonna Mountain at Smugglers’ Notch.

Bolton Valley

Bolton Valley isn’t as well known as the other three resorts that we stopped by on this trip, and at a first glance, it might come across as an odd choice for a Vermont ski vacation. But Bolton Valley offers two things that can be lacking at other resorts: number one, a local feel, and number two: a lack of crowds.

We were lucky to hit Bolton Valley on a Friday powder day. This was probably the best storm in Vermont in over a month, but at Bolton, we never had to wait in line for more than a minute. This was a major advantage over the other popular Vermont resorts, where the lines were crazy. Bolton’s lifts were all slow, fixed-grip chairs, but the time saved from not waiting in line was more than enough to make up for the extra time spent on the chairs.

Bolton Valley isn’t the biggest resort out there, but we did find a couple of pretty solid lines. Bolton’s Northern Vermont location really helped with snow preservation compared to similarly-sized mountains further south in the state, and throughout the resort, we found some of the classic narrow steeps and glades New England is known for. That being said, none of them were particularly long.

Bolton Valley was also a pretty solid mountain for beginners, with families making up the majority of visitors during our trip. Unlike many Vermont mountains—especially those within close proximity to Bolton—green runs were available off of all of the lifts. The mountain was pretty easy to get around—there were three different sections of the resort, but all were simple to find and get out of.

Bolton also offers access to some pretty solid lift-serviced backcountry terrain. We had the opportunity to experience some of it when we went for our visit, and the terrain was essentially untouched throughout the entire day. This areas we explored off Vista Peak did come with a caveat, however; there were no markings once we left the boundary, and if we had stuck too far in one direction, we could have ended up having to hike out to get back to the resort.

Bolton might not be big enough to offer a destination ski vacation for more experienced skiers and riders, but we found it tough to pass up for good East Coast snow, a family-friendly environment, and a lack of crowds.

Bolton Valley offers two days on the Indy Pass, and we used this product to redeem our access. However, the access wasn’t entirely free, and we had to pay $5 for an RFID card to load our ticket.

The longest line we had to wait in at Bolton Valley during our day there.

Mad River Glen

While it might only be just over 100 acres in size, Mad River Glen is an absolute beast of a mountain. We found this out first hand during our trip there.

With almost no grooming or snowmaking across the mountain, we went in knowing Mad River Glen would offer an East Coast experience for skiers—the mountain doesn’t permit snowboarding—as raw as they come. And we weren’t disappointed, finding some of the gnarliest terrain we’d ever experienced in Vermont. Natural obstacles abounded across the resort, with cliffs, moguls, trees, and bare ground. We even found some huckable frozen waterfalls. And these challenges weren’t confined to any one resort area, with perilous lines that could pop up across varying lifts and elevations. The sketchiest cliff jump we found during our trip was only a short distance from the base.

It was immediately clear that Mad River Glen would not be for everyone. Beginner and intermediate terrain was limited, although on the weekend we visited, at least one run off every chairlift was groomed. All the lifts of the mountain were slow—most were fixed-grip doubles—and the only lift to the summit of the resort was an extremely uncommon single chair. Being the only one-person chairlift left serving a ski hill in the continental United States, the single chair was quite an interesting ride—but it was a fairly long journey up, and those looking to talk with other people on their ride up would have been out of luck.

We really lucked out on our visit to Mad River Glen. The resort had just gotten about a foot of snow, and conditions were great with the entire mountain open. But it was clear that wasn’t always true—the resort’s lack of resiliency measures suggested that booking a trip in advance meant taking a bit of a gamble. When we got to Mad River Glen, some of the lines we hit were very thin cover—and likely would not have been skiable if a storm hadn’t rolled in the weekend we were there.

Luckily, the week-of lift tickets were relatively cheap by Vermont standards (weekend tickets ran about $95). That being said, Mad River Glen does cap its ticket sales, and we did have to book tickets a few days in advance to confirm spots on the mountain. With the very strong conditions the weekend of our trip, tickets sold out by the preceding Thursday.

The capacity limit really helped elevate our experience at Mad River Glen. Despite the inefficient throughput of the resort’s single chair, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes in line for a ride. The resort also felt local, without even a sniff of commercialization that nearly every other Vermont destination falls victim to.

The woods at Mad River Glen are something else.

Final Thoughts

While these four mountains aren’t as flashy as the Vermont resorts owned by Vail, Alterra, or Powdr, all of them bring something unique to the table. They might not be the biggest out there—and for the most part, lift infrastructure at these resorts is not exactly competitive—but each of these mountains brings a good reason for a certain demographic to visit.

We’re looking forward to finishing our assessments of these for Vermont resorts and putting them in our rankings. Don’t be surprised if you see some of that vying for the top spots in the state.

Before publishing full reviews, we plan comprehensive talks with locals to ensure each review contains fully accurate content.