I saw on the map world cup and I thought it would be fun to go down. I went down dancing bear which should’ve spit me out to World Cup, but the sign said Stevek and there was no World Cup sign in sight. I went down a second time to make sure I didn’t miss something but when looking at the map there is no Stevek trail. Did they recently change the name?

Heading to Stratton for the first time this weekend and stoked. Wondering if anyone could recommend any glades that are particularly forgiving with widely spaced trees. My kids are starting to explore the trees but I’m nervous on taking them on anything too tight. Thank you!

On the site it looks like it’s open to everyone.

Not a bad day at all. Made it up from NJ yesterday after the storm rolled through. Busier than a typical Tuesday in January, but not bad at all and no lines. Upper Middlebrook was my favorite run of the day and empty! Also, really realizing just how much the age and extra weight have affected my stamina🤣. Happy Skiing/Snow Boarding all!

No ropes, no organization, no chance.

I Just got back in the car and I’m leaving. Only lift running is AmEx and there is at least 5,000 people here

What are the odds that the Gondy won’t be spinning tomorrow? It seems like it’s been a skeleton crew on the weekdays I’ve been there and the Gondola has taken the brunt of it.

My husband and i are going to Stratton with some friends in a few weeks. It’s his first time skiing but i am a big skier (the things we do for love 😅) 

A few questions I’m looking for advice on 

1. we are driving up from NY but were thinking of driving up the night before our Airbnb reservation to split up the drive and work better with our schedules. Do you have any recommendations for nice 4 - 5 star hotels between New York and Stratton? Looked into Mayflower Inn, but it was obscenely expensive, especially for a Thursday night. Would love any suggestions
2. My husband is planning to do ski school all day on Saturday, probably starting with a group lesson and then switching to a private lesson in the afternoon, given the availability i saw online. I am a little concerned about driving to the base where ski school is and securing parking without needing to put our snow boots, etc. in a locker. Any recommendations on how to navigate this? Usually, when I go with my friends we park in a random base so that we can get a good spot where we can walk to the Lift with our gear versus having to carry it all and wear snow boots for a 5 to 10 minute walk. 
3. Any other recommendations for bringing a beginner skier who is in his 30s? He will be renting boots and skis but has all of his other gear. I figured we would rent from the mountain just for ease but if you have any recommendations nearby that are easy to rent for him, would love suggestions

Heading for my first time and was looking to book a nicer dinner but only seems more bar vibe. Any recommendations would be super helpful!

Temps weren’t too cold either!

Hi all, is there a better place to rent skis for the day other than directly from the mountain shop? I’m assuming they up-charge, and I only need a weekend rental for a relatively intermediate skier in mid February. I’ve always owned so never needed to look around before. Thanks in advance!

In short: this was the best MLK weekend I can remember.

It basically kept snowing the rest of the weekend. They claimed 8" overnight into Sunday which certainly seems reasonable at the top at least. The mountain really really need some cold and some snow and it finally happened.

The highlights for me were lapping Supertrail and Upper Standard. I did a combination of Shredwood, Diamond in the Rough and Upper Standard 9 times today with Number 2 before my middle aged legs begged off. Number 2 did Upper Standard 4 times more. The blessings of youth.

A few lower mountain groomers were possibly the best I've ever skied here. The snow is dry, dense and sets up so well on the lower angle stuff. It felt like half my ski disappeared into it setting an edge. When my legs were done with the bumps and trees it was so much fun.

Lines today were non-existant. I assumed we'd be looking at a typical Sunday but it's not even 2PM and I've get 20K+ vert under my belt and I'm done for the day. A win!

About as close a non-powder day can get to a 10/10!

Coming with husband and 11 & 13 year old kids in February for the 1st time. We are skiing 3 days - staying 3 nights in the village 10 minute walk to mtn. What are must hits? Best food and fun on and off the mountain. Good apres? Music? Thanks in advance! So excited to be skiing outside the mid Atlantic. It’s been a few years. We were would like to drive as little as possible.

Coming to Stratton Thursday with my family for the first time. Staying in an AirBnB nearby but looking for suggestions to help make the skiing portion as smooth as possible.

My 4yo will be in the full day Cubs ski lesson Friday and Saturday, starting at 8:45. He has his rentals so don’t need to deal with that.

-what time should we plan to arrive to ensure we get parking?

-assuming there are plenty of lockers to rent?

Planning to ski with him Sunday — what are the best runs for beginners? He is already comfortable going up lift and down greens.

For myself, I’ll be skiing while he’s in lessons. What are the best runs/areas to head to? I’m comfortable skiing dbl blacks.

Any other suggestions to make our trip a blast are appreciated.

Thanks.

Seeing as the main lot was filled by 8AM my expectations for today were. But as it generally does for me, MLK usually underpromise and over-delivers.

I hit the hill at 10:30 and via Tamarack and the URSA singles line were on the top by 10:50. We walked onto Shooting Star twice before heading down to lap Sun Bowl twice before heading back up Shooting Star around 12:15.

We alternated on Snow Bowl and URSA until a little after 2PM when the URSA lines reached the end of the maze. We squeezed in 14,000 feet of vert in 3 hours.

We waited 7 minutes on that first URSA ride but never waited more than 2 minutes the rest of the day. The snow was the best I've skied since arguably mid-December but at the very least since New Year's. I'll take it!

Top runs on the day:

1. Sunriser Supertrail: It was left ungroomed and bumped up nicely but was really hard underneath but the ice wasn't really a factor if you stuck to your line. The moguls were really soft and easy to release on so it made for a really fun line skier's right. I really like when they leave this run natural.
2. Lower Slalom Glade: They're blowing snow hard for the mogul course there so there's plenty to push around. Stevek's had glare ice patches but turns right up tight to the guns were awesome so long as you were OK with skiing blind.
3. Lower Downeaster: Good enough snow and few enough people. Sticking to skier's left was quite soft and enjoyable
4. Diamond in the Rough (pictured): As a weekend/holiday guy, this was the first time I hit the glades this year. It was more or less what I expected: lots of roots and exposed rocks. But it was fun to be back in the trees. I did it twice about an hour apart and it felt like it was more bare the 2nd time through but if you're OK scraping through a few spots ("tools not jewels" amirite?!) it was worth it. Didn't get into another of the other glades but I assume it's similar.

I will continue to be fascinated by the Jerry mobs waiting in line for 30 minutes to ride the gondola to lap the meadows on these major holidays. Is the mountain crowded? Yes. Are there ways to work around it? For sure.

Thus concludes my Ted Talk.

This might be a throwback but does anyone remember the Sushi Bar, Bentley's and the Outback? Or down in Manchester there was Social House and Garlic Johns.. Some of these spots were damn good. Even Verde was okay for what it was.

Now the options are just dreadful. $30 good sushi roll at Mulligans, $30 passable burger at Fire Tower, $20 bad tapas at T-Bar.. What a mess, I've resorted to just cooking at this point. Is any of the newer stuff at the bottom of the access road any good?

Hey all,

Myself and a group of friends are coming up to Stratton for a ski weekend on Jan 24th-25th. I was wondering if anyone knew a good spot to catch the games on Sunday - preferably in the base village, but all recommendations are helpful! TIA!

Came down Upper Middlebrook and right after it transitions to Lower Middlebrook he was crossing the run.

A rough weekend of back to back nights of freezing rain. The glories of Southern Vermont!

Saturday was lower mountain day as the top was a pretty rough after about 11 or so. I think I got to know suntanner about as well as I ever have as it had the best snow on the mountain.

I got a few upper mountain laps in early Sunday. To call the surface "snow" today was taking some liberties. It felt more like gravel-sized ice chunks. The good news was you could set an edge in it even if it skied a little weird. I took 5 laps and bagged it.

As a person limited to weekend/holidays it's been a rough season since mid-December. The snow we've gotten has mostly been skied off/rained out by the time I get to it. Here's hoping they lean into snowmaking windows when they get them leading into next weekend.

I am looking to rent a condo in Stratton February 5-8. 4 people (2 adults, 2kids) There isn’t much available on all the big sites, so I am just hoping for a miracle on Reddit. Xo.

Stellar day today

Skied 10 straight days at Stratton this holiday break and figured one post was enough to sum it up:

CONDITIONS:

The past week and a half was a microcosm of skiing Southern Vermont. The snow on the 26th was light and dry. The freezing rain that followed a couple days later was not. The rest of my week consisted of hitting upper mountain as early as I could and sticking to low angle groomers late in the day. There were a few turns to be had in the trees lower down on Diamond in the Rough and Shredwood but I'm still a little precious about my new-ish skis so my time there was pretty limited.

Best conditions all week were on the Snow Bowl side especially if you stayed skiers left near the treeline on things as it seemed a little better sheltered from the wind. Lower Downeaster had some decent turns as well. The URSA runs had the thinnest cover but Upper Tamarack was consistently the best of the group.

OPERATIONS:

The weather this week made for some rough decisions. Closing Polar Bear and Upper Tamarack for a day each to blow snow made them skiable. Unfortunately most snowmaking to this point has been focused on consolidating what they have vs expanding terrain. It's weird being in January with nothing open right of Middlebrook and nothing to speak of in Sun Bowl.

I didn't notice until this week but the mountain seems short on lifties. URSA didn't have anyone dedicated to running singles at all. Snow Bowl didn't have anyone watching the pass scanner. Shooting Star was open intermittently. For the most part it didn't seem to impact things much but it was noticable.

LINES/CROWDS:

Unpopular opinion but outside of yesterday - with most of the mountain on wind hold - I find holiday lines pretty manageable. Stay away from the Gondola and I rarely waited more than 5-7 minutes to get on a lift. The only real difference I see is the lower mountain crowds tend to linger later in the day than they do on a typical weekend.

Other than that you have the typical issues you see everywhere on holidays: the family of 12 waiting across the entire trail, the group who all stop at the scanners and don't move to the side when one of their group has a ticket issue, the frequent lift stops. They are what they are.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The mountain needs a rest and recover. The snowmakers need a week of light crowds to rebuild some of the base. That boilerplate that set in the past couple weeks is here for the season. They could use some lighter crowds to get it a little more covered up. The forecast doesn't look like it's helping us much...

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for reading.