Best Ski Area Events in Vermont
This season, 2021-22, Vermont Ski + Ride took a page from our sister publication, Vermont Sports, and sent out the Black Diamond Reader Survey. The survey asked readers to rate the best ski areas in Vermont in 14 categories, including Best Overall, Best to Avoid Crowds, Best Snowmaking/Grooming, Toughest Trail, Best Ski Bar, Best Ski Town and more. (Scroll down for links to all categories.)
Here’s what our readers said were Vermont’s BEST SKI AREA EVENTS:
Three events were clear winners in this category. It’s hard to argue with the party that Killington puts on for the Women’s World Cup each November. Even with a limited crowd this year, there were bands, a vendor village and, of course, spectacular racing with Mikaela Shiffrin making history with her record-tying 46th slalom win.
Killington also earned votes for the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge on Outer Limits, an event that pits the best amateur (and yes, it’s amateur-only) skiers against each other on the legendary steep bump run. An annual rite of spring it’s an event that brings back the best of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
But what skiers and riders voted as their second favorite event was pond skimming, with many giving a shout-out to Sugarbush’s annual costumed craziness where former owner Win Smith is often an avid participant. This year’s Sugarbush Pond Skim, held just above the plaza at Lincoln Peak, is on April 9.
Magic Mountain’s Triple Crown of events (a clocked, no-gates speed run called Tuck It, followed by the free-for-all downhill Road to Ruin and Master of the Mountain —a freeride contest that funnels into a GS course) were also popular. So was Mad River Glen’s classic Triple Crown which features the freeski Unconventional Terrain Competition, the Vertical Challenge (see how many laps you can do on the Chute-Lift Line trails in one day –60,000 vertical feet is the record) and the Mogul Challenge. For this year’s event dates, see our Calendar, page 60.
1. Women’s World Cup, Killington 2. Pond Skimming, Sugarbush. 3. Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, Killington. 4. Triple Crown, Magic Mountain 5. Triple Crown, Mad River Glen
BEST SKI AREA EVENTS
Three events were clear winners in this category. It’s hard to argue with the party that Killington puts on for the Women’s World Cup each November. Even with a limited crowd this year, there were bands, a vendor village and, of course, spectacular racing with Mikaela Shiffrin making history with her record-tying 46th slalom win.
Killington also earned votes for the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge on Outer Limits, an event that pits the best amateur (and yes, it’s amateur-only) skiers against each other on the legendary steep bump run. An annual rite of spring it’s an event that brings back the best of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
But what skiers and riders voted as their second favorite event was pond skimming, with many giving a shout-out to Sugarbush’s annual costumed craziness where former owner Win Smith is often an avid participant. This year’s Sugarbush Pond Skim, held just above the plaza at Lincoln Peak, is on April 9.
Magic Mountain’s Triple Crown of events (a clocked, no-gates speed run called Tuck It, followed by the free-for-all downhill Road to Ruin and Master of the Mountain —a freeride contest that funnels into a GS course) were also popular. So was Mad River Glen’s classic Triple Crown which features the freeski Unconventional Terrain Competition, the Vertical Challenge (see how many laps you can do on the Chute-Lift Line trails in one day –60,000 vertical feet is the record) and the Mogul Challenge. For this year’s event dates, see our Calendar, page 60.
1. Women’s World Cup, Killington 2. Pond Skimming, Sugarbush. 3. Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, Killington. 4. Triple Crown, Magic Mountain 5. Triple Crown, Mad River Glen
See the other VT Ski + Ride Reader Survey Winners:
2. BEST SKI AREA TO AVOID CROWDS
3. BEST SKI AREA FOR KIDS & FAMILIES
4. BEST SNOWMAKING AND GROOMING
5. BEST BACKCOUNTRY/SIDE COUNTRY
9. BEST CROSS-COUNTRY SKI AREAS
