Become a Member

Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.

Join Outside+ Create Free Account
Already have an account? Sign In
Outside Watch
Premium Films and Live TV
Campfire
Outside Learn
Expand your Skills with Online Courses
Podcasts
The Outside Podcast
Maps
Get the Free Gaia GPS App
Get the Free Trailforks App
Events
Find Your Event
New NFTs
Discover NFT Market
Outside+
See Membership Programs
Shop
Discover Outdoor Products
Advocacy
Find Your Good

Become a Member

Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.

Join Outside+ Create Free Account
Already have an account? Sign In

Brands

Outdoor
Healthy Living
Endurance
Industry

GET 30% OFF OUTSIDE+

Fuel All Your Adventures With This Holiday Sale

SAVE NOW

18. Stratton Mountain Resort, Vermont

Stratton Mountain, Vt.
(Photo: Courtesy of Stratton Mountain)

Stratton is a classy place, long a destination for affluent metropolitan skiers who like the easy drive to its southern Vermont slopes. And as you’d expect at a place that feels a little like a country club on snow, Stratton’s trails are as immaculately groomed as any fairways. High-speed lifts and solid-blue cruisers, clean and spiffy lodges, a private slopeside clubhouse, a thriving race academy, and a base-area promenade lined with shops and fine restaurants seal the deal for the Westchester County families, many of whom have been loyal Stratton skiers for decades.

Stratton did the village thing way before the village thing was cool, and today it’s still the defining element of the place. Gone is the fake Austrian theme, a product of its time. But it’s still a treat, after a day on the slopes, to get out of your ski boots and saunter among the shops and restaurants, perhaps trying to decide where to eat that night. Or dinner could be your own creation back at the condo. Stratton specializes in big, fancy ones, with fully equipped kitchens and full-size dining tables.

You won’t need your car. You can walk or take a quick shuttle everywhere. And best of all, by coming to Stratton, you’ve got extra time to relax and enjoy it all thanks to a location that’s relatively convenient for so many Tri-State-area skiers. And as for terrain, Stratton’s many long, swoopy, top-to-bottom cruisers can be counted on to scour off the big-city shell.  — Joe Cutts

No. 18 in the East: Stratton Mountain, Vt.

Stratton Mountain Stats

Average Snowfall Acres Lifts Trails
180″ 670 11 97

Stratton Mountain Pass Info

Stratton is on the Ikon Pass. Ikon Pass holders get unlimited access to the resort. Ikon Base pass  holders get unlimited, blackout-restricted days.

Trip Planning

From lodging and and dining to off-slope activities and local tips, here are the SKI editors’ picks for what to do in Stratton Mountain, Vt.

What’s New

The resort debuts a new instruction product, Next Step Lessons, a lesson package geared toward new skiers who’ve tried the sport but need a little incentive to keep coming back for more.

In Stratton Village, which is under new ownership this winter, look for new dining, events, and skier amenities.

It will get easier to get around the resort this season thanks to three new resort transportation buses and two shuttles designed to ease traffic around the base area. What’s more, the MOOver bus between Stratton and the town of Manchester returns to the roads this winter.

On the mountain, a new terrain park is going in on the Beeline trail.

Finally, tubing will be a two-for-one deal for Ikon Pass holders during the last hour the tubing park is open daily, excluding certain blackout dates. The tubing park is also expanding from four to six lanes.

Down-Day Activity

When it’s time to do your thing for the consumer economy, nearby Manchester’s famous outlet shops—including Orvis, of course—are there for you.

Local Tip

Not just day-trippers, but even some Stratton condo dwellers have been known to drive to Sun Bowl. Easy parking, great new lodge, mellow terrain drenched with morning light.

Après Spot

The party-hearty deck at the Grizzly, with its view of the base area and terrain park, makes all the other great après-ski decks of the East feel a little insecure.

Dinner Pick 

Fire Tower for a Bacon Old Fashioned and the signature Ahi nachos.

Mandatory Run

Limber up on Sunriser Supertrail, then hop the quad and hit sun-soaked Shooting Star first thing.

Stratton Mountain’s website

Dining

The Changing of the Guard

Much has changed over the years at Southern Vermont’s Stratton Mountain, but one very important thing has stayed the same: It’s still an excellent place to escape the city living and soak in the sublime pleasure of rural Vermont with people we cherish most.

Ski Resort Life

Stratton Style

The mountains of Vermont hardly rivaled those of his native Austria, but Stratton Mountain’s founding ski school director knew good times were more important than towering peaks. How Emo Henrich injected a little oompah into the New England ski scene—and how, a year after his passing, his legacy of the good life lives on.

Ski Resort Life

Stratton Style, Page 4

The mountains of Vermont hardly rivaled those of his native Austria, but Stratton Mountain’s founding ski school director knew good times were more important than towering peaks. How Emo Henrich injected a little oompah into the New England ski scene—and how, a year after his passing, his legacy of the good life lives on.

  • 1
  • 2
Next