First of all, do not believe onthesnow's Sugarbush ratings. I tried to post this exact review there twice and they blocked it both times, they only let good reviews through with one or two bad ones to make it seem somewhat true. Sugarbush is obviously paying onthesnow for this.
I am just about ready to give up on Sugarbush: this is not a lone bad experience. I have come many times, and each time I tell myself to give it another shot, but when it is consistently this bad, something is not right.
EVERY time I've come here, the conditions have been pitiful: ALWAYS very icy and more often than not very thin coverage. Many times, I find myself hitting rocks on the most popular intermediate runs here midseason. On one of my visits, there were even rocks and grass on the bunny slope (mid season)! Even when the coverage is (barely) sufficient, ice never fails to be very present on all runs, during every one of my visits. One might think that the early bird gets the worm in the morning after a nice grooming, but even then, at Sugarbush the corduroy was frozen and very tough to ski on. I have NEVER encountered such conditions so early on wide groomed runs. And if the conditions are bad on wide open groomed runs, you better believe they are much worse on the ungroomed.
Sugarbush's marketing claims that they have the "best nightlife in the east" is completely and utterly false. For example, at the end of the day during a weekend or holiday, there are crowds waiting outside of restaurants, waiting for them to open for dinner. And if you're not there 10 minutes before they open, you probably won't get a spot in that restaurant. This should say something about the number of options one has after a long day of skiing.
Beginners and early intermediates get it really bad at Sugarbush. For beginners, there are very little options. At Lincoln Peak, there is the Village house double, and a magic carpet, which are right next to each other, forming a single bunny slope (not a very big one either). On Mount Ellen, there is one pathetic rope tow practically in the parking lot. These areas are very limiting, so beginners would be very bored very fast and would want to try moving higher up the mountain. However, anywhere outside of the bunny slopes at Sugarbush are an enormous step up, even for low intermediates, so even low intermediates are stuck on the greens. Therefore, you have to be an advanced intermediate to even start to enjoy Sugarbush. Add this to horrible conditions and you have a recipe for incredibly discouraged beginners.
In addition, the lifts are always having problems. Lower lifts (Superbravo) often have mechanical problems, while upper lifts (Heavens gate, Summit quad, etc.) are often on windhold. There have been days when only Mount Ellen was open during holiday periods due to wind: just awful. Speaking of Mount Ellen, the only terrain park is located there, and it is an awful one at that. It is very short and flat, like a bunny slope (the location of that park actually used to be bunny slope, go figure). It is serviced by a slow double. Compare that to places like Mount Snow, with whole sections of the mountain devoted to park, with its own high speed quad.
All in all, I think Sugarbush is an overrated place becoming popular due to their extensive (and false) marketing. It is also hyped up by tourists from New York wanting to show off that they're "too good" for further south mountains. Yes, there is some great potential for expert terrain, and if the snow ever actually was good, I would probably enjoy it. However, not at the cost of a spoiled trip for my family. read more