Vermont snow forecast

Skiing in Vermont

Vermont's Green Mountains hold the biggest ski areas in New England. The mountains are modest in height, with summits between roughly 1,100 m and 1,300 m, but they catch plenty of snow, and the resorts back it up with large snowmaking systems, covering around 70% of trails at both Killington and Sugarbush.

Killington, near Rutland, is the largest ski area in the eastern United States, known as the Beast of the East. It spreads over six linked peaks plus Pico Mountain, has the largest vertical in New England at around 940 m, and often has the longest season in eastern North America, typically from late October to late May. Its terrain is fairly evenly split between beginner, intermediate and advanced, and its Superstar run hosts women's World Cup races each Thanksgiving weekend.

Sugarbush, in the Mad River Valley, joins Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen by the long Slide Brook Express chairlift, with steep, narrow expert trails on Castlerock and wooded terrain for experienced skiers only in Slide Brook Basin. Stowe, in the north, combines Mount Mansfield with Spruce Peak, linked by a gondola. Its runs are mostly intermediate, with a solid share of advanced trails, and it has a long ski history dating from the 1930s.

Jay Peak, about four miles from the Quebec border, records the most snowfall of any ski area in eastern North America, around 359 inches a year, and is known for its glades and its aerial tram. The usual pattern is a long season backed by snowmaking, with natural snow topping up the cover after storms.