Okemo

With 121 trails over more than 600 acres, Okemo boasts one of the largest footprints in southern Vermont and competes with the best mountains in the state. Although Okemo offers plenty of beginner runs and competes well on lift modernization and acreage, the resort’s expert terrain is lacking. In addition, lift logistics at the popular main base could use some work.

Okemo is a solid choice for those on the East Coast who care about consistent on-mountain conditions. Natural accumulation isn’t as consistent as resorts further north, but the resort makes up for this widely spread snowmaking and dependable grooming across all types of trails. These operational strengths consistently lead to decent terrain with good cover—even when natural conditions aren’t the best. Thanks to this work, Okemo is often able to open key trails early in the season and recover quickly from major condition disruptors.

But if you visited Okemo back in the day and returned for a recent visit, you might be thinking that resiliency used to be even better. Well, following its acquisition by Vail, Okemo cut back on snowmaking operations compared to previous seasons. Operations have rebounded somewhat since the first year of Vail ownership, but the resort has permanently lost some of the water rights it had during the Mueller days and snowmaking still lags behind what it used to. Snowmaking is still decent, but it’s no longer the best in Vermont.

Okemo is a reasonably large resort for the East Coast. While nowhere near the longest vertical drop in Vermont, the remarkable width here makes for several distinct mountain areas.

Okemo is one of the best resorts in Vermont for beginners, especially if you’re looking for more than a day’s worth of terrain to explore. The resort is essentially idiot-proof, with green trails accessible off every lift. Both the main base and Jackson Gore areas host sizable beginner zones that are great for learning, with both chairlift-serviced greens and magic carpet-served bunny hills.

Intermediates will also love Okemo, and the resort hosts more blue terrain than any other difficulty level. Visitors looking to ride modestly-sloped terrain will find an abundance of blue cruisers, as well as a couple of blue-rated glade runs when conditions allow. In addition, there are also a few decently sized terrain park areas, including an 18-foot superpipe when conditions allow later in the season.

However, nobody goes to Okemo for a serious challenge. If you like steep, long mogul trails, Okemo is not your mountain. Grooming on black-diamond trails varies depending on the time of year, but in most cases, mogul runs are hard to come by. And Okemo’s blacks aren’t exactly the hardest either—many have pitches that would likely be considered blues at other resorts. Besides a few steeps off Jackson Gore Peak, all the double-black trails at Okemo are gladed runs. These tree-riddled trails are admittedly difficult, but they’re open less often than the rest of the resort and very short.

In addition, those looking to get away from it all may find themselves a bit unimpressed by Okemo’s development aesthetic. While some resorts are certainly worse offenders and it isn’t bad everywhere, the trailside condominium presence is high in several areas. On top of that, many of Okemo’s restaurant facilities have moved upmarket in recent years and feel less down to earth than they used to be. That being said, Okemo does still have some classic Vermont charm, and clear days yield fantastic views of the surrounding Green Mountain ranges. Fun fact: Okemo is the only ski area on the East Coast—and one of only two in North America—to pass over an active railway.

Most mountain areas at Okemo are easy to find and navigate around, which is nice for such a sizable, wide resort. Intuitive signage helps in a lot of complicated situations, with lift, trail, and base area directions. The one key annoyance becomes apparent when getting to and from the Jackson Gore area; this distinct pod is fairly separated from Okemo’s main face, and getting between it and the rest of the resort can require some catwalking.

Modern, high-speed lifts provide access to most terrain at Okemo. The Sunburst Six bubble chair offers welcome isolation from the elements during cold or windy days, as does the new Evergreen Summit Express, which replaced the Green Ridge Triple and is actually just the old Quantum Four relocated from the Jackson Gore area. The Quantum pod itself received a new six-pack to replace the old bubble lift. This installment no longer has bubbles, but it provides higher capacity for the popular area and runs at a slightly faster speed than the outgoing lift. Okemo does have some fixed-grip lifts, but they either serve chiefly as helper lifts or provide egress from condo areas. At 2,200 feet from top to bottom, Okemo has a half-decent vertical drop for Vermont, and some high elevation areas here take two—or even three—lifts to reach.

There is one notable annoyance with Okemo’s lift design, however, and that’s the 6-minute ride from the main base area on one of two fixed-grip quads required to reach any mid-mountain lift. These lifts exclusively serve green terrain and provide service to the main bunny hill. Not only are these lifts slow, but they also run double the length required to reach the Sunburst Six Express that most people are trying to get to; as a result, all visitors coming from the base have to make their way down half the bunny hill as well. This results in significant wasted time getting from the base to all intermediate and harder terrain and means that beginners here lack isolation from more experienced skiers.

Luckily, the mid-mountain lifts are accessible from everywhere else in the resort, and available mid-mountain lodges mean most guests will only need to come from the base once a day. In addition, the smaller Solitude and Jackson Gore bases offer much more direct lift routes and might be better places to start your day.

One place Okemo has seen its experience slip in recent years is in crowd management. Capacity upgrades at Jackson Gore and Green Ridge have helped, but they haven’t been enough to counteract a remarkable increase in resort traffic. This past winter, parking lots started to fill up on regular weekends for the first time in recent memory. Getting out of the Jackson Gore base, which has no redundancies to the Coleman Brook / Quantum Six lift route, has become a wait of over half an hour on weekends. The Sunburst Six was intended to be relieved by the new Evergreen Summit Express lift, but it regularly sees 30-45 minute waits, with resort staff moving certain sections of the line faster than others. While not as bad crowd-wise, the Evergreen Summit Express itself has been a regular site for 15-20 minute lines.

But crowding isn’t all bad at Okemo. Other resort areas, such as Solitude and Glades Peak, have largely been spared the increase in crowds. In addition, lift redundancies on Okemo’s main face allow guests to skip the lines and still get some laps in, even on the busiest days. And finally, typical weekdays are still perennially empty.

Lodging

Okemo offers multiple slopeside lodging options. The main base, South Face, and Solitude areas are home to condo rentals, while Jackson Gore hosts a lodging complex consisting of an upscale hotel and luxurious condos. Some of these places have pools and/or hot tubs. In addition, there are multiple lodging options of varying price ranges within a short drive or shuttle ride to the mountain.

Apres-ski

Given the family-oriented nature of the resort, nightlife isn’t the best here. However, there are a few decent bars and plenty of restaurants in the surrounding town of Ludlow.

Verdict

Okemo’s abundance of groomed terrain and slopeside lodging options make the mountain an ideal choice for families and beginner to advanced intermediate visitors. But if you’re not drawn in by these strong suits, you’ll find better value elsewhere. In addition, the resort has taken a more commercialized feel, lost some of its snowmaking prowess, and become much more crowded since Vail took over. Tickets are relatively pricey, and other resorts in the area offer steeper and more challenging ungroomed terrain.