Stratton Mountain Ski & Summer Resort

Hands down awful. I am an avid skier and appreciate what it takes to make a great mountain experience. Stratton is lacking in pretty much every category.
On a recent Saturday at 1:00 pm, the line to order food at the mid-​mountain lodge/​smokehouse was 30 minutes. When I arrived at the front of the line, I was informed that they were out of most meats and was offered two selections. No sorry, just take it or leave it. The cafeteria at the sun bowl had a pathetic selection as well.
The attitude of the cafeteria staff was similar to those of other workers. Lift attendants were uniformly unfriendly. No hellos, there ya go’s or any convivial banter to be found here.
For a lift ticket that cost $ 105, I’d hoped for a high end experience. Instead, this mountain has inadequate facilities, surly staff, and utterly average skiing. When I politely mentioned my disappointment in the food service to a staff member at guest services, she shrugged and stated that they «get a lot of complaints about the food.» Okay, so how about you do something to improve it?
There are FAR better and less expensive mountains to visit nearby. Do yourself a favor and don’t enable these creeps with your patronage.

Kinda wish everyone and their mother didn’t decide to strap in on MLK weekend; I could live a happier life if lift lines weren’t a real thing. I shouldn’t be complaining though, my buddies somehow got a killer rate for one nights lodging on Sunday and Stratton was a WICKED fun mountain plus we were blessed with a powday when we woke up. We got a little crazy at the Green Door in the village last night and were hurting a bit this morning so trying to navigate those off-​piste double blacks was even more treacherous LOL but we got the job done unscathed! Wish we could spend another night but we unfortunately have to take the 4 hour drive back to the academy now… hope to be back soon!

I had a great time at Stratton despite the fact the unseasonably warm weather that preceded our trip (and icy conditions). The Gondala line seems to take forever but it’s nice to have a direct shoot to the top!
I actually had a pair of skis already, but no boots. Luckily you’re able to just rent boots at the Stratton Rental Center and they were even helpful with fixing my biddings to adjust to the boots. I did arrive pretty early (around 9am) so I wouldn’t bank on them if it’s crowded and swamped with eager ski beavers.
The food prices are a bit astronomical with 9 bucks for a cup of chili. I just wish they displayed the prices in all of their food courts.

This review is for the resort staff, snowboarding shop employees and instructors.
What a group of wonderful, helpful, knowledgable staff!!! A new learner’s inspiration and great start of enjoying a sport! We had so much fun!
Best yet, the learn to ride program and rental process was so seamless and perfect for two impatient New Yorkers… Thank you and will try to return!!!

Visited Stratton for a 3 day ski weekend at New Years. I recommend the 3 day pass if you’re in the area. It was the cheaper option than the individual days (though we did skip skiing the second day due to general soreness and a consensus group New Years hangover).
There were only 6 runs open on Thursday, but by Saturday they had 11 or 12 open. Their snowmaking is pretty impressive but I’m sure that goes with the territory up here in Vermont.
I recommend checking out Grizzlies bar and restaurant. The wings were delicious (both Buffalo and Vermont Maple BBQ!). The chicken parm was sub par, just some chicken tenders thrown on a roll.
Overall we had a good time, especially considering the abnormally warm weather we experienced. Nice resort and some shopping (but buy your gear at home and save your money!)

We stayed in a condo for a week. We went out to the village for NYE and every bar but 2 charged $ 15-​$ 30 cover charge with nothing included. Door people were all pretty rude. Spending $ 8k for a condo there got us no where. The village was nice to visit during the day.

Had a great visit this past weekend at the Black Bear Lodge. I have seen both good and bad reviews so I wasnt sure what to expect, but the hotel has just been redone and the front desk and restaurant staff were all very friendly and helpful. They put us in a quiet section of the hotel and we had a very comfortable and simple room. Would be happy to visit here in the future.

Played golf today on the Mountain and Forest courses. The fairways were heavily damaged due to winter ice and there are many large bare spots. They have worked hard to repair the greens but some are bumpy and distressed. We were given a $ 10 discount due to these conditions, but that wasn’t enough. Some ball washers had no water in them.
I recommend you check to see if the damage had been resolved before you commit. It is a beautiful course when I’m good condition, worthy of 4 stars, but not just yet.

Visited Stratton end of season and conditions were amazing.
An important note: It’s absolutely imperative to let everyone know that at random times throughout the day, there is an officer named Gregory Gould (ID A2750) at the base of the mountain (in the village before you turn in) in charge of tagging drivers in a speed trap. Be VERY careful of the speed limits (it gets reduced from 50 to 40 to 30 in roughly 1 mile intervals) and if you get tagged, he will grossly inflate it.
That aside, we arrived at 10am and the mountain was fairly empty. The spring conditions here are absolutely wonderful. It doesn’t get icy unless the sun gets hidden by clouds and even though there wasn’t actual powder, the warm weather allowed for skiing without jackets and the slushy snow made it a breeze to carve through. Great facilities and everything was easily accessible. Highly recommended mountain!

Stratton is right up there with Okemo and Mount Snow as the «Big Three» of southern VT resorts. Like the others, the terrain is not as challenging as what you’d find further north but there’s enough here to satisfy every level of skier. All three of these places get bombed on weekends, so your best bet is mid week non holiday. Grooming and snowmaking here are decent, and the gondola offers protection from the winds on cold days. The lodges are a tad dated, as many seem to be in this part of the country. There’s a quaint base village but not being a shopper, I can’t say much about what they’ve got, though there are a couple of good places to belly up to the bar (that’s something where I do have expertise). Not as scenic as some other New England ski areas but all in all, a great place to spend a day on the slopes.

What a zoo. Went on Saturday 2÷20÷15 and expected some sort of lines, but nothing could prepare me for the mess that this place has become. The ticket prices of course run 100 $ per adult. For that my wife and I got nice snow yes, but in about 5 hours of skiing, we did 4 top to bottom runs. Renting skis for my wife took over an hour. Truly a disgrace. Each step in the process had a 10 – 15 minute line. The gondola was closed due to winds which only exacerbated a severe overcrowding condition to begin with. When the gondola finally opened, we waited 45 minutes, and then took a very slow ride to the top. All the while, groups of ski school are ushered to the front of the line. Truly infuriating at these prices… I once had a season pass to Stratton. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I won’t be returning. I would advise people to avoid this place on the weekends at all costs.

When i first started boarding many years back, I found Stratton charming. But then then they increased their prices to be some of the highest lift ticket pricing in Vermont including advance tickets, then they closed off their parking at the main base lodge to be only valet, and then they have the gall to charge $ 10 for a basic Jameson shot. These are just some examples of big business taking over and charging fancy prices to cover the cost of their cliché, overpriced town center and condos. It’s basically everything Vermont is NOT. Sad fact is, there are so many other nicer places in Vermont to ski that I will likely not be back here. Ive noticed that when big business takes over and develops a ski resort (like Stowe) they end up commericalizing it to a very bad place. No bueno!

I had made reservations several weeks ago for 4 nights at The Black Bear Lodge for myself and 3 other adults. We booked 2 rooms each at around $ 250. Per night. Due to a family issue we could not Stay the 4^th night. I booked through
. The management at Stratton Black Bear Lodge admitted that they did not inform
of their new policy that you cannot cancel any weekend night, hence I was told by Black Bear’s manager that I would have to pay for the extra night and they «understood» that I was upset — but too bad —
I have been to Stratton many times over the past 30 years with my family and I never had any issue like that in prior years. Vermont was always a very friendly and accommodating place. Apparently no more. The manager at the Black Bear was a snotty jerk. I canceled my reservations altogether. That’s a loss of about $ 3000. In revenue between the lodge, meals, etc. Great policy guys!!! That’s really smart business. I will be sure to tell all my ski buddies and families about the way you do business. Ruining a 30 year relationship because of the stupidity of your snotty manager??? Good thinking !

Yesterday we drove from MA to visit the snow castles and we have to say that our experience was mixed. We ended up driving around Stratton for at least 15 minutes looking for the ice castles and as Morgan D said in his review, signage was terrible.
The ice castles themselves were ok, but we have seen others at competing resorts that were much more elaborate. The cost to see these castles was actually too high for the end result, but we took some nice photos throughout the exhibit.
In the end the castles were blah, but the beauty of the mountain and the staff here were incredible. We ate in their cafeteria in the SunBowl which had delicious Mexican food. We hope that the next time we come here we can snowmobile or just hang out in one of their gorgeous cabins.

Tonight we ventured from The Berkshires in western Ma, to Stratton Mountain Vt. to visit the Ice Castles.
We stopped at the Blue Benn diner in Bennington Vt. for a nice dinner, a review for another day.
Once we reached the Village at Stratton, we were unable to find the Ice Castles.
We drove a good mile past the village and saw no signage.
We returned to the village and pulled up to a parking garage and asked a staffer in a van for directions.
She offered us simple directions and added, «good luck».
We finally found the turn off, signage was minimal, not lighted and buried in the snow.
We arrived at the Sun Bowl lodge again to minimal signage and poor directions.
Still no signs indicating any thing to do with the ice castle.
We wandered thru the lodge and spotted the entrance to the castle.
We approached the entrance and were told we had to go to the the ticket booth in the lodge for tickets. What the heck… still no signs…
The staff was friendly and helpful which helped.
The castle itself was ok at best… not to sound like a whiner, but we were all underwhelmed… the kids there were definitely having fun.
We went into the lodge for hot chocolate… pretty good.
When we got up to leave at 8:30, a group of 8 – 10 parents and kids showed up just as the café closed… the castle was open until ten and the staff disappeared…
We had a good time with family and friends nonetheless…

How do I review Stratton? My home area is Roundtop (very small) and my destination resort is Vail (huge). Stratton is clearly neither so the evaluation criterion has to be different. I’m struggling to give it four stars from my visit in late January 2015.
Since the objective is to ski at a ski resort I’m ranking Stratton on my ski experience and not letting other factors degrade the rating. I skied Monday to Thursday morning on a non-​holiday week thus avoiding all the pain described elsewhere of crowds and long lift lines; I had neither. (With the low level of uphill capacity I would never ski here on a weekend or holiday.) As a senior I got tickets for $ 35 per day for four days.
I found the runs long and the groomers were good and near great with some crud between grooming paths. It was icy after a snow drought and even a storm of 6″ on Tuesday didn’t help much as the winds swept most of the snow off the slopes (but the trees really were nice and soft after the snow). There are several great long green runs just for fun and a couple of very long tree runs that were soft and not too steep. The tree runs of West Pilot Glades were some of the best outside of Vail that I’ve ever done (off the Gondola to Mike’s Way to Work Road). Kudos to Stratton for doing the work to clear these out and for having such nice long tree runs (unusual) off a green run (very unusual). The back side run Kidderbrook was a fun roller and had some steeps but ends in a long ski out that requires you to keep your up your speed or pole (not recommended for boarders). The bears (Grizzley, Polar, etc.) off the top of Ursa Express had some fun steeps and chutes but again nothing too overly challenging except for the ice. I pretty much skied everything on the mountain and except for the ice didn’t find anything super challenging.
I judge Stratton to be a bit down in the dumps. It looks like lots of maintenance is being deferred and even with the very low temperatures I never saw a snow gun running. There was a broken window at the main base lodge, broken concrete steps around, and an overall shoddy tone to the flotsam and jetsam that make up a ski area (racks, metal steps, etc.). Most of the lifts didn’t run during the week with just those necessary to get you up the hill; is this another cost saving? Meanwhile on Thursday the gondola broke down several times in the morning for fits and starts lasting anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. There were other lifts running. I can see the breath of Intrawest here as I’ve experienced their «cost savings» at other resorts (Tremblant and Snowshoe).
I took a tour (free at the information desk in the base lodge) with Helmut on Monday for two hours and that was a great way to become familiar with the main lifts and methods of traversing from one area to another. We pretty much covered the whole mountain in the two hours and I definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Stratton especially on their first visit. This is a real plus at any resort and not all of them do it so you should take advantage of the service.
I also took two half day lessons on Monday and Tuesday starting at noon (discounted compared to starting at 9) and primarily wanted to demo some skis and pick up a few pointers on tree skiing, I did both with Gary who was a great companion and good teacher. He helped me demo some skis so that I can figure out this summer what to get when the 2015 stuff goes on sale. (If you take private lessons ski demos from First Run Ski in the village are free otherwise it’s $ 50 per day. Tony in the shop was super helpful even though I did not buy from him.)
I stayed at the Big Bear Lodge (formerly Stratton Mountain Inn) and ate at a couple of forgettable places. Big Bear seems to be the cheapest place on the mountain and I’ll do a review of it elsewhere.
It’s 6+ hours from DC to Stratton and I can’t decide whether I’d come back or head a bit further and do Killington But overall the price was pretty good and the skiing kept me challenged and tired so I’m not going to complain. I just want you to have a good understanding of what’s here at Stratton. Enjoy.

Great ski resort, however horrible experience with the kids snow school. We signed up our 7year-​old daughter to the Kids school for a weekend of snowboarding lessons. The sessions were supposed to start at 9:30am and last until 3pm. The cost for both days were $ 448 and that’s more then the average in other resorts nearby. Once we arrived at the main lodge, we were informed that we had to wait on line to get her ski lifts that we had purchased way in advance and wait for our turn. Then we were told we had to go to the rental building (in the opposite side of the kids school area), and wait in line for her rental equipment. By the time we were done running around like crazy people and got her to the kids school building it was 9:53am. Upon our arrival we were informed that she could NOT join the lesson because she was late. We asked to speak with the manager and were quickly disregarded. We were told that they would NOT have her join the group lesson because other kids would feel ‘disrupted’ as they had started the lesson at 9:30am. We were also told they would not refund us for the am session we missed on Saturday morning. There were no comprises what so ever. They are extremely disorganized and I would not bring my child to take lessons there ever again.

This is actually my 2^nd time snowboarding. Though it is almost the end of the season the snow up there is still very flurry. It’s a great place for newbies. They have the option of going all the way up of the mountain with different trails (green, blue, black etc). And there are more than one green trails so I had a lot of fun going on different ones trying to pick it up.
some people decided to leave early today so they offered them a gift card refund for not using the rentals today. awesome.
Oh and go get yourself a waffle at the waffle booth! so yummy!
They also have a bunch of stores so u can def pick up your gears there.
My fave part is the resort area. We got 2 rooms with 4 huge bedrooms (2 each) and full kitchen. It was really nice. And the best part is the outdoor hottub! so much fun! will def. come back! Walking distance from the from the lift area. less than 2 minutes walk.
I would come back again!

I’ve been coming to Stratton since I was a little kid growing up in CT and this mountain has always been one of my favorites. The lift structure has changed a lot over the years and now they have few 6-​pack high-​speed lifts instead of many quads and doubles. The lift lines look worse than they usually are and singles lines are always your best bet. The black diamond trails are all just the right amount of steep for me, with some windy classic New England runs like Tamarack and Polar Bear. The mountain is generally cold, but that usually makes for some better snow towards the end of the year.
This year we stayed on mountain at the Long Trail House. Your options at Stratton are essentially limited to the shops and restaurants in the mountain village. This isn’t like Stowe where there is a nice little town 10 mins from the mountain with lots of options. With that said, the restaurants aren’t terrible and the accommodations are rather nice so it’s fine for a few day trip.

Keep in mind that I’m a gal that likes to cruise greens and some blues, but I love the trails that Stratton has to offer, especially the Tamarack area. It has about 6 trails of decent length that are a little rolly and separate from the hustle and bustle of blue and black trails. The lift is TERRIBLY slow though. I’m sure they have to run it somewhat slow for beginners, but come on! On a day when the wind is low, the long green run down from the summit is a lot of fun too. Again, it’s not a bunch of trails that are parts of greens and blues where people will fly by left and right. It’s its own separate area, perfect for those that like to cruise.
My husband does all the trails and he says it’s not challenging enough for him, but he still likes it. The village area is a cool idea but most of the shops and restaurants there need to get over themselves. The Green Door Pub, Mulligan’s, and Grizzly’s are about the only cool places to go for drinks and food.
Overall, I’d say Stratton is my favorite resort is lower VT. I think it has something for everyone and you’ll definitely have a lot of fun.