Sugarbush is Sweet: A Family Ski Trip to an Iconic Vermont Resort

Summary

Good eats, great people, and plenty of skiing, swimming, and SIM-ing fun. Find out what makes a Sugarbush family ski trip sweet.

A ski area’s culture is shaped by its people and its community, which makes every ski area unique and, occasionally, better suited for some people more than others, depending on their interests, style, and personality. In some delightful cases, a mountain’s culture is one that everyone who shows up there feels they belong to. One of those mountains is Sugarbush in Warren, Vermont.

Our family visited for a couple days and nights at the end of February during what’s been a terrific snow year for the mountains of northern Vermont. It was Vermont vacation week, a week later than most other Northeast states’ winter break, so we lucked out and enjoyed holiday operations with midweek crowds.

Pro tip: If you can swing it, ski midweek. Or at least try and fit Friday into your weekend. Easier said than done, of course, but it’s a magical experience with a fraction of the number of people, more affordable tickets and lodging, and local restaurants have midweek specials.

Loving family laps on the Gatehouse quad.

The Skiing

We have two kids, 10 and 12, who are different skiers in the typical birth-order mold—the older one is more cautious and enjoys her turns on mellow terrain, the younger one is less cautious and likes to explore more. None of us is the kind of skier who flock to a terrain pod like Sugarbush’s expert-only Castlerock, but we can get around, and Sugarbush has a lot to explore.

We spent a fair bit of time lapping the Gate House Express quad, which on the trail map appears to serve a much more modest area of terrain than it actually is. Pushover (green) and Sleeper (blue) were our favorites. Both are fun, rolling trails that feel like they punch above their vertical weight class. Sleeper is a great adventure with tree islands dotting the way and different fall lines to pursue.

From there, we took the Super Bravo quad higher up the mountain, where there are seemingly endless options for big, wide, windy blue cruisers that get your legs burning nicely. One trip up the new Heaven’s Gate lift to the top of Lincoln Peak was a treat. The lift was installed ahead of the 2024-25 season and part of the project included re-grading the unload area to flatten the traverse over to trails like Organgrinder and Jester, the latter of which we hooted and hollered our way down the S-turns all the way to the base area, where we set off for one of Sugarbush’s more unique on-hill adventures.

 

Slide Brook and Mt. Ellen

A short traverse from the top of the Gate House lift is the Slide Brook Express quad—reportedly the longest chairlift in the world with a span of more than 11,000 feet, connecting the Lincoln Peak side of Sugarbush to neighboring Mt. Ellen, formerly a separate ski area that is now owned by Sugarbush and accessible on the same ticket/pass.

It is like no other lift ride you’ll ever take, not only because of the ride time but the terrain it traverses. It’s quite a rollercoaster, dipping into valleys and cresting multiple ridges. Some spans are super high off the ground, but thankfully the restraint bar is equipped with footrests. It can be ridden both ways, which ups its cool factor even more.

Pro tip: There’s a shuttle that runs every half-hour between Mt. Ellen and Lincoln Peak, so you can ride Slide Brook one way and nab the shuttle right in front of the Mt. Ellen base lodge back to Lincoln Peak. That’s what we did.

Speaking of Mt. Ellen, what a great area. Not as vast as the Lincoln Peak side but just as much vertical, and most of the trails are classic, windy, narrower blues and greens that we had a blast on. Locals call it the “country club” because it’s so uncrowded, and there are two high-speed quads that access most of the terrain.

Off Mountain Fun

Sugarbush isn’t loaded with off-mountain amenities like some other resorts, but really, how much do you need? The Sugarbush Health and Racket Club (or, cleverly, the SHaRC) has plenty of stuff to do for families.

The latest addition is the SIM Suites—high-tech sports simulators with dozens of game options to choose from. You’ve seen indoor golf simulators (projector, giant screen, sensors that track your movements). That’s what these are, but also have bowling, archery, baseball, zombie dodgeball (one of our favorites), and tons more. We tried at least 10 different games during our hour in the suite. There are comfy couches for chilling in between turns. Drinks are available at the front desk. It’s super fun, especially if the weather goes sideways.

Pro tip: If the forecast is calling for less than ideal ski weather, reserve a SIM Suite as far in advance as you can because the three suites book up quickly. The sessions are a minimum of an hour, but you can book multiple hours. And there are plenty of golf clubs to use, so no need to bring your own.

Otherwise, a day pass to the SHaRC includes access to the pool, which we enjoyed all to ourselves, hot tub, gym, and the large indoor racket sports area that has bouncy houses, ping pong, a basketball hoop, and pickleball and tennis courts. It was a terrific couple of hours of laughs and friendly competition before dinner.

Our après adventure the next day was exploring the snowshoe trails around the resort. This, like cross country skiing, is a refreshing way to experience the winter woods. The well-marked trails we chose near the access road were mellow and not very strenuous—an important consideration after a few hours of skiing with kids and their tired legs. Scenic, quiet, and peaceful. We felt far away but really were just a stone’s throw from everything. The resort offers snowshoe rentals at The Farmhouse.

The Lodge

We stayed at the recently renovated Lodge at Lincoln Peak, located less than a mile from the main base area. It’s super clean and has a great lobby complete with a shufflepuck table (or table shuffleboard) and complimentary coffee and tea in the morning.

The rooms are modern-ski, if you will, and while a standard room was a little tight for our family of four, we were really only there to sleep, and sleep we did. And the rates are super affordable.

 

The People

Remember that whole culture thing? The interactions we had with every staff member made it clear why Sugarbush has such an excellent culture. They were all helpful, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and friendly.

Our girl at Mt. Ellen’s Green Mountain Lounge put extra whipped cream on our kids’ hot chocolates (and some extra olives in our bloody marys), our Venezuelan friend at Rumble’s made some winning suggestions for what we should eat, every person working the front desk at The Lodge welcomed us warmly every time we walked in the door, Michelle at the SHaRC front desk was a delight—nobody was grouchy, tired, or over it, even though they’d just been through a super busy holiday week just days before.

The lift attendants were all attentive and engaging. Once when we had passed through the gate to a lift, a person near us had trouble with their pass and the gate didn’t open so a liftie came over, got them through, told them to take a run and she’d figure out the problem with the pass by the time they got back down. The entire interaction took a few seconds. That person would’ve been pulled from the queue and sent to guest services at so many other ski areas, but not at Sugarbush.

The staff are there to make sure guests have a great time. It’s part of the culture.

 

The Food

Pro tip: Rumble’s is a rotunda right in the Lincoln Peak base village, so it’s surrounded by big windows looking up at a couple primary trails on the mountain. Ask for a table by the windows and prepare for a show. We went to dinner around 6:30 and it was like a snowcat parade up on the snow. Watching these incredible machines work is fun for the kids and the adults. And you can sneak out to the courtyard for a closer look while you wait for your food.

The food at Rumble’s was quality and delicious. We nibbled on the Vermont snack board and chicken wings and the alpine harvest salad, among other things. And no ski trip is complete without desert, right? Get the maple crème brulé if they have it.

For lunch, Castlerock Pub is the place. Right across from Rumble’s, it’s more than just typical après food. The torta de carne asada sandwich should be its own food group. The poutine is out of this world. The kids had meatball subs that disappeared quickly. And the beer list is awesomely Vermont.

 

The resort’s food is great, and so is the food in town. Waitsfield is home to some amazing places to eat, most of which, at the least the ones we visited, aren’t trying for high-end covers like many other mountain towns. The Mad Taco is an institution that can’t be missed. The Mad Moose has excellent pizza. The Mad River Barn on the way up to Mad River Glen is also really good. There’s a theme here …

Great skiing and things to do are important parts of a family ski trip, of course. Rarely do they make or break the fun we have, though. It’s the people and the culture of a place that have the biggest impact one way or the other. We felt at home at Sugarbush. Welcomed like family. You will, too.

Guest writers, The Meekers, live in southern Vermont and frequent their local mountain, Mount Snow, where both mom and dad have spent many days talking skiing and providing great experiences for visiting families. Kim works at Mount Snow and is also a realtor with Southern Vermont Realty Group. Dave is the editor for Ski Area Management magazine.The girls don’t fall far from the tree with a love of skiing and writing and slopeside waffles with chocolate drizzle.