Pretty good resort. Well put together by the JH team. The runs rise an fall like a roller coaster which is a bit odd. The east coast ball bearings were massive!

Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. I am a middle age advanced skier who will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air. I will venture in and out of short mogul fields hoping to enhance my mogul skiing technique, and then often duck in and out of moderately spaced glades. If I had to describe the type of skier with which I most closely identify, it would be a high speed cruiser who enjoys medium to giant slalom turns. For Presidents’ Day week, I planned what would be a Vermont nostalgia trip for me, to be accompanied by my granddaughter. We planned to Ski Okemo, Stratton, and Pico. The first time I put on skis (33 years ago) was at Stratton. I fell in love with Pico about 30 years ago as a novice skier, and also visited Okemo at about the same time. I haven’t been back since. I am a very different skier now than I was back then. With that said, here are my impressions of Okemo using the 5 point rating system:

Terrain – Rated 4.0:
At 632 acres of skiable terrain, Okemo is rather extensive relative to eastern standards. We started out at the Clock Tower base area, which is the haven for Okemo’s beginner terrain. We did two runs in this area and found it to be perfect for beginner and novice skiers. Their “B”-Quad lift even incorporates a moving runway to get on and exit the lift. Skiers don’t have to move to get on the lift and when leaving the lift it moves you along (like a flat escalator). In this area beginner skiers have access to approximately eight green circle trails and three separate lifts. Prior to the opening of the Jackson Gore area, which is toward the right as you face the mountain, Okemo had a reputation as purely an intermediate mountain, and rightly so. Jackson Gore is predominantly black diamond territory, but the problem I have with Okemo’s black diamonds is that moguls are the determining factor for the rating and rarely does play a factor in determining its difficulty. Many of the black diamonds are halved with moguls on one side, and smooth terrain on the opposite side. When we visited, the moguls had iced up and were bullet proof. When you travel on the same trail on the adjacent area without the moguls, you find that the trail is really appropriate for strong intermediates. I also found the blue square or intermediate trails lacked character. They were usually straight fall-line trails with no lips or turns and rather “ho-hum.” In all fairness to Okemo, there was plenty of territory that we did not have the time to explore. In the Jackson Gore area there were some double-diamond glades called the “Black Hole.” They were steep, moguled, with trees as tight as a bankers butt. I wouldn’t have entered them if my great grandmother lived there. And near Okemo Peak, which is toward the left of the mountain, there were two double-black diamond trails called “Double Diamond” and “Outrage.” They looked extremely foreboding as we looked up at them, but we never got the opportunity to give them a try. By the end of the day I had given up on Okemo’s intermediate trails, until we cruised a trail called “Tukered Out” in the Jackson Gore area. At last I found lips, dips, banked turns and a true cruiser’s delight. I do believe that Okemo has all of the terrain features that deserve a 4.0 rating, but you’re gonna have to search some to find the really difficult stuff.

Service – Rated 2.0:
Nothing jumps out at me has being above the expected regarding customer relations or exemplary service. The coolest thing was those runways to board the lifts that I mentioned previously. I don’t understand why most ski resorts (Okemo included) do not place their bathrooms on the main or first floors of the lodges. The lifts ran well, and everything else seemed to go according to plan. In view of the recent weather in the area, and when you compared Okemo’s trail surfaces to those at Stratton, Okemo leaves a lot to be desired with respect to trail grooming ability. It could be possible that in comparison, their volume of traffic is much greater, but considering the cold weather and the recent snow fall, Okemo’s trail surface quality sucked. The word of the day was icy and bullet proof moguls.

Crowds – Rating 4.0:
The lack of crowds was a pleasant surprise in view of being there on Presidents’ Day, the purported busiest ski holiday of the season. At the peak lunchtime hour, you could still find a seat at the Clock Tower base area. We experienced virtually no lift lines whatsoever. On many of the black diamond runs the traffic was meager.

Activities – Rating 4.0:
Okemo has terrain parks and mini terrain features galore. They also have the Timber Ripper Mountain Roller Coaster a few steps away from the Jackson Gore base lodge. And don’t forget the town of Ludlow, lots of restaurants, lodging facilities and shopping.

Value: - Rating 2.0:
Lift tickets for Okemo at this point, trail only Stratton and Killington for the highest fees in the east. At Okemo’s rates, one day is about all I can afford; and of course the Timber Ripper Mountain Roller Coaster will cost a few bucks also. One ride with two in a coaster will cost you over $20.

In summary: With a few inches of fresh snow to cover the ice (what happen to Okemo supposed claim of having the best snow and grooming) I am sure you could have a good time at such a massive mountain. But for a cruiser such as myself, a trip to Okemo reminds me of one’s reactions to most New Years Eve parties. You remember all of the horns and whistles and shouts of, “Happy New Year,” the nice dancing and all of the gorgeous people, but once you return home, you can’t decide whether or not you have had a good time.

Okemo is probably the best ski resort in vermont for a family to go to. they have a good 119 trails and a lot of snow, and a nice group of bunny slopes to learn to ski on at the bottom. The lifts are all pretty fast too. The best part about Okemo are its terrain parks. They have like 8 terrain parks for all levels from the easy hot dog hill to the long challenging nor easter. They even have a terrain park in the woods with logs and broken branches as jumps and grind rails.They also have a half pipe. They had plenty of snow on most trails even on the march day I went there. the only cons are that the food and lift tickets are expensive, and you can't always trust the website. The site said there were 13 lifts open and I counted about 6.

I also have some comments about the trails there. The greens are normal greens, the blues are slightly easier then the average blue, and all the black trails are as steep as blues, only that some have moguls. They have all their glades down as double blacks, but when you ski them, they really are just regular black diamonds.

Some other comments about specific trails: It took me 20 minutes to get down the mountain roads and I'm an advanced skier. Don't go there if you don't want to pole the whole way. Upper world cup is as easy as a blue and catnap is flat.

So come to okemo unless you really want to ski a real double black diamond.

this is the BEST ski resort ever! no crowds! we had so much fun! I didnt get to ski down all of the slowes there be. there was so many! The onaly problem was there was a 2 hour drive from the airport. the price was very cheap