Sugarbush 2017/18 Season Recap
What an incredible end to an already incredible 162 day ski season. After opening early on Thanksgiving Day and difficult weather through the first half of winter, Sugarbush saw 90” of natural snowfall from March 1st onwards. That ranks in the top 10 for spring snowfall since we started tracking the data in 1966! At the end of the season, even given the tough conditions over the holidays, our skier visits were up from last year.
We hope you were able to get out and enjoy the mountain as much as we did this season. The Sugarbush Resort Golf Club is already open daily and we’ll open daily for other summer mountain activities on Saturday, June 23rd. Next season marks our 60th anniversary since turning on the lifts for the 1958-59 winter season. We’re planning big with celebrations throughout the season and we hope to see you there.
But before we focus our thoughts ahead, enjoy some of our favorite highlights from this past winter.
New This Season
Two New Chairlifts
We replaced two of our older double lifts, the Village Double and Sunshine Double, with new fixed grip quads. The new Village Quad and Sunshine Quad offered a superior beginner experience, as we also regraded the areas around both lifts to be better suited for beginners.
RFID
We replaced our old ticket scanning system with new RFID (radio frequency identification) gates at all of our base area lifts. Once skiers acquired their new SugarXpress Card, they were free to go straight to the lifts and could reload tickets and passes to it online. But the best part? Those cards carry over year to year, so there’s no need to head to the pass office again next season!
Sugarbush Joins Mountain Collective
The Mountain Collective is an alliance of sixteen ski resort destinations throughout the USA and Canada, as well as four international affiliates. This was the first season we joined the collective and we saw some great results. Even if you didn’t purchase a Mountain Collective Pass, Sugarbush Premium pass holders could still receive 50% off lift tickets at the other 15 destinations.
Swiss Alpine Ski National Team Trains at Sugarbush
The Swiss Alpine Ski National Team trained at Sugarbush in November ahead of the Audi FIS Women’s Ski World Cup at Killington. The team trained on Spring Fling at Lincoln Peak. Two of the skiers, Wendy Holdener and Michelle Gisin ended up medaling at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Competitions, Dog Parades, and S’mores, Oh my!
Our events team went all out this season with over 100 events from October to May including daily s'mores on holidays adn ever-popular New Year's Eve Dog Parade. Here were just a few of our other favorites:
Big Kicker
Mad River Glen joined us for our annual winter kickoff party at American Flatbread. The party included DJ Kristy Kutz, an open rail jam with Sugarbush Parks, and presentations and games with Flyin’ Ryan Foundation, Vermont Adaptive, Ski the East, and High Fives.
FIS Telemark World Cup
The FIS Telemark World Cup made a stop at Sugarbush in late January with three different events: Classic, Sprint Classic, and Dual Sprint.
Island Weekend
A sunshine filled weekend brought spring fever to Sugarbush with a hula hoop contest, beach volleyball tournament, reggae music, and island themed food and drink. The Island in the Sky Luau at Walt’s at the Glen House at Mt. Ellen had a packed bar and full deck in what may just have been the biggest party hosted there in years.
Mt. Ellen End of Season Celebration
Another weekend of sunny skies, this weekend ended up being one of our busiest March days ever with the Lincoln Peak Courtyard full of après fun and live music and Mt. Ellen boasting a full end of season celebration. Mt. Ellen goers enjoyed a terrain park feature session, retro long jump competition and live outdoor music at the Green Mountain Lounge.
Looking Ahead to Summer
