Ascutney is a great mountain when their is alot of snow. They never use snowmaking. I would only go here after a snowstorm

I skied at Ascutney for the first time on Saturday, December 22, 2007, had a great day, and would definitely go back for another day trip -- but only right after another big dump of fresh snow. We had two adults and two teenagers in our group, all intermediate/expert skiers, and found plenty of powder stashes and a variety of challenging trails with varying terrain. Most of the day we had no lift lines and the trails all to ourselves (but this might have been thanks to its being the last shopping weekend before Xmas).

This is definitely a ski-at-your-own-risk kind of place: there are lots of unmarked rocks and other obstacles and scant grooming. If I had young kids, I would not allow them to ski or board on their own beyond the learning area.

Next time we will definitely bring our own lunch. The cafeteria service was extremely slow, the choices were slim, and the food was bad and expensive.

All but one of the lifts is slow, and that one (a high-speed quad to the top of the hill) wasn't running the day were were there.

On the bright side, we had fond memories of Alta on our mind most of the day. And apart from Jay Peak and Mad River Glen, that feeling is hard to find on the East Coast, let alone just 3 hours from Boston.

Well let's see we went there on Sunday 1/5/08. The conditions were only marginal, the rest rooms were disgusting and the lift operators were appearently sleeping. I say this because a young skier trying to exit the lift at the mid station got caught on the chair by his glove!! He continued to go up the mountain dangling from his glove( and only his glove) until the lift operator finally pushed the stop button - at least 75 feet away!! This kid proceeded to hang from the lift for a good 25 minutes until they were able to throw a harness up and glide him down. Luckily this event ended well, however it could have been very tragic. Watch out for yourself as they don't!!!!!

We own property in the next town, and love Ascutney but only after a big dump of natural snow. They don't know how to groom or make snow so when Mother Nature cooperates it's a blast. Beyond that keep driving 20 minutes more and your at Okemo. I'd suggest the Ascutney ownership take a day trip over there to learn all about mountain management!! Your basic Snowmaking-101 and Grooming for Beginners.

This (07'-08')was supposed to be the turn around year at Ascutney,more snow makers, new grooming team and mountain manager but they're still headed downhill and not in a good way. It seems obvious that Ownership has handcuffed some good people and prevents anyone from doing a good job on the mountain. I feel sorry for the help, who take all the heat for the poor management team and short sighted $-tight ownership.
If we owned a time share or condo here I'd be ready to hang someone.

Rumor has it, the mountain is being sold so we may yet see a turn around but probably not this season. If things don't change or it's not sold to someone who cares very soon I'm afraid we might see it close which would be too bad because it has great potential.

On a brighter note, when the snow is deep, the trails are steep and fun. Usually no lift lines (wonder why ^) Great mountain for kids and learners.
But be careful off the summit chair as there's one "so-called" green trail right off the lift. It's NEVER groomed and by mid-day is skied off and full of moguls - good luck to any beginner. Perhaps we have a new category "green-diamond"

Will update if anything positive should happen.

We are members of the ct ski club, so we just go where the discounts are on a given weekend. Last weekend we ended up here. It was one of the most horrific skiing experiences of my life. And i have been skiing for about 21 years. The mountain had ONE lift open that only went mid way, and about THREE trails that were in decent skiing condition. The trails that were open were marked green, but were so terribly groomed they were close to blacks. There way too many people on each trail of varying levels which made it somewhat dangerous. The lift operator had no idea how to grab the chair, and i ended up with two huge welts on each calf, and by the end of the day, the one and only trail coming of the one and only operating lift had become a mogul field. The one and only redeming aspect of the day was that had a pretty good singer in the lounge, and had a pretty good promotion going with wolover and we got aton of free pint glasses.