Well this was my first trip to VT so it's hard for me to say anything negative. The mountain is great since I'm an intermediate skier who is just starting to ski black. My 12 year old is a snow boarder and he said the terrain park was not so great. Stratton says they have 5 terrain parks but we did not see anything that amazed my son. Two of thet parks are very small and one was closed because they just had the US Open the week before. The other two were ok.

There are plenty of trails(90) to keep me interested in the place and we stayed for 4 days.

Since it was end of season March 26-30 2008 so the crowds did not exist. On Wed,Thur and Friday the gondola had no wait. On Saturday the wait was about 15 minutes for the gondola but the American Express(6 pack) still had no wait.

We stayed at the Long Trail House and all was good there. They have a nice big fire place in the lodge.

I have to say some of the staff were not as friendly as I expected them to be. After all I'm spending lots of money here. I have been to less expensive vacation spots and was treated better.

Maybe they are tired of the crowds. The village was very cool and we ate at Mulligan’s and Mulberry Street tow of three times. Prices are ok. I expect to pay more for food on vacation so I was fine with it.

Overall I will be going here again next year since it’s a 5 hour drive and I don’t see any reason to drive further north to other ski resorts.

The Gondola is SLOW, POORLY LOADED, UNCOMFORTABLE !!! You have to carry all skis and boards in the Gondola with you and with 12 people crammed into each pitifully slow box ...its not an enjoyable ride. Even on a non-hloiday week the lift operators insisted on packing each car with 10-12 people. IT WAS RIDICULOUS !!!
The resort is too built up. You cant even see the Mtn when you drive thru town. That must be a Intrawest thing, jam up the bottom of the Mtn with condos & townhouses. A regular bottle of Vitamin water cost $4.50.
Need I go on........
Every other resort in the northeast I've visited that have Gondolas do it better than Stratton. Its very frustrating when your on the Gondola because you can see people on the chairlift across from the VERY SLOW
Gondola zipping along on a high speed six pack. Okemo has much better Grooming-More Varied Trails.
But Killington beats them all. Lots of room to spread out . And a bottle of Vitamin Water costs $ 2.75.......

User Photos (click to enlarge)

I have been to Strat twice: the first time I skied on a thursday, this year, 2008, on a Friday.

TERRAIN ETC-- I am an intermediate skier, so the absence of double black diamond trails is not a problem for me, nor do I seek the super steep terrain that some do. I therefore confess that I love the simplicity of the easy trails at stratton and feel they are perfectly sufficient. They have a great green cruising trail that starts at the TOP of the mountain (not a measly 1/3 of the way up, like at sugarbush), and I saw skiers and riders of all levels enjoying those, as well as the blue trails. The trails are also nicely designed (I found some of sugarbush's ugly and oddly empty of pine).

CROWDS--I have no way to know if this particular Friday was more crowded than usual, but the crowds were a bit annoying. It was not so much the wait to the Gondola or lifts- bc that was not more than 5-7 minutes, maybe 10 min max. & Once on the slopes, everyone fanned out and we had the trails almost to ourselves. But the parking situation was completely absurd.

The garage available is micro-sized, and can only hold what seems to be 100 lucky skiers, and many of these spots were taken up by SUVs spreading over 2 spaces. The land surrounding the lot is taken up by condos. The overflow lot was about 4 miles down the road and a shuttle bus was needed to get back--really frustrating. I have never seen such an insane set up. Stowe, Sugarbush, Windham and several other mountains have massive lots right in front of the lodge/mountain, so there is no confusion, and if they do have overflow lots, these are just a few hundred yards away. There was another lot in front of the lodge area, but this was reserved for special people - one assumes this means condo owners, but someone told us it is season pass people as well as employees. Employees? THOSE are the people who need to be on a shuttle!!

This really bugged us and made us not want to come back, as the access was so clumsy and time-consuming. It also made us feel as though we were not welcomed.

SKIERS - As for the demographics of the crowds, I really cannot see that there is any scientifically proven way to sift the wasps from the non-wasps, nor the city people from the locals. So many posters (from VT??) seem to be annoyed at alleged NYers or Bostonites invading their territory. Frankly, who cares? I have met many native Vermonters on the slopes and far way from them who were plenty arrogant, cold or unfriendly.

Since I am from Brooklyn, I cannot really see how my presence ruins the nature experience for others. I am teacher and hardly a power-yuppie strutting around in Manhattanite uniform. But if NY mountains had more or better snow, I would also be happy to stay closer to home and not waste time and fuel trekking northeast.

I recommend Stratton, with warnings about what surely must be a horrific parking scene on saturdays.

My wife and I tried out Mount Snow -- what a mistake! We turned in our tickets and drove a little farther to Stratton. On the same weekend, the lift lines were much better at Stratton, the food was better and cheaper, the runs better marked, the grooming much better, and the runs much more challenging. My wife and I ski 5-6 times a year in Vermont and twice a year at Lake Tahoe. Stratton is one of our favorites. It isn't as challenging as Stowe and Northstar, Mount Rose, or Sugarbowl (all Tahoe), but it is by far the best in Southern VT. We also like Okemo. We hate Killington and Mount Snow because of the Long Island/Southern Ct. crowds (obnoxious), the lousy service, and the crappy conditions. If you like laidback people who ski and ride without showing off too much, this is a great place. The Long Trail House is awesome to stay in. My only complaint is the north face gets icy and the lifts to it are slow.

Went up to stratton over the presidents weekend. I was not pleased at all. The trails are over rated and boring. The base area is jammed with rude pushy people that are more concerned with jumping the line than enjoying the day.Gondola is a cheap joke, very uncomfortable. Ski school for my kids was an unorganized mess(they left my daughter unattended).

Lodging is typical intrawest, overratted. Long trail house was a decent set-up but not maintained very well. They try to do everthing on the cheap. The pool area smelled like mold/urine.

Village looks nice but does not offer a lot except shopping. Food at peak times means a long wait. Service is horrible for the most part.

It would be a much better place if the wern't trying to do too much with a small mountain.