SnowStash
ForecastsCompareNews
SnowStash Logo

Live snow, webcams and expert resort guides for the world's mountains - plan your next day on snow.

hello@snowstash.com
Download on the App Store

Destinations

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Europe
  • Japan
  • New Zealand
  • United States

Company

  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Privacy Policy

Explore

  • Compare Resorts
  • News & Updates
  • Snow Forecast
  • Mobile App

© 2026 SnowStash. All rights reserved.

    Vermont, Usa · Ikon / Mountain Collective

    Sugarbush

    581 acres, 111 runs across two peaks in the Mad River Valley. Ikon Pass access, legendary glades.

    Season 2025 - 2026
    Opens
    6 Dec 2025
    Closes
    3 May 2026
    Days open
    148
    Annual snow
    15ft
    The Overview
    MF
    Michael Fulton
    Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.

    Sugarbush's summit reaches 4,082 feet, dropping roughly 2,599 vertical feet to a base at 1,483 feet across 111 runs spread over 581 acres in Warren, Vermont, across two connected mountains. Terrain splits 42 per cent intermediate, 27 per cent advanced, 24 per cent beginner and 7 per cent expert, with average annual snowfall of roughly 177 inches. The resort carries Ikon and Mountain Collective pass affiliation. Thirteen lifts, including ten quad chairs and one double chair, serve the mountain's Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen alongside two triple chairs and three surface lifts.

    Sugarbush earned an early and enduring reputation for attracting sophisticated New York visitors to Vermont's remote Mad River Valley, a glamorous image that helped establish the resort as a genuine social and skiing destination from its earliest years. Its two connected mountains, Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen, linked by the Slide Brook Express, give Sugarbush a considerable combined scale within the valley.

    Damon and Sara Gadd, together with Jack Murphy, opened Sugarbush on 25 December 1958 after the Gadds moved to the Mad River Valley four years earlier. The Gadds took a genuinely innovative approach to resort development, installing the first enclosed Italian-built gondola in the United States, opening one of the country's first on-mountain apres-ski bars, the Wunderbar, and founding an international ski school, innovations that helped cement Sugarbush's fashionable early reputation.

    The Gadds sold Sugarbush to Roy Cohen in 1977, and Cohen purchased the neighbouring Glen Ellen Ski Area, now Mount Ellen, in 1979, unifying the resort's two-mountain footprint. In 2001, Win Smith and a group of investors formed Summit Ventures NE LLC to purchase Sugarbush from the American Skiing Company, before Alterra Mountain Company acquired the resort in November 2019. Adult daily tickets run from 135 to 195 US dollars, with discounted access to Mount Ellen only.

    2,598ft
    Vertical
    111
    Runs
    581 acres
    Skiable
    15ft
    Annual snow
    Ikon / Mountain Collective
    Pass
    The Terrain

    111 runs across 581 acres skiable

    Sugarbush spreads 111 runs across 581 acres skiable of terrain. It leans intermediate at 42%, with 27 beginner runs to find your feet and 38 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.

    Terrain split
    111
    runs
    111 runs across 4 grades
    Beginner27 runs · 24%
    Intermediate47 runs · 42%
    Advanced30 runs · 27%
    Expert8 runs · 7%
    Time it right

    When to visit Sugarbush

    The 2025-26 season at Sugarbush ran from 6 December 2025 to 3 May 2026, a roughly twenty-one-week season supported by average annual snowfall of around 177 inches across the resort's two connected mountains. Season dates can shift depending on early and late-season weather in the Mad River Valley.

    Midwinter, from December through February, typically brings the most consistent conditions across Sugarbush's varied terrain spanning Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen. As an Ikon and Mountain Collective pass resort, Sugarbush draws substantial visitation from pass holders alongside its traditional Mad River Valley visitor base, still drawing on the resort's long-standing fashionable reputation.

    The Mad River Valley's genuinely close-knit community, shared with neighbouring Mad River Glen, continues to shape Sugarbush's seasonal character alongside its considerable scale across two mountains. School holiday periods bring substantial family visitation given the resort's varied terrain across both peaks. Extensive gladed terrain and challenging steeps, including the legendary Castle Rock area, draw dedicated expert skiers throughout the season.

    Specific event programming beyond standard operations is not confirmed in available resort information. Since Alterra Mountain Company's November 2019 acquisition, Sugarbush has continued operating within the Ikon Pass network, building on more than six decades of history since Damon and Sara Gadd's December 1958 founding. The resort's two-mountain scale and Mad River Valley setting remain central to its seasonal identity.

    Season 2025 - 2026
    6 Dec 2025
    Opens
    3 May 2026
    Closes
    148
    Days open
    15 ft
    Annual snow
    Getting there

    Getting to Sugarbush, and where to stay

    Sugarbush sits in Warren, Vermont, in the Mad River Valley, with a base elevation of 1,483 feet and a summit at 4,082 feet across a roughly 2,599-foot vertical drop over 581 acres spread across Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen. This setting places the resort within one of Vermont's most storied ski valleys, alongside neighbouring Mad River Glen.

    Warren and the broader Mad River Valley offer lodging, dining and a genuinely close-knit ski community atmosphere within a short drive of the resort. Waitsfield, a nearby village, provides additional visitor services, while Burlington, Vermont's largest city, lies within a reasonable drive.

    Vermont State Route 100 provides access to the resort through the Mad River Valley. Winter driving conditions on this route can include snow and ice, though the well-travelled road is regularly maintained given the valley's status as a significant regional ski destination. There is no direct public transport service to the mountain.

    Burlington International Airport, within a reasonable drive, is the nearest airport with substantial commercial service, making Sugarbush accessible for visitors flying into northern Vermont, supporting its long-standing draw for visitors from the greater New York and Boston metropolitan areas.

    Where to stay

    Search all stays →

    Hotels and lodges near Sugarbush, powered by Stay22.

    Latest News

    From the SnowStash desk

    View all news →
    Thredbo Is 'On the Table' as EVT Reviews Its Whole Business

    Thredbo Is 'On the Table' as EVT Reviews Its Whole Business

    Thredbo is officially 'on the table.' EVT Limited, owner of Australia's most decorated ski resort, has hired Rothschild & Co to review its entire corporate structure - and confirmed Thredbo isn't off limits, even as it books a stronger year of earnings. The resort's own valuation has nearly halved after a brutal 2026 season, and speculation is already running toward Vail Resorts, Alterra, or a New Zealand operator picking it up. Here's what EVT actually said, and who could buy it.

    25 Aug 2026
    Ski-E-O! Is the Ski Resort Tycoon Game We Didn't Know We Needed

    Ski-E-O! Is the Ski Resort Tycoon Game We Didn't Know We Needed

    I'm not a gamer. I'm a skier and snowboarder who happens to have a laptop. So when a ski resort management game called Ski-E-O! landed on Steam, I wasn't expecting to lose an afternoon to it - but here we are. Real mountain terrain, a full weather system, storms that roll in and wreck your snow base, avalanche danger, and enough depth to make RollerCoaster Tycoon feel simple by comparison. Early access lands in November. Here's what a few hours in the free demo actually looks like.

    23 Aug 2026
    Sugar Bowl, California, Rebuilds Its Historic Village Gondola

    Sugar Bowl, California, Rebuilds Its Historic Village Gondola

    The rumours are true: Sugar Bowl is tearing out its Emerald gondola, in place since 1983, and replacing it with a new 8-person Doppelmayr system - nearly doubling uphill capacity to 1,800 people an hour. It's the fourth generation of a gondola line that dates back to 1953, when Sugar Bowl became the first resort on the West Coast to run one at all, and it's just one piece of a $100 million overhaul touching lodges, parking and snowmaking. Here's what's changing, and what's staying the same.

    23 Aug 2026
    Two Confirmed Dead as Search Continues After Swiss Alps Fire

    Two Confirmed Dead as Search Continues After Swiss Alps Fire

    The death toll from Thursday night's fire at Restaurant Beverin in Thusis, Switzerland, has begun to firm up. One Swiss outlet, citing Graubünden Cantonal Police, reports that two of the five people initially reported missing have now been confirmed dead, leaving three unaccounted for. The building's collapsed stairwell and structural instability have slowed recovery efforts throughout. Here's what's changed since the fire broke out, and what's still unconfirmed.

    22 Aug 2026
    Selwyn Snow Resort Closes Early as Rain Ends Its 2026 Season

    Selwyn Snow Resort Closes Early as Rain Ends Its 2026 Season

    Selwyn Snow Resort has called an early end to its 2026 season, a day after Victoria's Mount Baw Baw did the same. Rain on Thursday stripped what was left of the snowpack, and the cold nights needed to rebuild it through snowmaking never arrived. It's a rough result for a resort that only just found its footing again after being burned to the ground in the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and a multi-year rebuild. Here's how the season fell apart, and where Selwyn's been since the fire.

    22 Aug 2026
    Mt Baw Baw Becomes First Australian Resort to Close for 2026

    Mt Baw Baw Becomes First Australian Resort to Close for 2026

    Mt Baw Baw is calling time on its 2026 season this Sunday at 5pm, becoming the first Australian resort to close for the year after warm spells and rain wore through its snowpack. Lifts stop, but the resort stays open, entry fees get waived, and there's one last Bollywood Weekend before the lights go out. Fifty-seven days after opening, here's how the season ended and what it means for the rest of Australia's struggling snowpack.

    21 Aug 2026
    Arosa to Replace 40-Year-Old Hörnli Lifts With New Gondola and Chair

    Arosa to Replace 40-Year-Old Hörnli Lifts With New Gondola and Chair

    Arosa's Hörnli sector is getting its biggest overhaul in decades. The 1986 gondola and 1994 chairlift linking toward Lenzerheide are both being replaced, with capacity up, tower count down and a new base station lower on the hill. At roughly CHF 67 million, it is the largest single investment Arosa Bergbahnen has ever made - and the target opening has already slipped a year, to December 2028. Here is what is changing, and why the timeline moved.

    20 Aug 2026
    Sundance Mountain Resort Is Getting a New High-Speed Quad and More Back Mountain Terrain This Winter

    Sundance Mountain Resort Is Getting a New High-Speed Quad and More Back Mountain Terrain This Winter

    Sundance Mountain Resort's back mountain is finally getting a proper lift. The Electric Horseman Express opens for 2026-27, unlocking a new bowl next to Bishop's Bowl and three expert gladed chutes across roughly 105 fresh acres - on top of the Storyteller ridge run that debuted in preview form last season. It's Sundance's biggest expansion since 1985, and it turns a three-lift slog into a single six-minute ride to Bearclaw Summit.

    19 Aug 2026

    Trail map & terrain

    Sugarbush trail map↓ Download PDF
    Terrain split
    111
    runs
    Beginner24%
    Intermediate42%
    Advanced27%
    Expert7%
    581 acres skiable235 hectares
    Resort Stats
    Elevation
    Base1,483ft
    Summit4,081ft
    Annual snowfall
    15ft
    Season
    2025 - 2026
    6 Dec 2025 - 3 May 2026
    Trail coverage
    111 runs
    581 acres (235 ha)

    Sugarbush ski trails

    Sugarbush offers 111 runs across a mix of difficulties. The terrain split and trail map here show how the mountain breaks down so you can plan a day that suits your group.
    • • Match runs to your ability - the terrain split shows how much of Sugarbush is beginner, intermediate and advanced.
    • • Check grooming and open-run status against the live conditions before committing to the upper mountain.
    • • Early season and after fresh snow, favour the lifts serving your preferred grade to make the most of the day.

    More Sugarbush intelligence: trail map, lift system, resort overview.