SKIING ONE OF THE EAST’S MOST UNDERRATED SKI RESORTS
After driving by many times, last year I finally skied Pico Mountain in Vermont. I had an awesome time, and have been wanting to return this season, but things kept getting in the way. Though it was kind of a weird day weather-wise, Pro Skier Darren White and I committed to going today regardless, because the reality is, though there’s still plenty of snow on the mountains, time is running out to visit all the places I had in mind for this season, and Pico was high on that list.
*Just a heads up that I don’t know this mountain well, so most pictures don’t have captions.*
Pico is definitely on the list of most underrated resorts in the East, and it just might be number one. The terrain is great, with wide-open groomers, classic narrow New England runs, fun trees, and more. It’s also not as busy as other major resorts, such as its literal next-door neighbor Killington.
Killington is the reason why I’d driven by Pico so many times until last season and I’d imagine I’m not alone in that. In a way, Killington overshadows Pico, which shouldn’t be too surprising. Killington is one of the largest ski resorts in the East, while Pico is much smaller. That said, Pico isn’t exactly tiny. The mountain is over 3,950 ft. tall, it has nearly 2,000 ft. of vertical, and there are more than 450 acres of skiable terrain. It also gets 250 inches of snow a year. Those are all solid stats, especially the snowfall.
Pro Skier Darren White taking a break in the rain.
As mentioned, it was a weird weather day with rain and dense fog to start, followed by a little sunshine, more rain, and then more sunshine. The one thing that was consistent was that it was fairly warm. It was a true spring ski day. The snow was soft and mushy everywhere, and later in the day it started to get sticky in spots.
Rennie is on the left and James is on the right.
Rennie (left) and James (right) tearing up a run this afternoon.
Pro Skier Darren White and I skied most of the morning and early afternoon together, before coming across Rennie and James, who we met last year when we skied Pico, and a few of their friends. We proceeded to ski with this group for the remainder of the day and had a great time hanging out with them. Unfortunately, Rennie’s brother Ray, who we also met last year, wasn’t there today, but hopefully we catch him on the mountain in the future. The group fluctuated in size all afternoon, and at one time even included the director of operations for the mountain (in the newsletter version of this article, I referred to him as the general manager; he is the direction of operations). My hunch is that he heard Pro Skier Darren White was on the snow, and he wanted to witness greatness in action, but I can’t verify that one way or the other.
These folks are Pico locals and they know the mountain like the backs of their hands. They’re also amazing skiers. I mean, no doubt Pro Skier Darren White was the best skier on the mountain today. He is the ‘East’s Most Decorated Athlete’ after all, and what he did at Pico was nothing short of extraordinary, but James basically has perfect form and navigates terrain effortlessly, as does Rennie.
There were around 20 groomed runs (out of 57), and coverage on those was great. I’ve only skied Pico twice, but it seems to me they like to leave a lot of terrain natural and ungroomed, which I’m definitely not complaining about, as this can yield better conditions. Anyways, coverage on the natural snow trails was overall pretty good, but you could find some thin spots here and there. All were avoidable, though. Additionally, with the soft snow, you could find small bumps on a lot of the natural snow trails, and on some of the groomers, too.
In the trees, coverage was still excellent, but the snow was so dense and heavy today that it didn’t really make sense to ski them. That said, we did ski a couple. My favorite was probably the Poma Woods, which is a pretty big glade with nicely spaced trees.
Old Poma lift.
Poma Woods.
Bronco.
Wrangler.
Every run was technically open. However, the Outpost Double has been down for a few weeks due to mechanical issues, and was not spinning. You can easily access a couple runs off this lift, including Wrangler and Bronco, using the Golden Express Quad, but there are a few more that require a bit more effort to reach. So while open, we never made it to them. On a side note, the terrain off this lift is a ton of fun. If you can visit Pico on a day when it’s spinning, I'd recommend it.
Giant Killer.
One of my favorite parts of the day was skiing Giant Killer, which is a double black diamond run off the summit. This run is very steep, and covered in bumps. I’m not some amazing bump skier, so it was challenging, in a good way, and had me breathing hard. Coverage on it was a little thin in spots, but overall it was pretty good. I don’t think this one was open when we skied Pico last season, so it was great to finally check it out.
My goal this season was to ski 20 ski areas. Pico was my 20th! Though I’ve reached my goal, I’m not finished yet. I’m planning to visit a few more ski areas in the coming days and weeks.
Never Quit Skiing,
Lincoln