Even before the season wraps up here in Vermont, resorts are looking to the future and planning improvements and investments for the next ski and ride season. Most resorts are also delving into 4 season fun with new activities and amenities for the year-round visitor.
Find out what’s new at Vermont resorts this spring and summer:
Jay Peak Resort
Jay Peak Resort got into the music business two years ago when it opened the doors to its Foeger Ballroom and began hosting acts like Bruce Hornsby and Rusted Root. This summer it will take the show outside with the debut of the new Stateside Amphitheater, a 1500-person outdoor music venue located between the new Stateside Hotel and the Mountain Kids Adventure Center. The setting will offer concert goers both seated and lawn options and a beer garden. The Stateside Amphitheater opens July 25th with the Jeezum Crow Festival, a two-day concert featuring nine acts headlined by Dark Star Orchestra.
Killington Resort
New this summer at Killington is the Peak Lodge atop Killington Peak at 4100’. The Peak Lodge restaurant will be open every day that the K-1 Express Gondola runs, and its base-area counterparts, the Roaring Brook Umbrella Bars, will be open on weekends (Friday-Sunday).
Magic Mountain
Magic will be putting the resources of the Magic Faithful Club to work this summer to continue improvements to one of the most challenging ski areas in the East. The 2013-14 season was the second straight record year for Magic since its re-opening in the late 1990s, and this proudly independent ski area will continue the upgrades to its snowmaking system. Magic’s own skiers and riders will provide capital to purchase new equipment to make more snow earlier and more efficiently than years past.
Mount Snow Resort
The Bullwheel opened up at Mount Snow this past winter on the second floor of the summit lodge and quickly became one of the most popular eating and drinking establishments. This summer, The Bullwheel will be open on weekends serving a light menu and great beers on tap.
Mountain Top Inn & Resort
Mountain Top gets a facelift. The Lodge at The Mountain Top Inn & Resort will sport a totally new look this summer. New cedar siding and trim, standing seam roof and windows will transform the exterior giving it a mountain lodge rustic appearance. The Resort’s Trailside Cottages Real Estate Development adds four 2-3 bedroom (1700-2400 sq ft) cottages in July. The Resort’s Equestrian Center also receives some upgrades with renovations to the horse barn and eight additional stalls to be completed in early summer. Preparing for next winter Mountain Top will receive a new PistenBully 100 and equipment for the new tubing hill.
Okemo Mountain Resort
Monkey Crawl, Bridge to Nowhere, Tarzan Swing…these are just a few of the features that make up Okemo’s Haulback Challenge Course, a self-guided, treetop adventure. A challenge course is a linear arrangement of fun and unusual physical challenges requiring participants to travel from tree to tree, at various heights, using a combination of suspended bridges, ropes and cables. Platforms surrounding the trees link the different features.
Challenge Course adventurers wear a safety harness and helmet, and are connected to an overhead cable using a continuous belay system. They travel at their own speed and course attendants offer assistance if needed. With 27 features, the Haulback Challenge Course is just the newest aspect of Okemo’s Adventure Zone – open all summer long.
Burke Mountain
This summer will see the beginning of construction for the new Hotel Burke, the first in a series of development projects planned for the resort that, when completed, will see $108 million invested. The resort will break ground in June and construction is expected to be complete prior to the 2015/16 winter season.
Smugglers’ Notch Resort
Smugglers’ Notch Resort offers an extensive menu of opportunities for families to connect, play and relax together, as well as to pursue their own adventures. New offerings include soap making and green tea skin care taught by a local herbalist and stand up paddleboard yoga. Smugglers’ is also adding a mountain bike camp and a disc golf camp to its specialty camp offerings for children ages 9-17. Mountain bike camp will accommodate different levels of ability, from young bike riders wanting to learn the basics of trail riding to intermediate riders looking to take their skills to the next level. Disc golf camp introduces participants to the fastest growing sport in the country with instruction and play on Smugglers’ 18-hole Brewster Ridge course. Both camps include instruction, equipment and lunch. http://www.smuggs.com/skivt; 855-581-5906.
Stowe Mountain Resort
Stowe Mountain Resort’s Master Plan evolves at Spruce Peak. In order to meet the demands of the rapidly growing Community, Stowe Mountain Resort and Spruce Peak Realty have begun construction to improve and expand the heart of Spruce Peak. Several new amenities will be built around a new ice rink that will double as a Community plaza and green in the summer. These amenities will include a children’s Adventure Center/ski and ride school, a year-round daycare center, a children’s activities center, a new Stowe Mountain Club clubhouse, retail shops, restaurants and food markets, and a parking garage for Club members. http://www.stowe.com
Stratton Mountain Resort
This summer, explore the kitchen as well as the mountain. August 4-7, Kids Culinary Classes will explore how to make fresh Italian American favorites from scratch. Taught by the Stratton Mountain Club’s own Chef Ralph Capalupo, kids will learn kitchen safety, sanitation, nutrition and how to make cooking fun!
Sugarbush Resort
Sugarbush is moving into summer with numerous renovations to the Sugarbush Health and Racquet Club. Improvements include a new roof, renovated ladies locker rooms, refinished floors, new fitness equipment and more. The resort is also partnering again with New England Tennis Holidays, rated the #1 adult tennis camp by Tennis Resorts Online. Investments of over $1 million will be made in mechanical and electrical upgrades to several of the resorts lifts, as well as additional investments in snowmaking. Permitting and construction of additional parking will also begin.
Ski Vermont (Vermont Ski Areas Association) is a proud ambassador of the thriving winter tourism industry in Vermont, where the legislature has designated skiing and snowboarding as the official state sports. Vermont is not only the #1 ski state in the east and third in the US, but also reigns supreme in snowmaking quality and coverage, variety of terrain and historical impact on the sports of skiing and snowboarding – making it one of the most significant ski and ride destinations in the world. Ski Vermont’s mission is to help create a legislative, economic and social environment in which the state’s ski areas can grow and prosper. It serves its 19 Alpine and 30 Nordic member resorts in three major areas: Governmental Affairs, Marketing and Public Affairs.
