High-speed quads, six-packs, bubble chairs and gondolas have become standard equipment at many of Vermont’s biggest ski resorts. Smugglers’ Notch has taken a very different path.
Every chairlift at the northern Vermont ski area remains a fixed-grip double, including lifts that climb more than 2,000 vertical feet and can take more than 15 minutes to reach the top. That unusual setup is at the center of a recent PeakRankings recent deep dive into Smuggs’ that asks whether it has effectively become Vermont’s ski resort “stuck in time.”
The answer is complicated. The review identifies Smuggs’ aging lift network as its most obvious weakness, but also finds plenty to like about the mountain that has developed around it, including narrow trails, technical glades, strong natural snowfall and a distinctly old-school Vermont atmosphere.
Eight Chairlifts, No High-Speed Chairs
Smugglers’ Notch spreads its skiing across three mountains: Morse, Madonna and Sterling.
Morse is primarily the beginner and family zone, while Madonna and Sterling contain most of the resort’s intermediate, advanced and expert terrain. The mountain has 78 trails and a 2,610-foot vertical drop, placing it among the tallest ski areas in New England.
What it does not have is a detachable chairlift.
The PeakRankings review points out that every chair remains an older-style fixed-grip double. On the longer lifts, that can mean rides exceeding 15 minutes, which can get a bit chilly for riders on cold Vermont days. Low uphill capacity can also create lines at Madonna and Sterling on busy weekends even when the trails themselves do not feel particularly crowded.
However that limited capacity has an upside. Fewer people reach the upper mountain at once, which can help preserve snow and keep trails from feeling as congested as the lift corral below. As the old saying goes “its not a bug, its a feature.”
The contrast is a big part of the Smuggs experience. The infrastructure might feel several decades behind some nearby competitors, but the skiing above it can feel deliberately untouched by the same modernization.
The Terrain Is A Very Different Story
For stronger skiers, PeakRankings argues that Smugglers’ Notch becomes considerably more competitive once you get off the lifts.
Sterling Mountain offers steep mogul runs, glades and narrow trails, while Madonna Mountain contains the resort’s most technical terrain. Many trails follow the natural contours of the Green Mountains instead of taking the wide, straight form common at heavily developed resorts.
Madonna is also home to Black Hole, which Smugglers’ Notch describes as the only triple black diamond trail in the East. The steep, tightly wooded run sits alongside Freefall and Madonna Liftline, two other notoriously demanding trails.
Unmarked glades around the upper reaches of Madonna, where cliffs, rocks and poorly defined routes can make portions of the mountain more serious than the trail map alone might suggest. PeakRankings overall assessment is that advanced and expert terrain is one of Smuggs’ biggest strengths despite the relatively modest size of the developed ski footprint.
Beginners Get A Very Different Smuggs Experience
PeakRanking was a bit critical of the layout when it comes to beginners. All of Smugglers’ Notch’s green terrain is concentrated around Morse Mountain, separated from the larger Madonna and Sterling areas. Connecting between those zones on skis requires long, relatively flat traverses, something the PeakRankings review describes as especially frustrating for snowboarders. A base-to-base shuttle provides another option, but interrupts the ski day.
For families learning to ski, that separation can actually work in Morse Mountain’s favor. Beginner traffic is largely isolated from faster skiers coming off the more difficult terrain at Madonna and Sterling.
The tradeoff is that groups with widely different abilities may find it harder to move around the resort together.
Smuggs Benefits From Northern Vermont Snow
The review is much more positive about Smugglers’ Notch’s natural snow. Its location in northern Vermont gives the mountain a favorable setup for snowfall compared with many ski areas farther south in New England. The mountain’s winding trails, glades and largely north-facing terrain can also hold snow well after storms. Snowmaking has historically been one area where Smuggs lagged behind larger competitors, but that is beginning to change.
New majority owner Bear Den Partners announced a significant snowmaking investment ahead of the 2026-27 season, including 80 new tower guns, 20 new mobile guns, 1,100 feet of replacement snowmaking pipe, pump and motor upgrades and additional mountain operations equipment.
The project is one of the first major investments since Bear Den Partners took majority ownership of Smugglers’ Notch in February. The Stritzler family retains an ownership stake in the resort.
A Big Change Is Coming To How People Access Smuggs
One part of the resort experience definitely is changing. After years outside the major multi-resort pass networks, Smugglers’ Notch joined the Indy Pass for the 2026-27 season. Indy passholders receive two days at the resort, plus a third day at 25% off.
Smuggs has no blackout dates for Indy Base or Indy+ passholders, although advance reservations will be required. Indy says details of that reservation system are still being finalized. The partnership puts Smugglers’ Notch alongside other independent northern New England mountains including Jay Peak, Bolton Valley, Burke Mountain and Cannon Mountain on the same pass.
That could introduce a significant number of skiers to a resort that, by modern standards, operates very differently from the mountains they are used to.
Old School By Design
Smugglers’ Notch origins date back to 1956, when the original Smugglers’ Notch Ski Ways opened with two Poma lifts on Sterling Mountain. Over the following 70 years, the resort developed into a three-mountain destination, but it retained much of the character associated with an earlier era of Vermont skiing. There are legitimate compromises attached to that.
The PeakRankings review criticizes the slow chairlifts, disconnected beginner terrain and difficult winter access. Vermont Route 108 through Smugglers’ Notch closes each winter, meaning anyone approaching from the Stowe side has to make a lengthy drive around the mountains rather than using the short summer route. But those same inconveniences are mixed with terrain and an atmosphere that have become increasingly difficult to find at large East Coast resorts.
Smuggs has steep natural trails, old double chairs, warming huts at the tops of its mountains and enough uphill limitations that a powder day can stay relatively uncrowded once you actually get away from the lift. The resort is clearly beginning to modernize under its new ownership, particularly through its major snowmaking investment. There has been no corresponding announcement of a major chairlift replacement.
For now, anyone visiting Smugglers’ Notch this winter will still get one of the most unmistakably old-school lift experiences left at a major Vermont ski resort.
