This is a trip report from Friday, ½/26. I finally had my opportunity to visit Mont Sutton. Despite living in Burlington for a few years, I never ventured over the border to ski - only for a bit of culture, a nice night out or for a show; being the closest large city. I first learned about Sutton’s reputation as a glade haven 2 seasons ago, and had been waiting for an excuse to get up there. With Indy Pass answering my prayers and adding it this year, I made it my mission to find a way to visit.
A UVM college friend of mine was in town visiting for the holidays and asked to go ski a couple days at Jay Peak, which I was happy to oblige on. When he mentioned that, man, the ticket prices were a bit steep and still considered holiday, I used that opportunity to convince them to join me for a day at Sutton - favorable lift ticket price, not likely to be crowded, same drive time as Jay, cheap food, and great woods skiing. He didn’t need convincing, and luckily had brought his passport with him back to Massachusetts.
New Years Day, after working a few hours, I drove to pick him up and make our way to Burlington. We checked into the Hilton on Main Street - which had very cheap rates considering most people were leaving that night and not checking in - and made our way to Burlington Beer Co for dinner and a couple drinks. I went with the Study Hall - a maple syrupy, coffee infused amber. One of my favorites. After we were winding down there, we drove back and parked in front of my old house a couple blocks away; it always had free street parking available there, and we weren’t going to pay $20 for self service parking at the hotel. We spent a few hours at Three Needs afterward. Plenty of chatting, a game or two of pool and a slice of pizza later we walked back to the hotel. It was utterly frigid.
The next morning, we drove out to Sutton, leaving around 7:30. The drive is very similar to Jay Peak from downtown - the final 20 minutes are the only difference, where you continue north on Rt 105 towards Richford rather than turning onto Rt 118 towards Jay. Despite the flurries that had been falling the last day or two, the roads were pretty clear until Richford. There, they could have used an extra plowing or two, but we stuck it out. Border crossing was a breeze - zero wait time. The agent was friendly, asking basic questions though was a bit quizzical why we choosing to ski in QC instead of VT. After about a minute and a half, we were free and continued on.
You never see the mountain coming. That is, the ski runs themselves. The access road and the parking lots are all tight to the hillside and slightly angling away from the runs themselves such that until you actually park, you’re seeing nothing but the last 50 feet or so of a couple of runs. It felt cozy, hidden and comfortable. We found space in the lodge to get ready and even plenty of free hooks to hang our bags. The woman at the front desk was pretty happy to see another Indy Passholder. She mentioned they’d been getting a lot of new traffic this season and Mountain Ops was pretty happy with visitation so far.
Now let me start with the bads so I could get straight to all the good stuff. On this day, Sutton was running none of their redundant lifts. This meant that getting out of the base area, when busy, could be a bit of a pain; as could the next lift. That being said, the longest line we waited in was after a late lunch around 1:45pm; maybe 9-10 minutes. The next lift to continue towards the back of the mountain also had a bit of a line, though it went quick if you were just skiing alone. My friend and I were more than happy to ride separate; each of us wanting to chat with strangers anyways.
Anyway - back to the good stuff. The base area feels unique. The chairlift is centered, with the main lodge and trees really making you feel like you’re in your own winter wonderland world. No expansive views, though the trails up the mountain looked immaculately groomed and quite fun. We did a quick lap down one of the gladed blues - a very unique experience as you could clearly see they run groomers in there, slaloming between the trees themselves.
After that run, we began traversing towards the back two chairs. Once there, we found absolutely no lines. I suppose it helps that Sutton does perhaps the best job of separating terrain by lift: All of the green terrain is found trailmap right, the main lift has mostly blues and a couple greens and as you move towards the back, more and more difficult runs are found, ending near exclusively with single up to triple blacks on the back lift. You’re not going to accidentally end up there accidentally as a beginner considering it takes a couple lift rides to get there.
Groomed runs were perfect for the conditions we had - plenty of base, a bit of fresh snow from the last couple days. Ice wasn’t presenting itself much at all from the previous weekend. In the woods, it got slightly hairier. Not for lack of coverage, just simply that things were a bit crusty. As we continued to explore the mountain, we’d find plenty of pockets of powder still stored. Each and every run did feel unique - winding and weaving, changing pitches. Never boring. Occasionally, you’re offered views of pockets of the area. The liftlines and a couple of other trails offered sweeping, distant views further into Canada, with Bromont being the most prominent, and what I’m assuming was Mont Yamaska a bit behind it, with a long, interesting ridge.
The lodges themselves were interesting - all wood interiors and a homey feel. No super bright lights anywhere. The base lodge bathrooms were exceptionally clean, though the summit lodge’s bathroom is without running water and was less well kept. No matter though, as it felt far more rugged anyways. Circularly, a nice central wood fireplace and plenty of windows looking out. A small cafeteria, too, serving a nice variety of snacks and meals.
One of our favorite runs of the day had to be Entonnoir - translation “funnel”. It really was. It twists and turns from the top with a couple entrances, eventually forcing you into a tight, steep area next to a frozen waterfall where you have the option of slipsliding down a snowscraped section, or hopping off a little shelf ranging anywhere from 3-8 feet depending on what route you took above to end up on it. The exit is steep and tight, but the run was very fun overall. The lack of traffic was evident; snow conditions held well in there save for the very bottom.
We spent the day chit-chatting when we could with folks; exchanging many a “bonjour, ca va?” and many more “je ne parle francais, desole” when conversations veered past “ca va bien”. There were occasionally folks with little to no noticeable accent chatting in English - usually parents of young kids, interestingly. We spoke with a couple folks from Montreal who drove out for better snow conditions as well as a group from Ottawa who braved the 3.5 hour drive early that morning to ski for the weekend out there. Everyone was very friendly in general; interacting with us or otherwise. Most people were happy to see other folks enjoying themselves, and especially that there were some Americans choosing to spend their time and money in Canada with them.
A few more short, random notes:
-You always have the choice of doing some tree skiing. Almost every section of woods between trails is thin enough to find at least a couple paths through if you choose to do so. Delightful!
-The mountain probably felt closest to Black Mountain NH to me, with plenty of rambling, some progression glades and just the vibe and culture.
-The base lodge’s cafeteria was severing up good food! I had brought a sandwich with me along with a couple snacks, but after my friend bought his lunch, I chose to get a large order of rondelles d’oignon and a corndog because they looked and smelled good. It only cost me $7.50 USD.
-If you’re into getting a beer with your lunch, their selection was refreshing from the normal Bud Light, PBR and Blue Moon selection at American resorts: Carlsburg, 1664 Kronenbourg Blanc, and a couple other local beers.
-The mountain felt busy, but never so much that you couldn’t find a spot in the lodge with relative easy. The trails sounded busy - you could usually hear people - but you’d never feel like the trails themselves were crowded in any way while riding them.
-The sunset is lovely from Sutton. My last run had some good color, and it was cool to see Bromont’s light come on in the distance
The drive back was no problem at all. Normally, my experience with US border agents is that they’re more serious, refuse to crack a smile and ask a lot more questions than the Canadian ones do. However, once again, we were met with no line at all to cross and the process was quick. Four or five questions from a guy who seemed like he was in a decent mood and almost smiled and we were off.
That night, we stayed with friends who then had a spare bedroom and couch free. Some dinner at the Wise Fool on North Street in Burlington (great falafel!), a couple board games and a good night sleep. We skied Jay the next day though I’m keeping my review to a single sentence as this is a Sutton report: Woods were better filled in, groomers were in icy condition, and got genuinely horrid and borderline unskiable by 3:30pm. It was evident that all the snow blew into the woods; and also that Jay’s higher elevation and topography helped them lift extra snow out of each storm than Sutton did.
Anyway - I almost couldn’t have had a better time at Sutton if I tried. It’s everything good I like about skiing when it comes to terrain, people, food, crowds and economics, and had they had the redundant lifts open (the old 2 seaters that I want to say came from Mont Echo a few miles away some decades ago?), it would have been perfect. If I get the opportunity to go north again, I’m not going to hesitate to visit again.
Some pictures:
