• Okemo Mountain Resort

  77 Okemo Ridge Rd., Ludlow, Vt.; 802-228-4041

  How long does it take to drive to a decent mountain for downhill skiing? Four and a half hours. No, it isn’t quick, but you’ll disembark in a winter wonderland. Okemo’s snowmaking keeps the mountain blanketed when other resorts are bare. That snow is carved into 117 impeccably groomed trails split among novice, intermediate, and advanced routes, with pipes that make snowboarders drool. Two base areas connect to open lifts with killer views. Day care for tykes too tiny for the bunny hills plus eighteen mountain dining options justify the $72 daily ($66 midweek) lift ticket, the $60 two-day ski rental—and the schlep. Happily, you can ditch the car—if you stay in the neighboring town of Ludlow, there’s a shuttle.

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine