Pico vs Killington

How is the ski in ski out at Pico and Killington looking for a few days with my girls. I am open to suggestions. Okemo seems pricy.

Or is staying back at Gore just as good?


Doesnt look like Greek Peak will have much open which is our little home mountain.

I like the looks of Pico:

http://saratogaskier.blogspot.com/2017/12/pico-mountain-vt-12162017.html

ski in ski out is pricey everywhere..

northerncajun wrote

How is the ski in ski out at Pico and Killington looking for a few days with my girls. I am open to suggestions. Okemo seems pricy.

Or is staying back at Gore just as good?


Doesnt look like Greek Peak will have much open which is our little home mountain.

Skiing on the weekend?  In that case, definitely Pico over Killington with kids.  Have you seen any of Ray Alba's videos of family skiing at Pico?

I have a home at Killington, and generally ski there if not at Greek Peak. I will venture over to Pico from time-to-time, but Pico is not exactly right around the corner.

Most of the lodging at Killington is not truly ski in/ski out, but rather shuttle/walk to and ski back, so check before you book.

Pico is more ski in/ski out with lodging at the base. The mountain is also a bit of a throwback, with some really nice skiing, but obviously much smaller.

With all of that said, both ski areas can get crowded. The nice aspect of Killington is that it is much larger, so if one lift becomes crowded, you can move on. There are not many options to move on at Pico.

If you have not been to Killington, I would go there, as it is a much larger mountain, with more area to explore. Pico is pretty much a single mountain, with some offshoots.  Regardless of where you go, Christmas week is going to be crowded.

I will likely be at Killington all of next week, with maybe a popover to Pico for a day or so.

I may be in the minority, but I just don't find Pico that fun to ski. I find the terrain a bit boring especially when, like RJ says, you have K-mart right nearby with ao much more, diverse terrain.

For me it is similar to Mt. Snow and Haystack...the terrain at Haystack just bores me.

I used to teach skiing at Pico and when its good its really good and stays that way all day.  I dig the classic narrow trails and it has some great stashes of Pow days after storms vs the Big K getting skied out in hours.

The shame is that they don't blow snow on it like they used to in its hey days of the 90's.

Marcski wrote

I may be in the minority, but I just don't find Pico that fun to ski. I find the terrain a bit boring especially when, like RJ says, you have K-mart right nearby with ao much more, diverse terrain.

I'm with ya in that minority. Pico is okay, I can definitely have fun there... primarily due to lapping A Slope if it is open and has natural snow. Though it is a nice trail pod, the short hike to Outpost is too short to keep people from skiing it so it does get hit. Pico has one of the worst run outs in a state notorious for them. Killington season pass holders know enough to hit Pico when it opens so you can't count on sleeper powder days after they aren't open mid-week during storms. Definitely a cool laid back mountain, especially for a family. But there isn't much there to get your pulse going.

Agreed. Plus, I know locals that skin Pico midweek and poach any available pow before the lifts even spin, albeit, I'm sure it gets far from tracked out.