Okemo Mountain - Skiing The Mountain

Skiing The Mountain

There are four main areas at Okemo, each with at least one high speed detachable quad. The main mountain is serviced primarily by the Northstar Express Quad and two older fixed-grip triples. The 1,700-vertical-foot cruisers, such as Chief, World Cup, and Jolly Green Giant are accessed from the Northstar Express. When lift lines become crowded the Green Ridge Triple can be used to reach the top of the mountain instead, although it loads at the middle of the mountain. The main area also includes runs directed at more advanced skiers, such as Searle's Way, Sel's Choice, Nor'Easter Terrain Park, Defiance, and the Dew Zone (Mountain Dew sponsored halfpipe and snowboard park).

Solitude, to the right of the main mountain as one looks uphill, offers about 1,100 vertical feet. The Solitude area also has its own base lodge, hotel accommodations, and private trailside homes. Most of the trails in this area are intermediate cruisers, though some blacks exist, such as Exhibition and The Plunge.

The South Face area, to the left, has the highest peak on the mountain, faces the sun in the morning, and is served by a 1,100-foot (340 m) high-speed lift. This area is known for its more difficult terrain, including most of the double-black diamond trails. While some of the main thoroughfares are groomed nightly in this area, trails like Outrage and Forest Bump remain natural. There are also mogul trails in this area, such as Punch Line; Okemo marks its mogul trails. Okemo is also known for their bailout lanes, groomed sections on bump runs where one can escape from the moguls.

The final area, on the far right, is the still-developing Jackson Gore, complete with its own access road, lodge, ski school, and most other amenities also found at the Base Lodge. This area, served by two high-speed quads, has some of the steeper terrain on the mountain, as well as the standard green and blue trails. One alternative is Jack-a-lope or Moonshadow to Southern Crossing, although this goes to the base area only rather than the lift to the peak. Future plans for the Jackson Gore base area include more condominiums off to the right, with ski-in access provided by a new fixed grip quad and trail underneath it. There is also a plan to place a gondola that loads at Jackson Gore's base and unloads at the top of the main mountain. The proposed location for this gondola is shown on the trail map as a line of snow through the trees that goes through Solitude Village and Solitude's trails and continues to the main peak next to Upper Tomahawk, remaining to the right of the Green Ridge Triple.

Okemo's fifth area and its smallest is Glades Peak, between the main mountain and the South Face, serviced by one fixed-grip quad. It provides access to most trails on the mountain, including a couple that are exclusively served by its lift.

There are also designated snowshoeing trails on the map, in several different loops on the lower part of the mountain. Like the ratings for skiing the trails, these routes also range from easier to most difficult, determined by how steep each trail is. The ratings vary along each route based on what trail it takes to go back in the opposite direction. In addition, a tubing area has recently been installed at the base of Jackson Gore.