Bolton Valley Resort in
Bolton Valley (VT)

This place is beautiful, the people are super nice, and the terrain seems wonderful. We had a great time mountain biking and riding the lift, but the lack of snow in the summertime makes it really hard to snowboard or ski. So unfortunately we missed out on those two things. But the mountain biking is class! Update: finally got to go snowboarding here. There has been over 200 inches of snow so far this season(25/26). The trails were amazing and the woods were outstanding! Some fresh and some tracked up, bit super manageable. Absolutely love this gem of a privately owned ski resort. Long live the Indypass!

Horrible mountain. Rude staff. Only perk is it’s cheap but not worth the drive out for the poor experience you will have on the 5 runs available there. We returned my girlfriend’s rentals, they were rude to her about it when she left it in the designated area, and asked if she was all set and they were like YUP. they called us later that night and left a message after they were closed to say we never returned it and were threatening to charge us extra ? Since it was after they closed we had no ability to call back and explain we left the gear in the designated area and checked with the workers to be sure it was okay and they were dismissive of us. I’ve skied east coast, mid west, Rocky Mountains, west coast and never had such a poor all around experience somewhere. Miss this mountain entirely if you’re able to.

I had a bad experience with a lesson here. I booked a private 1-on-1 lesson at a cost of $200 for one hour. The assigned instructor was a young kid who was a great skier but not a great teacher. Somehow we only got two runs in... One "warm-up" run and one run with a small amount of instruction given. Couldn't believe I paid $200 for about 40 words of actual skiing advice. The slow lifts certainly didn't help. Snow was great, vibes were great, but I just can't overlook this major issue.

Fun little Mnt. Went on a Wednesday and it was almost empty. 3 days after we got 1.5 ft of powder and there was still plenty of untucked snow. Has some great glades throughout the Mnt.

Awesome mountain. You don't need detachables. Awesome terrain great vibe. This skiing is good for your soul. Highly recommend it for young families and beginners. Has great steeps and glades. Great for experience skiers as well.

We recently stayed here for a long weekend using our Indy pass. I am giving it 5 stars because while not a five star facility, it was a 5 star experience. Before we even arrived the front desk staff were understanding and accommodating to an issue we had on our end. They did not have to be, but they were because that’s what a small hotel can provide. We stayed in the hotel with our 2 kids overlooking the lifts. The room was clean and spacious. The walk to the lift was easy and my kids loved the independence. We used the lounge upstairs to heat food and relax. Both restaurants were great. The whole atmosphere of Bolton is just an old school unpretentious skiers mountain. They appropriately closed trails for icy conditions and were honest about the conditions (especially Saturday after the rain). They had snow the next few days that allowed us to check out a variety of terrain. We enjoyed the mix of trail options to suit all ability levels. My kids loved the glades! We never left and the whole trip was effortless without breaking the bank. The hardest part was schlepping our stuff down to the rec center, but with proper planning it was part of the VT mountain adventure. The pool is warm and the hot tub relaxing. We did not step foot in the lodge so I cannot speak to that. We can’t wait to return.

Super reasonable prices and no lines at all. Friendly staff, great rental, easy to pick up ski passes (just scan QR code at the little machines). The trails were well groomed with many greens for beginners. I’ve skied at many resorts (including the big ones) and this is my favorite by far! Had to buy a bolton valley beanie, I’m a fan now.

As a family we have loved Bolton Valley. We usually do the night skiing after school which we really appreciate. My only complaint is that they put up ropes that are not visible at night. My husband has broken his scapula hitting a rope in the dark (not on a closed trail) and my grandson has hit a rope (not on a closed trail) surely someone knows these "herding" ropes to direction traffic are not visible at night??

Unpretentious and broken-in like a good hiking boot. Rental gear was top quality, instruction was top notch, and the skiing was east-coast classic. New tech for payments and lift tickets also made things go very smoothly. A fun day was had by all.

Bolton Valley is an absolute gem. The terrain is varied, interesting, and really well laid out, it skis bigger than it looks on paper and stays fun all day. The snow was excellent and the mountain has a relaxed, family friendly feel without ever feeling boring. Lift operations were smooth, efficient, and clearly well managed, which made getting laps in easy and stress free. Après at the James Moore Tavern was a great highlight. It is a welcoming, cozy spot to unwind after skiing and fits the character of the mountain perfectly. Overall, Bolton Valley feels authentic, accessible, and thoughtfully run. Beautiful Vermont skiing with great operations and atmosphere. I will definitely be back.

I LOVE Bolton Valley. Bolton Valley has an old school VT Ski Area vibe, complete with fat biking, cross country skiing, split boarding in the backcountry, a skate / BMX park, and pool. There are several dining options on-site, and plenty of others if you are willing to drive out to Waterbury, Burlington, and Stowe. Plenty to do for the non-skier. The ski lesson programs are also very good, small class sizes make them more individualized and worth the price. The trails are great, plenty of groomed, natural, and glades to keep the most skilled interested. Bolton may not have some of the frills you might get at a Stowe, but it is family and budget friendly by comparison and you will absolutely have a fun time.

Awesome smaller mountain, more of a rustic feel than overly hyped and built out mega-get-as-many people on lift lines places on ikon and epic. Might skiing was great, really cool seeing tons of local families getting out after school, brought me back to getting out to small local mountain as a kid with my dad. Anyway, great mountain, unfortunately it was quite icy the day I was there so I didn't venture in too far in to the woods but that's where this place seems to shine. Gorgeous view of lake Champlain.

Great mountain! Much more affordable than many others and great conditions. Lots of lifts and great backcountry/tree skiing, will definitely be coming back. and even had a small Japanese Onigiri hut!

We had a great time night skiing! We went on a Thursday night and it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves. Although it's mostly green trails at night, there's so much fun to be had for all skill levels through the park and passes through the woods. The conditions and the staff were great! As to be expected, the food was a bit pricey but tasty none the less. A few tips to pass on that I learned after the fact: 1.Buy your ticket online to skip the lines. 2.Save yourself a $5 fee by keeping your MTN card to load online for the next time. 3.Save yourself money by ordering your ticket online a day or two before to avoid a price increase the day of. Other tidbits I learned: 1. They offer a military rate for day passes. Night passes are already discounted so no military rate would apply. 2. If anyone in your group needs to rent, you'll save so much time by ordering online and signing the rental waiver. 3. Unfortunately, I didn't see an option to order rentals online for night skiing. I called and it was suggested to do it in person. 4. Bring a lock for one of the lockers available outside to store your stuff. 5. Last but not least, It's properly lit but depending on weather, fog and snow can make visibility of other skiers and boarders hard. I've noticed others wearing brightly lit neon belts or harnesses. It made a huge difference to be able to properly navigate ahead of time without them appearing out of nowhere when visibility is hard. Also, clear goggles are great to protect your eyes from snow/rain. Such a great time! 4-10 p.m. was plenty time to enjoy all the runs.

Bolton Valley skiing was great. We arrived for a half day morning ski (9:00-12:30). It took about 45 minutes to get rentals first thing in the morning when they opened. But once we were on the hills it was beautiful. Great conditions and a variety of skill hills. Good for beginners or middle range skiers.

Bolton Valley Resort was great! I took a 2 hour adult class with instructor, Guy, and it was great! Guy was patient, fun, and a great teacher well versed in technique. I would definitely take another class from him. The resort was good. There were lots of rental options for boots/ski's. The beginner slope had a pull rope but no beginner ski lift. BUT the green mountain runs were an appropriate level for a beginner. Would go back! Also there were hotel rooms right at the base of the mountain. I didn't stay there, but would be a great option for someone interested in that.

Epic! On weekdays, it's peaceful and mostly empty. Weekends are definitely a bit more crowded but not nearly as bad as places like sugar bush. The lodge is fine. The hot food is the most scammy scam scam expensive garbage. MY FRIEND BOUGHT A TINY SODA AND LIKE 3 FRENCH FRIES FOR 10 DOLLARS GARBAGE Bolton gets really good snow in my opinion, I like it. The lifts aren't speedy tho sadly

I visited for a day of Nordic skate skiing, along with rental and lesson. The lesson was fine, and the gear quality was decent. But the facilities and trail conditions weren't what I expected. The nordic center was a single, cramped room. The two bathrooms available by the Nordic center were tiny and had no toilet paper. The only drinking water was from the bathroom sinks. The trails hadn't been groomed in at least 2 days and many had barefoot prints. And the groomed trails available did NOT match their snow report/trail conditions posted online. Less than half of their trails were groomed and available, and it felt like a rip-off.

Bolton is a great little mountain! I used to ski here almost exclusively from 2019-2023. It's a little smaller than some of the competitors, but that doesn't diminish the quality of the mountain. Plenty of good variety in terrain, good snow, and just has that true New England ski vibe. My only complaint is the staff in the rental shop and James Moore tavern were...a little questionable in my opinion. As someone who worked in customer service for about a decade, I think the professionalism was lacking a bit. One of them was downright rude to us, she seemed very bothered by having to do her job. Overall, it was a good experience and I will come back when I'm in town again. It could be top notch here, but there is a few things that need to be addressed in my opinion.

Bolton Valley Ski Resort at 4302 Access Road in Richmond, VT is fantastic! We happened to get there right after a large powder dump and were so fortunate!!!! We had booked ahead for the Inn, right at the base of the mountain, and sprung for a slope side view. We weren’t disappointed! Bolton Valley is and Indy resort with heart. The lifts are old school and slow, but to be honest, we were skiing so long and so hard on that fresh pow pow, that we needed the break!!! haha. Parking is limited, so you have to get there early (on powder days!). The parking attendants said it was the busiest they’d ever seen it that day. It took us over an hour to get up the access road!! The parking lots were full and they were turning people away. There are two side to the mountain. One side being a little lower in elevation. On the second day, when temps were warming a bit, the right, lower side was turning mash potatoes, while the upper left was still fluffy. This mountain has so great varied terrain and we really had fun. I particularly liked the steep drop on Spillway. I wish it was a little longer :). The lodge was pretty old school too, with smaller rooms and bathrooms. We could see to the outside in the gap around our AC unit LOL, but it was all sufficient and the staff was amazing! They went out of their way to help us and to make sure we were comfortable. We appreciated them so much! On the downside, the ski lodge is old, very dirty and the kitchen was ultra slow. We waited a really long time for our food and it was just meh. I hope they change their food vendor because they are losing money with what they had in the 23/24 season. Maybe ? it was because h th year were overwhelmed on this powder day? IDK. One other cool things about this area too, is that it’s located near Waterbury and Stowe areas. There is so much to do after skiing. I hope you get to check out Bolton, if you haven’t already!

The only ski resort in the area that is not owned by a major corporation. This family-run mountain is owned by the same family that built it in 1966, and that charm shows. Affordable prices, amazing wood trails and backcountry skiing, and friendly staff. Can’t recommend it enough

Awesome ski resort. Fabulous snow. Love the small vibe . Friendly Staff. Lenida (?) and Nick were amazingly helpful and deserve a raise for their customer service.

Amazing Place! Extremely, polite, knowledgable, and helpful staff. We went to ski and this is a skiers resort. Pretty views, lots of snow and good challanging trails. We also spent some time at the bar area and that was a fun time, between all the people at the bar just meeting and talking. I am definitely going back.

I think we paid something like $25 for full day passes. Unreal. It snowed 30” the night before we went on the mountain. One of the most affordable mountains in the country. Note - the signage isn’t the greatest. Didn’t matter for me or my advanced ski/board crew but I could see it being an annoyance to novice riders.

This local & family-run ski resort was exactly what we didn’t know we wanted and needed on our trip to Vermont. So much more affordable than the larger resorts and simply wonderful. We got our rentals and the afternoon into evening lift pass and were on our way to a fabulous day of skiing in late March. We had a beer at the bar on a break to warm up and met some locals and the owner who were all so kind and lovely. Would highly recommend!

We had unusually warm temps and spring skiing mid-February so it wasn't the best day on the mountain but it was clear the terrain is good with lots of glades. There were a few run-outs where you had to skate a bit to get through the trail but I think even that would be better with lower temps and more snow. I'd love to come back with better conditions. The mountain has a great Indy feel to it.

An incredible family run resort. If you are looking to have a true Vermont stay without the high end frizzle from the fancy resorts 15 minutes away, then Bolton valley is your spot. My kids are 12 , 10, and 7, and all different ski abilities. They loved the place! Comfortable, adorable rooms, super friendly staff! Japanese rice tacos on from a food truck on the mountain was our favorite spot for lunch! So unique and tasty! We were there between Christmas week and new year. We had a 2 bedroom suite with kitchen for our family of 5. The water was out for half of our stay but the management made it right by giving us an extra room to shower, and comping ski tickets and half our stay. We never complained or begged for a reimbursement, as they offered everything up front to apologize for the major inconvenience. Lovely winter vacation. Fresh snow made it majestic and worth the trip from Chicago!