Sugarbush, Vermont

Welcome to this episode on Sugarbush resort in Warren Vermont.  Our guest for this episode is my friend and Level 3 PSIA instructor and trainer, Marc Angelillo, His profile says “dad, husband, friend, multi-sport athlete, waterman, snow-pro, brand ambassador, influencer, traveler, seasoned lifestyle sales rep all wrapped into 1".  Sugarbush is one of the premier resorts in the country, certainly in the east and has some exceptional terrain and activities for every skier at every level.

Sugarbush is in Warren, VT situated in the Mad River Valley, almost in the dead center of Vermont. Sugarbush has some of the best terrain in the East but also is known for food, beer and its social side. 

Sugarbush has substantial off-piste skiing and riding, a summit elevation of 4,083 ft (1,244 m), and a vertical drop of 2,600 feet (790 m), making it the second largest in Vermont. The mountain has 2000 acres of skiing, 480 on trails and the remainder in glades and backcountry skiing.  This includes 111 trails of terrain for beginners 20%, intermediates 45%, and experts 35%, spread across two mountains—Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen—with a chairlift that connect the two.

Find Marc Angelillo - Sugarbush Ski and Ride School - https://www.sugarbush.com/plan-your-trip/lessons-and-camps

My Favs

• Best Restaurant – Chez Henri - a true French Bistro in the heart of Vermont

• Best Hotel - Sugarbush Inn At Sugarbush - rebuilt a few times but the oldest and best

• Best Apres - Castlerock Pub, Mad River Barn

• Best Run- Steins / The Mall / Castlerock

• Don’t miss – Early Morning cat rides

Episode Transcript

Welcome to Where to Ski with me, your host, John Morgan. My guest today is Mark Angelillo, level 3 PSIA instructor and ski instruction trainer from Sugarbush. Sugarbush is in Warren, Vermont, situated in the Mad River Valley, almost in the dead center of Vermont.

Sugarbush has some of the best terrain in the east, but is also known for food, beer, and its social side. In its early years, Sugarbush was known as Mascara Mountain. After loading elite New Yorkers on buses Friday nights and bringing them to Sugarbush to ski with Stein, play backgammon at Club 10, eat at Chez Henri, or dance all night at the Bluetooth, now Sugarbush is the destination for discerning skiers and their families.

The resort has substantial off-piste skiing and riding. A summit elevation of 4,083 feet and a vertical drop of 2,600 feet makes it the second largest in Vermont. Mountain has 2,000 acres of skiing, 480 of those on trails and the remainder in blades and backcountry skiing.

This includes 111 trails, terrain for beginners, 20 percent, intermediates, 45 percent, and experts, 35 percent, spread across two mountains, Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen, with a chairlift that connects the two. Today I'm talking with my friend and Level 3 PSIA instructor and trainer, Mark Angelillo. His Instagram profile says, dad, husband, friend, multi-sport athlete, waterman, snow pro, brand ambassador, influence, traveler, season lifetime sales rep, lifestyle sales rep, all wrapped into one.

He does have it figured out with an amazing wife and son. Mark teaches skiing at the highest level in the winter and spends his summer surfing and paddleboarding on Cape Cod. So, Mark, thanks for joining us today.

Let's talk Sugarbush. All right. Let's talk my Sugarbush.

That's great. And I hear that you have quite a history up here. I was really impressed by that, but tell me a little bit about your experience up at Sugarbush and how you grew up as a kid.

Well, like I said, my mother taught there from about 1960 to 1968. I was sort of a mountain rat there. And it was a small place.

And that's when Stein and Peter Estin ran the ski school. Stein actually got his head taken off by my mother when he tried to teach me how to do a flip at like age 10. That's great.

And, you know, Sugarbush has grown up. When I was there, it was, you know, Mascara Mountain. Now they've acquired Mount Ellen.

And in the last 50 years, it's not the glitzy place that it was. It's about skiing. So, Mark, what is it about Sugarbush that makes it so special now that a lot of people choose it over many New England resorts, even some of the large Rocky Mountain resorts? Yeah, that's interesting you say that.

So I've been up in Vermont winters for about the last 40 years. And I started off down at Bromley Stratton for three years and was just coming out of college and coaching down there and teaching and starting these development team programs. And then when I got in the industry, I went up to Killington and I was at Killington for about a decade.

And as the years went on, you know, people discovered these ski areas and we had the whole evolution of skiing was starting to blow up again. It went through these cycles. So about 26 years ago, I moved up to Sugarbush seasonally because I just felt it was a lot purer, you know, and I guess sometimes when you go an extra 45 minutes to an hour, you know, people aren't really willing to do that.

But I also saw the beauty of the valley. When I moved here, both Mount Ellen and Sugarbush were one. They did, with permitting, go ahead and get the longest detachable quad in North America, which connects the two mountains through Slidebrook.

And once that was approved, the game started changing because then it was like a two for one deal. So there was just a lot of really special things, John, that Mount Ellen and Lincoln Peak share, which is Sugarbush. So it's been good.

That's awesome. You know, at Lincoln Peak, there's some crazy terrain. There's some stuff up at the top, like Stein's Run and Castle Rock, both on different parts of the mountain, but they're crazy runs.

For an expert skier, what's your go-to day of skiing? Well, I like to kind of warm up over on Gatehouse area, but I immediately go up to North Links, and that's the top of the lift that actually gets you over to Slidebrook, where you can ski, you know, through the woods. But I like birches. I like sunrise, morning star.

It gets the first amount of light in the wintertime. But then I immediately shoot over to Gatehouse, excuse me, over to Super Bravo, and then start to really warm up, you know, Valley House, Spring Fling, Lower Snowball, Racer's Edge. And like you were alluding to, off of that, you know, you have about 1,600 vertical just on the lower part of the mountain when the upper mountain is sometimes, you know, under weather, because it is 4,000, just shy of 4,000 up top.

So sometimes you have to play the weather game. But all the ones that you mentioned, which are Stein's and the Mall and Lixie's and Twist and Moonshine will give you a pretty solid workout first thing in the morning or at that point anytime during the day. What about regular skiers? You take a lot of not-expert skiers, I'm sure, on that mountain.

Where would they go? There's some beginner, there's some intermediate. Intermediate goes all the way from the top, but where's the best place for them to go? Yeah, it seems like we do about 80% of our lessons start over on Gatehouse, which is just off to the right of the Lincoln Peak Village, and runs like pushover, lower pushover. Sleeper seems to be one of their favorites over there, our great easy rider.

There's a couple of lifts over there, one attached quad, one detachable quad, and you knock off about 900 vertical there. And then there's actually woods access over there too. So as the skiers and the group start to elevate their games, you can start to test them out on that lower elevation woods.

But I like working over there, and then immediately once they've kind of shown their confidence level and their ability to control their speed with proper turns for the proper terrain, take them over to Super Bravo, probably drop down Downspout, which gets you over to Heaven's Gate, and the next thing you know you're on the top of the mountain. And you can do Jester, which is one of my favorites to warm up the group with. It is a two and a half mile run.

You might remember it, it was one of the original logging roads that they opened up on Christmas Day 1958. It's about 2400 vertical, and as you ski down the outer slopes and stuff like that, not only the views of Pico and Killington and Mount Washington and Mount Mansfield available, but you're skiing and surfing and buttering all the way down, and you can feel like two, three different mountains in one run. So it's a pretty massive playground, John.

It's pretty neat. Where's my favorites? All of the above. That's cool, that's cool.

In our prep call yesterday, you mentioned you were starting to ski rails and some of the parks now. Tell me about that there. Well, early in the season, when we open up Lincoln Peak, which is Sugarbush South, if you will, they usually set maybe like a dozen different features on Slowpoke.

And then once the mountain starts to open and Mount Ellen opens up, then they have a whole area over there off the Sunshine Quad, and they must have another 70 features. So between the two parks, there must be close to 100 features over there. Daily maintenance, grooming, features, events, bank slaloms, contests, free ride programs.

They're some pretty serious riders. We don't have half pipes, but we have a lot of stoke and just a lot of amazing riders up here in the Mad River Valley. You're braver than I am.

I can't do features anymore. It just doesn't work. But the rest of the mountain sounds awesome.

I'll stay off those. You mentioned about the grooming. What's the grooming like at Sugarbush these days? Well, interesting.

We've got 111 trails. On an average day, you'll see anywhere from 40 to 50 runs groomed. And so every day on the snow report or the daily report, you can actually see on this map as to what they've groomed.

Obviously, they groom the main veins over and over again, and that gives you a different type of energy. When something's groomed every day, you can sink into it. It's more lively.

It's more active underneath your skis. Between the two mountains, I would say that the majority of the skiers and the riders are really going after the non-conventional terrain, the rocks, the little bit of cliffs, the Castle Rock, going over to Northridge Express and doing Tumbler and the cliffs and Hammerhead. And so they do leave maybe over 40% of the mountain un-groomed because that's what the consumers want.

So you can find everything. You can find from A to Z. It's amazing. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

That's a lot of grooming they do too. There's a lot of glade skiing and tree skiing there. Does it help to have an instructor as a guide when you're first showing up to be able to lead you through some of that and show you what would work with your ability level? Yeah, it's interesting.

When you're in between gladed areas on the mountain, between lifts like Eden and Gangster Grotto and Deeper Sleeper, I think that you can explore and discover there because it's not too much of a lateral or a diagonal move to get back onto the trail. So that's good. And sometimes it's like going on the highway.

You can follow people down and you might not want to be on the same bus that they are, but they all end up in the same spot, which is back to the trail. But if you're going over to Slidebrook, which is the top of North Links, I would probably suggest going with somebody that's done it a couple of times because it is about a four-mile drop. And you ski through glades and chutes and across emergency roads and access and you're inside the National Forest.

And you ski about four miles all the way back to German Flats, which you're familiar with. And at the top of the hour and the bottom of the hour, they have buses that leave either Mount Ellen or Lincoln Peak. So you can catch rides either way.

And you don't want to miss one of those buses because then you're waiting another 45 minutes. So actually watching your watch helps you. And I think the record is eight or nine runs, four or five mile runs through the woods in a day, catching every lift, every bus all the way through the day.

So there's some tree nuts, if you will, out there that just love that stuff, John. That's pretty unique. There's not a lot of areas in the East where you can get that much tree skiing or off-piste skiing.

You get some out West. You get it in Europe, all over the place. But in the East U.S., not so much.

That's pretty cool. They've really embraced it. They used to do tours through there.

I know with the different blazer programs that we're allowed to bring the kids in there, it does require a lead and a tailor for safety. And I think that the key is in the woods, is to make sure you have your shorter radius turns down, that you manage your speeds, and kind of enjoy the journey. It's not about, like I talked about, that guy trying to do eight, nine laps.

Obviously, they knew it very well. But it's a really, like you said, a unique experience that not a lot of areas have embraced in the last decade. But we certainly have.

So it's pretty special to us. It's pretty cool. Aside from the skiing in Sugarbush being pretty unique, there's a lot around the Warren-Watesfield area around Sugarbush that's unique.

I grew up there, so I know some of it. But you've been raising a son who's up there a lot. What do you like about that area? And what are some of the cool spots for people to hit, families or just singles? Yeah, interesting.

Well, the Mountain has really done an amazing job. I think last year, they did 80 different events up in the village. And they have blizzard boogies, and they do s'mores every weekend day.

They do free hot cider every weekend, Saturday and Sunday. They have doggie parades. They have jugglers.

They have guys making balloons. And they do a lot of sampling with different cottage industries from people that make product throughout Vermont. They actually do a Brewer's Fest, too, in the fall.

And so the Mountain does a really good job. And then in the immediate area, if you're with your family, while you're at the resort, obviously, Castle Rock Pub, which has more of a college feel to it, or Rumbles, which is a little bit nicer. Or if you have a family that wants to do a unique experience, you go ahead and sign up for a cabin cat ride up to Allen's Lodge.

And I think they do up to 24 people dining. And you can alpine tour, climb up, or snowshoe up. You can take the cat up, and you can ski down.

You just have to kind of watch how many glasses of wine or beer you've had. And so that's a pretty unique experience. But obviously, the ones that you're familiar with is Chez Henri always brings that village back to life.

There's Fit to be Tied, which is over by the Sugarbush Inn. And then if you go down the road, you have the Mad River Barn, the Hideaway, Mad Taco, the Warren House, the Pitcher Inn. Oh, there's just all sorts of delicious things to discover up here, John.

And plenty of like Mad Taco and pizza places up here that just eat and run just because you're so busy doing something else like snowshoeing or snurfing on the golf course. There's a lot to do. Yeah.

And you mentioned a little while ago about the cats. That's something I didn't know about. There's early morning cats that are available at Sugarbush.

Yeah. I've been lucky enough the last couple of years to be the lead on that. And what we do is they actually just got a new quarter million dollar cat which houses eight people in it.

And what we do is we go up to the top of North Links. We leave at 630 in the morning. You've got to sign up about 72 hours in advance.

I think it's $120 from 630 to 830. We usually get about six laps in. And in essence, what we do is we ski the top thousand vertical feet.

And it can be on packed powder. It can be in the woods. It can be in powder on the slopes.

But we ski down as a group. He's waiting for us at the bottom of North Links. And he takes us back out.

So we load our skis just like a Western cat. And it's a really neat experience. It's pretty affordable.

It's only like $20 a run. And we average about six runs. There are some age limitations with children.

And it's just, again, like the woods, it's an experience at Sugarbush which we really hold special to us. And I'm always so pleased to be a part of it. And it's about enjoying somebody else's journey and really lighting up their day before anybody else even gets to the mountain.

It's insane. It's insane. That's pretty special.

That's pretty special. That sort of leads me to my next question. You do a lot of sports.

You're ingrained in sports for a whole time. I've known you. What's your philosophy around skiing and instruction? Yeah, interesting.

You and I both started off as amateur athletes and then turned into semi-pros or got into the industry. And I just think it's a lifelong journey. And with ski instructions, I don't think any of us want to be just in the middle of the pack or just be OK sailors or just be OK skiers or OK surfers.

And I think we always are working to elevate our game. And obviously, you've got to work on it and be passionate about it. But for me, I go to a couple of major events a year where I'm under the lens of national team members from PSIA, the top 14 guys in the world that are actually evaluating me.

And then I go to clinics every week where these different examiners and educators, even though I do some training myself of other instructors, we share. And it gives us, it heightens our awareness with the mind. We develop these six senses and also heighten our sensitivity on the snow by letting the mind catch up with the feet and the feet catch up with the mind.

So if you're serious about elevating your game, it's more than just doing the same routine that you do all the time with your signature skiing. It's about reaching out, getting outside your comfort zone. So when you have somebody else that can guide you through that journey with a ski instructor that's accredited, it's pretty special.

It's like you get these breakthrough moments job. It's like a 4th of July. Ooh, ah, I get it now.

So for me, that's what the whole coaching, teaching, and sharing like you and I have our lives with our sons and other friends and family. That's for me, that's coaching, teaching, and my philosophy about ski instructing, never stop elevating your game. That's a really good perspective.

What's your own favorite day at Sugarbush? Oh, wow. Well, interesting. Obviously, it's a day off.

It starts off with a day off. And I think being with family and friends that you can share the experience with. Bluebird sky days are always good.

Those are nice because of the visuals that you get a chance to slow it down. Good snow always makes a difference. But I've kind of learned to just celebrate any day that I can get on snow.

And so I celebrate sometimes with these seasons that correct themselves. We have season resets, but we're really lucky up here at Sugarbush because of our elevation, 1,500 vertical feet to 2,000. We seem to be like the other mountains around us to be a little bit more insulated.

So I just celebrate. I don't care if it's two inches or four inches or six inches. I just celebrate that I'm on snow dancing.

There's energy in it. And I'm just having fun, kind of being free in wilderness and just loving what I get to do. So that's a pretty good day.

I know one thing, John. The worst day on snow is better than the best day in the office. I'm with you there.

I'm totally with you there. Mark, it's been a ball talking to you. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about Sugarbush.

If you want to ski or fine-tune your skiing or explore, just ask for Mark at Sugarbush's Ski and Ride School. You might even run into him surfing or stand up paddling on the beaches of Cape Cod this summer. If you like our podcast, please share them and listen to perspectives on other areas like St. Anton, Squaw Valley, Jackson Hole, and others.

Thank you all for joining us. Thanks, John. Amazing journey and so great to reconnect with you.

Just really special and so stoked and proud and inspired by all that you do. So thank you from all of us too. Mark, you make everyone's day better.

Thank you for joining us.