Uphill Skiing Policies at Northeast Resorts: Hours, Prices, and Where to Skin

2026-07-05 · Guides

The information nobody puts in one place

Uphill skiing has quietly become its own sport at Northeast resorts — skin up before the lifts spin, ski down before work, repeat. The problem is that every mountain writes its own rules, and those rules live on 32 different websites in 32 different formats. Some resorts publish a clean set of hours and a clean price. Others describe their policy in a paragraph that reads like a legal disclaimer. A few haven't set a price yet at all.

We track uphill policy as a field on every mountain in our database, right alongside vertical drop and trail count, specifically because this information is so scattered everywhere else. Below are all 32 Northeast resorts we have uphill data for, organized by state, with hours, price, and which pass (if any) covers access. Every mountain name links to its full page. For the bigger picture on which passes are accepted where, see our Indy Pass coverage and the uphill hub.

A few of these mountains carry a dedicated Uphill New England season pass alongside — or instead of — a resort-specific fee; we've noted that in the pass column too.

Vermont (13 resorts)

Vermont has more uphill-friendly mountains than any other state on this list, and the widest range of policies — from Stratton's "free, no restrictions" to Bolton Valley's genuinely confusing set of rules.

Stratton's "free" policy is the best deal in the state if you can live with sticking to operating hours. Burke's "all hours, $50 for the season" is the best deal if you want true dawn-patrol flexibility.

New Hampshire (10 resorts)

New Hampshire's mountains lean toward clearer, published hours — Gunstock and Killington's neighbors to the east tend to spell things out rather than punt to "see our website."

Crotched Mountain's policy is the simplest in the state: free, any time before the lifts start turning.

Maine (5 resorts)

Maine's resorts are spread out enough that "check the site" is common, but the two that do publish hours are unusually specific.

Mt. Abram's near-round-the-clock window — six days a week, only shut down on Wednesdays for grooming — is the most generous single policy anywhere on this list.

Massachusetts (3 resorts)

New York (1 resort)

Hunter's the only Northeast resort in our uphill data outside New England, and it has the strictest rule of the bunch: up before the lifts spin, then straight back down the same track you climbed.

Free, cheap, and everything in between

If price is what matters most to you, here's the shortest possible summary: Stratton, VT and Crotched Mountain Resort are free (within their stated hours). Bromley charges $20 for the whole season. Burke Mountain and Jay Peak Resort are $50/year. Killington / Pico and Saskadena Six Ski Area both land at $59. A handful of resorts — Bolton Valley, Sugarbush, Wachusett, and Waterville Valley among them — either haven't published a number yet or have one "coming soon." If a resort's uphill pricing matters to your decision, it's worth a call before you drive out, since several of these policies are described by the resorts themselves as complicated.

Want to see uphill access alongside vertical, trail count, and everything else we track? Browse every mountain in our database.