A Complete Look At One of the Most Underrated Ski Resorts in Vermont : Pico Mountain
Pico Mountain is located in Mendon, Vermont, which is just outside of Rutland, Vermont and about ten minutes from Killington. Pico is a great, smaller mountain on the east coast, that is family friendly, challenging, and has super tight glades if you are up for the challenge. I truly love skiing at Pico compared to it’s “older sister,” Killington. Killington is typically more crowded and more touristy, where Pico is more of a local, “older,” mountain.
That being said, Killington is a great mountain to visit on the weekdays if you can. It really is worth the trip for both these mountains. Pico has a total of 58 trails, a 1,967ft vertical drop, glades, terrain parks, and much more. Pico’s elevation at the summit is 3,967ft, just under 4,000ft. Pico offers mostly advanced terrain, thus, if you are a beginner, this might not be the best mountain for you. Killington does have a good beginners section and it’s only a ten minute drive away. This might be a better option for beginners. Then, once you feel comfortable enough, you could ski/snowboard at Pico.
With all that being said, in this post, you will read about Pico Mountain Ski Resort, Pico Mountain Trail map, pico mountain hike, pico mountain lift tickets, pico mountain lodging, pico mountain weather, Pico Mountain vs. Killington, Pico Mountain discount code, Pico Mountain lockers, Pico mountain tubing, and more.
This post is all about Pico Mountain.
Pico Mountain:
Pico Mountain Ski Resort
Okay, you probably would like to know how to get to Pico first. Well, I would recommend visiting Pico if you live in either Vermont, New York, or western Massachusetts. If you live in more central Massachusetts or close to Boston, then I would just ski somewhere in New Hampshire because it’s much more of a direct drive. To get to Pico you will drive as if you are going to Rutland, Vermont, then from there, you will turn left onto South Main Street. Then, in half a mile, you will take a right onto Woodstock Avenue.
In 8.6 miles you will turn right onto Alpine Drive, then a little further down, Pico Resort will be on your left. If you continue on route 4 (take a right out of the Pico parking lot) for 7.2 miles, then Killington Resort/Mountain will be on your right. Pico has a lot of parking, and I recommend parking at the closest lot, it really doesn’t matter where you park, parking here is pretty straight forward. After you park, walk straight up to the different buildings/lodges.
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Pico Mountain Lift Tickets
The standard rate for a lift ticket at Pico is around $100-129 if you buy online and about a week in advance. Prices will be higher for weekends and popular dates such as, Christmas time, Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and President’s Week. The good thing about staying near Pico is you can always ski at Killington as well. However, here’s the catch that Killington Ski Resort has on Pico, since they bought it. Killington and Pico are owned by the same group, however, Pico acts as the little sister to Killington.
Meaning, if you purchase a lift ticket at Pico, it is only good at Pico. But, if you buy a ticket at Killington, then you can use it at both Killington and Pico. Anyhow, Pico really advocates for purchasing tickets online, also, everything at their venue is cashless. You can only buy lift tickets online at Pico’s website. Once you’ve made your purchase, you will get an email confirmation, that will have a barcode for you to scan at one of the kiosk windows at the base lodge.
These kiosk windows are very easy to find, they are right at the base of the lodge as you walk from the parking lot. The windows also have huge signs saying, this is where you get your lift tickets. You can reuse this card for the full season and redeem it online for another day. Also, if you rent equipment then they do give you a discount on tickets.
Pico Mountain Trail Map
Pico Mountain has a lot of diverse trails, most of them being advanced or black diamonds. They also have a lot of glades that are really fun. There are 7 total chair lifts at Pico, each one having an area it’s more designated for. For example, the Bonanza Double lift is mainly for beginners, as it has a lot of green trails. The Knomes Knoll Triple is also a good chair/area for beginners. Other than that, there really isn’t any other beginner areas. There’s only about 6 runs in this area and the whole mountain that are beginner runs. This mountain is mostly blue squares (intermediate runs) to advanced/black diamond runs.
Okay, moving onto our intermediate chair lifts and areas to ski/snowboard, the Golden Express Quad. Here you will find all blue squares with one green/beginner run. If you wish to go all the way to the top of the mountain, there is one blue square from the top. To get to the summit, you will want to take the Summit Express Quad lift, which is accessible if you take the Golden Express and then ski/snowboard down Fool’s Gold Trail to the bottom of the Summit Express Lift.
Now, moving onto the other side of Pico, you can ski/snowboard the Little Pico Triple Chair, which has mostly diamonds and squares. You can also get to the Summit Express Chair from here, if you take either B Slope or B Slope Cutoff and then about halfway take Home Run Trail. Then take this to the bottom of the Summit Express Lift. In addition, at the Little Pico Triple Chair, A Slope is one of Pico’s double diamonds.
Summit Express Lift & Glades
Once you are at the Summit Express, you can take it and then be at the summit of Pico, which stands at 3,967ft. From the summit there are only black diamonds and one blue square. There is also a double diamond, Upper Giant Killer. There are also a lot of fun, tight glades from the top. I’m an expert skier and some of the glades from the top of Pico are difficult for me. So, please, only ski/snowboard the glades if you are experienced enough.
Some fun, tight glades from the top are Upper KA glades and Upper Pike Glades. Also, some more fun glades from the Summit Express lift that are a little further down are, Sunset Woods (not nearly as tight, strong intermediates could try these out) and Birch Woods. They also have the Poma Woods and the Mid Pike Glades (good for intermediates). Now, there are some intermediate trails you can take from the top such as, Forty-Niner that goes into Sunset 71 that then goes into Easy Street or Mid Pike, etc.
After the Summit Express, all the way to looker’s right (skier’s left) the Outpost Double Chair has some gnarly glades as well. The Doozy glades are truly a doozy, I’m not kidding. They also have the Outlaw glades which are very similar to the Doozie’s. But I’m sure they’re fun. This chair also has some fun groomed diamonds such as, Wrangler, Bronco, and Sidewinder (this must be the wild west area).
My Experience: Trails I’ve Skied
I’ve skied at Pico many times and usually end up somewhere in the glades. If you are an advanced skier/snowboarder, then I highly recommend skiing the Upper K.A. glades. The trees are pretty tight but it’s a lot of fun and a good challenge. These glades on a really good day are awesome. However, I wouldn’t recommend them on a more icy day. I haven’t skied the trail, Upper Pike, which is right under the Summit Express Quad and is a groomed trail. However, I have skied the Upper Pike glades and those are a lot of fun as well. They are very similar to the K.A. glades. The Summit glades trail is nice, however, there’s no glades it’s such a more narrow trail.
I really like the Sunset Woods. These are nice diamond glades. They are much easier than the KA and Upper Pike glades. They are a nice high intermediate if you want to give them a go. Now, going to the other side of the mountain, the Outpost Double. I really like this area, however, their glades live up to their name and they truly are a Doozie. I’ve skied this area in the later afternoon, when I’m tried and have fallen multiple times on the first part of Doozie. If you ski to your right, if there’s not snow in the one section, the ice can get you, which it has done to me several times. But after that first turn, they are a lot of fun and are in between K.A. and Sunset Woods, tightness and difficulty level wise.
Pico Mountain Tubing
Unfortunately, Pico does not offer night skiing/snowboarding, but Killington Resort (only 16 minutes from Pico) does offer snow tubbing, that’s kind of at night. On Fridays and Saturdays (plus peak/popular days) the tubbing park does stay open until 7pm. On busy days tubbing costs $31 for adults and $26 for children under 17 years old. Lastly, on non-peak and weekends adult passes are $26 and children passes are $21.
Pico Mountain Lockers
Pico Mountain does have lockers at the base lodge where you can store your boot bag. However, you can also leave your boot bags somewhere in the base lodge (under a table, on hooks, etc.) and it should be fine, as long as there’s nothing valuable in it. But, if you feel more comfortable getting a locker, the lockers for the full season cost $204.
Pico Mountain Lodging
Okay, if you are coming from out of town, you probably want to know the best places to stay near the mountain. The best town to avoid expensive resort prices, to stay at would be, Rutland, Vermont. There really isn’t a closer town than Rutland and Rutland is about 16 minutes from Pico and 26 minutes from Killington. Pico doesn’t have any lodging right on the mountain, where Killington does. Killington has a couple places on the mountain that you can stay at and associate places (close but not right on the mountain) that you can stay at as well. You can find those places here.
Pico Mountain Hike
Okay, another thing to do either in the winter or summer is hiking Pico. Pico Mountain hike is pretty cool, as the summit is at the top of the ski mountain. It is a total of 5.5 miles with an elevation gain of just under 2,000ft. I hiked it via Sherburne Pass, another trail that is right across the road, is Deer Leap via Overlook Trail. Deer Leap is a nice beginners hike in Vermont, being only about 2 miles round trip, with low elevation gain. It is tricky to find the parking lot, it will NOT be the huge parking lot across the street, that is for Pico Mountain. Dear Leap you park at the Inn, to the right, and there will be a trail (follow the AllTrails map and you should be able to figure out where to start).
However, the hike up Pico is very nice, you can continue further once you get to Pico Peak and hike onto Killington Peak, via Sherburne Pass, making this an 11.4 mile hike instead of a 5.5 mile hike round trip. Here is the AllTrails link if you wish to do so. Also, here is the link to only hike Pico Mountain. You can hike Killington on it’s own as well, and it is one of the five 4,000 footers in Vermont. I hiked Killington via the Bucklin Trail, which is about 7.4 miles with an elevation gain of almost 2,500ft. I enjoyed this hike and would recommend it.
Now, just like any mountain, Pico Mountain weather can vary throughout all the different seasons. Sometimes it snows in November and other times it doesn’t snow until January, and sometimes it’ll snow in April. The weather truly does whatever it wants. Typically, in Vermont, it snows anywhere from late November to late March, but again this will vary. Same with temperature, it varies, but usually it starts getting cold in November and starts warming up sometime in April. Again, temperature can vary from 50℉ (10℃) to single digits, usually it will stay somewhere around 30℉ (0℃) for November through April.
Pico Mountain Vs. Killington
A year ago, I would have said Pico is MUCH better. Also, the lift tickets are horrendously expensive at Killington. However, last winter, I bit the bullet and paid $168 for the day at Killington on a weekday, mid-February. And to my surprise, Killington did NOT disappoint. It was FANTASTIC. The glades are amazing and magical, they had so much terrain available, and it wasn’t too crowded (because it was a weekday). And it pains me to say that because the lift tickets are so damn expensive. But, if you go on a weekday when they have a good amount of snow, you will not be disappointed. Lastly, while there, I learned that Killington is still Vermont owned (not bought out by Ikon or Epic), which I’m really happy to support.
With all that being said, Pico is still a great, hidden gem, that is typically overshadowed by Killington. Both places deserve a lot of love, especially Pico, because it’s often overlooked by its “big brother,” Killington. If you plan a trip to Rutland and or Woodstock, VT, make sure BOTH these mountains are on your list.
And that wraps up our article about Pico Mountain, thank you so much for reading. I hope this article was helpful to you in learning more about the different ski mountains and hikes available in the state of Vermont, home to the Green Mountains. Pico also offers different fitness classes at the mountain and some more fun recreational activities that you can find here. Thank you so much for reading and take care.
