Mountain Creek Ski Area

A Sunny Day at South Peak (Photo Credit: Mountain Creek)

Formerly known as “Vernon Valley, Great Gorge,” Mountain Creek began its life as two separate ski areas – Vernon Valley and Great Gorge. The two separate ski hills merged in the 1970’s, creating a resort which is the largest in the region. From looker’s left to right, the four peaks of the resort are Vernon Peak, Granite Peak, South Peak and Bear Peak. The resort’s 1,040′ vertical drop is amongst the tallest in the area; only Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain and its 1,082′ drop are bigger.

The connection between the two formerly independent resorts is not seamless, however. The trail infrastructure at Vernon Peak and Granite Peak (comprising the former Vernon Valley resort) ties together nicely, as does the network of trails at South Peak and Bear Peak (comprising the former Great Gorge resort). However, navigating between the two sets of twin peaks can be downright annoying. Going from the Vernon Peak side to the South Peak side requires a lengthy, flat traverse which the resort (somewhat hilariously in the author’s opinion) labels a blue square. Perhaps it’s rated for intermediates because skiers will need to know how to pole and snowboards how to hop or walk. The return trip is little better as it requires use of the brutally slow Southern Sojourn double chair. Most visitors will stick to one side of the resort or the other and utilize the shuttle bus to move between bases.

Despite the difficulty required to move between base areas, the uphill transportation is first rate. Mountain Creek employs an 8-passenger open air gondola (the Cabriolet) together with 2 express quads, 2 fixed grip quads, a triple chair and a handful of surface lifts in the beginner areas.

The terrain on the Vernon Peak is geared towards traditional alpine skiing and snowboarding, while the South Peak side of the resort is home to the majority of the resort’s terrain parks and freestyle terrain. In fact, in recent years Mountain Creek has turned the entirety of South Peak into one big terrrain park. The closure of nearby Hidden Valley resort has resulted in Bear Peak becoming home to numerous high school and junior alpine racing programs.

On the whole, Mountain Creek is an excellent day trip choice for those looking for a quick sojourn from New York City. There is more terrain than most skiers can ski in a day and new slopeside accommodation in the form of the upscale Appalachain Hotel has even made Mountain Creek an increasingly popular choice for weekend visitors. However, weekends can be crowded, but the same could be said for practically any other resort in the nearby Poconos.