Smugglers Notch Expert Skiing

Smugglers Notch truly stands out from the East Coast crowd with its advanced and expert terrain. In fact, Smuggs is a frequent host to East Coast extreme freeride competition. Sterling Mountain features fun, small cliff drops and short, steep runs. However, Madonna Mountain is where the true test lies. For starters, Smuggs boasts the East’s only triple black diamond run, Black Hole, which begins with a 53-degree slope through tight trees. Other steeps off Madonna include Freefall, Robin’s Run, and Liftline for the true exhibitionist and aspiring pro in your ski group.

Steep trees are also found between nearly every marked run on both Madonna and Sterling Mountains. Powder can often be found long after a storm if you know the right place to look. Be careful, however, as it is extremely easy to get lost in-bounds and find yourself stuck in a dense old-growth forest farther from the safety of a marked trail than you had previously thought. Skiing is allowed anywhere within the resort area boundary, but they are not patrolled nor controlled for safety. Consequently, the resort recomments skiing these areas in groups of three or more for safety-it comes with a full complement of natural hazards and is not patrolled.

Another excellent expert run off Sterling Mountain is Exhibition. Freestylers love this trail for its variety of natural air features and proximity to the lift so they can really show their stuff. A large terrain park also lies on the slopes of Sterling Mountain for those looking to go big, alongside two natural-feature style terrain parks on the Birch Run and Knight’s Revenge trails.

Black-rated glade runs are also not to be missed for experts skiing or riding at Smuggs. The long, fall line trees of Shakedown provide a lovely test, as well as Doc Dempsey’s Glades off the Madonna summit chair. As previously mentioned, these woods will hold onto wind-blown, untouched snow and make the three inches reported on the daily snow report feel like eight.