Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Ascutney Mountain Resort, Brownsville

Let me (try to) give you a quick rundown of our experience. Some things may be nit-picky, but they're things that we noticed right away. 1. We arrived at the mountain and pulled into the parking lot. The place was like a ghost town. Immediately, we didn't get a good vibe, but were willing to give it a chance. 2. We started to head up to the lodge. The parking lot was a sheet of ice and clearly no one put down any sort of ice melt. I nearly busted my /\ss with all of my gear in hand. 3. The stairs from the parking lot to the lodge were crooked in all different directions. Imagine stairs you'd find in a funhouse at the fair. 4. The ski racks outside were butted up against the building so that only 1 side of them can be used. 5. The inside of the lodge looked as though it hasn't been updated since the 70's. It looked very worn, tired, and depressing. 6. The bathrooms are disgusting and the stalls are broken (locks, doors, etc...). No soap in the dispensers. 7. Still, we paid the $35 (thank God for CSC discounts) and headed to the top of the mountain. I know ice happens, and I'm ok with that, but we were horrified the entire (slow) ride up... Bare spots were everywhere. On one trail, a large tree had fallen and was jutting out into the middle. Obviously no grooming is ever done at this place. 8. I can handle blue trails well and the occasional black when I'm feeling confident. My boyfriend's been snowboarding for at least 10 years and used to ski when he was younger. I begged to take the green trail down because of what I saw on the ride up, so we did, but the bare spots were more than I can handle. It should have been labeled a black diamond. In the end, we took a grand total of 2 runs, packed up our stuff, and spent the rest of the day at Stratton.

Ok this resort will not be for everyone. I had a great time and I loved it . Our family stayed here in late April. Which is off season for this area. However we found plenty of things to do. We explored Vermont we even took a little trip over to Lake George NY. We had such a wonderful time. The building itself is dated. I think it works though. It would look out of place in my mind if it where very "Modern". Don't go here if you: Have to have your cell phone on 24/7, Don't like the country, Mind driving 5 minutes down the road to get to the closest grocery store. If you hate the mountains and country dirt roads. You will be miserable.. So go to somewhere like Orlando or something. If you like to actually have a vacation and the rest of the world stay miles away. You will love this place! The rooms are very clean, and well equipped. Not a lot of channels though so if you or family are couch potatoes you may not like it here either. As for skiing never been a big fan of it, so I couldn't tell you. There was no snow on the ground in April either. Although the weather required a jacket most of the time. I like it cooler anyway. We own a time share in Orlando and prefer not to go down there when it is a sweat box. :)

The condition of the condo (and entire building) we stayed in was terrible. We were there in June with temperatures in the low 90's and there was no air conditioning. We ended up taking the mattresses off the beds and sleeping on them under open windows. Windows/doors did not have screens so we had bees and bugs in the unit. Two of the windows would not stay open so we had to use bottles to hold them. We called maintenance three times during the first day and a half of our four day stay. There were leaks from the kitchen sink running out onto the floor. Heat/AC ducts were torn in two bedroom posing a real safety hazard. Shower rods in both bathrooms fell down. Some electrical plugs did not work causing us to go buy an extension cord. The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities looked like they had been there since the early 80's and were very worn. The housekeeping service was useless. Our unit was not cleaned during our entire stay. This is definitely not what one would expect of a "resort" property. I would definitely rate this lodging one star. I have stayed in much better two star facilities. This property needs a total renovation.

goooooooodddd stuff, i was throughly impressed with the quality of staff, food and all around other things. This mountain is an unknown gem, virtually no lift lines and all the great snow you can get, so go to ASCUTNEY!!!

My stay at Ascutney wasn't horrible, but could have been a little better. First night check in, I realized that the balcony door did not secure properly. Not usually a big deal but we were on the first floor. We reported it and although the front desk staff was nice about it no one came to even check it during our stay. The same thing happened with the inoperable television set in the bedroom, which wasn't a major crisis like the balcony door. They advertise the wireless internet but you have to pay for it. This was a little disappointing since a lot of the resorts/hotels in the area were offering free wi-fi. I was promised duralogs for the fireplace (one complimentary for each night). I ran out on Wednesday and informed the front desk. Needless to say, I went without firewood for the rest of my stay. I had no problem with the slopes although I will agree that they were not as nice as Killington or Okemo. I was definitely disappointed with the Lodge. The restaurant/bar was nice. I actually enjoyed the food. My only complaint was that it seems that all the employees like to have a social gathering with each other instead of actually working.

Although Ascutney advertises 2 clay and 5 hard courts, we were quite unpleasantly surprised to find only 2 hard courts. Clay makes quite a difference. The Wi-Fi didn't work while we were there and, of course, there was no cell phone coverage in the area. This is good if you want to get away from it all, but not so good if you need to keep in touch.

We was very happy there. The Hotel is beautiful. There are many things to do. When we went the weather was regular but the workers are very amability and help us to do other things for amenity. The childs was very fun. I reecomended this place because is very familiar.

Unfortunately, I live close by to Mt. Ascutney and it is the easiest place for me to ski. I have been coming here for 6 years and I have seen very little upkeep of the lodge facilities. Bathrooms are always dirty and in disrepair. There is one bathroom stall in one building that has not been repaired in 4 years. I don't care if there is some dipute between the resort and the ski shop. That is terrible. The other main thing I notice is the lack of effort to keep ski conditions good. It is February 19th, and there is no longer any snow making being done. The compressors have been sent back for the season. There are two main trails down off the top of the mountain. They are both icy and thin. and they will remain that way for the rest of the season unless we get more snow. Even then, there will be a question as to how well the will do to keep the snow on the hill. I probably won't take my kids skiing much more this season and I live here. I wish I could afford to go to Okemo or Sunapee or Killington.

Ascutney is the best ski resort for a family to go. it is very family oriented and my whole family has loved it. we have been going for 11 or 12 years. I started going whne i was 4 or 5 and was able to ski on the bunny hill and easier trail and as i got older i was able to move on and still be challeged. the hotel is beautiful and has many activities. the workers are always nice and helpful. i highly recomend that you go here with your family.

Beware of the New Year's Eve buffet. It looks great on paper - its utterly horrible when you go. Although the room was not full, we were given a horrible table crammed up against a corner. We asked for water and then went to the buffet. There were no plates at the buffet, both times I went up. It was scheduled for several hours, but we had a reservation for 8 and by that time, most of the appetizers were gone and not replaced. When I went back to my table, the waiters had placed several pitchers of water on the table, not knowing it was being used. When our waitress came back, finally, because the service was horrible as well, she just asked if we liked water and did not take the pitchers away. I ordered a white zinfandel, was given a horrible "house" white wine instead and the waitress never came back to my table once to correct the error. That attitude is very typical of all the employees at the "resort" The worst part of this experience - it was over $100 for two people for a buffet that contained a pasta bar, carving station and pretty much a poor college dormitory style of food. By far, the worst New Year's Eve experience of my life - on top of poor skiing conditions, no quad open and extremely rude mountain staff, and especially the mountain manager.