Mountain Creek

Mountain Creek was known, until recently, as Vernon Valley/Great Gorge. Originally they were two separate ski areas, which were then linked by chairlift in the 1970s. There are still two separate base areas. The runs are all fairly short, with a vertical drop of 1040ft, mainly through the trees. But the area is remarkably wide, extending for almost 5km between the two base lodges. The snow is usually entirely man-made, and can get very icy after rain. Just 55 miles north-west of New York City – about one hour's drive – the entire ski area is floodlit and remains open until 10pm each night.