TLDR: I’d suggest Bolton or Smuggs as best beginner mountains.

Bolton is the local diver bar mountain. It’s awesome. Relatively cheap and close, short lifts quick trails that are intermixed well so you can do a quick black diamond into a green and coast the rest of the way.

So even if you find yourself on a trail above your comfort level, it’s super short so you’ll be off it quick. Great for getting comfortable on different difficulty trails.

Also consider a Morse only pass at Smuggs. Smuggs doesn’t have intermixed trails, it has a beginner mountain, an intermediate mountain and an expert mountain… Morse is the beginner mountain and is great for a coasting day or to go with beginners because the lifts are less intimidating when you don’t have to go to the top or have experts screaming passed you at 90 mph. The Morse only pass is usually pretty cheap compared to the bigger resorts (or all mountain pass at smuggs)

I’d avoid Stowe/killington/sugarbush because their runs are so long (personally). I went to killington the other year after having not gone in years and I thought my back was gonna give out after 1 run. Just anecdotal.

You could also look into middlebury. Not sure prices or anything but that place is tiny too.