Conditions Report
Mt. Snow Conditions Report from March 20 – March 21
I’ve never skied the Midwest, but hear me out…
When you think of Midwest skiing, there is not much to marvel at. The ski resorts are tiny. The terrain is flat and boring. The ski areas there are mostly a means to an end, with the end being a trip out West. Yet still, as someone who works in the ski industry and has studied these resorts, the Midwest does a couple of things remarkably well. And when I visited Mount Snow for the first time this March, I couldn’t help but feel like this was the first East Coast resort I’ve been to that embodies those Midwest strengths to the max.
Let me explain.
- Related: Where to Ski in April in the East
Mount Snow Quick Facts & History
- Date Opened: 1954
- Multi-Destination Passes: Epic Pass
- Number of Trails: 86
- Beginner: 16%
- Intermediate: 66%
- Advanced: 18%
- Skiable Acres: 601
- Vertical Drop: 1,700 feet
- Base Elevation: 1,900 feet
- Summit Elevation: 3,600 feet
- Average Annual Snowfall: 150 inches
- Number of Lifts: 18
- Night Skiing: No
- Other Activities:
- Snow Tubing
- Golf (summer)
Midwest ski resorts need to work with what they’ve got. As a southern Vermont ski resort, Mount Snow is in a similar position. We don’t need to pretend that Mount Snow can really compete with its northern Vermont neighbors. With the stats listed above, it’s smaller, less challenging, receives less snow, and doesn’t see as good weather as even its sister resort, Okemo, which is just an hour north.
Given those realities that it is unable to change, it does what it can to make up for these geographic weaknesses, which all come in the form of its remarkably robust infrastructure.
Let’s start with the most notable – lifts.
I’ve never seen so many high-speed lifts servicing such a small area in my life. Across just six main trails (depending on how you count it) on the front side of Mount Snow, you have a high-speed six pack (the Sundance Express), a high-speed quad (the Grand Summit Express), a high-speed bubble six pack (the Bluebird Express), and yet another high-speed quad (the Canyon Express). On top of all of that, you also have a fixed-grip quad (Ego Alley) for additional capacity on the busiest weekend days. With this stacked lineup of lifts in such a small area, the front side of Mount Snow reminds me of Afton Alps, a Midwest Vail Resort that, despite its size, ranks 20th for the most lifts out of any ski resort in North America.
Yet the difference here is the scale. While Afton Alps is only 300 skiable acres, Mount Snow is double the size and almost five times the height.
The second way is in terrain parks. Just like the Midwest, when the terrain itself may not be as interesting as other resorts, a terrain park allows you to create interesting terrain. While many ski resorts across the continent continue to scale back their terrain parks, Mount Snow has stayed true to its roots and continued to maintain the Carinthia side of the resort to focus 100% on freestyle. While I am not a freestyle skier, it doesn’t take one to tell you that at this expanse and scale, Mount Snow has one of the best terrain parks on the East Coast.
The only thing I can really even compare Mount Snow’s terrain parks to is Big Bear. They both have a large percentage of terrain dedicated to freestyle, yet many of these freestyle dedicated runs are still enjoyed by regular skiers, with the option for side hits and other features off to one side.
The third way is in snowmaking. Given all of the recent weather, it was shocking that Mount Snow still had over 50% of its terrain open when I visited. Yet they were able to do this with the largest fleet of snow fan guns on the continent, which they proudly boast on the lift towers of chairs.
As you can see in my Slopes stats below, I was able to ski almost 45,000 feet in just 10 hours – and six of those hours were with my fiancée, who’s an intermediate skier unable to crank through vert.
So, with all of this being said, who is Mount Snow for? It’s for the everyman skier and rider, the one making a trip up from NYC, Connecticut, or Boston, looking for something closer that still feels like Vermont. Mount Snow definitely checks that box and does so at a scale very few other resorts of its size can rival, making it a staple Northeast mountain, whether you like it or not.
Mount Snow Ski Day Stats
Mount Snow Conditions
Mount Snow Weather
Mount Snow Photos
For more information, check out Mount Snow’s website.
