12.29.11 at the Middlebury Snow Bowl

$30 (cheap) tickets

8" fresh snow overnight resulting in a grippy soft surface everywhere

limited terrain but a liberal ropes policy

a perfect sky

followed the gf around again, she's getting much better.

i also poached one run with a buddy, it was soft and blower.

didn't hit bottom except at the very bottom. unfortunately, there are many waterbars and soggy spots on this hill. Hopefully the VT upslope storm will get cranking to deliver those woods to us soon.











let it snow,
make it snow,
snow some more, please

ml242, thanks for the report, looks good. Never hit Middlebury Snow Bowl in my travels. My first visit to VT to ski, I asked an older lady working at a Ma and Pa store if she skiied. She said she used to, I asked where she liked to ski, she timidly said, "Well, I liked Bolton Valley". I was like, Bolton Valley, where the hell is that, never heard of it. I did a half day at Smuggs, got the map out and saw skiing BV would get me closer to home, so I decided to ski it. BV has the highest base elevation in VT, there was just a dusting down by the highway, a good foot up top. The only cars there were ones that had sat overnight. I stopped the plow guy to make sure they were opening. I had a great day, almost literally had the place to myself in the morning.

 Still waiting in central NY, they got 1 to 2" last night. Guess I'll hit the WROD at my local hill tomorrow.

Looks like a very cool hill. Expert terrain from each lift. Could you see into the trees at all?



Whats the vert, I didn't see it on the site. Annual snowfall?

Harvey44 wrote

Looks like a very cool hill. Expert terrain from each lift. Could you see into the trees at all?

Whats the vert, I didn't see it on the site. Annual snowfall?

Unfortunately, not the best map in the world. I skied there for the first time last year. Allen and Ross are top notch race trails for the College ski team. Allen is one of the craziest looking trails I have ever seen... massive steep rollers layer cake style. Pretty wild stuff. The black diamond stuff off the other chair is extremely mellow. Aside from Allen and Ross, its a pretty mellow mountain overall. They claim a boundary to boundary tree skiing policy but those types of policies are always laughable when the woods need more thinning. Some tree skiing but a lot of opportunity on the table. About a thousand vert, no idea about snowfall. Gotta be similar to  MRG I would imagine.

Harv, there's plenty of stuff there. The map makes it look pretty small but the way it wraps around the hill it skis bigger than it looks. They probably get 250-275"/year. Inches over a 1K vert. No high speed lifts, but it's well positioned to grab a lot of snow on the spine of the greens being right over the banana belt of Middlebury. The best part is getting away from the crowds at K for better snow and less money.

MSB on a better day, courtesy of ski climb fish bum:

http://skiclimbfishbum.com/2011/01/a-cold-day-at-the-snow-bowl/

bump, this place is a an awesome bump.

I have eyeing this hill up lately. It looks really cool. There are some interesting rock formations along one of the lift lines I think. I was wondering if there are interesting skiable lines in there.

I would take a day of skiing here over a day at Killington. All I remember about Killington was ridiculous crowds and a confusing trail system that lacked flowy fall line skiing. Mid week might be fun but I don't think I would ever go there on a weekend. Ever.

We have only heard great things about this place. We drive by it often on our way up to the Mad River Valley. Our friends love this mountain and I look forward to trying it.