Mount Snow

Mount Snow (previously known as Mount Pisgah) is a mountain resort and ski area in southern Vermont located in the Green Mountains. It is Vermont's closest big mountain to many Northeast metropolitan areas.

Not to be confused with Snow Mountain or Snow Peak.

Mount Snow
Winter view of Mount Snow.
LocationDover, Windham County, Vermont, USA
Coordinates42.959835°N 72.922161°W / 42.959835; -72.922161
Top elevation3,600 ft
Base elevation1,900 ft
Skiable area600 acres (2.4 km2)
Runs86
Longest runLong John 3.1 miles
Lift system20
Terrain parks12
Snowfall156"
Snowmaking80%
Night skiingNo, only Tubing
Websitewww.mountsnow.com
Mount Snow summer

In September of 2019 Mount Snow joined Vail Resorts' portfolio of 37 resorts and its Epic Pass.[1]

Mount Snow is home to Carinthia Parks,[2] which debuted in the 2008–2009 season. Carinthia is home to ten parks, with both natural and man-made features and a superpipe. Mount Snow was co-host of the first Extreme Games in 1995 and host of the X-Games in 2000 and 2001. Carinthia at Mount Snow claimed home to the second stop of the first annual Winter Dew Tour as well as many other events including the Freeski Open and Carinthia Classic.

In the summer of 2011, Mount Snow installed a brand new Leitner-Poma high-speed detachable six-pack bubble chair. This lift transports skiers to the top of the mountain in seven minutes. The bubble shields skiers and riders from wind and snow and keeps them warm. If it is a warm skiing day riders can choose to leave the bubble up. Mount Snow now has two high-speed detachable lifts from the base to summit and a total of four high-speed detachable lifts, one leaving from the Carinthia Base Area and three leaving from the Main Base Area.

Statistics

Summit Elevation: 3,600 ft (1,100 m)[3]

Vertical Drop: 1,700 ft (520 m)[3]

Skiable area: 600 acres (2.4 km2)[3]

Annual Average Snowfall: 158 inches[3]

Trails: 86[3]

Lifts: 20: 1 High-Speed Six-Pack Bubble, 3 High Speed Quads, 1 Fixed Quads, 6 Triples, 3 Doubles, 5 Conveyors, 1 Rope Tow[3]

Snowmaking: 83%[4]

Total Snowguns: 917, of which 250 are fan guns. Mount Snow has the most fan guns of any resort in North America.[3]

Terrain Park Acres: 100[3]

Gladed Tree Acreage: 124[3]

Tubing: Yes[3]

Night Skiing: No[3]

History

Mount Pisgah is the mountain that is known by many as Mount Snow and was originally named after the Biblical Mount Pisgah. A large amount of land on Mount Pisgah was purchased from the estate of Reuben Snow, in early 1953 and on December 12, 1954, the mountain, renamed Mount Snow, after the Snow family, opened to the public.[5] Entrepreneur and dreamer Walt Schoenknecht owned the ski resort for many years and led its development into one of the largest ski areas in the country at the time.

In 1986, the Carinthia ski area was purchased and connected to the Mount Snow Trails. Five years later, nearby Haystack Mountain Ski Area was purchased and subsequently marketed as being part of Mount Snow. Haystack was sold and closed in 2005.

In 1992, the first snowboard park in the East was established at Mount Snow, named Un Blanco Gulch. The park featured jumps, a half-pipe, quarter hits, spines, wedges, banked turns, and a buried van. The park was built by Tyler Doucette under the supervision of Chris Bluto. "The Gulch" remained a staple of Mount Snow's freestyle terrain until the 2008-2009 season when all terrain parks were moved to the Carinthia area of the mountain where a new park also named "The Gulch" was established along with seven additional parks and a "Superpipe" referred to collectively as Carinthia Parks at Mount Snow.[6] In 2000, Mount Snow hosted the 4th Annual Winter X-Games. The Games shattered previous attendance records and drew in athletes from around the world. The Games returned to Mount Snow the following year.

Mount Snow's own Kelly Clark, bronze medalist of 2014 Olympic Women's half-pipe,[7] won the first American gold medal of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in women's half-pipe. She is a graduate of the Mount Snow Academy and the first athlete from Mount Snow to win an Olympic gold medal. Another Mount Snow Academy graduate, Devin Logan, won the silver medal of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the Olympic debut of slopestyle. Eliza Outtrim, who placed 6th in women's moguls, also attended MSA.

In January 2009, Mount Snow hosted the Winter Dew Tour. It was the first action sports tour for winter sports and is owned and operated by Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports. Many of the top athletes in action sports from around the world participated in the Winter Dew Tour. Athletes such as Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Tanner Hall, Andreas Wiig, Gretchen Bleiler, Simon Dumont, Sarah Burke, and Travis Rice all vied for the Dew Cup, awarded at season's end.[8]

The resort was operated by Peak Resorts, which bought it along with Attitash, in February 2007. In July 2019, Peak Resorts announced it entered a merger agreement with Vail Resorts and closed on the deal on September, 24, 2019.[9] After that, Mount Snow joined Vail Resorts' portfolio of 37 resorts and its Epic Pass.[1]

Trails and Lifts

Trail ratings

Green Circle (novice): 14%

Blue Square (more difficult): 73%

Black Diamond (most difficult): 13%

Mount Snow is made up of four separate mountain areas: Main Face, North Face, Sunbrook, and Carinthia. The main Face can be divided into smaller areas named after its main chairlifts, including Sundance, Ego Alley, Grand Summit, and Canyon. At the base of Main Face is Launch Pad, a learning area adjacent to the main base area's clock tower and ski school. There is also a learning area by the Sundance Lodge. The North Face, fittingly located to the north of Main Face, is home to some of Mount Snow's most advanced terrain. Opposite of the North Face, on the southern face of the mountain, is Sunbrook which offers scenic trails, great on bluebird days. Carinthia, an entirely re-designed mountain face, accessed via Long John and Deer Run, is home to 12 terrain parks hosting 125+ features including a mini-pipe (10-foot walls) and its Legendary Superpipe boasting 18-foot walls. The parks range from expert to beginner level features so there is fun for the whole family.

Main Face

Beginners, intermediates, and experts alike will find suitable terrain on Mount Snow's Main Face. Most beginner trails are located at the lower mountain, which includes the Discovery Shuttle at Launch Pad, as well as the Seasons Double and Tumbleweed Triple chairlifts. These are purely novice chairs. The Seasons chair services Cooper's Junction, a pleasant yet short green circle. Tumbleweed services the bottom part of Long John, Mount Snow's marquee novice trail, and Somerset Road, another easy route. To the skier's right of Tumbleweed is Sweet Sixteen and also Season Pass which leads skiers through a tunnel to Carinthia. More difficult terrain can also be accessed, including Short Fuse, a super short chute and Frontier, a short but nasty tree skiing section. To the skier's left off Tumbleweed is the beginner-oriented Beaver Hill, which empties out at the main base area.

Located further uphill from the Tumbleweed chair is the Sundance Triple, an older fixed-grip triple that runs along the trail of the same name. Sundance is rarely crowded, and the trails it services are typically empty as well. When running, the Sundance chair takes about 10 minutes and doesn't reach the summit. However, most find it services some of Mount Snow's best intermediate runs, all of which can be accessed from the summit using Little John as well. The primary trails are Shootout and Sundance which run right under the chair. Further down along Little John, skiers can access Hop, Ridge, and Uncle's, all excellent blue squares that see little usage. Ridge, in particular, is a nice rolling run, often with great pockets of snow. All of these runs funnel into the bottom of "Ridge", a wide intermediate/novice trail leading back to the base of Sundance. For those who don't want to bother with the Sundance chair or Little John, South Bowl is an excellent (yet more frequently traveled) blue square that uses Link to connect skiers to Sundance. Tree-skiing, thanks to 2016 clearing are excellent along with the south side of ridge nearly all the way down to the Sundance chair but unfortunately this chair is seldom open.

Moving north on the Main Face, the Ego Alley Triple is similar to the Sundance Triple in that it's a fixed-gripped chair that ends short of the summit. It begins at the main base area, however, so it can be more crowded when open. To no surprise, the main route of this lift is Ego Alley. It is a fun intermediate trail with a good pitch, perfect for skiers who want to show off some skill and get an ego boost, hence the name. However, Ego Alley, along with Charlie's Chase, occasionally is the trail used by the racing team, who set up gates to practice. At the end of Ego Alley is Yard Sale, a very short and not too tough black diamond that often gets bumped up. Following that is Beaver Tail, a much tamer run at the base of the mountain. The most challenging terrain in the Ego Alley section is Sap Tapper, a very tight tree-skiing area, but like others, it is seldom open.

Running parallel to Ego Alley, two chairlifts run from the base to the summit. They both are a 7-minute ride to the top. The Bluebird Express which is a high-speed six-pack bubble chair runs daily. The Grand Summit Express which is a high-speed quad and it operates on most weekends and holidays. On busy weekends the Grand Summit express is the least crowded of the two lifts even though they take the same amount of time so this lift is definitely recommended over the bubble. For many skiers, the trip to the summit is all about one of Mount Snow's two most beloved novice trails: Little John and Long John. With an exception of brief Sundance lift traffic, both runs have no higher level trail dumps, making them perfect beginner boulevards. Long John has one alternative route, a short intermediate trail aptly called Cut Off, as it cuts off one of Long John's corners. The remainder of trails off the summit are all upper portions of Main Face trails. These include Upper Exhibition, Upper Lodge, Upper Ledge, Upper Choke, and Cascade. Upper Exhibition runs under the Grand Summit Express and has a long canted portion. The bottom part often gets moguls. Skiers can veer to the right onto Tramline to connect to the Ego Alley area. Upper Lodge and Cascade are perhaps the easiest of the "uppers" and see the most grooming. Both have very short steep sections. Upper Ledge, a rarely groomed black diamond, is one of the Main Face's most interesting trails. The trail stays true to its name, as there are indeed steep ledges that keep skiers on their toes.

North Face

The North Face is part of the mountain designed for advanced skiers and snowboarders. The entire face is composed of black diamond trails, with the only exception being River Run, which connects the main mountain and Canyon Express chairlift to the base of the North Face area. The North Face has two lifts, Outpost and Challenger. The North Face of Mount Snow is best known, however, for its double black diamond trail, Ripcord. Ripcord is the steepest and most difficult trail on the mountain, with large moguls, and is visible from River Run. The North Face also has many tree skiing areas, such as The Plunge, Epiphany, and The Trials. The Plunge is located directly next to Ripcord and is known for its steepness, dense trees, and narrow cliff towards the end of the trail, which leads out onto Ripcord. Ripcord is accessed by committed, an intermediate blue square with moguls that empties into Cascade, the closest main face run to Ripcord.

Carinthia Parks at Mount Snow

Newly re-designed for the 2008–2009 season, Mount Snow opened Carinthia. Home to 12 parks, over 125 features and a half pipe and a superpipe with 18-foot walls. After a renovation of the Carinthia base lodge including a new lounge and The Vault, freestyle ski and snowboard shop located in the basement, Carinthia offers the first and only all-park mountain face on the East Coast. Claiming host to the second stop of the 1st Annual Winter Dew Tour, Redbull Buttercup Finals and the FreeSki Open coming March 20-22nd, the new park system has truly been on the receiving end of praise this season for its amazing conditions and adaptability to these big name tours. Whether you are a novice or Pro rider or skier, there is something for everyone at Carinthia.

Year-round services

Mount Snow has a variety of dining[10] and retail[11] options. Naturespa in the Grand Summit Resort Hotel offers an array of spa services[12] and Mount Snow has a variety of lodging properties.[13] Mount Snow Realty is also available for buying and selling homes in and around the valley.[14]

Recent capital projects

In the fall of 2017, Mount Snow completed a $30m snowmaking expansion and upgrade project of replacing miles of snowmaking pipe across the mountain to maximize the 645 new low-energy fan guns and built a new 120 million gallon snowmaking pond, called West Lake. The winter of 2018/2019 also saw the completion of the $22M Carinthia Base Lodge in the Carinthia Base Area, which broke ground in June 2017.

Summer operations

Mount Snow is open for downhill mountain biking at Mount Snow Bike Park,[15] golfing at Mount Snow Golf Club,[16] and hiking and scenic chairlift rides.[17] Outdoor Exploration Camp provides kids and teens with daily activities and adventures.[18]

See also

Notes
  1. Epic Pass
  2. Carinthia at Mount Snow
  3. "The Mountain". www.mountsnow.com.
  4. "The Mountain". www.mountsnow.com.
  5. "Mount Pisgah Becomes Mount Snow". Ski New England. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  6. "Carinthia". www.mountsnow.com.
  7. Kilgore, Adam (12 February 2018). "U.S. snowboarder Kelly Clark backs into halfpipe finals, among those she inspires". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  8. WORLD'S TOP ATHLETES SHAUN WHITE, HANNAH TETER, TRAVIS RICE, TANNER HALL AND SARAH BURKE LEAD IMPRESSIVE LIST OF ATHLETES COMPETING ON WINTER DEW TOUR
  9. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vail-resorts-closes-its-acquisition-of-peak-resorts-adds-17-us-ski-areas-near-major-metropolitan-areas-to-portfolio-300924366.html
  10. "Dining". www.mountsnow.com.
  11. "Retail". www.mountsnow.com.
  12. "Naturespa". www.mountsnow.com.
  13. "Your Stay". www.mountsnow.com.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-09. Retrieved 2015-08-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Mountain Biking". www.mountsnow.com.
  16. "Golf". www.mountsnow.com.
  17. "Scenic Chairlift Rides". www.mountsnow.com.
  18. "Outdoor Exploration Camp". www.mountsnow.com.
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