Middlebury College Snow Bowl; Uphilling Delight
**Article was updated on January 19th, 2021 to reflect the new UpHill routes - New Trail Map Added below
A few members of the SplitboardVT crew went out to explore after the Green Mountains received a much needed snow storm dropping between 6 to 8 inches of dense snow this past weekend. Great for base building, and getting some early season exploration in.
Five bucks gets you access to the Middlebury College Snow Bowl for uphill access any hours of the day. Spend $30 and you’ve got yourself an uphill seasons pass. The Snow Bowl is about an hour drive from Burlington Vermont, taking Route 7 all the way down and passing through Ripton before getting to the Snow Bowl parking lot. It’s a beautiful drive, and one where you should take your time to take in the scenery.
Middlebury College Snow Bowl had its first trails cut in 1934, in fact they were some of the first cut ski trails in Vermont. There are a total of 17 trails, and plenty of woods to ride through. The Snow Bowl also boasts three chair lifts to wisk riders up the mountain. There is a good vibe in the parking lot, fires just outside of the base lodge, along with friendly and welcoming staff. For those of us that would prefer the human powered effort to get us up the mountain, the Snow Bowl is a splitborders paradise.
Splitboarding at the Snow Bowl does require an uphill pass. This can be purchased online, and on arrival they will give you your uphill day ticket which, have I mentioned, is only five bucks and you don’t have to awake to a 4am alarm or ride down with a headlamp! On arrival if you pre purchased your ticket they will hand it to you at the check-in gate (this is a requirement this year). Once you have your ticket, boot up, and get ready to set out. You won’t have to go far from the lot to start skinning. Walk 50 yards, and you’ll be at the skin track.
Getting around the Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a piece of cake!
Loads of signage, and a nice mellow skin track makes it so you don’t have to break much of a sweat to get the reward of the down.
The SplitboardVT crew set out on the skin track going up Lower Voter, and following the signs to the Long Trail. One of the nice amenities about splitboarding at Middlebury College Snow Bowl are the signs giving guidance where you should go. We followed the pre-defined uphill route to the summit where we transitioned to downhill. There are several uphill routes that can be followed. One of the routes follows Wisler from the base up to the summit. With this route you’re on the groomed trails the entire way up. With the other route, you can explore going up a part of the Long Trail that meanders through the woods. Since most of the mountain was closed off for lift access we were able to poke around a bit more than you can otherwise.
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl has several dedicated uphill routes. One of those routes takes you up the Long Trail, through the woods, past a peaceful frozen Lake Pleiad where you forget you’re even on a resort.
The snow was dense. Perfect for base building and limiting the carnage that was about to occur to the base of our boards. We road down LaForce to Meredith. Some nice fluffy turns were had but we had to be light on our feet. Any hard turns would result in having rocks grind along our base. When we got to a flat spot on Meredith it was a good time to transition to uphill mode. We skinned back up to the summit after the short ride down, to then go back up and ride Voter top to bottom. This was our preferred route over additional exploration as we were uncertain what the rest of the terrain was like and wanted to, for safety, and limiting damage to our gear, go for what we had already skinned. After getting to the summit we transitioned back to downhill mode, and took Voter from the top back to the base. Again we had to stay light on our feet and avoid any hard stops, or fast turns.
Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a great place to get your uphill technique dialed. It benefits from having a high base elevation, plenty of mountain to explore, with fun steep pitches, and rollers, to some open woods lines. A cheap cost of admission, and an hour drive from Burlington, this is a gem, and one you should explore!
With a bit more snow, opening up more lines this is a fantastic choice for a weekend adventure. Especially for those who are new to splitboarding or even newer to snowboarding. Patrolled during operating hours and groomed terrain = a safe learning zone that also has fun options for the more advanced rider. Pack up some chairs, food, beverages, and a grill to spend a whole day touring a resort. Restroom facilities are open to the public and they have a large selection of grab and go food. Get the classic independently owned Vermont parking lot vibe and take laps on some amazing natural terrain.
SplitboardVT