Skiing Middlebury Snowbowl
Saturday, March 7th, 2026
Runs: 11
Distance: 8.09 miles
Elevation: 7,497 feet
Max Speed: 31.4 mph
Avg. Speed: 11.0 mph
Moving Time: 47 minutes, 25 seconds
Total Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes, 21 seconds
It's wedding day! Emma had bridesmaid duties starting at 7:30am, Sarah and Alec were going to snowshoe, and Gen and I decided we'd hit up the Middlebury Snowbowl before she heads home! We dropped Emma off where she needed to be and headed out! We stopped at Maplefields for some breakfast, and made it to the Snowbowl around 8:40am, 20 minutes before lifts started spinning. The parking lot was delightfully uncrowded, likely because it was supposed to be in the mid-40s and raining. We got extra lucky because Cabot cheese was giving out free samples! We did hit our first tragedy of the day in the lodge, though. Gen was trying to shove her enormous boot bag into a cubby, got low to the ground to really give it a good shove, and her boot slipped, smashing her face onto the hard ground. How it missed her helmet and goggles is a mystery, but her face and knees were hurting for the rest of the day! We took some time to regroup, get outside, and then we slowly made our way to the Sheehan Chair.
Conditions
3/7: The Snowbowl is OPEN today.
100% of our terrain will be open today served by all chairlifts. It a little wet out there today, so layer up, come on up and get your turns in!
Uphillers: A Snowbowl pass is required at all times, please use only the sanctioned uphill routes (on trail map), read informational signs in the base area, check in with Patrol. If active grooming is occuring on a trail, it is CLOSED to all use.
Bailed Falls Lift: Delayed Opening / Worth Mountain Lift: Wind Hold
Runs 1-5
Run 1: Sheehan Chair - Lang
[0.46 mi; 2:09; 446 ft; 26.5 mph max; 12.8 mph avg]
Run 2: Sheehan Chair - Cameron
[0.38 mi; 1:34; 427 ft; 31.4 mph max; 14.5 mph avg]
Run 3: Sheehan Chair - Kelton
[0.33 mi; 1:25; 427 ft; 24.2 mph max; 13.9 mph avg]
Run 4: Sheehan Chair - Game Trail
[0.62 mi; 3:16; 443 ft; 23.6 mph max; 11.4 mph avg]
Run 5: Sheehan Chair - Hadley
[0.44 mi; 4:07; 433 ft; 21.4 mph max; 6.5 mph avg]
The Worth Mountain Chair was starting the day on wind hold, but after Gen's splattering, it made sense to start on the Sheehan Chair. Our first run was down the green run, Lang, which was lovely! The snow was soft, but not yet sticky. Run #2 was down Cameron, which was great! They were setting up for a race, so it was nice to get it before it closed. The steepness helped fight the soft snow, but we did have a wildly dense cloud roll through mid-run, which was a bit spooky!
Run #3 was down Kelton, which was shockingly hard and fast, minus the final bit, which was starting to get sticky. Run #4 felt more like a cross-country ski - Game Trail involved a longer-than-we-were-ready-for skate around the backside of the hill before finally descending on a gentle pitch.
Run #5 was yet another adventure... Hadley had a narrower chute to access the main trail (chute as in narrow and fast, but not steep). There were two patrollers doing... something on the chute, too, so we had to dodge them. When we got to the "headwall," we saw it was full of bumps. I was talking to gen and I heard a swear word, and suddenly she was on the ground, off of the trail! She was a little hurt from this fall, but got up without too much issue. I think what happened was she saw a bump, got scared, and truly forgot to turn. That or sitting back seat and wasn't able to turn... Not sure, but I was glad she was moderately okay! Patrol was NOT worried. The rest of the run was much mellower with gentle natural bumps and a slow and sticky runout. Gen was ready for a little break after this one.
Runs 6-7
Run 6: Worth Mtn Chair - Proctor - Waterfall - Proctor
[1.09 mi; 6:42; 860 ft; 19.8 mph max; 9.8 mph avg]
Run 7: Worth Mtn Chair - Proctor - Ross
[0.81 mi; 4:43; 797 ft; 22.0 mph max; 10.3 mph avg]
Gen ploppd a squat in an adirondack chair outside to gather herself while I hopped on the finally-open Worth Mountain Chair. It was foggy and windy up top, so I get it... I forgot how pretty the view was from this lift ride, especially when it dips low and gives a view of the frozen pond before climbing up some rugged terrain. I chose to explore Proctor to see if it would be Gen-friendly for her great return (I was adamant that she shouldn't end the day on a bad note). To my dismay, it was marked with "expert only" signs. Coverage was good, but there were PLENTY of bumps scattered about and aggressively sticky snow in between them. This run really gave me a run for my money! I did choose to go down Waterfall instead of following Proctor ALL the way, and at least I skied Waterfall MUCH better than when I visited last year! I made it down, skated across a flat, and called Gen and said "NOT THAT ONE."
She joined me again for Run #7. We checked the snow report, which said Ross was groomed, and I was thinking anything with a little pitch and groomed would be the best bet for success on this sticky day. We (slowly) followed proctor past Allen and onto Ross... which was a mogul field... Shoot! I looked at Gen and we talked about their backtracking to Allen or continuing to Proctor, and she said "let's just go for it!" I admired her ambition. The mogul field was fun and there was one ledge to navigate. I kind of narrated my thought process on it - take a wide turn around the exposed rock, following many others' tracks. Gen did not turn and instead went of the bank... She was stressing me out! She was fine after this fall, though, and quickly got back up and then we DID have a wonderful run down the rest of Ross, which was nicely groomed (apparently there's a groomed entrance off of Proctor a bit further down, who knew!).
Runs 8-9
Run 8: Worth Mtn Chair - Voter - Laforce - Meredith
[1.02 mi; 7:42; 965 ft; 26.2 mph max; 7.9 mph avg]
Run 9: Bailey Falls Chair - Voter
[1.09 mi; 5:57; 869 ft; 24.1 mph max; 11.0 mph avg]
We made it back to the lift, and I proposed we followed Voter to Meredith, two green runs, to the Bailey Falls Chair just to say we rode all three chairs - Gen was on board! We had a quick cardio-intensive skate to Voter and took our "summit" pole picture in a cloud. While following Voter, I did take a detour down Laforce, which was labeled as "Crusty" (it was not). It was a fun bump run! Apparently I shouldn't have left Gen by herself, though, because she fell again and pulled something in her calf. She was firmly ready to be all done, which, fair! The sun had just come out, though, and it was suddenly a wonderfully mostly clear day with a warm sun and COMICALLY slow snow. At least it was now just slow and no longer jolty!
We had a nice long ride up the Bailey Falls Chair and followed Voter all the way back down, which would have been such a lovely run if we were able to go over 5mph!
Runs 10-11
Run 10: Worth Mtn Chair - Lift Line - Youngman
[0.97 mi; 5:53; 971 ft; 26.2 mph max; 9.9 mph avg]
Run 11: Bailey Falls Chair - Proctor - Allen
[0.88 mi; 3:57; 863 ft; 25.7 mph max; 13.4 mph avg]
Gen happily called it after that run, but I needed to get my 10 runs in! I got back on the Worth Mountain Chair, thinking I was going to ski Allen, but I saw a trail sign for "Youngman" and had consequently had "YMCA" stuck in my head for the past hour, so I scooted over back to the Bailey Falls side to check it out. Similarly, if the snow wasn't dreadfully sticky, it would have been super fun! There were only two sections of moguls between longer, stickier flats, but I'm glad I tried!
After another long ride up Bailey Falls, I followed Proctor to Allen, which was a truly lovely way to wrap up the ski day! Allen is a fun race trail with a flat between two steeper pitches.
We debooted at the car, sampled some more cheees, and said our goodbyes. I headed back to the resort for a shower and nap and Gen made it back to Boston in one piece! The wedding that night was absolutely stunning, and we did NOT get much sleep before another day at Pico tomorrow!
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