Skiing McIntyre Ski Area
Friday, March 13th, 2026
Runs: 10
Distance: 2.26 miles
Elevation: 1,619 feet
Max Speed: 29.7 mph
Avg. Speed: 11.3 mph
Moving Time: 12 minutes, 4 seconds
Total Time: 51 minutes, 58 seconds
To no surprise, it was another weekend away skiing! Gen wanted to get back to Jay for the first time this season, and of course I was going to join! We got started on our weekend a day early with a short visit to McIntyre Ski Area on the way up. I was impressed with their snow coverage after a big melt we just had - they were basically at 100% (at least 100% of the same terrain as last time I visited!). Gen and I parked easily, got a seat in the lodge, got our Indy Passes, and got booted up! The goal was to basically ski the whole hill (Gen kept calling it a mountain, I kept calling it a snow bank). When we arrived just before 5:00pm, only Apollo 14 was spinning, but just after 5:00pm they also started spinning Mercury-Redstone.
Runs 1-5
Run 1: Apollo 14 - The Queen's Trail
[0.24 mi; 1:33; 164 ft; 18.5 mph max; 9.1 mph avg]
Run 2: Mercury-Redstone - Sandler's Trail (L)
[0.23 mi; 1:25; 164 ft; 22.7 mph max; 9.9 mph avg]
Run 3: Apollo 14 - Sandler's Trail (M)
[0.20 mi; 1:03; 161 ft; 24.6 mph max; 11.2 mph avg]
Run 4: Mercury-Redstone - Sandler's Trail (R)
[0.20 mi; 1:03; 161 ft]
Run 5: Mercury-Redstone - Gilman's Race Trail
[0.22 mi; 1:15; 161 ft]
The plan became to ski across the hill, from looker's right to left! Run #1 brought us up Apollo 14 and down The Queen's Trail, a simple green. The most difficult part was dodging the ski school kids being led by kids who likely are working their first job, snaking down the hill in slightly predictably but also terrifying fashion.
In order to maek the most of our visit, we split up the lift line (Sandler's Trail) into three seperate runs, since it was essentially divided in three by the two lifts' towers. Run #2 was up Mercury-Redstone (it seemed that the lessons stuck to Apollo 14) and we took the skier's left side. Gen and I decided to race up for Run #3 - she took Mercury-Redstone and I took Apollo 14. I got on first, but there was an adaptive skier on the chair behind me, so Gen won by a landslide. We followed the middle line down.
We both got back on Mercury-Redstone to ski the right side, nice tight turn practice, even if there was minimal pitch!
When we got back in line for Run #5 a kid was getting on the chair and another kid ZOOMED by Gen and I (in the line), goggles flailing behind and jacket unzipped, trying to get on that same chair. He got yelled at (reasonably) by the lifty and then just... stood there? The kid eventually said he couldn't get the bar down and up by himself, so the lifty took a deep breath (one that I do FREQUENTLY as a teacher) and gave him some tips. We eventually got on and then followed Gilman's Race Trail down, which I think is my favorite on the hill!
Runs 6-8
Run 6: Mercury-Redstone - Exit 8 - Uncle Gus's Trail - Weston Trail
[0.25 mi; 1:12; 161 ft]
Run 7: Mercury-Redstone - Exit 8 - Weston Trail
[0.25 mi; 1:03; 164 ft; 27.2 mph max; 14.1 mph avg]
Run 8: Mercury-Redstone - Exit 8 - Uncle Gus's Trail - Weston Trail
[0.25 mi; 1:12; 161 ft; 29.7 mph max; 12.3 mph avg]
Run #6 was planned to be down Weston Trail, but that trail has a high and low route and kids love to use it as jump practice (going from the high to low to high), and with that comes a lot of kids simply standing there (and then falling). We let some of the carnage there get cleaned up and we hit the baby park - Uncle Gus's Trail - instead. I did scope out a box I could DEFINITELYT hit.
Run #7 was down Weston (we did NOT hit the jump) and Run #8 was back onto Uncle Gus. Gen went down first to get a video of me and two kids skied up asking if I was going to hit the rail. I laughed and said "oh god no" and then hit the box in the most careful fasion imaginable.
Runs 9-10
Run 9: Apollo 14 - Gilman's Race Trail
[0.22 mi; 1:15; 161 ft]
Run 10: Apollo 14 - Sandler's Trail
[0.20 mi; 1:03; 161 ft]
Our final two runs were up Apollo 14, since they closed Mercury-Redstone again, probably due to lack of crowds. Run #9 was back down Gilman's Race Trail, and Run #10 was down Sandler's Trail. My watch was a little weird with the tracking, likely because of how mellow the hill is, but they were all good and we got our 10 runs in!
We de-booted on the back deck since the lodge filled up a bit and it was so nice out. We had a medium painful drive up to Emma's, though. I-89 was in rough shape, naturally. We got to the West Lebanon Taco Bell without too much issue, but it started to snow snow while we were there. There was some dangerously slippery spots on I-89 before Montpelier, per usual, and my car did get a little off-track at one point that had both Gen and I not breathing, but once we cleared the high point we were fine for the rest. We got to Emma's just before 10, and it was right to bed!
