Open for Skiing
Saturday afternoon, November 18, around 3pm.
As of Friday, November 17, Craftsbury opened a couple of small strips of snow on the northern end of Lemon’s Haunt for on-snow skiing. The first is accessible from the lower stadium (behind Cedar Lodge). The other requires a short walk along the rollerski loop to Coaches’ Corner. This second one is a bit longer. See below for an idea of where we’re talking about.
Take whatever steps you can to not track dirt on to the snow. Dark dirt and mud quickly rots the snow.
The current amount of snow is workable for technique and some limited distance kind of work. Given the distance of the strips, anything more intense is pretty unlikely to work well at this time.
Current snowmaking plans
The intent is to take advantage of snowmaking (and snow moving) weather windows to complete the highlighted trail above using pit snow (manmade snow stored over summer in our snow depot) and expand it with freshly blown snow. It’s a dynamic situation - stay up to date on current conditions via our trail conditions board at craftsbury.com/dashboard.
FAQs
What about snowshoeing or fatbiking?
No snow to speak of exists off the manufactured loop. We’re reserving the very limited snow for skiers at this time. Great dryland mountain biking and running/walking options continue to be available as part of our singletrack network. Currently no limitations regarding tire width etc are in play on the singletrack network.
Can I still rollerski?
At time of writing, yes. We hope to preserve the roller loop as long as possible for higher speed training purposes than our snippets of snow support at this time. However, at some point the loop will be bisected to complete an actual manmade loop. When that happens you’ll find out about it on our trail conditions board at craftsbury.com/dashboard.
Can I still ride mountain bikes or trail run off the snow?
Yep! At some point with sufficient natural snow we will transition to winter rules for the singletrack, with snowshoes and minimum tire size requirements etc. But until that time, enjoy with your summer gear.
Can I just walk/ride/run on other, off-campus ski trails?
Sadly no. The Outdoor Center's agreements with landowners are NOT year round. This means that ski trails not at the Center's campus are NOT ACCESSIBLE until we start grooming. It’s also still deer season and active hunting is in play across much of the off-campus trailsystem. Read more.
Happy winter! Here’s hoping we can welcome you (and lots of natural snow) soon!
A new tool in grooming's arsenal for snowmaking in 2024 at Craftsbury.