We’re over a month into the New Year, which means skiing and snowboarding season is in full swing, even though the weather is trying to tell us otherwise. The lack of snow shouldn’t deter anyone who has been thinking about grabbing their equipment and heading off to a nearby mountain, especially Mount Snow.
Mount Snow is located in the small town of Dover, Vermont, home to about 1,410 people and about an hour’s drive away from Keene, making it a little further away from other mountains like Pat’s Peak and Crotched Mountain.
Even though the town is small, Mount Snow is the exact opposite, which is a major plus in my book, but also a bit of a problem which I’ll get into later. The size of the mountain and the surrounding resort comes out to a very impressive 588 acres and the summit elevation is 3,586 feet. To put that in perspective, Pats Peak’s acreage and elevation is only 103 and 1,460 feet respectively.
Connor Morrell / Multimedia Director
The day that I went to Mount Snow (Sunday, Jan. 31), there was an inch of fresh snow made by the numerous snow machines scattered around the trails which packed down into some pretty sticky snow by the end of the day, due to the above-normal temperature. The best part about this mountain for me is the layout and how it’s organized. I’ve been to quite a few mountains where there’s a main lodge bundled with the cafeteria/restaurant, rental area and pro shop, but with Mount Snow, everything’s nice and spread out – almost like a small village.
Now back to the size and my only major problem with the mountain. I went on a Sunday, which meant I had only eight hours to ski this wonderful mountain, and that’s just not enough time to explore everything. Even if you were to skip lunch (which I do not recommend doing since there are many places to eat) you still wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate even the main part of the mountain.
Overall though, I’d have to say Mount Snow is one of my new favorites from the dozen or so mountains I’ve skied. Everyone working at the mountain was nice and the food was really good (albeit a little pricy). The fact that it’s such a huge mountain and that I wasn’t able to explore all of it just means I will need to visit again.
Connor can be contacted at cmorrell@kscequinox.com
