Mad River Glen: Down the Rabbit Hole

MRG Rabbit Hole Skiing

Of all the mountains that I might suspect to score a “day after the powder day” powder day (during a holiday period), Mad River Glen is not a prime suspect. But adventurous woods skiing yielded everything from packed powder to loose fluff to honest to goodness completely untracked lines, two days after a holiday weekend storm. Friggin’ sweet!

I wasn’t expecting expansive off map opportunities but Mad River Glen delivered. Throughout the morning I kept thinking “there is no way that such and such a shot is going to ski well” and invariably I would try it and score excellent snow and quality turns. Despite the “woods are thin” signage at the Single, I found the off map woods to be very well covered and one dump away from being chargeable.

MRG Tree Skiing

Back on the map, things weren’t quite as good due to the quantity of skiers hitting the snow hard. Steeper runs such as Cat Bowl, Chute, and Liftline sported significant thin coverage areas where the snow had been beat down to the grassy and icy base. But for the most part, on map skiing featured an incredibly delicious packed powder. Mad River Glen is skiing quite excellent right now and with two small refreshes later this week, it should be high on your radar for the upcoming weekend.

Despite today falling in the middle of a holiday period with schools still on break and many workers taking a long weekend, there were no crowds whatsoever. The Single line ranged from ski on to five minutes but was more often than not only a minute or two wait. I was expecting typical non-holiday weekend traffic on this New Year’s Eve Monday. But I was delighted to lap the single all morning without long waits.

All my runs were skier’s right on the Single (an unusual occurrence due to the lack of a line at the Single) and every run was unique. I opted for progressively more challenging lines in sketchier locations and eventually found my way down some tight and steep rabbit holes that skied way better than my current fitness level and the time of year should have allowed. All of this delight despite a holiday powder day worth of skier traffic yesterday and fresh lines still abound. A sweet day of skiing, for sure.

MRG Rabbit Hole Skiing

MRG Tree Skiing

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