Mountain Stats & Info

Truly a Vermont Original

Although our first trails weren’t cut at the current location until 1934, Middlebury’s ski legacy reaches back even further—into the earliest days of alpine sport in the United States.

In 1922, Brattleboro native and ski pioneer Fred Harris constructed one of Vermont’s earliest ski jumps on a hillside along Cedar Street in Middlebury. That same year, the site hosted the first Vermont state ski championship, putting Middlebury at the forefront of the state’s winter sports history.

By 1924, a 40-meter jump was built on Chipman Hill—also known as Battle Hill—overlooking downtown Middlebury. This jump helped establish the town as a hub for competitive ski jumping. It was later succeeded by a 50-meter jump at the Middlebury College Snowbowl, which went on to host the NCAA Ski Jumping Championships in both 1961 and 1973, welcoming top collegiate athletes from across the country.

A mountain steeped in history, the Snowbowl became one of Vermont’s earliest ski areas when trails were first cut here in 1934, launching a legacy of champion Middlebury College ski teams and Olympians. Today, three chairlifts (two triples and one double) and a surface lift serve 28 trails and 11 gladed areas across 110 skiable acres, with over 600 additional acres of woods and backcountry terrain. State-of-the-art snowmaking ensures consistent conditions on six main trails, and night skiing is offered Wednesday through Friday evenings.

The Snowbowl’s historic base lodge—expanded and renovated in 2003—still features the original fieldstone fireplace where skiers once warmed their woolies after a day on the slopes. Guests enjoy a full-service cafeteria, equipment rentals, tuning, and professional instruction through our Snow School.

Whether you’re discovering skiing for the first time or refining your skills, the Snowbowl remains a skier’s mountain—affordable, authentic, and rooted in a history as solid as the granite ridgelines that shape our terrain.