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CROSS COUNTRY
NORDIC SKIING
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From classic to skate to rugged touring, Vermont’s Nordic skiing is exceptional. Whether you’re seeking world-class grooming, woods, or fields, you can find cross-country adventure across the region. Vermont’s Nordic ski centers offer skiing all day and lighted skiing at night, with cutting edge rental gear, comfortable warming lodges, and clearly marked trails. Some Nordic ski networks even welcome skiers with pets! Glide along the Burlington Rec Path for fresh air and stellar views of the snowy Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. In the winter, it’s only plowed on one side, leaving a path for Nordic skiers. Also located right in Burlington, the Intervale grooms trails all the way to Ethan Allen Park, and the skiing is free. For groomed kicking and gliding as well as skate skiing, Sleepy Hollow, which is 30 minutes from Burlington, maintains 35 km of trails with a 2 km loop with manmade snow to get the season going early and keep it going into the spring. Test your mettle at Sleepy Hollow’s Wednesday Night Worlds community race, or come for the day or night to explore. The nighttime Nordic at Sleepy Hollow is almost as popular as day skiing. Up the road, Camel’s Hump Nordic, a non-profit cross country and backcountry ski area, grooms meandering meadows and open woods, and has plenty of ungroomed trails as well. Though it’s mapped and signed, skiing there is still an adventure. Some trails are dog-friendly if you’re a season’s pass holder with a season’s pass for your pup. The ungroomed Catamount Trail runs the entire length of Vermont, with access points at Nordic ski areas, trailheads, and pull-offs along the spine of the Green Mountains. Ski it in sections on your rugged Nordic gear, or tackle shorter day trips. On one of the most popular segments, Bolton to Trapp’s, winds through remote woods over Bolton mountain and drops deep into the Green Mountains finally emerging in Stowe at the legendary Trapp Family Lodge. In Williston, just 15 minutes from Burlington, Catamount Family Center has 35 km of classic and skate groomed trails through woods and dale, with stunning vistas. A 4 km lighted night loop is popular with the after-work crowd. And inside the rustic lodge, Catamount Family Center has a full-service rental center.
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Earn your turns and enjoy the solitude of nature when you skin or snowshoe into Vermont’s forests and mountains to schuss and carve through the snowy glades. Prepare for face shots in well-spaced glades and thrilling chutes, sugary carving through powder stashes, and finding potential lines where ever you look.
Snowmobiling, or “sledding” as it’s often called in Vermont, has been a favorite winter pastime for over 40 years. Vermont has more than 5,000 miles of well-marked and beautifully maintained trails on both public and private land throughout the state. Trails skirt up the flanks of the rugged green mountains. They whoosh through agricultural land buried deep under winter snow. And they wind through pristine forest creeping over mountain passes and connecting communities.
Pond hockey, Nordic skating, and every other kind of ice skating are favorite Vermont winter past times. And, with more than 800 lakes and ponds in Vermont, ice skaters will find plenty of wild places to play. In winter, when the ice is frozen locals break out shovels and clear the ice for skating, local leagues, and more.