mad river glen cooperative

Visited MRG for a mid week 5 day ski Feb. 9-13, 2015. Woke up to a 12" snow storm and then two more 4" storms later that week. Wow the conditions were great and all natural snow. I got my tickets on Liftopia and the average daily price was $35.00, what a bargain (regular day ticket is $60.00). If you've never been before, this place is unlike any other. It's not a ski resort if you want that go next door to Sugarbush. If you want the most pure ski experience you have had in twenty years go to MRG. This place is privately owned by shareholders so they have chosen to keep it ski only -no boards. They have some of the most unique terrain to ski, a tree skiers dream. I was skiing virgin snow most of the week and in the glades I was in over my knees in powder. There is a run there called "Paradise" which you have to climb up to once you get off the single chair, traverse the mountain for a bit then go into the glades for the most intense run of your life. This run isn't for the faint of heart as you navigate through dense evergreens and drop over an ice shelf to get to the rest of the trail and then into a deciduous tree glade with steep moguls. People are super friendly there and the staff are always glad to help. The lodge is not extravagant though the food is good and great beers on tap from many local VT breweries. Thursday nights the local cheesery Cabot puts out free Fondue and you feel like you've taken a trip back to the 60's or 70's! I can't say enough for this ski area and I've skied it since 1975. Not a lot has changed since then but that is what makes this place so great. They did upgrade the diesel powered single chair to an electric single about 10 years ago. I guess they really weren't trying to put more skiers up the mountain like most resorts do. You always feel like you have the mountain to yourself though that may be different on a weekend? they have had 5 more feet of snow since I was there and the conditions are incredible, even better than out west where they are having a snow drought. So try it out and ski it if you can.

If you are looking to travel back in time as a skiier, this is the place for you. I was a little hesitant about the difficulty of the resort and I was fine. This place is beautiful, the trails are great and the people are hardcore! We got engaged at the top of the single chair, everyone on the mountain was in on it, the women in the gift shop made the sign and it was a day I'll never forget. Great bar upstairs and great turns on the hills!

Tldr; Thanks a lot to the Mad River Glen marketing guys for the free ski rental! Figured I’d pay you back with a review and my tale…I’m a big snowboarder and I organize ski/snowboard trips with everyone I know. This winter I was invited by one of my former professors to go on a trip up in Vermont. He’d buy the lift tickets and I could stay at his place and all I had to do was bring his car up from Boston.I get up late so its around 1:30-2:00 when I’m getting near the mountains. My professor calls me and says he has a ticket waiting at Mad River Glen. Hmmmm…. I’ve never heard of that place. Great! Always fun to board a new mountain…So I get to the mountain, get on all my gear, grab my board, pickup my ticket, and start walking out of the lodge. Man, everything is going so smoothly! Then I notice everyone is giving me weird looks. I mean my jacket is pretty unique, but its not THAT unique! Wonder what they’re looking at…Oh wait… they’re all on skis…Oh wait… there’s only skis on the racks…Oh crap… this is a ski only mountain…I call my professor, no answer. Well now what!? So I’m sitting there looking stupid when some guy comes up to me with a Mad River Glen marketing badge on.“Hey man, you look like you have no idea whats going on! You really didn’t know this was a ski-only mountain huh?” He says, “Why don’t you come down and we can fit you for a pair of skis.”Well, I have nothing else to do, and my darn professor still isn’t picking up, so I decide to go for it. As I’m getting fit, they of course ask me how many times I’ve skied before.“Uhhhh…. Zero.” The ski technicians all give me that “ohhhh boy” look. But come on, how hard can it be?!I get on the skis and realize, oh, this is very difficult. I try that skating thing that looks so easy but nope, not going anywhere.Now, at MRG there’s two lifts. One is closer and one is further away. Well, I don’t have a map and I’m struggling to move. So obviously, I choose the closer lift. I figure if it only serves intermediate and advanced slopes it might say something. No warnings, I must be good!So I get on the lift, it’s a single chair. Ohhh now I get why the Long Trail Ale beer is called that… This presents a problem though, now I’m just alone with my thoughts. No one to ask how I actually do this weird thing with two separate pieces of wood strapped to my rock hard boots. But as luck would have it, I see a spot to get off about halfway up the mountain. “This is perfect! I’ll just take a nice ride halfway down and learn” I think. I open the gate about to get off the lift when I realize… that exit is closed.So I close the gate and continue on up the mountain. Now things are getting steeper… uh oh.I finally get to the summit, get off the lift, aaaannnddd faceplant. Great start. I walk (not skate) over to the trail map to realize, theres definitely only blues and blacks here. Super duper…I take the easiest blue I can find down, which let me tell you with years of snowboarding experience, is a lot harder than other New England blues.My first run takes me 50 minutes, I timed it. I probably fall 50 times. People pass me twice in the same run, and they recognize me.“Oh, you’re that snowboarder huh? How’s it going?” They say.Through heavy breaths from falling and getting up so often I tell them I’m ok. Plus, I’m a snowboarder, I gotta be chill… brahSo the second time up I decide to take the other lift. This one’s GOTTA have a green or two. As I’m traveling up the mountain, I decide to try to call my professor again to tell him about my adventure so far. Now I’m used to playing with my phone on the lift, I only need to deal with gloves. But now I have these damn ski poles to fiddle with, and in the process… I lose a glove.I’m so mad at myself, this is the first time I’ve ever done that. I take a mental note and (obviously) continue up to the top. This time I find a green to ski down, and things actually start clicking. I make it down the run and only fall two or three times!At the base I go to the lift operator and ask if ski patrol can grab my glove because I’m not a good enough skier to pick it up. “Uh kid, there’s no ski patrol”Crap.So I ask him if I can grab my board and ride down and grab it. Nope, not allowed, they are serious about their no boarder policy. He says I can wait till the mountain closes and hike up and board down, but that’s still a ways away and sounds like a huge effort.But he tells me not to worry, its mostly green and only a little blue to get my glove; he thinks I can do it. Well, I do now have two runs under my belt, I suppose that does make me an intermediate to advanced level skier now… So I decide to go for it.I ski down the green without a problem (except that I cant feel my hand…) I take the path to get my glove and sure enough, there it is. I’m feeling pretty good at this point, time for a little more speed.Bad idea.I soon catch an edge and faceplant at full speed. One of my ski poles sticks in the snow in front of me and I punch myself in the face in the process. I slide 20 feet down the mountain before coming to a stop. In my hand, I’m holding half a ski pole. I walk back up the mountain and find the other half still in the snow. So, embarrassed and in pain, I get back into my skis and continue towards the dreaded blue.As I stand at the top of the blue, broken pole in one hand, almost no feeling in the other, bit of a black eye from my own hand, I realize my situation has just gotten even worse… it’s a mogul field.But I’ve made it this far, I suck it up and drop in. The mogul field takes me another 10-15 minutes. I probably destroyed half the moguls (sorry MRG!) and fell another dozen times. Making it through that mogul field was one of my best accomplishments to date.I ski by the lift with my arms triumphantly in the air. The lift operator just starts clapping for me. I make it back to the rental shack and the technicians receive the broken pole with a “Ya we knew that was coming” look on their face. But they were cool about it.So, I learned how to ski (kinda), and even though everything that went wrong, had an awesome day skiing. Thanks so much for the rental Mad River Glen, and if I ever go skiing again, I’m definitely coming to you!

The ski area's logo: "Mad River Glen Ski It If You Can", sometimes scares people away, but it really means come here and ski. There are plenty of well-groomed beginner and intermediate trails, but for the skiers who want a challenge, MRG offers the most aggressive off-piste skiing and most difficult trails in the east at the most affordable rates. You owe it to yourself to ski Mad River Glen. I've been skiing here for over 30 years!

Great vibe, mountain and incredible conditions. The mountain is like a living breathing ski museum from the old school ski lodge to the single chair which is the fastest fixed grip chair in the nation so I heard. This year it looks like "Ski the East" is for real.

This plan is just an exceptional place. Run as a cooperative out of love for skiing. Only natural snow so you have to adapt to conditions. If conditions are not good for skiing or too cold, you will friends in the bar longing for a simpler life.

we stopped in for drinks and conversation- have to be a member- my husband went when he was a child- didn't ski there-they don't groom

Excellent skiing, lots of interesting trails and amazing groomed runs too.Slow lifts, but that's just a part of the charm. So layer up and ski it if you can.

This place is a must if you are a true skier and conditions permit. The skiing here is different than anywhere I have skied before. They only allow skiers, there are no express lifts, there is a single chair and all natural snow. We were there on MLK day and the lost power in the afternoon but we had a blast in the morning. It wouldn't be my first stop amongst the big mountains (Stowe, Jay, Smuggs etc.) but really enjoyed skiing here.

I've been to Mad River Glen three times and unfortunately the conditions have not been perfect for any of them, but it was still incredible! The terrain at MRG truly will test you and make you push your limits, but in a good way.If you call yourself a dedicated skier make sure to go once and ride the single chair, it is a truly serene experience.

Their mission is to preserve the old ways of skiing and the do that beautifully. Meaning, the people are fabulously friendly, the knowledge of the staff is bar none, service is bar none, and the mountain is beautiful, well kept, and skiable to all ability levels. Its not possible to leave here and not have made some friends. And they have a master boot fitter who sat down with me for over an hour and customized a pair of ski boots to my not-average feet (wide width, short calf)...THANKS DAVE! The grateful dead plays at the base and at the mid station. And even when i fell off the lift at the mid station, no one rushed me out of the way. I was embarrassed but everyone was just concerned that I was alright. As a newer skier, that put me at ease. A ski instructor saw me struggling on the mountain and gave me a bro-bono ski lesson on the spot which increased my skills by 100-fold in the matter of 15 minutes. And because of all these wonderfully human experiences, I plan to ski more often and will definitely be back to Mad River Glen throughout my life, and can't wait to bring my two year old there in the future. If you are looking for brand new buildings and a cold corporate feel, this place is NOT for you. But I cannot express how joyful i am that a place like this still exists in our country.

I've been skiing at MRG since my Dad took me here in the early 1960s, and it has hardly changed since then. Their trademark single diesel chairlift has been replaced, by a new single electric chair (who does that?), because that is what the co-op owners of this unique ski area wanted. This is truly a skier's ski area, with nothing to do but ski. No fancy base area with hotels or restaurants, just an unassuming bar and burger joint. There are some nice cruising runs off the top of the single chair and the Birdland Chair as well. Of course, MRG is famous for the challenging steep stuff and the glades dropping off the single chair. When the weather is good, you are not going to find better skiing terrain anywhere else in New England. When the weather is not so good, this might not be the best choice. They have virtually no snowmaking, and only a few runs are groomed. The result can be sketchy and icy conditions, particularly late in the season. And finally, this cannot be minimized: No Snowboarders! I cannot tell you how much more pleasurable it is to ski narrow runs without fear of some out-of-control or uncaring 'boarder running you over. I think that there are only 3 or 4 ski areas in North America that do not permit snowboarders, and MRG is one of them. That alone puts Mad River Glen in my top list of eastern ski areas.

Have the courage and faith to ride up the ghostly single chair into the mist beyond. A perfectly lonely, one that is the ideal beginning to allow riders to mentally prepare themselves in anticipation of the drop. It is very unfortunate that at this stage, the resort still prevents snowboarders from riding the mountain, possibly a little small minded? A sport is a sport regardless of the tools used to enjoy. Reviewing the history of the resort, it seems to be more of a people problem than a sport problem. Maybe 20 years after the ban was implemented, would be enough time for the generation of people causing the problems to die off, leaving a more modern one to remain. A generation that can consider reversing ban to eliminate discrimination.

Mad River Glen is simply the best ski area for challenge, terrain and old fashioned (non corporate) ski atmosphere in the east.

A single chair lift, most runs are not groomed, no snowboarders allowed, only one restaurant and bar, casually attired skiers (male skiers with large beards found here), and mostly black runs with lots of moguls makes this place feel like "pioneer" skiing! So if you are looking for a great ski challenge and want to experience something totally different from what most ski resorts offer, this is the place for you. Although it is true when they say "ski it if you can", our daughter does not enjoy moguls or steep runs and she still found trails to keep her satisfied all week long. You really feel like you are going back to the days when you would ski at a resort and by the end of the day you start to know and recognize people. You can't get lost here and everyone is super friendly. The prices are also very reasonable. Our family has skied the rockies and the Alps but this time we wanted to get to our destination by car so we chose to go to Vermont at MRG. We have no regrets. Our daughter even said it was one of her best ski vacations ever!