Ski Sneak Peek of The Week: Mad River Glen

Written by Bryan Rivard

Mad River Glen

August 4, 2025

Even if the chairs are up and life is still in General Starks, Mad River Glen’s team is moving on an early August morning. Big machines haul bigger machines as the crew installs a new hydraulic lift to service snow cats this coming winter.

Chair 4 is primed and ready to go; Chair 2 is sporting a fresh coat of paint; cable inspectors are running annual checks on surface lifts. I’m the only thing not moving—until I hear the clang of a beam-hauling tractor closing in.

You can learn a lot visiting a ski area in summer. Here’s some of the things I picked up today about Mad River Glen:

1. Lifts are primed, painted, and ready to go for this season.
2. The cafeteria has local cooks serving up fare like a sub-$10 burger with beef sourced a few miles up the road
3. Mad River Glen’s one mechanic works his magic out of a building designed by an 80s ski movie. It may not be wearing sunglasses, but there is a moose head.
4. Mad River Glen has been making and grooming snow since the practice started—they treat the stuff like white gold. Friends who say “they don’t groom” are liars.
5. The season “starts” at Mad River Glen when the hill gets mowed in the fall. (update-the season has started!)
6. They hand mow and offer people a free season pass for doing it.

Keep tabs on Mad River Glen here.