Vermont Snowmaking & Grooming Updates for Winter 2025-26

Take a state known for its winters, equip it with some of the most powerful snowmaking systems on earth, and turn teams of expert snowmakers loose—and you’ve got a Vermont ski season.

Snowmaking has come a long way (even in the past few years), and Vermont’s snowmakers are on the leading edge of snowmaking technology with decades of experience and a constant desire to increased efficiency and make more with less. Whether it’s supplementing legendary snowfall with some manmade powder, or giving mother nature a helping hand between storms, Vermont ski areas have the power and expertise to keep everyone gliding on snow during the winter months.

New snow guns, redesigned terrain park.

With 9 new high-efficiency snow guns on Corkscrew and Lower Boulevard and freshly-replaced snowmaking pipe on East Side Steeps (and in the learning area), Bromley stands ready to welcome plenty of snow to its signature sunny slopes.

Neighbors to the north—Arena Snowparks—will also be returning to Bromley from Canada this season to craft one of its in-demand parks for Vermont’s “Sun Mountain

Double capacity, new snowcat.

Burke spent the summer reconfiguring its snowmaking system to be more energy efficient and maximize output on the mountain. The operations team reassigned snowmaking pipes and relocated guns on all levels of terrain, adding a total of 150 new HKD and SMI snow guns to the system. The effort should more than double snowmaking capacity and, if Mother Nature cooperates, allow Burke to open earlier than it has in recent years. The on-snow team will also be breaking in the resort’s new Prinoth snowcat this season.

Expanded automation, new snowcats, more efficiency.

Jay Peak enters the 2025–26 season with the most significant snowmaking upgrade in over a decade. The installation of 49 new HKD Low-E air-water guns and Klik automated hydrants delivers more energy-efficient, higher-quality snow with reduced manual setup time. This work is the first phase of a 10-year snowmaking plan that will eventually place automated fan guns on wider trails and fully automated air-water guns on narrower trails.

Snowmaking capacity will also expand with the addition of a Techno Alpin TR10 fan gun and two demo fans, powered by new electrical infrastructure at both base areas. Through its partnership with Efficiency Vermont, Jay is retrofitting many older guns with new nozzles to further reduce air consumption and improve performance.

On the grooming side, Jay has added two new Prinoth groomers. One comes equipped with a winch for more effective grooming on steep terrain, while the other is outfitted with a lidar snow depth system. This state-of-the-art tool measures and records snowpack depths in real time, allowing operators to identify thin areas, redistribute snow more effectively, and provide valuable data to the snowmaking team. Together, these improvements will enhance efficiency, snow quality, and the guest experience throughout the season.

1000 new guns, 4 new cats, and high-efficiency retrofits:

Over the past two seasons, 1,020 new low-energy HKD tower and fan guns (540 this summer) have been installed across Killington and Pico, more than doubling the total number of fixed tower guns between the two mountains—and unprecedented increase in equipment. The expanded coverage and increased system efficiency further signals that snowmaking remains a top priority for The Beast.

Trails receiving new tower guns include Great Northern, Home Run, Chute, Mouse Trap, Mouse Run, Lower East Fall, Cascade, Cascade Runout, Spillway, Superstar, Northbrook Trail, High Road, The Stash, Shorty, Bear Cub, Bearly, Skye Lark, Pipe Dream, Killink, Lower Easy Street, as well as skiers’ right and left of Highline.

The new snow guns represent some $7 million of capital investment and will allow for a significant reduction in electricity, diesel fuel, and labor while also saving 5,818,850 pounds of carbon emissions per year. Lower air consumption per gun increases snowmaking capacity by decreasing the volume of air used to convert water to snow, enabling snowmakers to cover more terrain with fewer resources.

In addition to the new equipment, Killington Resort is transitioning to a new control and hydrant tracking system for the 2025/26 season (HKD ISno and HKD’s hydrant tracker) to monitor production, automate controls, and ensure maximum efficiency of the entire system at both Killington and Pico.

New pipelines and valve stations have also been installed throughout the resort to improve system capacity and reliability, bolstering one of the longest ski seasons in the East.

Four new snowcats joined the fleet over the summer: two PistenBully 400 Park Pro cats and two Prinoth Bison X cats. One of each is equipped with a winch for more reliable grooming of steeper trails.

Coming in 2025-26: Killington has announced $2 million each with be allocated toward new snowcats and new snowmaking pipelines in 2025-26. The new pipelines will help feed over the over 1,000 low-energy snow guns teams have installed over the last two seasons.

Magic has invested more resources into snowmaking this season with new energy efficient guns, high-efficiency nozzle upgrades for existing guns, the addition of new hydrants, and the replacement of 1500’ of snowmaking pipe for more efficient snow delivery to the lower portion of mountain, from Black Line down to Show Off.

New HKD tower and fan guns will also be added to the at the new Abracadabra base and beginner areas, improving snowmaking for those locations as well as nearby lower Hocus Pocus and down into the Quad lift loading area. Expert terrain from Witch down through Black Line will also have snowmaking this season.

50% of Magic’s non-glade trail network can now be covered with higher quality man-made snow, doubling the 25% glade coverage the area produced when Magic was purchased 9 years ago.

Middlebury has spent the summer replacing large segments of their snowmaking pipe system (including Allen West up to the summit), ensuring improved efficiency and reliability across the mountain.

The area has undertaken multiple terrain-improvement projects, including opening older trails, widening corridors, and completing drainage enhancements across several areas of the mountain. These improvements not only expand skiable terrain but will also improve snow retention and grooming quality throughout the season.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort continues to invest in on-mountain improvements to ensure top-quality conditions throughout the winter. This season features new snowmaking pipe replacements and system upgrades, supported by the Snowright System, which allows for more efficient operations and enhanced snow quality. Smuggs’ ops crews spent a lot of time trail mapping this summer and created a digital baseline of the mountain’s natural terrain. With this topographical information the Snowright software—which is linked to Smuggs’ snowmaking systems as well as their snow groomers—snowmakers can see real-time measurements of snow depths on the mountain. The improved precision allows them to know exactly how much snow is needed in a given space, improving water and energy efficiency while helping cover terrain faster than before.

This season the Woodstock Nordic Center will become one of just seven Nordic ski areas in the state with ability to make snow. The purchase of an HDK fan gun will produce snow to keep skiers, snowshoers, and fat-tire bikers on the trails this winter. The cross-country center’s pilot last year included a month-long fan gun rental that proved to be essential when periods of the season lacked natural snow. This winter, the team will have the ability to make snow to keep 5m of core trails in the over-45km network covered, regardless of natural snowfall.