Score Change: Mount Snow Falling Behind on Signage Upkeep, Leading to Dangerous Circumstances
The only marking for Mount Snow’s black-diamond Yard Sale run as of January 22, 2022.
Mount Snow has historically earned high praise from PeakRankings for its ease of navigation. However, since our last visit a few years ago, the quality of postings around the mountain has degraded considerably.
To be clear, the majority of Mount Snow’s signs are still in good, clear shape. However, the elements have really taken their toll on trail markings in certain areas, with many faded to the point of illegibility. Some trail map postings have seen wear and tear as well, with some scratched out to the point where key areas are no longer visible. At least one—at the top of Bear Trap—is now missing entirely.
The Mount Snow trail map at the top of Carinthia, where pole marks have conveniently scratched out…the top of Carinthia.
Due to the fade issue, some trails no longer sufficiently advertise their difficulties, meaning that it’s unreasonably easy for less experienced guests to end up on a run that’s too hard. One such run is the black-diamond Yard Sale trail, which is the only black among a sea of intermediate runs. We saw multiple visitors hiking out after missing the run’s black-diamond indicator, which was so faded it was essentially unmarked. Situations like this can be really scary and unsafe for guests.
We hope Mount Snow addresses these signage issues soon, but given the very real guest experience impacts from the lack of maintenance, we are downgrading Mount Snow’s navigation score from an 8 to a 7 in the mean time. We hope Vail Resorts is reading this and plans some signage investments in the very near term. We look forward to returning to Mount Snow next season to see if the necessary fixes have been put in place.
Mount Snow retains its ranking as 6th in Vermont and is now tied for 53rd overall.
For more on Mount Snow, check out our full Mount Snow mountain review and our Vermont resort rankings. For more on our navigation criteria, see our detailed ratings thresholds for the PeakRankings navigation category.
Mount Snow Score Change
8
Previous Navigation Score
7
New Navigation Score
53
Previous Overall Score
52
New Overall Score
