Updated April 29, 2026 01:23PM
As the Killington lifts wind down and the Iglu at Sunday River turns into a mud-season puddle, New Englanders can be proud of their monumental ski season.
The pow days were measured in actual feet (not inches), and the snow reporters weren’t even forced to get creative—no, ice is not the same thing as “firm skiing” and “packed powder.” It stayed cold, the snow stuck around, and for once, New England could call the ski season what it was: Wicked good.
We may not have the high altitudes or big open bowls, but as Colorado and Utah waited for snow, our resorts were breaking records.
Most Snowfall: Jay Peak, Vt.
Steep and deep, Jay Peak clocked more snow than any ski resort in the country–404 inches as of late April (the resort’s record is 576 inches during the 2000-’01 season). This year, even impressed Mountain Ops.
“We hit 300 inches earlier than ever before, which says a lot about how strong the early season was,” says Dehlia Wright, Jay Peak communications coordinator.
From an early November seven-foot surge to 94 inches in February alone, the season opened the floodgates for glades and rugged “Big Jay” deep backcountry terrain off-piste. And you better bet the dedicated skiers in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom will take advantage until it’s all gone, with its anticipated May 10 closing.
Longest Season: Killington Resort, Vt.
New England’s largest ski resort, ”the Best of the East,” is almost always its last resort operating. This year was no exception.
“It’s less about wrapping up the day and more about extending it,” says Josh Reed, Killington’s communications manager.
Since its early bird opening, Killington has seen over 200 inches of snowpack, which, when combined with cold temperatures and little rain, made for “one of our most productive snowmaking seasons since the turn of the century,” says Reed. “Consistency is really the story of this season.”
From Pond Skim to Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge and all the live music in between, Killington’s spring season is expected to rage on past Memorial Day. And with New England’s most skiable acreage (1,500) and largest vertical drop (3,050 feet), it checks.
“We’ll operate as long as conditions allow,” says Reed. “On Memorial Day Weekend, we offer our ‘Three Sport Weekend,’ allowing guests to ski, golf, and mountain bike all in the same visit.”
Earliest Opening (tied with Killington): Sunday River, Maine
Both Sunday River and Killington were spinning chairs by Nov.12, and with some of the best snowmaking in the East, these resorts were able to continue the momentum long before the Thanksgiving turkey hit the table.
But more importantly, frigid temperatures and early-season snowstorms brought significant above-average snowfall. By January, I was skiing powder in a near whiteout at Sunday River (refueling in the Mountain Room). It set the pace for February’s historic Blizzard of 2026, which added another two feet while Maine got some of the coldest temperatures in 20 years.
“Consistent cold temperatures and our snowmaking infrastructure set us up for the best December and Christmas week we’ve seen in several years. We were 100 percent open in January, and from there the snow just kept coming, and the skiing kept getting better,” says Sunday River communications manager Ellen Wainwright. “It was a winter our guests and our team are going to remember.”
Across eight peaks, every last inch from groomer into the trees opened this year at Sunday River, and the sugar on top? The mountain is now planning a multi-year expansion.
Most Skier Visits: Saddleback Mountain, Maine
Saddleback Mountain is the wild west of New England ski resorts (in a good way). After years of legal disputes and financial instability, the mountain was bought by an investment company solely to revitalize a rural, underserved region in western Maine. Since defeating the odds yet again with a successful socially distanced 2020 pandemic opening, Saddleback is thriving, and so is the picturesque town of Rangeley, known first for fly fishing.
And now, this year, Saddleback broke its visitation records too.
“We’ve had the most skier visits in the resort’s history and saw the biggest single day and three-day stretch in Saddleback’s history over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, January 17 to 19,” says Ethan Austin, Saddleback’s director of marketing. “We benefitted from an extended period from early January through late February with consistent snowfall and no thaw-freeze events, so conditions were excellent for most of that time.”
Best Early Season: Stowe Mountain Resort, Vt.
By late 2025, Vermont’s highest peak, Mt. Mansfield at Stowe Mountain Resort, was already experiencing a record-breaking early season. The mountain had been blanketed in its deepest early-season snowpack in over 60 years: 63 inches by mid-December. By the end of the season, Stowe had achieved its personal top-five snow depths in recorded history. But who would expect anything less from the “Ski Capital of the East?”
“Snow continued to stack up with over 310 inches of natural snowfall this season,” says Courtney DiFiore, northeast senior communications manager for Vail Resorts.
