- All Photos Credit Brooke Cerbone
If you haven’t been to Reggaefest at Mount Snow, consider this your hint to go. It is a spectacular event! Live reggae in the base area, pond skimming, and the Duct Tape Derby highlight a weekend filled with slushy skiing, and enough sunscreen to hydrate a small desert. It’s a vibe that’s tough to replicate.
However, there is one thing that nobody tells you before you go. If you’re planning to actually ski during Reggaefest weekend, you better have a plan. Because the moment that Bluebird Express line stretches past the orange fencing, your “sick powder day energy” melts faster than the snow on your ski boots at après.
The key…avoid the Bluebird as much as you can. It’s not the be-all end-all. On Mount Snow Reggaefest weekend waiting in line is more of a 40-minute social experiment where you make three new acquaintances, question your life choices, and watch the snow get progressively choppier from the queue. That said, here is your strategic, slightly elitist, completely necessary guideto lapping the mountain on Mount Snow’s most fun spring weekend.
Know Thy Mountain: Four Faces, One Smart Strategy
Before we get tactical, it’s important to orient yourself with the mountain. Mount Snow’s terrain is spread across four distinct mountain faces: Main Face, North Face, Sunbrook, and Carinthia. Each is unique unto itself, making it easy to tailor your day to your skill level and style.
The concerts are in the main base area so it should go without saying that the festival crowd will most certainly gravitate to the Main Face. That’s where Main St. is, that’s where the music is, and, news flash, that’s where the Bluebird line forms like a slow-moving glacier made of people in DWR. Knowing this, your entire Reggaefest strategy is built around one core principle: be almost anywhere else.
Phase One: Disappear to Sunbrook
When you first arrive and the Main Face congestion is already building before you even finish your first coffee make your opening move and head to Sunbrook. Mount Snow’s quiet, sun-soaked, chronically underappreciated southern face will give you the stress free warmup laps you need to start your day.
Sunbrook is home to scenic intermediate-level trails. Long, flowing groomers will give you all the mileage with none of the overcrowded headache of the main face. Plus, if there is enough snow, the glades here are highly underrated and underappreciated. Start here while the snow is still cold and fast, bank some easy laps, and let the steeps of the North Face soften up into something worth skiing. Patience is your friend and it will reward you in the end.
Phase Two: The North Face (A.K.A. The Skier’s Secret Handshake)
By mid-morning, it’s time to make a move. At this time, the North Face will have had enough sun to soften into prime spring conditions. So while everyone else is still funneling onto the Main Face, you’ll be skiing lift line free on the back side.
Many trails on the North Face are steeper and remain ungroomed for advanced skiers and riders. So this is not where your average festival-goer in rental boots ventures, unless it’s by accident. The North Face self-selects for people who can actually ski, which is another way of saying: the lines are short, the snow is preserved, and nobody’s going to snowplow into your ankles.
As capacity at the base builds up on the main face, head over to the North Face from the Canyon Lift. The lines there tend to be shorter and move quickly. You can definitely lap the Canyon Lift, North Face, repeat route. While the Bluebird queue shuffles forward at the speed of a DMV waiting room, you’re already on your third lap. Or, simply stay on the North Face the entire time and enjoy the lack of crowds.
Just don’t overstay your welcome here. Once the steep terrain gets a little choppy (usually by late morning) it’s time to make moves. Which brings us to the pond.
The Pond Skim: Watch It, Crush It, and Escape Before the Crowd Does
Here’s where most people make a critical tactical error. In their excitement to watch costume clad skiers faceplant in a pool, they wander down to watch the Sink or Skim pond skim, get sucked into the base area vortex. Next thing you know, they are there for an hour or more and find themselves back at the end of the Bluebird line with nothing to show for it. Don’t be that person.
The Sink or Skim pond skim competition kicks off at 11:00 AM on Saturday on Lower Exhibition which, conveniently, is a ski trail. Thus you can ski right down to the viewing area, watch a person dressed as George Washington hydroplane across a 100-foot manmade pond on skis in attempt to reenact his famous crossing of the Delaware. The only difference is Washington made it. This skier most likely will not.
The entertainment value is extremely high regardless of athletic outcome. Half the appeal is watching people commit fully to a bit and then commit fully to the pond. Either way, you have to respect it.
Once you’ve had your fill you can be back on the Grand Summit express lift within minutes. No parking lot shuffle. No fighting through the base area crowd. You’re already on the mountain. Just slide on over.
The Pond Skim Escape Plan:
Here’s how you watch the show without losing your skiing momentum:
- Position yourself on Exhibition. Ski down from the summit mid-morning and stake out a spot on the slope above the pond. You get the best sightline, you’re already in your skis, and you haven’t abandoned your mountain position for a spot in a crowd.
- Give it 20–30 minutes. Watch five to ten skimmers, appreciate the chaos, take your video. That’s the move. The first few runs are peak entertainment; the law of diminishing returns kicks in fast.
- Exit before the crowd disperses. The moment the energy in the crowd shifts from “actively watching” to “milling around,” that’s your cue. Click in and go because everyone else is about to have the same idea, and the lift lines are about to pulse back up.
- Head directly to Grand Summit Express, not the Bluebird. The Grand Summit Express gives you access to every trail on the Main and North Faces, almost every trail on Sunbrook, and a few trails on Carinthia. However, if for some reason that line is jammed up you can always make your way back to Canyon Express. This will get you back up the mountain almost as efficiently and with a fraction of the line.
The pond skim is a genuine highlight of Reggaefest. It’s worth stopping by for the spectacle. Just don’t let it eat your whole day.
The 1:00 PM Pivot: The Most Important Move You’ll Make All Weekend
Here it is. The strategic play. The meta-strategy that separates cagey Reggaefest veterans from the first-time amateurs who spend their afternoon demoralized in a queue.
The headlining sets kick off on the main stage at Cuzzins kicks at 1:00 PM. This is when mountain miracle take shape. Poof, as if there is magic afoot, the slopes empty out.
Festival-goers begin to swap skis for a spot dancing in front of the stage. The Bluebird line, which had 100 plus people in it at 11 AM, suddenly has a fraction of that. The once crowded upper mountain quiets down opening up your window of opportunity. That’s the 1:00 PM Pivot.
If you haven’t already, jump on Grand Summit Express. As previously mentioned, it gives you access to every trail on the Main and North Faces and almost every trail on Sunbrook. So when the crowd commits to the stage, you can lap it like you own it.
You no longer have to waste time waiting for runs off the summit. There you’ll find the best views of the valley and open trails since most people are watching a reggae set from the festival grounds below.
The Full “No-Bluebird” Game Plan, By the Clock
9–11 AM: Sunbrook. Start on the long blues while the mountain wakes up and the North Face steeps firm up. Bank easy mileage, skip the crowds entirely.
11 AM–11:30 AM: Position yourself on Exhibition and watch the pond skim from the slope. Enjoy the spectacle. Exit before the applause dies down.
11:30 AM–1 PM: North Face via Canyon Lift or Gran Summit Express. The steeps have softened into prime spring conditions. Ripcord if you’ve earned it (and if it’s open).
1–2:30 PM: Execute the Pivot. Summit laps via the Grand Summit Express with the crowd magically relocated to the stage below. This is peak Reggaefest skiing and barely anyone knows it exists.
2:30 PM onward: Stash the gear, grab a beer from Canned and find your spot at the festival. Enjoy the music knowing you actually earned it by skiing today not just waited in line dreaming about it.
One Final Thought on Mount Snow Reggaefest
Reggaefest is a genuinely excellent time even if you barely ski at all. The Duct Tape Derby on Sunday is ski culture at its peak. The musical acts are always legitimately good, and the base area energy on a sunny March weekend at Mount Snow is hard to beat.
However, the skiers who enjoy Reggaefest the most are the ones who figured out that the mountain and the festival aren’t in competition with each other. They’re complimentary, you just need to sequence them correctly. Spend the morning skiing strategically. Watch someone wipeout in a pond at 11. Lap the summit in the afternoon. Then let the melodic reggae jams take it from there.
Leave the Bluebird line for someone who didn’t read this.
About the Author
Rich Stoner is the founder of the après-ski lifestyle clothing and media brand, All About Après. He is also the co-host of the Après All Day Podcast. No stranger to the ski and après-ski scene, Rich has been a long time contributor for many publications on topics like skiing, travel, gear, beer and food. However, his passion is on the slopes and enjoying good times with good people. You can find him perfecting his craft carving turns and drinking beers in the Green Mountains of Vermont. @allaboutapres