Woodstock Nordic Center using a HKD snowmachine, an excavator, a dump truck, and a snowcat to cover trails

During January of 2026 the cross country (XC) ski season in New England was a La Nina roller coaster ranging from almost nonexistent cover associated with rainstorms to beautiful powder skiing. In the Woodstock, VT area the dedicated “snow farmers” at Woodstock Nordic Center in eastern Vermont have invested in an HKD snowmaking fan to produce large piles of snow that are brought to the trails to provide consistent ski conditions in a La Nina winter that has snow storms, rain storms, with warm and cold days. The ski area has 45 kilometers of skiing behind the Woodstock Inn and across town on another trail network in the Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Park. Nick Mahood, the Nordic Ski Director and his staff have been up to the challenge to provide XC skiing all winter long.

Two miles of trails may not seem like much mileage, but Woodstock Nordic had skiing associated with their piling and hauling machine-made snow this winter…and there were plenty of New England cross country ski areas that were forced to close down during the same time period.

HKD snowfan machine producing snow from the pond

They use a snow fan machine to build a pile of snow (about 60 feet long and 10 feet high) to establish a reliable trail cover that maintains despite rain and warm temperature periods. The pile is also used to reinforce or build up thin spots on the trail network. The Center is lucky to have electric power near their source of pond water to run the snow machine and there is a gas-powered pump to boost the water flow from the pond. They use an excavator to bucket the pile of snow into a dump truck and then drive the truck out to the trail dumping multiple piles on the linier path. The snowcat is used to groom (break down the snow clumps and smooth the snow out) the piles into a beautiful corduroy lane and a set of tracks on one side of the trail.  It takes four or five people for the operation and one of the jobs is to fill the gasoline tank when it runs low during the night. Through late January, Woodstock’s team has produced six snow piles and used them on the trails. They are looking into ways to increase the efficiency of the snowmaking and spreading operation to reach more trails with less work.

Other parts of trail care include relocating snow and using implements such as rollers and compactors to solidify snow on the trails. Power tillers can break up ice that develops in high use areas or sections of the trails that are susceptible to thawing and freezing. Track moulds are pulled behind the snowcat or snowmobile to create ski tracks for classical cross country skiers, and for skate skiers they prepare a wide lane that is a packed flat corduroy platform.

Piles of snow before they are groomed out to produce XC ski trails

Keeping the trails open allowed the Woodstock Nordic Center to provide recreational opportunities for inn guests, season passholders and day skiers, and also maintain local ski team training programs. With reliable trail cover, the center was also able to continue to offer rental equipment and ski lessons as well as run a retail operation.

The Woodstock Nordic Ski Center offers trails at the Mt. Peg and Mt. Tom areas and the Woodstock Inn & Resort facilities includes a 10,000 square-foot Spa, the Resort's Saskadena Six Alpine ski area, the Resort's Golf Club, and a 41,000 square foot Racquet & Fitness Club.

The Woodstock Inn & Resort is a 142-room, AAA Four Diamond Resort and a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts. The village of Woodstock is located in Vermont's Green Mountains and it is a visitor destination with antique shops, art galleries, boutiques, restaurants, and specialty food markets in the downtown area.