2025 MDT #3 Reports
Catamount Trail Association's 2025 Four Day Tour MDT #3
from Friday January 31 to Monday February 3, Sections 1 through 4
Trip Reports:
Executive Summary: We skied all four days! Beautiful conditions throughout and a great bunch of strong skiers.
Thanks to all the skiers for making it so much fun. Thanks to others for offering help with shuttles, route-finding, parking, lodging. Thanks to the Trail Chiefs for keeping the trails ready.
The MDTs are offered to all CTA members free of charge, but that doesn't mean a donation to the CTA isn't welcome. I used the "office" a lot in getting this ready, and it wouldn't happen without their behind-the-scenes support.
Here are my daily trip reports:
01/31/2025 - Section 1 -
We were like a train today. Ten of us got on the tracks
and kept moving for Day One of the MDT#3. We were
skiing on the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad
roadbed for the most part, also known as Section 1 of the
Catamount Trail.
Our ski began, after a short shuttle, at Harriman Station.
This is a hydro electric power station, not a railroad
station. We skied (and road-walked) from there to the
border where we did a little Massachusetts border
celebration.
Only ~310 miles to Canada from here
We had a quick celebration at the Mass/Vermont border
Then we turned around and headed north.
We had a short road walk and a quick lunch at Toby Brook, then more beautiful easy skiing.
A quick stand-up lunch at Toby Brook
We arrived at
Harriman Dam about 3.5 hours later, pretty good pace
for 8 miles of backcountry. I think the forecast for rain
lent a sense of urgency. We had soft snow, a bit thin in
spots, especially under the evergreens. The rain was
never more than showers and some snow. We did have
to deal with a bit of clumping on our skis. Sometimes the
clump pulled up all the snow in the track.
We appreciated the bridges north of Rt 100, the new
bridge at the "Irene blowout" and the drainage work just
south of the dam. We saw the tracks of porcupine,
turkey, deer and others.
02/01/2025 - Section 2 -
Just another great day on the Catamount Trail! Today fourteen of us did all of Section 2, still following the abandoned Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad.
We had some new slightly crusty snow and blue wax temperatures.
It was cold crossing the dam today
We were like a train again today
My favorite blaze, it means "Here comes some excitement!"
We made good time, with lunch just before the rock cut.
Easy going on the railroad grade
CTA and Velomont recently tuned up the drainage and path through this 1920's railroad rock cut
A quick break at the upper end of the Harriman Reservoir
We slowed down a good deal once we left the railroad bed and got into the ups and downs of the "single track" sections in Medburyville. The stream just north of the trail head at Medburyville South is now frozen and crossable.
Thin cover and rocks add to the excitement
We enjoyed all the trail mowing that Steve Marcotte does to keep the final section open. All these seeps and streams were frozen and closed enough to be easily navigated as well.
Alan hosted our evening get-together
02/02/2025 - Section 3 -
I'm renaming the MDT#3 tour to the "Groundhog's Day
Tour". Just like in the movie, each day is a repeat of the
day before, with minor variations. We meet a bunch of
fun and able skiers in the morning, sort out the logistics,
have a beautiful ski on a fine trail in fresh snow and nice
(mostly) weather and end up with our cars at the end of
the day.
The northbound/uphill group gets started at Somerset Dam
Some folks wanted
to ski northbound and some wanted to ski "downhill", so
we left the Northbound skiers at Lind Lane with Alan
leading. Our southbound/downhill group drove the
northbound skiers' cars to the north end at Somerset
Dam. After some minor confusion our group headed
south.
Although we had a net loss of elevation, we still
had plenty of climbing, through evergreen and hardwood
forests and fresh snow.
There are no snowmobile trails on this section, just hardwood and evergreen forests
And the downhills were tricky.
Tight, rocky and heavy snow.
The thin cover and range of skills led to a variety of downhill techniques
We met several groups,
including other current and past trail chiefs and a board
member.
We saw day old otter tracks and had beautiful views of
the rivers.
We met the northbound group just before lunch, and
then had a nicely broken out trail for the rest of the trip
back to Lind Lane where our cars were.
Both groups meet in the "middle". Remember to swap the car keys!
Stop as needed to change your layers
The southern half of the trail follows the Deerfield River
The old logging railroad grades make for an easy finish to southbound Section 3
02/03/2025 - Section 4 -
Because, I think, the Section 4 shuttle is the longest CT shuttle, we did another key swap today. We all met in Wilmington and took the cars from the opposite group to our respective starts-of-skiing. Despite the confusion this can cause, it greatly improves your drive/ski time ratio.
Alan led the southbound group
Alan took a group of six to Kelley Stand Road parking lot and skied southbound. Our group of five drove to the parking space just south of Somerset Dam (just as the plow finished clearing a few inches of fluff!) and skied north.
We were breaking trail after we left the freshly groomed snowmobile trail. Some tracks from several storms ago sometimes appeared through the drifts. This trail is laid out as a hiking trail, which the CTA took over. It has lots of ups and downs as it crosses the streams that enter the reservoir. Luckily the drifts were not as bad as I have often seen them, but we still got bogged down in them a few times. It is hard work skiing through or over, or sidestepping up, the vertical face of a drift. The trail, as always, was well maintained and marked (thanks Heidi!). The cover was a bit thin, especially on the southern slopes, with large rocks jutting out of the snow.
Praise be to bridges!
This section has a Bermuda Triangle. The guidebook says 8.4 miles. Our group got various mileages from 9.5, 9.7 to 10.7 miles. Somewhere along the reservoir is an extra mile or so, I'm sure.
Eventually we came to some day old tracks and the going got easier.
The southbound group has skied through Grout Pond trails and is along the Somerset Reservoir
Plenty of bridges on Section 4
We met the southbound group just after their lunch break and the going got even easier as now we had the benefit of their trail-breaking, and they ours.
We crossed a brand new bridge put in last summer with help from landowner Great River Hydro.
CTA and Great River Hydro built this new bridge last summer
As we crossed several other bridges we saw fresh otter and/or weasel tracks as they leaped and slid along down the snow-covered stream. Skiers aren't the only ones who enjoy sliding along on snow!
Several streams had tracks of otters sliding down
We skied through the Grout Pond Trails and campground and got to our road walk, where we helped a couple get their car unstuck before we finished the walk back to our cars which had been left there by the southbound group.
About 6.5 hours of skiing for over nine miles, not bad for trail breaking and enjoying the scenery along the way.
The southbound group finishes at Somerset Dam
Thanks to Sean, Janet, Sara, Marie, Nancy, Jenn for photos!
Here is the 2025 MDT #3 Four Day Tour by the numbers:
4 days of skiing,
0 days cancelled due to frozen crud and thin cover,
4 days with new snow on the ground in the morning,
54 skier-days registered for,
49 actual skier-days skied,
19 skiers skiing at least one day,
33.8 miles of Catamount Trail skied, (by the guidebook)
415.7 skier-miles skied,
14, most skiers on any day,
10, fewest skiers on any day,
12 women skiers,
7 men skiers,
~7" of new snow overall,
2 couples skiing together,
1 mother,father,daughter trio,
mid-70's oldest skier,
mid-30's youngest skier,
7 skiers new to MultiDay Tours,
4 skiers who were already End-to-Enders,
7 skiers who skied every whole section every day,
3 trail chiefs who helped keep these sections of trail clear and available,
3 or more past or present board members on the trail,
7 trail chiefs on the tour,
~150 emails to or from the tour coordinators,
1 hosts who opened their home for skiers,
0 boot failures,
0 ski failures,
1 pole failure,
1 bailout car used,
1 days of rain forecast,
0.25 days of actual skiing in the rain,
0 injuries,
1 forgotten pack,
0 skiers who went away mad,
0 skiers who missed a day due to communications mix-ups,
0 shuttle mix-ups,
0 skiers left at a trail head,
0 car problems or accidents,
These things were all uncountable, as they should be: smiles, laughs, thank yous, calories burned, help offered, beautiful vistas, tracks in the snow, interesting trail conversations.
A scene from Section 8 in 2017.
Don't forget to look around and enjoy the scenery when you are skiing along the CATAMOUNT trail....
Pray for Snow!
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