Dear Northeast backcountry ski and ride community,

I know a lot of you have been wondering what might be in the works this winter in regards to the Mt Washington Backcountry Ski Festival. Synnott Mountain Guides, which runs the festival, has been closely monitoring the pandemic, and, for obvious reasons, we have decided not to hold the festival in its traditional format this winter. We are looking forward to getting back up to speed in 2022 with a full offering of guided courses, social events, speakers, and equipment demos.

But we are not going to leave you completely hanging. We believe that backcountry skiing and riding—when approached with due caution and preparedness—is a safe and healthy way to recreate while maintaining social distance and respecting CDC guidelines. So this winter, we will be offering the ski festival’s core clinics sprinkled throughout the coming 2020/2021 season. From Intro to Backcountry Skiing to our two-day Ski and Snowboard Mountaineering, we have a course for just about anyone who is looking to up their game.

We’d like to thank everyone for their understanding and flexibility last season when COVID-19 forced us to drastically scale back the festival. If you have a credit from the 2020 festival, we welcome you to use them this 2020/2021 season towards a scheduled festival course. You may also switch your credit to any offering from Synnott Mountain Guides by emailing festival@skimtwashington.com. In addition, all credits have been extended into 2022 if you’d prefer to use it when the festival gets back on a more normal footing. Please visit the festival website for more information and online registration.

The White Mountains are currently experiencing a blast of unseasonably warm weather, but we have already had plenty of snow on Mount Washington and at least one of our guides has already skied Left Gully. Like all of you, we are doing our snow dances and keeping our fingers crossed for an epic winter. But regardless of how it plays out in the end, we sincerely appreciate your support and understanding, and we look forward to skiing with many of you this winter.

Thanks and all the best,

Mark Synnott
Director and Founder
Mt Washington Backcountry Ski Festival