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Outpour returns to Sugarbush for music, community and a great cause. September 20, 2026 / eric One of the Mad River Valley's biggest celebrations of music and community returns to Mt. Ellen on Saturday, September 26 - and this year, it will help address one of its region's most pressing challenges. Presented by Sugarbush Resort in partnership with the Mad River Valley Rotary Club and dOb Productions, Outpour 2026 will benefit Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity and its work helping local families secure safe, stable and affordable housing. A celebration with a purpose. Outpour began several years ago as Sugarbush's response to devastating flooding across Vermont. What might have been a one-time fundraiser quickly became an annual tradition - one built around live music, generosity and the remarkable ability of this community to rally behind its neighbors. Previous Outpour events have supported flood recovery efforts and the Vermont Foodbank. This year's beneficiary, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity, helps local families achieve affordable homeownership through new construction, home rehabilitation, critical repairs and affordable mortgages. Housing affects nearly every part of life in the Mad River Valley. It shapes whether its businesses can attract and retain employees, whether families can remain in the communities they call home and whether its region can continue to thrive. Supporting Habitat for Humanity is therefore about much more than building houses - it is an investment in the long-term strength of Central Vermont. A big afternoon of live music. This year's Outpour features a terrific lineup headlined by Talking Dreads, whose high-energy performances reimagine the music of the Talking Heads through a reggae-infused lens. They will be joined by Mal Maiz and The Detonators, creating five hours of live music on Mt. Ellen's expansive base-area deck. Outpour 2026 Saturday, September 26 Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush Resort Doors open at 2:00 PM - Live music from 3:00-8:00 PM If the weather does not cooperate, the celebration will move inside the Mt. Ellen Base Lodge, with activities spread across both floors. Along with the music, guests can enjoy food, a cash bar and a raffle and live auction organized by the Mad River Valley Rotary Club. The auction will feature prizes donated by businesses and organizations from throughout the Valley. Come together for housing. Advance general-admission tickets are $25, with tickets available at the door for $35. VIP packages are also available and include admission, an Outpour T-shirt, access to a dedicated VIP area and additional perks. Proceeds from ticket sales, raffle entries and event T-shirts will go directly to Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity. Those unable to attend can still support the effort by making a donation through the event page. Events like Outpour capture something essential about the Mad River Valley. Mad River Valley know how to have a good time, but Mad River Valley also understand that strong communities are built when businesses, nonprofit organizations and neighbors work together around a shared purpose. The Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce is proud to celebrate Sugarbush Resort, the Mad River Valley Rotary Club, dOb Productions, the participating musicians and all the local businesses contributing to this important event. Come for the music. Come to celebrate the Valley. Most importantly, come help make safe and affordable housing possible for more of its Central Vermont neighbors.

Alterra Mountain Company invests $350 million in Ikon resorts. Massive infrastructure projects are set to transform North American mountains ahead of opening day. Featured Image: Courtesy of Deer Valley Resort, Alterra Mountain Company The parent company behind the Ikon Pass has committed $350 million to broad-scale mountain improvements for the upcoming season. Ranging from remote avalanche control systems to expanded boundary lines and new staff accommodations, the capital expenditure will directly impact properties across the continent. The massive chunk of change is fueling visions that span decades at more than eight resorts and operations across North America. Ski areas benefiting from the upgrades include Deer Valley and Solitude, Utah; Mount Tremblant, Québec; Palisades Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain, California; Steamboat and Winter Park, Colorado; and CMH Valemount. The company expressed excitement over the scale of the expansion, with Chairman of the Board Eric Resnick saying, "Over the past nine years, Alterra Mountain Company has invested at a level never seen before in the mountain resort industry, because our guests deserve the best mountain experience possible. Everything from the ambitious expansion at Deer Valley to state-of-the-art learning centers that help grow the sport reflects our long-term commitment to bringing joy and memories to the guests and communities who make our mountains what they are." Alterra says its immediate long-term goals focus on Deer Valley and Mount Tremblant, with the latter securing a $42.5 million CAD ($30.7 million USD). With new lodging, a novel learning area and terrain expansion to debut in late 2027, it's the most significant expansion the resort's seen since the early 2000s. Deer Valley is in the later stages of its aggressive, massive expansion, dubbed Expanded Excellence. The resort has doubled its size and added 10 chairlifts since 2024. The growth here has been unprecedented in the ski industry, with the ski area also increasing its snowmaking capacity. In addition to Deer Valley, Solitude, and Winter Park have each seen multimillion-dollar snowmaking improvements. Palisades, Mammoth, and June have each been fortified with new multimillion-dollar avalanche mitigation projects, including 16 new Remote Avalanche Control Systems (RACS) across Mammoth and June. Palisades is also receiving new avalanche tools, with six new Gazex and Gazflex exploders. Each system will let patrol handle avalanche work from a remote distance during heavy California snowstorms. Importantly, Alterra is putting money back into employee housing projects at Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth Mountain, Snowshoe, Steamboat and Crystal Mountain. "Alterra is facilitating ground-up development of employee housing at Palisades Tahoe and acquiring a new housing property for Sugarbush," claimed the press release. "In the past year, Alterra secured 160 new employee housing beds for Crystal Mountain and invested in renovations that helped improve the lives of 200 employees across four communities." It's a crucial area that neither Alterra nor Vail Resorts has fully addressed in recent years. Hopefully, Freeskier continue to see resources poured into this vital infrastructure.