Located on the north slope of Worth Mountain, the Snow Bowl rises near Middlebury Gap on land willed to Middlebury College by Joseph Battell in 1915. The property is surrounded by the Joseph Battell Wilderness, land once owned by the College but now part of the Green Mountain National Forest. Averaging of natural snowfall annually, additional snowmaking covers nearly half of all trails, including most terrain served by the Worth Mountain and Sheehan chairlifts. The Snow Bowl's eastern face, colloquially known as the backside, relies mainly on natural snow and is accessed by the Bailey Falls triple chairlift. In December 2012, a magic carpet was added, for the mountain's youngest skiers.