Stowe 1/3-1/11 2009

[method9455]

I'm leaving for 8 days at Stowe with my girlfriend tonight. Any recommendations for trails to hit or restaurants to eat at? I'll probably snowboard 5 days and ski 3, or something like that. I've never been to Stowe so I don't really have a clue about much.

 

I should have internet up there so I'll post some pictures.

[Tyler]

nice have fun up there. and if you didnt see it or if its not too late, the new issue of transworld snowboarding has the stowe deal again this year. $99 for a 3 day ticket.

[JP81]

I'm also heading up for Monday/Tuesday before heading over to Sugarbush and hopefully MRG (if they open) for the rest of the week. I am looking at either the Stowe Motel or Golden Eagle Resort. Has anyone stayed at either one? pros/ cons?

[method9455]

nice have fun up there. and if you didnt see it or if its not too late, the new issue of transworld snowboarding has the stowe deal again this year. $99 for a 3 day ticket.

 

Thanks for the info, but we're actually getting season passes. $450 for college students, we'll probably go again over spring break and get 15 days for about 30 dollars a day.

 

We ended up renting a house because it was cheaper, but the Stowe Motel was a good deal and had good reviews on tripadvisor.

 

Check out VRBO.com, a lot of people are negotiating right now. We are paying $400 less than the list price for the week for the place we are staying. Just check people's availability calendar and email them saying, hey I can't afford your regular rate but I see that you aren't booked next week, I can afford X, are you interested?

[method9455]

We left this morning at 6:30am, a much more reasonable hour than the 2am of our last drive up. We took 95->91->89 rather than the thruway to route 9, and got up here with about 6 hours of driving, though about 7 hours of total time because of two stops for food and a bit of an emergency stop. We were going up 89 on the last stretch and there was a bit of snow, and a car a bit in front of us went over the guardrail so we stopped along with two other cars to see if they were all right. Air bags deployed all around but everyone was all right just a bit dazed and I left when the firemen showed up to take care of everybody. We also saw a rolled over SUV a bit before that. The roads were deceiving, very wet from blowing snow that had melted but a blue bird day so people were going way too fast.

 

We had no hassles getting season passes, but by the time we had them in hand it was 2pm. We had all of our gear but the mountain closes at 3 or 4, so we would have still had to boot up leaving time for 2-4 runs. We probably would have done it, but at that point they started pulling all the gondolas off the line for a wind closure (it was really gusty up here) and the line for the quads were out of control. So we ended up walking around the base for about 20 minutes, then heading to our place. It was a bit too early to check in so we headed into town and scoped it out, then went to the Ben & Jerry's factory tour to kill some time and got groceries. Now we're back and pretty much done for the day so that we can get up for 1st chair.

 

Overall, not that disappointed we didn't ski because the mountains around here are amazing, some great views and plenty of snow. I can't wait to get up to the top of Mansfield tomorrow morning. I'll be snowboarding so we can cover the maximum amount of trails before the crowds roll in.

 

So far our impression of the mountain itself is great. People are a lot more friendly, and the base lodge is the nicest I've ever seen. I was a bit surprised they don't nickel and dime you as much as expected, free lockers (keypad over keys, nice), and free bag check. So basically, its exactly like Mountain Creek's bubble in my mind.

 

Anyway, hopefully a much better TR tomorrow.

Edited January 4, 2009 by Kevin.

[method9455]

We got up to the mountain this morning around 10am. We wanted to get there for 7:30 lift opening, but to be honest we ignored the alarm. It worked out though, they had wind holds on the lifts until around 9 anyway so we didn't miss much. Conditions overall were lousy today. Coverage is good but the wind over the last two days has scoured it down to hardpack, ice, and a few pockets of granular where the wind is shaded. Some snow is coming overnight and that will be welcome, plus the wind finally stopped around lunch time and they should have the oppurtunity to groom well tonight. The day started off less busy than yesterday afternoon, and by 1 the parking lot was getting really empty.

 

We parked by the Spruce Lodge so that we could put my backpack in the free bag check since it had our lunch in it. We went up the Sunny Spruce Quad and wandered down some blues, then took the Over Easy lift to Mansfield. We started on the Gondola and hit Gondolier and Perry Merrill. Both were great trails. Gondolier is wider and pretty much a straight shot, Perry Merrill wanders a lot more. Those were probably the best two trails today, with Perry Merrill being my favorite run of the day. We took Cliff Trail over to the Four Runner quad and took nosedive, which was icy as hell but great to fly down. Today I was on my Altered Genetics which is my fastest board, and I hit the fastest I've gone in a long time on that run. We wandered more and more to skiers right as the day went on, we ended up taking all the main face lifts. We enjoyed Lord and a few others Doug recommended. We rounded out the day on Toll Road, which I expected to be super wide much like Paradise at Blue or Horizon at Mountain Creek, but it actually is about a cat width and wanders through the tress, it was super fun. We could only take it half way becuase the Toll Road double was closed, but even that was a long ride. I hope to ride it top to bottom this week.

 

We got back over to Spruce at about 3:30, and had time for one run down the Sensation Quad. I was pushing it a bit just to get on that lift to say that I did all the lifts today, but I should have stopped because my fingers and face were going numb from the cold (it was 5 or 6 degrees at the base most of the day and we were out for 6 hours straight).

 

Overall, great terrain, great views, poor conditions. We have a feel for the place and tomorrow we'll hit a lot more trails.

 

Edited January 5, 2009 by Kevin.

[Sno Mountain Skier]

If the snow gets better, try the woods skiers left to Goat. I enjoyed them when i was there. Also, If you feel like skiing a great run, but a hike. Then go to Spruce, go on West trail and at the top go off to skiers left. Once you reach the bottom you'll be in the notch and need to hike out to your left. Depending on were you come out it could be a long hike. It took us 45 minutes to hike, but with 20 inches of fresh it was worth it.

[Dan-]

Another good place would be the Chin, if you can find some locals to show you around.

[n0xidee]

If you do all of toll road the lift ride coming back up sucks. Sloooooow double. But you can almost ski straight down through the woods the whole time if you want.

[Schif]

The double ride does suck, but I thought it was worth it to do all of Toll Road at least once.

[method9455]

Monday and Tuesday blurred together pretty much. We did open to close on Monday which is a bit too much for one day, so this morning we struggled pretty hard to get out the door and did 10-4. Overnight monday there was about 1-2" of snow which helped considerably, though monday was a lot better than Sunday. There are 0 lift lines now except for odd circumstances like when they decided to take half the gondola cars off for the day. We've now done every open trail and we know Spruce, the area around the Gondola, and everything north of the Fourrunner quad. But the area around the triple is pretty much giberish to us, a mass of blue squares that intertwine a lot. Today we found ourselves ripping down a great trail, only to find out when we wanted to know its name that it had been closed but we had ridden over the rope without realizing.

 

I'm a big fan of Liftline and Nosedive, but our favorite trail has to be Rimrock (which is hard to find, we missed it twice) and cutting off there to the Nosedive glades.

 

We did eat at Pie in the Sky and it was awesome.

 

Other strange notes, we still haven't seen the top of Mt. Mansfield because there have been low clouds for 4 days straight. I think we're doing 4 runs an hour, sometimes 5. At around 2,000 a run for a minimum of 6 a day, we are racking up a lot of vert. I would guess somewhere between 40k and 60k a day, for 3 days now and will continue that for 8 total. It will certaintly be the most I've done in a week.

 

So, a storms brewing? We've heard everything from 3 to 14" inches. We'll see but I'm hoping for 14"

 

I have about 40 pictures from today but the camera battery is dead, I will post ASAP.

[toast21602]

i love that first picture that you posted.

[method9455]

i love that first picture that you posted.

 

Thanks, we are blown away by the views up here, that day it was impossible to capture the clouds with a still camera, one of those days I wish I had a time lapse camera on a tripod.

 

Last night we got 4" of wet base building snow. We are getting more now, but the mountain was chewed up by 2 so we left a bit early and got some rest. Hopefully more snow tonight. We had a little sleet at the end of the day in the valley but probably not on the mountain. No pictures from today, but here are some from yesterday.

 

 

Oh yea, and they have a great jump line, when I first saw it I kind of chuckled and thought TT C6 should be here. Its 4 tables in a row, with his/hers ramps, about 15-20 on the small side and 20-30 on the big side. Very well shaped. Next to that are 4 jibs. Its a pretty small park but well manicured. I've hit it two or three times but I don't really see doing it a bunch. They are building the big park now so maybe it will open before i leave. I'll get some better pictures of it but really, if you come to Stowe you aren't coming for the park.

[method9455]

Excellent report!!!! I'm glad you guys got some snow..I miss the days when Stowe was my home mountain. How many more days are you riding on this trip? The tree riding shots are great!!!

 

8 in a row, I'll tell you what my legs are burning like hell. We're doing 6+ hours a day for all but the first and last which is why we bagged it early today because we figure tomorrow will be a lot better. It stopped snowing for about 2 hours, but now it started up again, I believe this is the second storm.

 

We stopped in Waterbury center at the cider mill and got some sweet donuts and cider, and found a locals deli that you can get 2 lunches for the price of 1 burger on the mountain.

 

Those trees are the nose dive glades, we're really enjoying those.

[method9455]

Is the locals deli you speak of right across the street from the Cold Hollow Cider Mill on 100? Are there a few gas pumps in front? I got a wrap there on my way back from Stowe in December. On the other side of Nosedive between Nosedive and Goat are also some really nice trees that get less travel...some nice wide open trees skiers right of Sunrise as well..ending on Toll Road..

 

The snow that Stowe is going to get tonight is going to be alot lighter than what fell earlier as more cold air is wrapped in..enjoy!!!

 

Yea thats the deli, Emery's I believe.

 

Good call for the trees, we will check them out tomorrow.

 

Today was simply epic. About a foot of snow last night, I woke up at 3am and there was nothing on the car so I was pissed it was a bust, but when the alarm went off I looked and there were 4" so we went for it after seeing the trail report had bumped up from 65 to 85 trails. The mountain is only 7 miles away, but a world of difference in the weather. They are saying 16" over 2 days which sounds about right. We got up there at 7:50, with 1st chair at 8. That put us about 10th chair up the quad. We ripped down Liftline untracked knee deep among the first 10 people down it, then did National which was easy to find untracked, then Nosedive which had a few more tracks. Then we headed over to catch one of the first gondola cars up since it opens at 8:30 or 9?, and got decent tracks on Chin Clip which just opened today. Then we lapped Gondolier, Perry Merrel, Chin Clip, and Switchback which had the most snow. After a quick break we went back to the quad and did Liftline and National which seemed impossible to track out. Soon after they dropped the rope on Goat, so I took my first run down that. It kicked my ass. I wrecked twice and got a few shots to my base, it was a bit too rocky for me and avoiding those rocks messed me up.

 

We were on the hill from 8 until 2. It stopped snowing around 10am, and then at 1 it started again. Combined with some wind, it was actually getting less tracked in the afternoon as things were blowing back even.

 

Seriously, it was the best day of snowboarding I've ever had.

 

I have a little video but no wire to get it on here so I'll put it up when I get home next week. Tomorrow I'm hoping for some groomed runs because my legs can't take another day like today, and I'll probably be on the skis.

[method9455]

Friday - woke up after the powder day on thursday at the usual time for first chair, but our bodies were completely destroyed. Danielle's knees (previously had surgery on one and the other got tweaked on thursday) were hurt and I pulled something in my right leg that made it kinda difficult to stand. We went back to bed and woke up a few hours later which helped a lot and had a good day but it was a blur. We went into town in the afternoon and checked out some of that stuff.

 

Saturday - They groomed a lot of stuff and this was the definition of both a bluebird day and packed powder. Smooth buttery snow everywhere, grippy but fast and so well groomed. Cold enough to be squeaky, clear enough to see for 50 miles. After catching up on sleep friday we went for a full day. I was on my skis all day for the first time, so blacks and double blacks were out but we worked lots of groomed blues and Toll Road top to bottom for the first time. They were finishing up the park and half pipe, but it was not open.

 

Sunday - Woke up to 6" of new snow again, make it about 3'+ for the week. The clouds broke for another gorgeous clear day at around 9am, and we heading for home at 11am. Grabbed breakfast at Maxi's in Waterbury which is literally at the intersection for the highway, and then drove home. Not much traffic, dry roads. 5 and a half hours of driving, 6 hours total time since we stopped twice for gas.

 

It really felt like a blur. We have more pictures but I'm too tired to post them tonight and I have to work tomorrow (work? what's that?) so I'll post tomorrow night.

 

A couple notes

 

- Stowe is awesome, for anything more than a weekend I'm driving the extra 2 hours past Mount Snow/Stratton.

 

- We found the drive to be easy, though longer it is all highway and the local roads in Stowe are pretty flat/straight compared to Route 7/9 that you need to get to Mount Snow.

 

- The Spruce Lodge is awesome, free lockers, free bag check, comfortable and clean. Bring your own lunch and avoid the food and it works out great.

 

- The trail map is really deceiving, the mountain is larger than it looks.

 

- The place seems a lot more mother nature dependant than Mount Snow/Stratton/Killington or anything around here. They were making snow but pretty much 1 trail at a time and not that great quality wise

 

- The park was really well done, but if you are into park, go to Mount Snow.

 

- We liked Gondolier, Perry Merryl under the Gondola, Liftline and Nosedive under the Four Runner Quad, Lord and North Slope off of the Triple, and Main Street off of the Sensation

Quad.

 

- I liked it better than Mount Snow, Stratton, Killington, Tremblant, or any other place I've been to. I haven't been to Sugarbush, Smugglers Notch, Sugarloaf, or Sunday River, but I think those are the only places that can give it a run for its money on the east coast.

 

- We were there for 8 days straight, and I don't feel like we even scratched the surface. We hit a lot of runs a few times, even more runs just once, and a few we never did even though we tried to get to everything. And then there is a lot of stuff off the map that the locals are hitting, the place seems endless as far as east coast mountains go.

[DiMe]

Jay Peak has better tree riding than Stowe imo. Check it out while your up there its not far from Stowe.

[method9455]

Jay Peak has better tree riding than Stowe imo. Check it out while your up there its not far from Stowe.

 

I've heard that, so Jay is on my list for the future. More than anything else this trip showed me that there is great skiing and riding to be had in northern Vermont, and that I have plenty of places left to experience on the east coast, much less out west.

 

Here are the last few pictures I have.

 

[Schif]

Great TR. Making me want to go to Stowe soooo bad. I'll definitely be up there later in the season with the PSU snowboard club trip.