Project 101: USA Road Trip

[Tony Crocker]

Several times over the years while skiing with Euro or Quebec mountain hosts on narrow skis (like this guy at Silvretta Montafon or this one at Mont Edouard), they'd mention not making a habit of skiing offpiste, powder, or trees (sometimes including a variant of "I'm not very good at it"). Then I'd find out that it was humble braggery and they could ski most everything with Patrick-level grace. Not saying that's the case here but I wouldn't necessarily come to that conclusion based on prior experiences.

That's certainly possible, especially from a Swiss or Austrian, where it's the national sport and nearly everyone learns as kids. He occasionally makes comments about lack of expert terrain, most amusingly at Taos and Crested Butte, where even in average+ seasons none of it would be open at the time of year he visited.

But Stowe? Did he observe his surroundings in any way when riding the Forerunner Quad? Can James ask if he skied any of the Front Four? He should really want to ski Goat or Starr for a classic Northeast experience, but we have ample evidence that he doesn't care about that. He probably rode Forerunner once to check off the lift, skied a groomer and moved on to other lifts. Remember, he had skied Smuggler's first, then had a fun drive which I think you easterners say takes an hour even with clean roads and no traffic, and he had to get to Bolton at 3:30.

In trying new areas, Project101 wants to check off lifts. I want to check off runs, especially famous ones, and in northern Vermont some of the tree skiing falls into that category. I was lucky in 2003 to get a comprehensive 25K overview of Stowe on a first day transition to spring conditions.