So as promised I headed up to Stowe on thursday with my wife for the $25 deal. It was fantastic -- a much more interesting mountain than I had remembered and I had an absolute blast. The snow cover is much better there than at MRG -- I guess the 30 miles north makes a big difference. It's still plenty thin on the lower mountain, with open water in the streambeds and all that, but the snow everywhere is deeper and better than at MRG.
We started out on the quad side, where we got up to the top to this gorgeous view (click on images for a larger view)
The tops of the front four were all closed, and stayed that way all day, and Starr+Lookout were closed in their entirety. I guess they were pretty icy beneath the new snow. So we started out by making our way around to just below the top of goat and skied from there...big soft moguls that could have been more even but were still a joy to ski. We next hit bypass and some trees left of there. The trail was icy and the trees were a bit nasty as well, but still fun to ski.
We then went over to the gondola for a run or two. Hit chinclip and then trees left of chinclip. The former was good, the latter a bit too thin for the steeper sections and then also too thin when it got lower and flatter (water in a streambed that you had to ski alongside...best lines with too much rock).
So returned to the quad side, where we spent most of the rest of the day. We were amazed at how many good tree runs there were there -- Virtually everywhere you looked there was another good-looking line. We started with things on the map, of which tres amigos glad was the nicest. We then hit trees left and right of goat, continuing through past various trail junctions, which were great (skiers left of goat was particularly nice). Lower mountain lines were also good, but generally too thin. We skied them anyway, but some of the best shots would have been in streambeds that were still running.
Camera was back up and running, so here are a few shots of the day.
I like birch glades -- easy yet peaceful and fun:
The wife skiing somewhere:
More typical trees:
Unfortunately too much of this stuff (not to mention running streams!):
The wife relaxing before some turns:
More typical trees:
Nose from the top of the quad:
We finished the day by skiing the Bruce trail (which leaves from near the top of the quad and drops you down the cross country ski center several miles down the road from the ski area). This is apparently an old CCC trail pretty like Tuckerbrook at cannon. Starts off with a couple turns through the trees and then settles into a very pretty, very mellow meandering run which winds its way down the mountain. It's narrow but not steep at all. Snow cover was great -- soft bumps almost all the way down. Eventually it got a little thin right near the bottom as it wandered through birch glades very much like the 19th hole trail to the barn at MRG. Eventually it hit the cross country ski trails, where there are signs directing you back to the toll house lift. For some reason, we followed these rather than just going to the touring center. That involved some climbing uphill, which reminded me of why I hate the idea of cross country skiing (why would you go uphill voluntarily?). Anyway, got back to the base of the toll house lift around 4:30 and got the shuttle back to the car. Was a fantastic run and a great way to end the day.
A few shots of the bruce:
Mellow bumps down a corridor through the trees:
The wife skiing some of same:
More of the bruce:
A rare steep section:
Followed by much more of this:
No shots of the lower sections unfortunately as we were trying to maintain speed to avoid having to hike up so much.
We started out on the quad side, where we got up to the top to this gorgeous view (click on images for a larger view)
The tops of the front four were all closed, and stayed that way all day, and Starr+Lookout were closed in their entirety. I guess they were pretty icy beneath the new snow. So we started out by making our way around to just below the top of goat and skied from there...big soft moguls that could have been more even but were still a joy to ski. We next hit bypass and some trees left of there. The trail was icy and the trees were a bit nasty as well, but still fun to ski.
We then went over to the gondola for a run or two. Hit chinclip and then trees left of chinclip. The former was good, the latter a bit too thin for the steeper sections and then also too thin when it got lower and flatter (water in a streambed that you had to ski alongside...best lines with too much rock).
So returned to the quad side, where we spent most of the rest of the day. We were amazed at how many good tree runs there were there -- Virtually everywhere you looked there was another good-looking line. We started with things on the map, of which tres amigos glad was the nicest. We then hit trees left and right of goat, continuing through past various trail junctions, which were great (skiers left of goat was particularly nice). Lower mountain lines were also good, but generally too thin. We skied them anyway, but some of the best shots would have been in streambeds that were still running.
Camera was back up and running, so here are a few shots of the day.
I like birch glades -- easy yet peaceful and fun:
The wife skiing somewhere:
More typical trees:
Unfortunately too much of this stuff (not to mention running streams!):
The wife relaxing before some turns:
More typical trees:
Nose from the top of the quad:
We finished the day by skiing the Bruce trail (which leaves from near the top of the quad and drops you down the cross country ski center several miles down the road from the ski area). This is apparently an old CCC trail pretty like Tuckerbrook at cannon. Starts off with a couple turns through the trees and then settles into a very pretty, very mellow meandering run which winds its way down the mountain. It's narrow but not steep at all. Snow cover was great -- soft bumps almost all the way down. Eventually it got a little thin right near the bottom as it wandered through birch glades very much like the 19th hole trail to the barn at MRG. Eventually it hit the cross country ski trails, where there are signs directing you back to the toll house lift. For some reason, we followed these rather than just going to the touring center. That involved some climbing uphill, which reminded me of why I hate the idea of cross country skiing (why would you go uphill voluntarily?). Anyway, got back to the base of the toll house lift around 4:30 and got the shuttle back to the car. Was a fantastic run and a great way to end the day.
A few shots of the bruce:
Mellow bumps down a corridor through the trees:
The wife skiing some of same:
More of the bruce:
A rare steep section:
Followed by much more of this:
No shots of the lower sections unfortunately as we were trying to maintain speed to avoid having to hike up so much.
