Northen Vermont Ski Week April 4th - 8th

[Brettski]

Date(s) Skied:
----April 4th - April 8th 2005

Resort or Ski Area:
---Smuggler's Notch
---Jay Peek
---Stowe

Conditions:
--- SN: Damaged
--- JP: Stellar
--- ST: Very Hurt

Trip Report:

What a week....that I thought was gonna be a bust.

Monday

Skiied in the Rain at Smuggler's. Snowing mid Mountain and up. Madonna was closed because of Fog. Still Sterling had a bunch of terrain in good condition. Still all, in all a good day, if not a staturated one. Condo is right in the village next to the welcome center...walked in to get my tickets and bumped right in to Hugh Johnson...he gave me the scoop...so I wasn't very excited to here that Sterling was the only mountain open, and I still had to drop mid winter prices for the 5 of us...

Tuesday

Got a late start...and everyone was sore from skiing very hard on Monday...took a drive up to Jay Peek...got there around 11:30...sky had cleard up due to a strong wind....only to find that the tram and the quad "flyer" where un wind hold...only had access to the lower mountain..everyone was pi$$ed..asking for their money back...we hung out until 12:30 (they would sell half day tickets until it's exactly the time for half day)...asked some of the intructors hanging out in the lodge the odds of them opening the tram...."zero or less"...ok...so everyone's leaving...the rain from smugglers was all snow...you could see some track in powder all over the top from the patrol....but no one else...and you can't get there....and then it happened...the wind died...there's no one else left...and they opened the tram.....

Skiing in untracked powder (bout 1/2 foot) alone with the family....goes in to the books as one of the top 10 ski days ever...mountains is open 100%...skiing some glades...Long trail makes a brew for Jay specifically called Tram ale...had to be the best tasting beer I had at the end of the day

Wednesday

Jay peek...100% open...great groomed out snow from the day before.....temps rise to probably 70 degrees...softens up at the bottom near the end of the day.....forgot my sunscreen....not a cloud in the sky...wish I brought my shorts...another stellar day....

Thursday

Rain forecatsed...good, I'm beat...rain never full ymaterialized...ther was more rain on Monday....showed the kids the sites...B&J's, cold hollow, Burlington (When are they gonna get new T-shirts at the Vermont Brew pub)...drove up to Stowe to show the kids the gondola and to check out the mountain...full fare and they are listing some of the trails as Partially open...I have never seen that before...Stowe looked to be in very bad shape...never got down to Mad River....next year kids...

Friday

Back to Jay...hey after seeing the other resorts and how bad a shap they were in....gotta go where the coverage is....everyone is now skiing everything..steeps and bumps..the 7 year old...just takes her time singing to herself...the 9 year old had some confidence problems after a little trouble...hey how was I to know the kitzbuhl was a double fall line natural ungroomed trail...anyway she got down...The 12 year old was now starting to link bunps through the zipper....I was impressed...not very fast....and he wanted to come back to that trail again...wich we did....just the 2 of us, while the wife took the girls back to some steep flat cruisers...everyone was toast by the end of the day....thank god for cloud cover all day....kept the snow much more firm than Wednesday....

What a week.....kids were bummed that smuggs closed most of their activities...well all....so ther fun zone place was closed...but they skiied so hard...there wasn't much energy left anyway...I'll have to download the pix and see how they came out....

Who said the season was over?

As a note, I got a family club card and it saved me a bundle at Jay

AND I saw the expansion plans for Jay....very impressive...should be completed in 3 years....

They have a new marketing director, and I think their direction is for a 4 seasons resort.

Also, they take canadian money on par with the dollar. Had I thought about, I should have made an exchange and used canadian money to save even more.

Anywho....a great trip....the ride back on Saturday was easy and beatiful going through Lake George...I could immediatley tell when I was back in Jersey....there's a distinct difference in the way they drive here...

[gores95]

Great report Brett. I'm from North Jersey and was at Stowe/Jay a week or so before you (see my report below). We stayed in Stowe.

Didn't you win the lodging on an auction site for something like $10 for the week? How was the lodging...which building? Do you recommend Smuggs as a good place to stay? Only issue we had with Smuggs was getting there with the Notch closed in the Winter. Its a LONG way from Route 100...

Glad you had fun.

Marc

[Brettski]

Actually it was $1.00

You pay $195.00 for tax an service charges plus what you bid.

We stayed in the village at smuggs. Evergreen I beleive. Place is very nice. this was my 5th year there. One year we stayed in the "trailside executive" condos which were dated, but still nice. Everywhere else was very nice.

From North Jersey the best way to go is up the thruway past Albany through Lake George and then in to Burlington. Then it's an hour through Essex Junction.

You can go up 91 to 89 and drop in that way.

Either way both are around 6 to 6 1/2 hours....on Saturday (and wan't it a great day) I made it back in 6...not counting stops...

All said...it's best to go before they shut down everything. They have the best ski school for kids I have seen. I know this because the kids have a great time.

We skiied hard this year, and the kids did great. They do love however the new freinds that they make in the camp, and all the other activities besides skiing. Diversity is the key so they don't get burned out. That's why we took a day off to go sightseeing (ok, that's not the only reason...I still hurt)

All in all though, it was a great week, even though I didn't ski smuggs all that much this year.

It really is a great location to everything in Northen Vermont.

OH! And we found a restaurant in Jefforsville I would HIGHLY recommend...I think it was called 186...in either case it's a bakery...the only bakery in town...can't miss it...

[Brettski]

Actually it's called 158....everything was excellent...

http://www.smuggs.com/pages/s-amenit...ort_Dining.php