abc
Well-known member
Ski council week at Stowe and I had the days off to take advantage of it. What luck!
Friday -- fresh powder I missed, tracked out powder left over everywhere that I actually got
Was skiing at Sugarbush Wed/Thur. Move to Waterbury Thursday evening. Late into the evening, I notice the snow started to fall as forecast. And it was light and fluffy. So I went to bed planning to hit first chair... at 9 as it's mid-week.
Big mistake on my part! I'm ashamed to admit I goofed big time!
Stowe, being a "destination" mountain, spins its first lift at 7:30! I found that out when I checked the open lift/trail while having breakfast. Just to make my mistake more unforgivable, the condition report said 8-10" had fallen overnight! Oh, not to mention the coat of 4" on my car flew away as soon as I touched it -- blower quality snow, of 8-10", and I was missing first chair by a loooong time! Jumped into my car with a bagel in my hand, I was angry with myself. Being so, I totally failed to take in the information that Spruce side lift doesn't run till 9, and I would have made first chair without problem!
Instead, dumb ass as I was, I parked at the corner of Mansfield lodge lot, long hiked up to the lodge to get ticket, up the stair... at the top of the Front Runner Quad, I found... completely tracked out powder in piles and piles! Not having been to Stowe for many years, I was entirely unsure where to go and just randomly went all over the Mansfield face. Everywhere I was reminded what I missed...
Mind you, it wasn't bad skiing by northeast standard. Soft snow everywhere. Just not the fresh, untracked powder I was envisioning (and could have gotten had I not been such a stupid bonehead). Finally, it clicked and I moved over to the Spruce peak side and was rewarded with natural snow little disturbed by human, at edge of trails and path less traveled. Skied till last lift.
For a non-weekend day, Stowe was on the busy side. Short lines on the FR quad and long lines on the gondi. Parking lot looks to be full.
So in conclusion, good skiing but really disappointed at missing out probably the best condition for the northeast! (I've had powder days out west, but this was the only time I came soooo close to northeast blower powder)
Saturday -- packed powder, fresh powder
Missing out on the freshies the day before and with no overnight dump being predicted, I dilly-dallied in the morning. Cornhead came up in the night to harvest the sloppy second and thought he had it good. I joined him late in the morning. We stayed at the Spruce side for a while as it started to snow again and we were getting fresh refills.
By noon, we figured the gondi line should get a bit shorter, which it did. So we moved over to the Mansfield side. By then, the snow fall had been in earnest for a while and trails were getting quick re-fills all over. Now we were having fun, big time FUN!
Stopped for lunch at the top of the Front Runner quad and met up with dmw. Took some turns together. I got some beta from him about easy woods for the next day. Cornhead and dmw skied till last chair while I took off around 3:45.
It was busy enough that we had to wait from time to time, and had to split up to join the single's line a couple times just to speed the wait up. Leaving at the end of the day turned out to be the longest wait (20-30 min for me and nearly an hour for cornhead)
Sunday -- fresh powder, tracked out powder, more fresh powder, more tracked out powder
Cornhead hit the Front Runner quad at 7:30 and was rewarded with fresh powder from overnight and the day before. I joined him around 9 when we bumped into each other at the gondi. Found some almost untouched powder on the edge of a terrain park and lapped it a couple time. Then we split up because he wanted to hit Spruce again while I went to check out the woods recommended by dmw. The powder was deep in the woods!
Much fewer people, no wait on most chairs. The sun came out about noon time. Taking advantage of the good visibility, I finally worked up enough courage to try Liftline (didn't do the narrow bits at the very top part though, dropped in from a short connector between National & National Drop In, whatever it's called). I believe cornhead did that trail earlier in the morning. Bumps were soft as baby's bottom. Easy peasy! What's all the fuss about?
After lunch, casually cruised the lovely twisted trails on top of Spruce. That's when we noticed some guys hiking up from the top of Sensation quad. We decided to follow... very short hike and was rewarded with a short but sweet powder field. View was fantastic from the top. (I got some rather nice pictures, of cornhead in action in that snowfield. But will wait to upload later. I'm still recovering from the long day of skiing followed by long drive home)
Really, really nice 3 days of northeast "powder" skiing. One of the best. The part about it could have been even better, was mostly forgotten by the end of Sunday.
Friday -- fresh powder I missed, tracked out powder left over everywhere that I actually got
Was skiing at Sugarbush Wed/Thur. Move to Waterbury Thursday evening. Late into the evening, I notice the snow started to fall as forecast. And it was light and fluffy. So I went to bed planning to hit first chair... at 9 as it's mid-week.
Big mistake on my part! I'm ashamed to admit I goofed big time!
Stowe, being a "destination" mountain, spins its first lift at 7:30! I found that out when I checked the open lift/trail while having breakfast.
Just to make my mistake more unforgivable, the condition report said 8-10" had fallen overnight! Oh, not to mention the coat of 4" on my car flew away as soon as I touched it -- blower quality snow, of 8-10", and I was missing first chair by a loooong time! Jumped into my car with a bagel in my hand, I was angry with myself. Being so, I totally failed to take in the information that Spruce side lift doesn't run till 9, and I would have made first chair without problem!Instead, dumb ass as I was, I parked at the corner of Mansfield lodge lot, long hiked up to the lodge to get ticket, up the stair... at the top of the Front Runner Quad, I found... completely tracked out powder in piles and piles! Not having been to Stowe for many years, I was entirely unsure where to go and just randomly went all over the Mansfield face. Everywhere I was reminded what I missed...
Mind you, it wasn't bad skiing by northeast standard. Soft snow everywhere. Just not the fresh, untracked powder I was envisioning (and could have gotten had I not been such a stupid bonehead). Finally, it clicked and I moved over to the Spruce peak side and was rewarded with natural snow little disturbed by human, at edge of trails and path less traveled. Skied till last lift.
For a non-weekend day, Stowe was on the busy side. Short lines on the FR quad and long lines on the gondi. Parking lot looks to be full.
So in conclusion, good skiing but really disappointed at missing out probably the best condition for the northeast! (I've had powder days out west, but this was the only time I came soooo close to northeast blower powder)
Saturday -- packed powder, fresh powder
Missing out on the freshies the day before and with no overnight dump being predicted, I dilly-dallied in the morning. Cornhead came up in the night to harvest the sloppy second and thought he had it good.
I joined him late in the morning. We stayed at the Spruce side for a while as it started to snow again and we were getting fresh refills. By noon, we figured the gondi line should get a bit shorter, which it did. So we moved over to the Mansfield side. By then, the snow fall had been in earnest for a while and trails were getting quick re-fills all over. Now we were having fun, big time FUN!
Stopped for lunch at the top of the Front Runner quad and met up with dmw. Took some turns together. I got some beta from him about easy woods for the next day. Cornhead and dmw skied till last chair while I took off around 3:45.
It was busy enough that we had to wait from time to time, and had to split up to join the single's line a couple times just to speed the wait up. Leaving at the end of the day turned out to be the longest wait (20-30 min for me and nearly an hour for cornhead)
Sunday -- fresh powder, tracked out powder, more fresh powder, more tracked out powder
Cornhead hit the Front Runner quad at 7:30 and was rewarded with fresh powder from overnight and the day before. I joined him around 9 when we bumped into each other at the gondi. Found some almost untouched powder on the edge of a terrain park and lapped it a couple time. Then we split up because he wanted to hit Spruce again while I went to check out the woods recommended by dmw. The powder was deep in the woods!
Much fewer people, no wait on most chairs. The sun came out about noon time. Taking advantage of the good visibility, I finally worked up enough courage to try Liftline (didn't do the narrow bits at the very top part though, dropped in from a short connector between National & National Drop In, whatever it's called). I believe cornhead did that trail earlier in the morning. Bumps were soft as baby's bottom. Easy peasy! What's all the fuss about?
After lunch, casually cruised the lovely twisted trails on top of Spruce. That's when we noticed some guys hiking up from the top of Sensation quad. We decided to follow... very short hike and was rewarded with a short but sweet powder field. View was fantastic from the top. (I got some rather nice pictures, of cornhead in action in that snowfield. But will wait to upload later. I'm still recovering from the long day of skiing followed by long drive home)
Really, really nice 3 days of northeast "powder" skiing. One of the best. The part about it could have been even better, was mostly forgotten by the end of Sunday.
Last edited:
