riverc0il
New member
RE: #19 sounds like a major douche. Also, never waiting "more than 15-20 minutes on the worst days" isn't really a selling point and perhaps is a negative. Even at Jay, I don't think I've ever waited that long even on a powder day.I found this posted about why someone skis at Stowe on the TGR forums. Accurate????
"I ski stowe because...
1. You don't have to avoid it on canadian holidays
2. I have never waited more than 15 or 20 minutes in line on the worst days. If thats the case you just go hiking and take 2 hour long bc runs
3. The patrol guys are awesome, respect them and they leave you alone... Includes hucking the waterfall.
4. There are cliffs everywhere, and some huge ones too
5. Jay's ridge doesn't have anything that compares to the chin.
6. The gondola is nice and warm, and the quad isn't nicknamed the "green mountain freezer"
7. There are sick lines on spruce that nobody skis
8. I like the feel of the stowe hardwood glades better than jay.
9. Stowe has chutes such as the pipeline and goat chute that I have found nothing like at jay.
10. Free samples at the cider mill and cabot on the ride home.
11. I think that park is ok, I don't really know... I ride flat-tails.
12. When on wind hold the double is often running and its a 15 minute hike to the top of the quad.
13. Its a long way to stowe but its fast unlike meandering through bumblefuck northern vt
14. 53 of my 93 ski days last winter were at stowe that brings daily cost to ski in at $8.01 a day. (spent around that on gas, an issue carpooling can solve)
15. The kitchen wall is sick
16. The further back in the notch you go the sicker it gets
17. We feel the need to ski with full avey gear during big storms
18. You skate back to the resort down the notch road, no big jay car spotting involved (I hear the record is chin hellbrook 5 times in a day, I did 2 once and that wore me out)
19. You get to fuck with lots of rich people.
20. There are lots of places to stay on the mountain especially taft lodge.
Jay and Stowe are two very different mountains. Jay sprawls sideways and you can go into the woods almost anywhere. Stowe is 2k vert every run (except Spruce). The trees are very different. Stowe's trees are much more challenging. Jay's off map trees have a bit more mellow vibe. I feel Jay doesn't get tracked out quite as fast but I don't know Stowe as well as I know Jay. Jay's ridge isn't nearly as expansive as Stowe's ridge. You can have some fun off Jay's ridge but Stowe's ridge is really the pinnacle of what you can find by hiking an area in the east. Jay's vibe is more mellow even with the resort development: Stenger vs big corporate bank... ownership comes from a different perspective and it shows in the feel of the two places. Jay's trails get blown off faster than any other place but the woods are expansive and catch a lot of the blown around stuff.
Personally, I like Smuggs better than either Jay or Stowe. Just wish it was closer. If it was, I'd be a passholder for sure.
Just decide what you want and go for it. Once you get north of the interstate, the snow total variances don't matter all that much. Stowe has the ridge and tighter/steeper trees. Jay is a bit more mellow, expansive boundary to boundary and beyond mellow tree skiing and a tiny bit of pucker off the ridge, Smuggs has the terrain and the vibe with some longer waits for the double but incredibly good woods. All three have hike to sidecountry with Stowe leading the three in this category. I'd also factor drive time in, you'll ski a lot more if you are only driving 1 hour... you'll go a lot more on questionable days but 1.5 hours maybe not as much.