slatham
Well-known member
Two blue bird "boys weekend" days at Stowe, with Friday a bit colder/windier and Saturday almost spring like.
Groomers skied great though some areas got slick, especially on a very busy Saturday. Notable areas were the second pitch on Hayride, the top pitch of liftline, and the entrance to Nosedive. Although they have a ton more snow depth than SOVT, I would say the overall trail conditions are very similar with a firm base.
Investigated but mostly stayed off front 4 moguls as they were firm/icy and sun did not help. Chin Clip on the other hand loosened up nicely with Saturday sun and was very good.
Given firmness of trails, I was surprised how soft and mostly untracked (3-5") the woods were on Friday, thus spent several runs in Tres Amigos, S53, Midway, etc etc. Woods were skied out on Saturday. We also had a very good run down the riverbed on Friday. One spot showed flowing water but otherwise good coverage.
The parking situation was "EPIC"! Saturday I was on the lift with a guy from Stowe Management when, at 10:30am, he got the call for all available staff to report to parking as they were full! There was still a line coming up 108 as far as you could see. I heard people were being parked "everywhere" and one of our group was parked as far away as the Nordic Center.
Then at closing there was an accident on 108, and with the flow from ski crowds and NCAA, people waited, without moving, in the parking lot for upwards of an hour! Luckily we had a slope side tail gate set up from lunch and just continued it until around 5 when things started moving. Bunch of stranded stragglers came over to join our group so it turned out to be fun. But we had beer, food and nowhere to go. I bet a bunch of dinner reso's were missed.
Maybe with the parking issues Stowe will follow A-basin and opt out of Epic? Oh, wait, guess not!:razz:
Given this, I was surprised how manageable the lift lines were, with the Four Runner Quad the exception. Thank god nobody likes old doubles as Lookout was ski on to at most 10 deep. And I mean people, not minutes. Triple too, and even Sensation Quad over at Spruce. Gondi had lines but moved fast. Trails not crowded. At your typical SOVT "resort" such a parking issue would have resulted in a zoo on the mountain.
I caught the first run of the NCAA women's Slalom finals on Saturday. Great slope side vantage points and then in the finish corral. I can't believe more people didn't come over to see it. With the top college skiers, and several who are on the World Cup tour, it was fantastic. Two of the world cup woman are from host school UVM, and when they finished 1st and 5th in the first run the local crowd was very boisterous!
Great mountain, spectacular weather, even more spectacular parking fiasco.
Groomers skied great though some areas got slick, especially on a very busy Saturday. Notable areas were the second pitch on Hayride, the top pitch of liftline, and the entrance to Nosedive. Although they have a ton more snow depth than SOVT, I would say the overall trail conditions are very similar with a firm base.
Investigated but mostly stayed off front 4 moguls as they were firm/icy and sun did not help. Chin Clip on the other hand loosened up nicely with Saturday sun and was very good.
Given firmness of trails, I was surprised how soft and mostly untracked (3-5") the woods were on Friday, thus spent several runs in Tres Amigos, S53, Midway, etc etc. Woods were skied out on Saturday. We also had a very good run down the riverbed on Friday. One spot showed flowing water but otherwise good coverage.
The parking situation was "EPIC"! Saturday I was on the lift with a guy from Stowe Management when, at 10:30am, he got the call for all available staff to report to parking as they were full! There was still a line coming up 108 as far as you could see. I heard people were being parked "everywhere" and one of our group was parked as far away as the Nordic Center.
Then at closing there was an accident on 108, and with the flow from ski crowds and NCAA, people waited, without moving, in the parking lot for upwards of an hour! Luckily we had a slope side tail gate set up from lunch and just continued it until around 5 when things started moving. Bunch of stranded stragglers came over to join our group so it turned out to be fun. But we had beer, food and nowhere to go. I bet a bunch of dinner reso's were missed.
Maybe with the parking issues Stowe will follow A-basin and opt out of Epic? Oh, wait, guess not!:razz:
Given this, I was surprised how manageable the lift lines were, with the Four Runner Quad the exception. Thank god nobody likes old doubles as Lookout was ski on to at most 10 deep. And I mean people, not minutes. Triple too, and even Sensation Quad over at Spruce. Gondi had lines but moved fast. Trails not crowded. At your typical SOVT "resort" such a parking issue would have resulted in a zoo on the mountain.
I caught the first run of the NCAA women's Slalom finals on Saturday. Great slope side vantage points and then in the finish corral. I can't believe more people didn't come over to see it. With the top college skiers, and several who are on the World Cup tour, it was fantastic. Two of the world cup woman are from host school UVM, and when they finished 1st and 5th in the first run the local crowd was very boisterous!
Great mountain, spectacular weather, even more spectacular parking fiasco.
