Some thoughts on Stratton...

[Steve The Bluesman]

This isn't really a trip report, so I thought I would put in here. I haven't been to Stratton in a while, but man has it changed.

The BS "Village," the condo's (and more being built) and the lack of young people. The average age of the place must be 50. And while there were some cool folks on the 6 chairs and the gondola, it was mostly the fat business man talking about how he just bought his kid a new Accord and that his priveleged offspring will be pulling in $150k after graduation as a CPA. Well whoop-de-freakin-do.

Stratton has become a "chic" resort. Not my kind of place anymore. And the Liftline Lodge sucks. Smells bad and had paper thin walls.

The skiiing on Wed/Thurs was fantastic. Black diamonds are not black diamonds though. There were 3 nice bump runs on the mountain (world cup being the best), but all the rest were pretty flat.

Fri was full of kids. Shouldn't they be in school? It was also amatuer hour - One lady went down getting on a 6 chair, took the chair in the back of the head, then had the next chair stop right on top of her when the attendant stopped the lift...people stopping in the middle of trails all over the mountain...brutal wipeouts of people skiing over their heads...kids on ski leashes with parents crawling down the mountain on blacks...WTF?

Next year, I think a Wildcat, Cramnore, Cannon, Attitash trip is in order. Still good to get back after so much time away.


Bluesman

 

[thetrailboss]

I was pleasantly surprised. The terrain was interesting. Was it everything to everyone? No. I was pleased. Some nice rolls and I found some good bumps and good challenge. Glades looked nice. Nothing overly steep. People were all friendly and I was surprised. I saw a lot of younger folks. I will say that several skiers cut us off...which was unusual. Other than that, I gave it a thumbs up :beer:

 

[tekweezle]

They seemed to be having a rockin happy hour at the Grizzly Bear apres ski saturday. some guy won a snowboard.

 

[Greg]

Different strokes for different folks. Steve - you probably could have had the same experience at several other Northeast resorts...

 

[Paul]

Different strokes for different folks. Steve - you probably could have had the same experience at several other Northeast resorts...

Exactly. Rudeness knows no boundaries.

I had a pretty good day there on Friday (hell, it was FREE fercryinoutloud) I agree that the target customer is not your "typical" New England skiier, and definately is your typical middle-age uber-businessman. Stratton is what it is. Its a decent beginner to intermediate mountain that being a part of Intrawest is kinda like the Disney of Northeast ski resorts. My wife loves it (she's a novice skiier) right down to the whole faux Innsbrook village. If you want MRG, go to MRG, but don't piss and moan about a mountain that offers no false pretenses about what it is.

 

[RISkier]

We got a lodging/ski deal and went for a weekend in December. The village is, as described -- it's a faux Tyrolean village with no character. Everything is "nice" but the feel is sterile and lacks character. We thought prices in the village were very expensive and we're folks that'll go out a spend a good bit on meals. The food we had just wasn't worth the money. The skiing was OK and the lifts were good. But it seemed nobody was having any fun. Everyone we rode lifts with seemed very serious. Not really tangible but the place just had a very different feel than anywhere we've skied. We both thought the place had a really strange vibe. So, while we had no real complaints, Stratton certainly didn't strike a chord with our hearts. If we were paying $70+ / day to ski Stratton just isn't even in the same ballpark as Stowe. Given the right deal we might go back, but I suspect we'll never visit again.

 

[thetrailboss]

We got a lodging/ski deal and went for a weekend in December. The village is, as described -- it's a faux Tyrolean village with no character. Everything is "nice" but the feel is sterile and lacks character. We thought prices in the village were very expensive and we're folks that'll go out a spend a good bit on meals. The food we had just wasn't worth the money. The skiing was OK and the lifts were good. But it seemed nobody was having any fun. Everyone we rode lifts with seemed very serious. Not really tangible but the place just had a very different feel than anywhere we've skied. We both thought the place had a really strange vibe. So, while we had no real complaints, Stratton certainly didn't strike a chord with our hearts. If we were paying $70+ / day to ski Stratton just isn't even in the same ballpark as Stowe. Given the right deal we might go back, but I suspect we'll never visit again.

See this is what I was told to expect and I just did not see it at all. Most folks were very friendly...what few there were. The village...well...it was nice to walk through, but I really didn't care. I was there for the skiing and it was good IMHO. Was it everything I ever wanted? No, but it was nice.

 

[mountaindude]

WOW..Does this vaguely remind you of the Stratton vs. every other mountain arguments that used to go on F O R E V E R over on the RSN forum???????????/

 

[RISkier]

See this is what I was told to expect and I just did not see it at all. Most folks were very friendly...what few there were. The village...well...it was nice to walk through, but I really didn't care. I was there for the skiing and it was good IMHO. Was it everything I ever wanted? No, but it was nice.

I don't know how to respond. We're intermediates and actually, I thought we'd love Stratton. Oddly, we went to UT last year and I thought we'd absolutely love Deer Valley but we liked The Canyons better and absolutely loved Alta. Maybe we were just unlucky with our timing at Stratton. I think perceptions of ski areas is often colored by realtively transient things like the conditions one happens to get or the small sample of folks one happens to meet. I'm glad you had a good experience at Stratton, and reading your trip report makes me want to give it a second chance.

 

[Steve The Bluesman]

Exactly. Rudeness knows no boundaries.

I had a pretty good day there on Friday (hell, it was FREE fercryinoutloud) I agree that the target customer is not your "typical" New England skiier, and definately is your typical middle-age uber-businessman. Stratton is what it is. Its a decent beginner to intermediate mountain that being a part of Intrawest is kinda like the Disney of Northeast ski resorts. My wife loves it (she's a novice skiier) right down to the whole faux Innsbrook village. If you want MRG, go to MRG, but don't piss and moan about a mountain that offers no false pretenses about what it is.

Fair enough, but what Stratton is now is not what Stratton was. My buddy on the trip last week worked at Stratton in the mid 80's, and he was expecting what I was, A well taken care of, no nonsense mountain. I used to love Stratton. The mountain, the people, the beers at night at the Red Fox...we got a "Disney-fied" mountain instead. Beleive me, my buddy was straight out horrified compared to my reaction.

Again, the snow was great for late March, it was just that priveleged vibe that will make me not return.


Bluesman

 

[tekweezle]

I bet Stratton was family owned back then. the Disney-fied effect is probably all Intrawest. let's face it, skiing is an expensive recreation and they are courting the "big city folks". down the road, I hear Magic Mountain is totally bare and closed. They must have had a terrible season.

back in the 80's when skiing wasn;t the industry it is now, they probably got more snow, and didn;t have the high speed lifts and snowmaking. given the bad snow year, they probably couldn;t have opened this late either.

things are different now, not necessarily better nor worse. just different.

 

[Paul]

Fair enough, but what Stratton is now is not what Stratton was. My buddy on the trip last week worked at Stratton in the mid 80's, and he was expecting what I was, A well taken care of, no nonsense mountain. I used to love Stratton. The mountain, the people, the beers at night at the Red Fox...we got a "Disney-fied" mountain instead. Beleive me, my buddy was straight out horrified compared to my reaction.

Again, the snow was great for late March, it was just that priveleged vibe that will make me not return.


Bluesman

I hear ya. Its unfortunate that an area that had a vibe that you liked, changed. And for the record, I feel pretty much the same way. I absolutely think that it has the priveledged thing going. Trouble is, were it not for Intrawest and turning it into a McMountain, it may well have ended-up on NELSAP. It sucks that those are the options, but dems da breaks.

I'll still go there (although I prefer Okemo when faced with a decision as to which Southern VT mountain to visit) mainly because the Warden digs the whole stay in one place thing. I just have to bear in mind what it is, and keep the expectations accordingly.

 

[Talisman]

Stratton wasn't exactly Jackson Hole in the '80's, it was a fairly flat mounatin with really wide trails by then. I remember faux Austrian architecture was rife at Stratton and other NE ski area in '60's and '70's but putting a dolled up strip mall at the base of ski area was too tasteless then. Stratton was more fun to me when it had narrow trails, the upper mounatin had no snow making and being a poseur hadn't become a skiing pass time.

If the lift ticket is free, it is for me and I won't disrespect Stratton my host for the day. I skied Stratton this year for free and enjoyed it by avoiding the faux Austrian village and starting at the Sun Bowl base area. Over hearing conversations between insecure nouveau-riche people is always startling, but being a great skier has it own rewards as the zen of graceful turns on buffed out snow made the bourgeous comments into so much hot air. Startton also has a nice collection of glades that seem to be some type of a Bogner and fur trimmed parka free zone at Stratton.

If Sratton offers me another free day of skiing I will graciously accept.

 

[Ski Diva]

The thing that bugs me about Stratton is that they close down most of the lifts on weekdays, making a good part of the mountain difficult or impossible to get to. I have a mid-week season pass at Okemo that's good at Stratton, too -- but if I were paying the price they charge for a day ticket, I'd be good and mad.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

WOW..Does this vaguely remind you of the Stratton vs. every other mountain arguments that used to go on F O R E V E R over on the RSN forum???????????/

Yeah, with a guy named Pepi vs. a couple of kids (can't remember names) who hated Stratton. That was kinda entertaining I thought.

The difference hear is we may disagree, but opinions are respected. It seldom gets personal like RSN use to.

 

[thetrailboss]

Well, it is what it is. I thought it was decent for Southern VT. Great service, snow, lifts, and overall quality of terrain.

 

[tekweezle]

are there really any bad mountains when they have decent snow coverage? what matters to me is the skiing on the hill. all resorts have their pros and cons. it;s your job to find the pros in every situation.

 

[Big Game]

The thing that bugs me about Stratton is that they close down most of the lifts on weekdays, making a good part of the mountain difficult or impossible to get to. I have a mid-week season pass at Okemo that's good at Stratton, too -- but if I were paying the price they charge for a day ticket, I'd be good and mad.

Fridays they usually have Shooting Star open and the slow snow bowl lift. But the rest of the week, yeah it's a P.I.A. to get around. But the good thing is that its keep Kidderbrook pretty empty. Downside, of course, is that the traverse at the bottom is a calf-burner.

 

[skibum1321]

are there really any bad mountains when they have decent snow coverage?

Call me a pessimist, but I say yes there are. Some mountains just bore the hell out of me.

 

[tekweezle]

not every resort is a mountain. some are molehills! i;ll concede that molehills can get boring quickly.