Stowe, 03-12-16 three word report

[granite]

Liftline-National-Phenomenal!

 

[Mapnut]

Thanks for fighting the trend!

 

[reefer]

Didn't need any words with those pics. Nice!

 

[keyser soze]

Sweetness!!!!

 

[SkiFanE]

Stowe was always our fave NE mountain pre-kids (and when it was for the common skier lol). Haven't been in 20 years, but still consider it my fave. And was telling a work colleague that the other day...but can't really remember why it was my fave, but trust my own judgment. So after seeing your pics...now I remember! Beautiful - great trail report!

(OT: I do recall we loved being able to pop into the woods wherever we felt like it and be able to come out on a trail - not the thickety woods that seem to inhabit Maine. Someone here said they must be maintained, but I think it's the type of native vegetation on the mountain)

 

[deadheadskier]

Northern VT in general has a natural advantage over New Hampshire and Maine as far as tree skiing. Very few evergreen trees below 3500 feet or so. Mainly well spaced hard wood trees. They also average 100+ inches more snow a year than NH and ME. So, all the pucker crap gets covered. And yes, there is a healthy population of locals who are up there all summer long pruning back lines.

 

[Ice Queen]

Thanks for posting this. We're heading up for the week on Saturday and it's nice to know there's still snow.

 

[granite]

I don't think they have lost too much, in fact a little bit of snow might be coming their way. I was there for 1st chair at 7:30 am on Saturday with 25 degree temp for opening runs on fairly fast corduroy that was just a little soft. It started to get softer each run as the temp rose to nearly 50 degrees by the time I quit at 2:30. By then the snow was really soft and everyone was having a blast. However, if you look at the 2nd picture of Liftline you can see the shaded side on skiers right. It looked like they had groomed this a few days prior to my arrival but it then rained and it was frozen over first thing in the morning, but very smooth. Later in the day that shaded area began to soften up and that side was a blast-smooth and fast. I only took one run at Spruce around 11am, it was really soft and I didn't like the way it was setting up by then. It was obvious, that for me, the runs off the Forerunner quad was the place to be; I must have done about 23 or 24 runs off the lift and my legs were lunch meat. It should be a great weekend looking at the forecast-have fun and give us a report with photos?

 

[Ice Queen]

Will do. We're bringing some friends who will be skiing mainly on Spruce so we'll be able to report on both sides!

 

[steamboat1]

Well they must have lost a lot Sunday. Upper National was closed & pretty brown Monday when I was there as were the majority of natural trails. Still a deep base on snowmaking trails though. Picked up maybe an inch of grapple Monday afternoon.

edit: mountain never softened up Monday.

 

[Jcb890]

I was there on Saturday the 12th also. The snow was a lot of fun, but being a first-timer, the mountain took a bit of getting used to. People who complain about Killington requiring a lot of traversing... they must hate Stowe with sections being accessed by a gondola to go across from Spruce to Mansfield side.

What they had open had great coverage on it. I wish I got to enjoy more of the Spruce side, but they had a lot of it closed off for racing or practicing.

I really enjoyed Nosedive, especially Upper Nosedive. It got a bit more challenging once everything started to get softer and bumped up by around noon when I was over there. I was wishing Goat was open also, that trail looks quite gnarly. Same with Spruce Line, but both had little to no coverage and were obviously closed.

I'd like to go back, but only can go once using the VT Ski 3 card and refuse to pay their normal absurd prices. This weekend is Ski Club Appreciation weekend so tickets are $45 with club membership... so I guess that's an idea... hmmmmm

 

[steamboat1]

Stowe is likely to be very scratchy with the cool temps this weekend. It was Monday since it didn't soften up that day.

 

[Ice Queen]

Agree with Steamboat1, it was very warm Sunday afternoon and the brown patches on National, Liftline, and over on West Slope on Spruce were growing. There were people skiing upper National yesterday, crazy buggers. The snow on the snowmaking trails has been getting better every day since Sunday, and it's snowing this morning so I think things will be pretty good. All things considered, the skiing has been surprisingly good.