Went to Stowe today on a bus trip. It departed about 8 minutes late from Woburn but that was mostly because of the large amount of people boarding at that pickup point. Was a bit amazed how many buses were at Stowe today... 26 of them according to the parking attendant who greeted the bus! Thankfully the mountain wasn't that crowded as you think it would be. It shows that's how most people can afford to ski here (including me). Started with a few runs of Fourrunner and then did a run on the gondola once the Fourrunner's line was a little past 10 minutes even in singles. Hayride skied nicely with nice carveable turns with some soft snow. Felt a little adventurous and went into bypass. It was a tough trail with some rather large icing in its steepest parts but I got through it alright. Went over to Spruce and spent a considerable amount of time there as I enjoyed crowd-free runs off the Sensation quad with no lines at all. Natural snow trails such as Upper Smugglers were a bit thin on cover but still were very enjoyable over at Spruce. Took a run down liftline... looked like the best front four trail to go down. It was a bit scratchy late in the day with some patches of ice but it overall skied pretty well.
At the end of the day, it was quite a thing to see just about everyone who was departing Mansfield lodge around 4:15 pm was heading to a bus; not a car. Even I was a bit confused that there was 4 buses that looked like the one that I took up but I found the right one after doing a few double takes and seeing the bus driver. So it's kind of understandable why it's so old and rustic looking while Spruce is so luxurious when you consider how much Stowe has to be charging bus companies for their tix to make it economical enough for them to run buses here. But then again, looking at the ticket line, I'm happy they have the tickets ready to go and they hand them over as the bus pulls in as I'd rather not wait in that.
At the end of the day, it was quite a thing to see just about everyone who was departing Mansfield lodge around 4:15 pm was heading to a bus; not a car. Even I was a bit confused that there was 4 buses that looked like the one that I took up but I found the right one after doing a few double takes and seeing the bus driver. So it's kind of understandable why it's so old and rustic looking while Spruce is so luxurious when you consider how much Stowe has to be charging bus companies for their tix to make it economical enough for them to run buses here. But then again, looking at the ticket line, I'm happy they have the tickets ready to go and they hand them over as the bus pulls in as I'd rather not wait in that.
