Zand
Well-known member
Stowe 3/15-3/16/08
Date(s) Skied: Saturday 3/15/08
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: Variable
Trip Report:
This weekend was my school's annual trip to Stowe. On Saturday, we arrived shortly after 8 AM and headed up the Fourrunner Quad. Took a warmup run down Ridge View to Sunrise to Tyro, a series of gentle blue cruisers. They were covered in a couple inches of wet snow as well. Good first run.
Next run was goat from the cut-in. It had some decent bumps with some scraped areas in between and GREAT coverage. Not a rock to hit anywhere on the trail. Upper Goat was closed all weekend unfortunately.
A couple of my buddies who mainly only go to Wachusett were overwhelmed by Goat, so I decided to bring them over to the Gondola and its great cruisers. We started off with a run down Perry Merrill which was tough at the top in the fog, but was nice after that. The last leg had some really choppy snow which proved that the lower elevations were starting to soften up a little too much with the traffic that was there.
Took a run straight down Gondolier next which was nice high speed GS turns just about the entire way. Again, the bottom was choppy which ended the big GS turns but was fun for short turns.
After a quick break in the Midway lodge, we took one more ride up the Gondola and headed down Cliff Trail. I played in the woods a little along the way. When we got to Nose Dive, I decided to bring them in the low-angle woods between it and the bottom of Goat. They were clearly often-traveled by most of the Nose Dive traffic, but the coverage was great and the conditions were pretty good considering the traffic.
They loved the woods, so I figured they'd enjoy the Upper Nosedive glades even more. I took Bypass along the way which was actually in decent shape. The only really scraped spot on the entire trail was the drop back onto Nosedive. the rest had some awkward bumps, but good snow. From there we jumped in the awesome Nosedive Glades. Some untracked shots were found and great conditions all around. As we headed down, we went too far in and ended up down at the ravine in between the quad side and gondola side. It took us nearly 45 minutes to finally hike back to the very bottom of Switchback. I also managed to fall through a hole and almost slid down into the river. I must admit it was fun being deep in the woods and away from the crowds for a while, but it did take away from some quality skiing time.
After an expensive lunch at Mansfield Base, we took the double (quad lines were pushing 5 minutes) and took a run down Hayride. It was very scraped off and had a ton of people on it. We hung a left onto Hayride Loop to the much better Lower Lookout.
Met another buddy at the quad who had the dumb idea of a "race" down Toll Road. Of course, besides the section on Ridgeview, it's too flat to really get any speed. The last 1.5 miles or so were so sticky that you had to pole about the entire way. We took Easy Mile once we made it that far which is also flat as hell. At the bottom I looked back up to see when he was coming down and was nowhere to be seen, so I jumped on the agonizing Toll House Double. After a few minutes I see him hiking up Home Run. Apparently he went down it because it appeared to have more pitch and completely missed the "Condo Guests Only" sign.
After the 4 hour ride on the double, we finally made it to Tyro and it felt nice to finally get some wind in the face again. We took the triple up to Hackett's Highway which had some decent snow and a few small hucks. Hung a left onto Crossover and headed back to the Quad.
At the top, I hit Goat once again from the cut-in. Headed straight across and jumped into the last 2/3rds of Goat Woods. They were in awesome shape. Quite a bit of untracked due to Goat being seldom traveled and just incredible all around.
Next run was Bypass to Nosedive Glades. Not as great as Goat Woods, but still decent. Pretty much traversed straight back to Nosedive after Cliff Trail crossed in so I didn't end up in the ravine again.
Took the Over Easy Gondola over to Spruce to go check out the park and pipe. Took a ride up the quick Sunny Spruce Express, cut across the shrubs on Side Street, and hit the halfpipe at the bottom of Main Street. Excellent pipe... not as long as Mt. Snow's but just as good.
Took a ride up the Sensation Express to the top of Spruce. Took Main Street which unlike the map portrays, is not a park the whole way. After searching around in the fog for a few minutes, I finally found the short park. All it had was 3 enormous jumps and a couple rails. Pretty much just bypassed the jumps and headed down for another run in the pipe.
Took the Easy Over back to Mansfield. Decided to take one last run on the Gondola since I was too lazy to push to the quad. Took a top-to-bottom run on Chin Clip. The top was complete junk from the Gondolier traffic plowing around in the fog. It didn't get much better as the main trail had widely spaced bumps and scraped areas in between. Called it a day at the bottom of that, a pretty good day 1 of 2 at Stowe.
Date(s) Skied: Sunday 3/16/08
Conditions: PP, LSGR
Trip Report:
Sunday started off alone with an 8:15 run down Liftline from the cut-in. Nicely groomed at that point with few tracks. Good steep trail most of the way with bumps to the side. Sunday was colder so the bumps weren't soft yet.
Next run was Ridge View to Sunrise to Tyro. Fun run again... nice GS turns on an empty mountain.
Observed that the rope had been dropped on Upper Liftline, so I hit that next. Tons of untracked powder that was deep enough most of time to obscure the ice underneath. Caught a bump weird at one point and took a header for all on the lift to see. The chute around the cliff was nice as well. Took Goat Woods from there, more untracked fun.
Headed down to the lodge to see if anyone was in. I walk in to find one of my friends in a sling - broken collar bone and dislocated shoulder from a fall on the first run off the gondola. Tough ending to his season. Also found a buddy who wanted to hit some woods. The next 3 runs were some of the funniest of my life... he can ski tough woods pretty well but is extremely clumsy. Told him about Upper Liftline and Goat Woods so we hit those next and had some fun. He took a great wipeout on the liftline shoot when he got spun around backwards and went down the entire trail headfirst on his back, somehow not hitting any trees.
Next run was Bypass to Nosedive glades. He managed to fall under a pine tree which took a little while to dig out of. We also met 4 guys up for the weekend from the Worcester area. We followed them a bit deeper into the woods which were much more narrow but less tracked.
Next we headed up the Gondola to Chin Clip. We hiked into the woods at the top of Chin Clip and enjoyed the great but crowded glades there. At the bottom we hit some woods between Chin Clip and Gondolier which had a lot of water holes and nasty areas so we bailed out.
After a quick bite to eat, we headed back out. We were ticked to see that the mountain that managed to stay out of the clouds the entire morning was almost totally fogged in. We took the double up and took a run on Starr. The 37 pitch sucked... almost bulletproof besides the bumps, which were saviors. Otherwise, it would've almost been exactly like Ripcord at Mt. Snow the day I hit it in January. The middle had some good snow and bumps. The 34 pitch was also scraped, but not as bad. From there we took Lower Starr which had a few small bumps that were small enough to just blast over.
Next run off the quad, we took an unnamed tree shot above the entrance to National. It had some decent snow and was also scraped in areas. Pretty fun though. From there we hit National which had some good bumps, but it was so foggy that you could barely even see the lines. Mid/Lower National were groomed so we hopped in the woods for a while.
Headed back up and took the shot above National to Goat Woods. Was getting a bit tired by that point and my skiing was getting a bit out of control in the woods so I decided that would be my last woods run.
Took what I thought would be my last run of the day. The quad stopped about 10 times on the way up and after the series of stops ran very slow. Took Nosedive down and ended up running into some friends at Rimrock that were coming out of the woods. I followed them into the Lower Nosedive woods and had some fun, almost totally overcoming the tiredness I was feeling on Goat. At the bottom we noticed that the quad was closed and not running.
We had time for one more run so we headed over to the triple and hit Hackett's. We also hit the medium park on Lower North Slope and then called it a day. The quad was running once again and they said it was was a small electrical problem so all is fine there.
Well, my 2nd trip to Stowe, while not the 3 foot powder weekend of last year, was a lot of fun with more base and lots of woods skiing. Thursday is MRG and Friday is Sugarbush... hopefully the rain stays away. After that, I'll probably be down to a few more Wachusett trips (closing day April 6) and then 1 or 2 trips to Mt. Snow in mid and late April.
Date(s) Skied: Saturday 3/15/08
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: Variable
Trip Report:
This weekend was my school's annual trip to Stowe. On Saturday, we arrived shortly after 8 AM and headed up the Fourrunner Quad. Took a warmup run down Ridge View to Sunrise to Tyro, a series of gentle blue cruisers. They were covered in a couple inches of wet snow as well. Good first run.
Next run was goat from the cut-in. It had some decent bumps with some scraped areas in between and GREAT coverage. Not a rock to hit anywhere on the trail. Upper Goat was closed all weekend unfortunately.
A couple of my buddies who mainly only go to Wachusett were overwhelmed by Goat, so I decided to bring them over to the Gondola and its great cruisers. We started off with a run down Perry Merrill which was tough at the top in the fog, but was nice after that. The last leg had some really choppy snow which proved that the lower elevations were starting to soften up a little too much with the traffic that was there.
Took a run straight down Gondolier next which was nice high speed GS turns just about the entire way. Again, the bottom was choppy which ended the big GS turns but was fun for short turns.
After a quick break in the Midway lodge, we took one more ride up the Gondola and headed down Cliff Trail. I played in the woods a little along the way. When we got to Nose Dive, I decided to bring them in the low-angle woods between it and the bottom of Goat. They were clearly often-traveled by most of the Nose Dive traffic, but the coverage was great and the conditions were pretty good considering the traffic.
They loved the woods, so I figured they'd enjoy the Upper Nosedive glades even more. I took Bypass along the way which was actually in decent shape. The only really scraped spot on the entire trail was the drop back onto Nosedive. the rest had some awkward bumps, but good snow. From there we jumped in the awesome Nosedive Glades. Some untracked shots were found and great conditions all around. As we headed down, we went too far in and ended up down at the ravine in between the quad side and gondola side. It took us nearly 45 minutes to finally hike back to the very bottom of Switchback. I also managed to fall through a hole and almost slid down into the river. I must admit it was fun being deep in the woods and away from the crowds for a while, but it did take away from some quality skiing time.
After an expensive lunch at Mansfield Base, we took the double (quad lines were pushing 5 minutes) and took a run down Hayride. It was very scraped off and had a ton of people on it. We hung a left onto Hayride Loop to the much better Lower Lookout.
Met another buddy at the quad who had the dumb idea of a "race" down Toll Road. Of course, besides the section on Ridgeview, it's too flat to really get any speed. The last 1.5 miles or so were so sticky that you had to pole about the entire way. We took Easy Mile once we made it that far which is also flat as hell. At the bottom I looked back up to see when he was coming down and was nowhere to be seen, so I jumped on the agonizing Toll House Double. After a few minutes I see him hiking up Home Run. Apparently he went down it because it appeared to have more pitch and completely missed the "Condo Guests Only" sign.
After the 4 hour ride on the double, we finally made it to Tyro and it felt nice to finally get some wind in the face again. We took the triple up to Hackett's Highway which had some decent snow and a few small hucks. Hung a left onto Crossover and headed back to the Quad.
At the top, I hit Goat once again from the cut-in. Headed straight across and jumped into the last 2/3rds of Goat Woods. They were in awesome shape. Quite a bit of untracked due to Goat being seldom traveled and just incredible all around.
Next run was Bypass to Nosedive Glades. Not as great as Goat Woods, but still decent. Pretty much traversed straight back to Nosedive after Cliff Trail crossed in so I didn't end up in the ravine again.
Took the Over Easy Gondola over to Spruce to go check out the park and pipe. Took a ride up the quick Sunny Spruce Express, cut across the shrubs on Side Street, and hit the halfpipe at the bottom of Main Street. Excellent pipe... not as long as Mt. Snow's but just as good.
Took a ride up the Sensation Express to the top of Spruce. Took Main Street which unlike the map portrays, is not a park the whole way. After searching around in the fog for a few minutes, I finally found the short park. All it had was 3 enormous jumps and a couple rails. Pretty much just bypassed the jumps and headed down for another run in the pipe.
Took the Easy Over back to Mansfield. Decided to take one last run on the Gondola since I was too lazy to push to the quad. Took a top-to-bottom run on Chin Clip. The top was complete junk from the Gondolier traffic plowing around in the fog. It didn't get much better as the main trail had widely spaced bumps and scraped areas in between. Called it a day at the bottom of that, a pretty good day 1 of 2 at Stowe.
Date(s) Skied: Sunday 3/16/08
Conditions: PP, LSGR
Trip Report:
Sunday started off alone with an 8:15 run down Liftline from the cut-in. Nicely groomed at that point with few tracks. Good steep trail most of the way with bumps to the side. Sunday was colder so the bumps weren't soft yet.
Next run was Ridge View to Sunrise to Tyro. Fun run again... nice GS turns on an empty mountain.
Observed that the rope had been dropped on Upper Liftline, so I hit that next. Tons of untracked powder that was deep enough most of time to obscure the ice underneath. Caught a bump weird at one point and took a header for all on the lift to see. The chute around the cliff was nice as well. Took Goat Woods from there, more untracked fun.
Headed down to the lodge to see if anyone was in. I walk in to find one of my friends in a sling - broken collar bone and dislocated shoulder from a fall on the first run off the gondola. Tough ending to his season. Also found a buddy who wanted to hit some woods. The next 3 runs were some of the funniest of my life... he can ski tough woods pretty well but is extremely clumsy. Told him about Upper Liftline and Goat Woods so we hit those next and had some fun. He took a great wipeout on the liftline shoot when he got spun around backwards and went down the entire trail headfirst on his back, somehow not hitting any trees.
Next run was Bypass to Nosedive glades. He managed to fall under a pine tree which took a little while to dig out of. We also met 4 guys up for the weekend from the Worcester area. We followed them a bit deeper into the woods which were much more narrow but less tracked.
Next we headed up the Gondola to Chin Clip. We hiked into the woods at the top of Chin Clip and enjoyed the great but crowded glades there. At the bottom we hit some woods between Chin Clip and Gondolier which had a lot of water holes and nasty areas so we bailed out.
After a quick bite to eat, we headed back out. We were ticked to see that the mountain that managed to stay out of the clouds the entire morning was almost totally fogged in. We took the double up and took a run on Starr. The 37 pitch sucked... almost bulletproof besides the bumps, which were saviors. Otherwise, it would've almost been exactly like Ripcord at Mt. Snow the day I hit it in January. The middle had some good snow and bumps. The 34 pitch was also scraped, but not as bad. From there we took Lower Starr which had a few small bumps that were small enough to just blast over.
Next run off the quad, we took an unnamed tree shot above the entrance to National. It had some decent snow and was also scraped in areas. Pretty fun though. From there we hit National which had some good bumps, but it was so foggy that you could barely even see the lines. Mid/Lower National were groomed so we hopped in the woods for a while.
Headed back up and took the shot above National to Goat Woods. Was getting a bit tired by that point and my skiing was getting a bit out of control in the woods so I decided that would be my last woods run.
Took what I thought would be my last run of the day. The quad stopped about 10 times on the way up and after the series of stops ran very slow. Took Nosedive down and ended up running into some friends at Rimrock that were coming out of the woods. I followed them into the Lower Nosedive woods and had some fun, almost totally overcoming the tiredness I was feeling on Goat. At the bottom we noticed that the quad was closed and not running.
We had time for one more run so we headed over to the triple and hit Hackett's. We also hit the medium park on Lower North Slope and then called it a day. The quad was running once again and they said it was was a small electrical problem so all is fine there.
Well, my 2nd trip to Stowe, while not the 3 foot powder weekend of last year, was a lot of fun with more base and lots of woods skiing. Thursday is MRG and Friday is Sugarbush... hopefully the rain stays away. After that, I'll probably be down to a few more Wachusett trips (closing day April 6) and then 1 or 2 trips to Mt. Snow in mid and late April.
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