Zand
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: 3/17/07
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: Powder, Crud, Windblown
Weather: Snowy, blizzard conditions late, temps in the 20s
Trip Report:
Well, back in October when I booked for my Stowe trip, I was really hoping for a good March. By January, I was really hoping that I would even be able to hit maybe a few good trails. Since then, we've had the Valentines storm and a few other smaller ones. Now, enter the biggest March snowstorm in a few years. These 2 days were the most unreal days I've skied in my life. Stowe received 15" by the morning time and it would snow nonstop the entire weekend.
Got to the mountain at about 8:15 and headed up the FourRunner Quad. Spotted nice powder directly below on Liftline, so I started my day there. At that point, the trail was 100% knee deep powder with very few tracks. The wind hadn't gotten to it yet. Don't quite unerstand what the fuss is about with this trail and it being part of the front 4... this and National aren't really incredibly challenging except for the very top of both... otherwise they should really be a single diamond at best.
Next run was up FourRunner and down Lord to Gultch. Both had dense crud the entire way with a few powder shots. Hit the park on lower North Slope which was fun with nice soft landings.
Headed back up FourRunner and went down National. Plenty of powder shots on this one as well. Found some fresh tracks in the trees at the bottom.
After getting first tracks in the little beginner area (and completely stalling in the process), I headed up the Gondola and skied Cliff Trail and surrounding woods. Couldn't really get many woods from here, but there were a few good lines.
Headed back up FourRunner and took Bypass. Deceives you at first as it starts out easy, but then those very steep and narrow rock covered chutes hit and send you for a loop. After reconnecting with Nosedive, I immediately hooked it right into the woods and found endless possibilities on lines all over the place with fresh, untracked, and just awesome glades.
Next run was back up FourRunner and across to the connector to the lower 3/4 of Goat as the upper part was closed. This part of Goat was pretty narrow, pretty steep, and had awesome powder bumps, but that isn't the real Goat, and I'll document that in the Sunday report.
Headed up the Lookout double next and took a change of pace run down Lord. Hit the Tyro park on the way through which featured some large jumps with soft landings.
Next run was up FourRunner and down Liftline. By then, there were plenty of windblown spots at the top, but most of the snow blew downward and made for great bumps and powder shots on the second half.
Back up FourRunner, this time down Nosedive. The wind also took its toll there with the upper steeps being blown almost clean. Ducked deep into the woods after that and found great lines.
We heard of some good glades over on Spruce off Whirlaway, so we headed up there via Over Easy and took the HSQ duo of Sunny Spruce and Sensation. It was much colder and windier at Spruce. We took Whirlaway and tried searching for some glades, but there really wasn't much there. So we took Main Street down and took Over Easy back to the good stuff.
Next run was up the Gondola and down Chin Clip. Ducked into the woods on the right which featured very narrow and steep lines. That run really wore me out. Not to mention these glades went on forever.
Took one last run of the day down Liftline which by then was very windblown for much of the first half but had excellent bump lines at the bottom. Finished up a little before 3, completely worn out and looking forward to bed and Sunday.
Date(s) Skied: 3/18/07
Conditions: Powder, Crud, Windblown
Weather: Heavy snow, blizzard conditions after noon, temps in the lower 10s, windy (gondi on wind hold)
Trip Report:
Woke up Sunday to yet another new foot of snow bringing the total at that point to well over 2 feet. By the end of the day, the storm would finish with a grand total of 3 feet. Got to the mountain a little after 8:30 and started off with Liftline. It had already been mainly tracked out, but there was knee deep powder down the right side to play in.
Next run was up the double and down Lord. The second of Lord after passing the triple was actually a little nasty with some ice showing through and some irregular bumps hidden in powder. The rest was fun.
Back up the double, this time down Starr. Starts off very steep (37 degrees) with rocks and ice and all kinds of fun stuff, not to mention about half the width of the trail was skiable. After the long steep, there's a real nice section in the middle with great bumps. The trail finishes with another steep and a few rocks.
Next run was up the triple and down Tyro and North Slope for some jumps. The conditions were awesome and there were no people so we did a repeat run on the same thing.
Headed back up the triple and headed down Hacketts. Not too steep, but a few cliffs jumble things up. The powder made them perfect to get some air off of, just don't hit the low lift ahead haha.
Next 2 runs were down Tyro to Standard. Both times, we went through a short woods line before Tyro which had a rock with a nice ramp up it (that I flew into the first time and launched further in the air than I would've liked). Standard featured smaller jumps followed by some nice rail and box options on the lower part.
Headed back over to the quad and made a run down all of Goat. The upper part is just insane. The snowcover on the trail was one and a half moguls wide on the steep part. To your right, you had all kinds of rocks, to the left the slope fell down into the woods. Easily the hardest trail I've ever done in my life. The second half was much like the day before: bumpy and fun, but the legendary part of the trail is the upper part, and it showed me why.
Next run was down Nosedive and into the woods. The snow was waist deep for much of the way, occasionally chest deep in some drifts. I was in the woods almost the entire way down and the amount of lines available with 3 feet of powder is amazing. You could go just about anywhere.
It was then about 2:30 and I was getting tired, so I took one more run down a bumpy and powdery National to Midway. Midway isn't steep at all, but is very narrow and had great snow the entire way.
Well, it was an incredible weekend at Stowe, probably the 2 best days of my life. A total of 3 feet blanketed the resort over the course of the weekend. I look forward to returning next year. I'll have a Wachusett report Wednesday and Killington Sunday-Tuesday.
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe, VT
Conditions: Powder, Crud, Windblown
Weather: Snowy, blizzard conditions late, temps in the 20s
Trip Report:
Well, back in October when I booked for my Stowe trip, I was really hoping for a good March. By January, I was really hoping that I would even be able to hit maybe a few good trails. Since then, we've had the Valentines storm and a few other smaller ones. Now, enter the biggest March snowstorm in a few years. These 2 days were the most unreal days I've skied in my life. Stowe received 15" by the morning time and it would snow nonstop the entire weekend.
Got to the mountain at about 8:15 and headed up the FourRunner Quad. Spotted nice powder directly below on Liftline, so I started my day there. At that point, the trail was 100% knee deep powder with very few tracks. The wind hadn't gotten to it yet. Don't quite unerstand what the fuss is about with this trail and it being part of the front 4... this and National aren't really incredibly challenging except for the very top of both... otherwise they should really be a single diamond at best.
Next run was up FourRunner and down Lord to Gultch. Both had dense crud the entire way with a few powder shots. Hit the park on lower North Slope which was fun with nice soft landings.
Headed back up FourRunner and went down National. Plenty of powder shots on this one as well. Found some fresh tracks in the trees at the bottom.
After getting first tracks in the little beginner area (and completely stalling in the process), I headed up the Gondola and skied Cliff Trail and surrounding woods. Couldn't really get many woods from here, but there were a few good lines.
Headed back up FourRunner and took Bypass. Deceives you at first as it starts out easy, but then those very steep and narrow rock covered chutes hit and send you for a loop. After reconnecting with Nosedive, I immediately hooked it right into the woods and found endless possibilities on lines all over the place with fresh, untracked, and just awesome glades.
Next run was back up FourRunner and across to the connector to the lower 3/4 of Goat as the upper part was closed. This part of Goat was pretty narrow, pretty steep, and had awesome powder bumps, but that isn't the real Goat, and I'll document that in the Sunday report.
Headed up the Lookout double next and took a change of pace run down Lord. Hit the Tyro park on the way through which featured some large jumps with soft landings.
Next run was up FourRunner and down Liftline. By then, there were plenty of windblown spots at the top, but most of the snow blew downward and made for great bumps and powder shots on the second half.
Back up FourRunner, this time down Nosedive. The wind also took its toll there with the upper steeps being blown almost clean. Ducked deep into the woods after that and found great lines.
We heard of some good glades over on Spruce off Whirlaway, so we headed up there via Over Easy and took the HSQ duo of Sunny Spruce and Sensation. It was much colder and windier at Spruce. We took Whirlaway and tried searching for some glades, but there really wasn't much there. So we took Main Street down and took Over Easy back to the good stuff.
Next run was up the Gondola and down Chin Clip. Ducked into the woods on the right which featured very narrow and steep lines. That run really wore me out. Not to mention these glades went on forever.
Took one last run of the day down Liftline which by then was very windblown for much of the first half but had excellent bump lines at the bottom. Finished up a little before 3, completely worn out and looking forward to bed and Sunday.
Date(s) Skied: 3/18/07
Conditions: Powder, Crud, Windblown
Weather: Heavy snow, blizzard conditions after noon, temps in the lower 10s, windy (gondi on wind hold)
Trip Report:
Woke up Sunday to yet another new foot of snow bringing the total at that point to well over 2 feet. By the end of the day, the storm would finish with a grand total of 3 feet. Got to the mountain a little after 8:30 and started off with Liftline. It had already been mainly tracked out, but there was knee deep powder down the right side to play in.
Next run was up the double and down Lord. The second of Lord after passing the triple was actually a little nasty with some ice showing through and some irregular bumps hidden in powder. The rest was fun.
Back up the double, this time down Starr. Starts off very steep (37 degrees) with rocks and ice and all kinds of fun stuff, not to mention about half the width of the trail was skiable. After the long steep, there's a real nice section in the middle with great bumps. The trail finishes with another steep and a few rocks.
Next run was up the triple and down Tyro and North Slope for some jumps. The conditions were awesome and there were no people so we did a repeat run on the same thing.
Headed back up the triple and headed down Hacketts. Not too steep, but a few cliffs jumble things up. The powder made them perfect to get some air off of, just don't hit the low lift ahead haha.
Next 2 runs were down Tyro to Standard. Both times, we went through a short woods line before Tyro which had a rock with a nice ramp up it (that I flew into the first time and launched further in the air than I would've liked). Standard featured smaller jumps followed by some nice rail and box options on the lower part.
Headed back over to the quad and made a run down all of Goat. The upper part is just insane. The snowcover on the trail was one and a half moguls wide on the steep part. To your right, you had all kinds of rocks, to the left the slope fell down into the woods. Easily the hardest trail I've ever done in my life. The second half was much like the day before: bumpy and fun, but the legendary part of the trail is the upper part, and it showed me why.
Next run was down Nosedive and into the woods. The snow was waist deep for much of the way, occasionally chest deep in some drifts. I was in the woods almost the entire way down and the amount of lines available with 3 feet of powder is amazing. You could go just about anywhere.
It was then about 2:30 and I was getting tired, so I took one more run down a bumpy and powdery National to Midway. Midway isn't steep at all, but is very narrow and had great snow the entire way.
Well, it was an incredible weekend at Stowe, probably the 2 best days of my life. A total of 3 feet blanketed the resort over the course of the weekend. I look forward to returning next year. I'll have a Wachusett report Wednesday and Killington Sunday-Tuesday.
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