Stowe 4/26

[powderfreak]

We had some awesome runs today, despite not getting on the hill till 1:45.

Dave and I hit:
1) Hayride to Tres Amigos/Major Jones
2) Upper upper National (first time for either of us) to upper National to
S-53/Glades to Starr down to where it meets Lookout then traversed back over
to Liftline.

Met up with Jimmy, Wes, Mr Rogers, and crew (can't remember everyone's name)...

3) Bypass Chute #1 to Nosedive Glades all the way to Cliff Trail then down
the lower Goatdive woods to lower National. There's a ton of snow left in
the woods up high and we were even able to ski the trees all the way down to
the Nosedive runout (Goatdive in its entirety).

4) Into the woods off upper Nosedive, traversed over to Pipeline and hit
that for the lower 3/4ths down to Midway...skied one woods shot we filmed in
often this winter off Midway, then crossed National and hit more hardwoods
down to the next Midway crossover, then I ended up skiing the very last tree
shot off Midway which drops you off on the flats back to lower Liftline.
Topomap puts this at roughly 2,000ft, so on this date one could still ski
the woods down 1,600ft of verts.

5) Bypass Chute #2 (Stephanie's) to Nosedive Glades to Midway to all the
woods shots listed on the previous run. It was good enough to warrant a
second trip.

Wish we had more time but by now it was 4pm and had 5 quality runs in. Dave
and I were still amazed that we could ski everything we wanted to and all
the stuff we normally skied in the winter was still there for the taking.
It was all the same routes, same traverses, paths, trees, etc...just with a
"summer appeal" to them.

A quick tailgate in the parking lot for us with the crew over at Wesley's
Jeep before we had to head back so Dave could transform back into student
mode for a late class. It was a great way for me to end my lift-service
season and on the way out we were looking back at the mountain...thanking
Mansfield for the 400"+ of snow and season that started back in October.
I'm not done skiing as Gondolier looked like it had quite a while left
(still good top to bottom and its still missing the massive snow holes that
eat in from the sides). Upper 2/3rds of Perry Merril looked buried still
with the only damage to both those trails being from the cats trying to dig
out the work road up to the Cliff House.

Its been a great season, paid our dues in Nov, Dec, and Jan but reaped the
benefits in Feb, March and April.

Thanks to everyone I skied with this year, its been fun.

-Scott

 

[snoseek]

i have really enjoyed your trip reports all winter. i need to spend much more time in no. vt.

 

[powderfreak]

Thanks man, I'll keep posting some TRs and pictures as next week is the beginning of the second season...skinning season. Will likely be skiing well, well into May this year on Mansfield.

 

[kcyanks1]

Thanks for another great report. By "upper upper National" do you mean something other than the normal top of the trail? (I'm not trying to ask you to reveal any hidden stashes...I just was curious how you named a normal trail and then said you have never skied it when I know you are a Stowe regular.)

 

[powderfreak]

Thanks for another great report. By "upper upper National" do you mean something other than the normal top of the trail? (I'm not trying to ask you to reveal any hidden stashes...I just was curious how you named a normal trail and then said you have never skied it when I know you are a Stowe regular.)

Yeah, its above the normal "upper" and is alongside of the upper Liftline that is sometimes open. There's an obvious entrance, the big red fence with a gap in it. Not really a secret as its obvious from the lift if you look for it.

 

[riverc0il]

Scott, given the detail of your trip reports, I would be curious what you actually define a "secret"...

btw, that was a rhetorical statement. Nice TR, Stowe looks to be hanging on to snow cover late. I'll probably stop by sometime next month for a earned run or two.

 

[kcyanks1]

Scott, given the detail of your trip reports, I would be curious what you actually define a "secret"...

btw, that was a rhetorical statement. Nice TR, Stowe looks to be hanging on to snow cover late. I'll probably stop by sometime next month for a earned run or two.

Hey, from someone not in the know in general, I appreciate Scott's reports (Though really he gives more names and perhaps vague general locations than sufficient detail for you to go find it yourself.) But I wouldn't specifically ask him in the public forum for more detail (PM if he'd be willing ). I've only skied Stowe twice. I don't think I've noticed upper upper National. I've skied the way top of Liftline though which was very nice..Pretty narrow and bumpy (and a very low lift).

 

[powderfreak]

Hey, from someone not in the know in general, I appreciate Scott's reports (Though really he gives more names and perhaps vague general locations than sufficient detail for you to go find it yourself.) But I wouldn't specifically ask him in the public forum for more detail (PM if he'd be willing ). I've only skied Stowe twice. I don't think I've noticed upper upper National. I've skied the way top of Liftline though which was very nice..Pretty narrow and bumpy (and a very low lift).

I'm never afraid to share some info due to the shear amount of volume that mountain sees. There are some secrets, and I don't share them, but basically that whole mountain is public knowledge...whether others want it to be like that or not.

But I'm not someone who wants to keep it all to myself...I'd rather share and get people stoked on skiing. :beer:

-Scott

 

[kcyanks1]

Yeah, its above the normal "upper" and is alongside of the upper Liftline that is sometimes open. There's an obvious entrance, the big red fence with a gap in it. Not really a secret as its obvious from the lift if you look for it.

On a related topic, do you know if National and Liftline were always cut the same? Were they ever widened? Any changes aside from the addition of snowmaking? Seems slightly
odd that they both have short top portions drastically different from the rest of the trails. The top portion of Liftline is much more interesting than the rest of it.

Also, have Goat and Starr been widened ever, or are they in their original form? I know Nosedive was widened and straightened eliminating some of the original turns.

 

[powderfreak]

On a related topic, do you know if National and Liftline were always cut the same? Were they ever widened? Any changes aside from the addition of snowmaking? Seems slightly
odd that they both have short top portions drastically different from the rest of the trails. The top portion of Liftline is much more interesting than the rest of it.

Also, have Goat and Starr been widened ever, or are they in their original form? I know Nosedive was widened and straightened eliminating some of the original turns.

I doubt Starr and Goat have been touched much, though I'm sure there's been some clean up work along the sides and especially by the glade gnomes that live along both trails. Liftline was definitely widened and graded for the high speed quad, snowmaking, and grooming purposes. National was also certainly widened as its huge. What could also be happening is that those two trails have snowmaking on them and snowmaking also makes a trail larger over several years by having the trees get so caked with man-made snow that they fall over and need to be cut out. Repeat that every season and trails around the northeast lose a few trees every year...that is the ones with snowmaking.

-Scott

 

[kcyanks1]

I doubt Starr and Goat have been touched much, though I'm sure there's been some clean up work along the sides and especially by the glade gnomes that live along both trails. Liftline was definitely widened and graded for the high speed quad, snowmaking, and grooming purposes. National was also certainly widened as its huge. What could also be happening is that those two trails have snowmaking on them and snowmaking also makes a trail larger over several years by having the trees get so caked with man-made snow that they fall over and need to be cut out. Repeat that every season and trails around the northeast lose a few trees every year...that is the ones with snowmaking.

-Scott

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize losing trees was such a problem with snowmaking.