Date(s) Skied: April 22, 2006 ($7 day) :beer:
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe Mountain Resort
Conditions: SC/VC Weather: 40's-50's and cloudy skies. Light winds.
Trip Report: This was it. What may prove to be the final day of the season and Trailboss decided to go out big. The original game plan was to meet with the folks at Bretton Woods on Sunday, but we got rained out. So I was proactive and decided to hit Stowe for $7 day. The report indicated that they were going on 11 or so runs including Liftline, National, and Nosedive (with some hiking). So I got up and made the trek.
When Mansfield's summit came into view, I was surprised to see that there was not much snow. As I drove up 108 I was asking myself, "where are we skiing?" :blink: Spruce was all grass and the Gondola Side had large patches of grass. Lower Liftline was grass.
I got out and saw that they had piled a nice deep base for the runout to the Forerunner from the triple side.
Got my ticket--whooping $7--and hiked up the hill. There were virtually no lines the entire day. The morning featured 6 or so trails with Lord and Ridgeview to Sunrise being the thruway. Upper mountain was FG that softened. Ridgeview was narrow in spots and Sunrise was getting thin as well. At the bottom, one had a choice of edge-to-edge Standard, Tyro, or Lower Lord. I hit all of them--the lower mountain was surprisingly deep. After a couple hours, I decided to follow the crowds who were hitting a "Closed" Middle Lord :blink: I had to see what the draw was. The "closed trail" was by far the best run--edge to edge and soft. Groomed in places. North Slope, though thin on the very top, was OUTSTANDING below. Hero snow. Great GS Turns on my Monsters. I hit it again before lunch. After lunch, patrol dropped the rope--the mountain ops were saving it for Sunday considering that the traffic was wearing the other route down.
I closed the day--and quite possibly the season--on one of the best trails at Stowe--Liftline to National. I knew that there would be a hike and I was getting blitzed from the 2,000 vert runs (nice long ones!). So I decided to close with the final descent. The bumps were eroding and VW in places, but the snow was soft. The upper two thirds of Liftline and most of Lower National were covered. However, as one came upon the final pitch, the snow quickly turned to grass and one had to stop quickly. Some folks were skiing over the grass to get to the snow patches below. I hiked down. Between here and the base it was a 20 min hike interrupted by patches of skiable snow. I was smiling and reminiscing of the season as I went. I could have skied some of the smaller patches of snow, but I wanted to be nice to my skis :wink: I got back to the base at around 2pm and had no problem going in and packing up. I was wasted. I did somewhere between 12-15 runs at over 2,000 vert each--yo-yos in the morning. So 50 cents a run was not bad. I was there for about five hours, so some decent skiing. I was surprised as to the quality of the top-to-bottom runs--no downloading. Well worth the seven bucks.
I was kinda bummed about the season ending, but I was wiped. The Monsters rode well and I was all
Looking forward to next season...now onto hiking.
Second time to Stowe and will DEFINITELY be back. Saving my ski free cards for another trip next season. Hope to makes this a regular thing. Have something to get rich for someday...a season pass at Stowe would be sshhaaaweeeetttt! Until then, go on the promo days and on my free cards will keep me happy.
Resort or Ski Area: Stowe Mountain Resort
Conditions: SC/VC Weather: 40's-50's and cloudy skies. Light winds.
Trip Report: This was it. What may prove to be the final day of the season and Trailboss decided to go out big. The original game plan was to meet with the folks at Bretton Woods on Sunday, but we got rained out. So I was proactive and decided to hit Stowe for $7 day. The report indicated that they were going on 11 or so runs including Liftline, National, and Nosedive (with some hiking). So I got up and made the trek.
When Mansfield's summit came into view, I was surprised to see that there was not much snow. As I drove up 108 I was asking myself, "where are we skiing?" :blink: Spruce was all grass and the Gondola Side had large patches of grass. Lower Liftline was grass.
I got out and saw that they had piled a nice deep base for the runout to the Forerunner from the triple side.
Got my ticket--whooping $7--and hiked up the hill. There were virtually no lines the entire day. The morning featured 6 or so trails with Lord and Ridgeview to Sunrise being the thruway. Upper mountain was FG that softened. Ridgeview was narrow in spots and Sunrise was getting thin as well. At the bottom, one had a choice of edge-to-edge Standard, Tyro, or Lower Lord. I hit all of them--the lower mountain was surprisingly deep. After a couple hours, I decided to follow the crowds who were hitting a "Closed" Middle Lord :blink: I had to see what the draw was. The "closed trail" was by far the best run--edge to edge and soft. Groomed in places. North Slope, though thin on the very top, was OUTSTANDING below. Hero snow. Great GS Turns on my Monsters. I hit it again before lunch. After lunch, patrol dropped the rope--the mountain ops were saving it for Sunday considering that the traffic was wearing the other route down.
I closed the day--and quite possibly the season--on one of the best trails at Stowe--Liftline to National. I knew that there would be a hike and I was getting blitzed from the 2,000 vert runs (nice long ones!). So I decided to close with the final descent. The bumps were eroding and VW in places, but the snow was soft. The upper two thirds of Liftline and most of Lower National were covered. However, as one came upon the final pitch, the snow quickly turned to grass and one had to stop quickly. Some folks were skiing over the grass to get to the snow patches below. I hiked down. Between here and the base it was a 20 min hike interrupted by patches of skiable snow. I was smiling and reminiscing of the season as I went. I could have skied some of the smaller patches of snow, but I wanted to be nice to my skis :wink: I got back to the base at around 2pm and had no problem going in and packing up. I was wasted. I did somewhere between 12-15 runs at over 2,000 vert each--yo-yos in the morning. So 50 cents a run was not bad. I was there for about five hours, so some decent skiing. I was surprised as to the quality of the top-to-bottom runs--no downloading. Well worth the seven bucks.
I was kinda bummed about the season ending, but I was wiped. The Monsters rode well and I was all
Looking forward to next season...now onto hiking. Second time to Stowe and will DEFINITELY be back. Saving my ski free cards for another trip next season. Hope to makes this a regular thing. Have something to get rich for someday...a season pass at Stowe would be sshhaaaweeeetttt! Until then, go on the promo days and on my free cards will keep me happy.
