Stowe Feb 5-7 2010

[SKIQUATTRO]

Stowe
Feb 5/6/7

Friday: Arrived Mansfield base lodge 845am, blue bird day, cold, 2-4" new snow.
1st run down nosedive was brutal, boilerplate, stayed to the sides, got better as it flattend out, not a fun 1st run. alot of hardpack/ice under the fluff, after a few runs we headed over to Spurce (Bromley North) to ski in the sun and found some great trails and snow over there. Spent most of the day there, headed back to main mtn after lunch, was getting shadows so headed back to spruce till 3 ish, then into the new lodge for a few pints by the fire.

Saturday: Arrived and was on lift by 920, conditions were hard, cold, bluebird day, tried finding some trees that we could both ski as thats where i knew the good snow would be, i hit nosedive glades/lower goat etc, were good, not great, Stowe is lacking lower angle intermediate glades. In my 30 years of skiig i never felt that my saftey was in danger as it was on Satruday. Too many folks riding and skiing too fast for the conditions. we both had very close calls with boards coming up behind us, not saying that some skiiers werent skiing too fast, but the majority of those were responsible were riders. Due to the poor conditions and fear of saftey we called it a day by 1, went to spuce peak for pints, then to the matterhorn for apres pints and wings.

Sunday: Cold Windy and the wide open blvd trails were boilerplate, toll road had nice 2-3" on it, skiied about 4 runs and packed in for the day, just wasnt fun.

Thoughts on Stowe:
-tix price a tad high
-pint prices at $5/each was perfect
-beautiful, clean facilities, even the older buildings are well kept
-friendly staff
-nice terrain, could use more narrow/windy trails to hold snow better
-could use more lower angle intermediate glades

had fun, very tough conditions to judge a mountain.

 

[KevinF]

I was up at Stowe for the same three days you were. I have never before seen the Lookout Double get a line like it did on Saturday -- usually it's ski-on, even when the quad is backed up forever. I didn't spend any time on the groomers though; I was lapping the Starr / Goat / National / Lookout combo until my legs gave out. Conditions were unbelievably good on those four trails. Generally I was the only person on any of them, so my only experience with Saturday's crowds was at the liftlines. I understand that those four trails aren't everybody's cup-of-tea, and unless you've spent some time at Stowe, you might not figure out how to get into any of them as their marked entrances "from the top" are almost never open. I kinda figured the groomers were a madhouse on Saturday.

Agreed that Stowe probably isn't the best place to ski glades unless you're already good.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

i was hitting Starr / Goat / National / Lookout and all the glades inbetween and did not find the conditions that great on them...maybe you found some "secret" stashes....Nosedive Glades were probably the best out of all the natural stuff i found, we was staying off groomers as much as possible, the wife loves steep, ungroomed and more open glades....stowe did not 'wow' me this weekend, mostly due to condtions.

 

[billski]

Stowe is the kind of place where you need someone to "show you around". The good glades are not easily identifiable. I've been in some really knarly stuff, but also in some real cream-puff and wide spaced glades. Good idea to PM folks before you go. The best stuff and best angles are not gonna be posted on a forum like this.

Weekends have gotten progressively madder in the past decade at Stowe, most especially Saturday and Sunday until noon. We can debate why, but truth is that often the crowd-avoidance strategies don't work very well any more. If I must, I stick primarily to the woods, but more often than not, I'll do a 3/4 day stay abutting a weekend, and ski someplace else on Saturday.

 

[deadheadskier]

I've always looked at Stowe as if you can see it, you can ski it kind of mountain. There's lots of low angle stuff over by the triple. Just gotta poke around.

 

[billski]

Gee, you're right. I called. The Stowe points card is good year to year, though the terms may change. And best of all, the points roll over from year to year. Boy, I am stupid not to have inquired about that years ago. There are only two gotchas: No Saturdays (fine with me) and no blackout periods (also fine with me). That changes all the economics for me!

 

[JD]

Nosedive glade is about as intermediate as it gets...then everything from off the corner of sunrise down to the chaple...and the pumphouse woods between Nash and liftline, that you can see from the lift. I would say if you can't ski those trees, you should stay on the trails. One thing that really bothers me when skinning around at Stowe is people going into the tree with ABSOLUTELY no business being there. I mean, we all have our less-then-gracefull moments, but I have watched people trying to ski out the traverse while skinning up the LT dragging their kids or spouses thru the woods who should be in a lesson, not the trees. I understand that everyone want to rock the glades as it is the "new cool" at the Mtn., but I wonder if the people who aren't even coming close to linking 2 turns in the trees are even having fun. Side slipping, white knuckled on their poles, back seated.....turn, sit......turn, sit......turn, sit. Doesn't look fun. There are many lines I won't ski because I don't have the confidence to ski them well, like they should be skiied, and I don't want to be the person that throws his boards sideways at the choke of some cool line, slips down thru, robs someone from the ecperience of ripping it like it should be ripped untracked....then back at the bar tell everyone that I was first thru so-and-so....beginner trees...no such thing. Strong intermediates on trail, that can ski black diamonds in control...they should venture off piste. If you are not that level of skiier, stay on trail and practice natural snow trails no matter how crappy the conditions....enjoy your progression, don't rush it, and IF YOU CAN'T RIP IT, SKIP IT. Leave it for someone who can. Sorry for the rant...if someone wants to ski easy trees, they should get some lite backcountry gear and go out in the Mansfield touring center....miles of low angle maple stand and meadow skipping thru virgin snow....learn, then when you get back on your Alpine gear, you will feel very much controled and can ski the glades on the Mtn, not survive them. Sorry for the bit of a rant.

 

[KevinF]

i was hitting Starr / Goat / National / Lookout and all the glades inbetween and did not find the conditions that great on them...maybe you found some "secret" stashes....Nosedive Glades were probably the best out of all the natural stuff i found, we was staying off groomers as much as possible, the wife loves steep, ungroomed and more open glades....stowe did not 'wow' me this weekend, mostly due to condtions.

I almost never ski glades, so I don't have any "secret stashes" in the woods. My only "secret" about Starr and Lookout is how to get out through the woods back to Liftline before the final pitch of Starr / Lookout that always has a sheet of blue ice covering it. I guess we have different ideas as to what constitutes awesome conditions. Different strokes, different folks, all that. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it.

 

[ccskier]

Nosedive glade is about as intermediate as it gets...then everything from off the corner of sunrise down to the chaple...and the pumphouse woods between Nash and liftline, that you can see from the lift. I would say if you can't ski those trees, you should stay on the trails. One thing that really bothers me when skinning around at Stowe is people going into the tree with ABSOLUTELY no business being there. I mean, we all have our less-then-gracefull moments, but I have watched people trying to ski out the traverse while skinning up the LT dragging their kids or spouses thru the woods who should be in a lesson, not the trees. I understand that everyone want to rock the glades as it is the "new cool" at the Mtn., but I wonder if the people who aren't even coming close to linking 2 turns in the trees are even having fun. Side slipping, white knuckled on their poles, back seated.....turn, sit......turn, sit......turn, sit. Doesn't look fun. There are many lines I won't ski because I don't have the confidence to ski them well, like they should be skiied, and I don't want to be the person that throws his boards sideways at the choke of some cool line, slips down thru, robs someone from the ecperience of ripping it like it should be ripped untracked....then back at the bar tell everyone that I was first thru so-and-so....beginner trees...no such thing. Strong intermediates on trail, that can ski black diamonds in control...they should venture off piste. If you are not that level of skiier, stay on trail and practice natural snow trails no matter how crappy the conditions....enjoy your progression, don't rush it, and IF YOU CAN'T RIP IT, SKIP IT. Leave it for someone who can. Sorry for the rant...if someone wants to ski easy trees, they should get some lite backcountry gear and go out in the Mansfield touring center....miles of low angle maple stand and meadow skipping thru virgin snow....learn, then when you get back on your Alpine gear, you will feel very much controled and can ski the glades on the Mtn, not survive them. Sorry for the bit of a rant.

Agree 100%, no sliders allowed. There used to be signs I certain areas put into a tree w/ a knife that said no sliders.