Stowe Thread

[hovercraft]

Putting parking aside the woods have been deep…..

 

[ThatGuy]

 

[Kingslug20]

Nice!!!!

 

[hovercraft]

Nice is an understatement………

 

[Kingslug20]

Still?

 

[kendo]

Still?

Lord Loop & Upper Lord closed for snowmaking, no access. It's way too risky to have experts skiing thru active snowmaking to get to the front four.

 

[Kingslug20]

Oy...vey...I give up

 

[BodeMiller1]

Dear That Guy,
Is there a trail from Smuggler's Notch over to Stowe? I've only been there a hand full of times butt I think Sterling used to connect the two.

Skiing from one ski area to another is neat. If it's top secret...

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Dear That Guy,
Is there a trail from Smuggler's Notch over to Stowe? I've only been there a hand full of times butt I think Sterling used to connect the two.

Skiing from one ski area to another is neat. If it's top secret...

this is very basic stuff. so basic in fact that you can just see it on google maps. the sensation quad used to terminate just a little higher. just a little higher is the long trail. the long trail goes to sterling pond. sterling pond is smuggs. the resorts used to sell single chairlift rides to get back from whence you came. don't drop left to ski too early or you will wake up dead. https://snowbrains.com/skier-dies-stowe-backcountry-vermont/

 

[ThatGuy]

Even though its a short way between the two resorts its still backcountry and there are serious cliffs that you will die from. Also don’t want to walk on the pond.
Really best to not try these things without someone who is very familiar with the terrain.

The Birthday Bowls

Located between the Smuggler's Notch and Stowe ski areas, the Birthday Bowls are far from true backcountry. But they do offer some incredible terrain that requires just enough effort to keep the crowds at bay. As the name suggests, the Birthday Bowls occupy the bowled out area of Spruce Peak on...

www.outdoorproject.com

 

[KustyTheKlown]

ive only skied the bowls from smuggs and haven't encountered the cliffs. i presume the cliffs are if you make a left too early when coming from stowe. tho the only cliffs that are super obvious in the google image are the bottom left of the snipped image. not sure how/why one would wind up there. i presume those are the ice climbing cliffs mentioned in that death article. but not certain. i just know where its safe to drop when coming from smuggs.

 

[ThatGuy]

From Spruce if you make the wrong left you end up in a drainage that cliffs out. Wouldn’t notice anything until you’re basically at the precipice.

As a side note I’m all for discussing these kind of things that are widely visible on the internet since theres plenty of idiots who will just casually enter these zones because someone said it was fun. Had multiple people on Gondi or Quad mention AF, BBs, Profanity ect. like its just another trail. Thats how people get hurt.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

right. thats where those guys ended up in that article. and i think that's a better of view of the cliffs in my image.

a friend of mine was good friends with them. i don't know them, maybe have casually skied in a group with one of them once years ago. my friend is a good skier who moved to bozeman during covid and i presume he's become a better skier. I've considered big sky trips to avail of the free lodging but i also really like being a solo weirdo. may hit him up to see if he wants to come down to jackson when i am there tho.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

whats the deal with the trail from the rear of the pond over to stowe ski trails? is that downhill from sterling? hiking trail? skiable?

 

[ThatGuy]

IIRC it was a cat track or something to return to Spruce thats not in use anymore but I’m not sure. Also think a cat went into the pond at one point and that was one of the things that put an end to the interconnect. @deadheadskier or @hovercraft probably know better.

 

[kendo]

Yep. That was the Sterling trail - return from Smuggs. Both Snuffy's (to Smuggs) and Sterling interconnect trails were on/off the Stowe map until the early 2000's when Sensation went in (and depending on how the respective owners wanted to promote the ability to ski between resorts throughout the 80's, 90's etc).

Return on Sterling crossed the pond, so it had to be frozen to use and as ThatGuy mentioned, a cat broke thru the shallow edge, turning around one night and that was that (environmental sitch).

1999/2000 map

1999-00 Stowe Trail Map - New England Ski Map Database - NewEnglandSkiHistory.com

www.newenglandskihistory.com

 

[KustyTheKlown]

before i became completely anti-vail, i did want smuggs and stowe to come under the same ownership and really embrace the connection. smuggs and stoww with the backcountry between them on both sides of the notch would easily be the best ski area in the east. would still be sweet just not under vail ownership.

 

[Kingslug20]

Then it would prolly never happen...unless..many moons from now..smuggs gives in and takes the money..

 

[BodeMiller1]

this is very basic stuff. so basic in fact that you can just see it on google maps. the sensation quad used to terminate just a little higher. just a little higher is the long trail. the long trail goes to sterling pond. sterling pond is smuggs. the resorts used to sell single chairlift rides to get back from whence you came. don't drop left to ski too early or you will wake up dead. https://snowbrains.com/skier-dies-stowe-backcountry-vermont/

View attachment 56561

Thanks, sometimes these trails are chained off, etc.

 

[BodeMiller1]

before i became completely anti-vail, i did want smuggs and stowe to come under the same ownership and really embrace the connection. smuggs and stoww with the backcountry between them on both sides of the notch would easily be the best ski area in the east. would still be sweet just not under vail ownership.

The cool thing, these really are the old bootlegging routes. Canada did not take part prohibition. At least in 1933.

These old laws still have teeth. One example is that the Mass. State Troopers cannot cross into New Hampshire. You see it all the time on I 93N.
Our Bears can cross into Mass. I don't know if they ever do.