# Stowe 3/21-24/2014



## abc (Mar 24, 2014)

Ski council week at Stowe and I had the days off to take advantage of it. What luck!

*Friday* -- fresh powder I missed, tracked out powder left over everywhere that I actually got

Was skiing at Sugarbush Wed/Thur. Move to Waterbury Thursday evening. Late into the evening, I notice the snow started to fall as forecast. And it was light and fluffy. So I went to bed planning to hit first chair... at 9 as it's mid-week.

Big mistake on my part! I'm ashamed to admit I goofed big time! 

Stowe, being a "destination" mountain, spins its first lift at 7:30! I found that out when I checked the open lift/trail while having breakfast.  Just to make my mistake more unforgivable, the condition report said 8-10" had fallen overnight! Oh, not to mention the coat of 4" on my car flew away as soon as I touched it -- blower quality snow, of 8-10", and I was missing first chair by a loooong time! Jumped into my car with a bagel in my hand, I was angry with myself. Being so, I totally failed to take in the information that Spruce side lift doesn't run till 9, and I would have made first chair without problem!

Instead, dumb ass as I was, I parked at the corner of Mansfield lodge lot, long hiked up to the lodge to get ticket, up the stair... at the top of the Front Runner Quad, I found... completely tracked out powder in piles and piles! Not having been to Stowe for many years, I was entirely unsure where to go and just randomly went all over the Mansfield face. Everywhere I was reminded what I missed...

Mind you, it wasn't bad skiing by northeast standard. Soft snow everywhere. Just not the fresh, untracked powder I was envisioning (and could have gotten had I not been such a stupid bonehead). Finally, it clicked and I moved over to the Spruce peak side and was rewarded with natural snow little disturbed by human, at edge of trails and path less traveled. Skied till last lift. 

For a non-weekend day, Stowe was on the busy side. Short lines on the FR quad and long lines on the gondi. Parking lot looks to be full. 

So in conclusion, good skiing but really disappointed at missing out probably the best condition for the northeast! (I've had powder days out west, but this was the only time I came soooo close to northeast blower powder)

*Saturday -- *packed powder, fresh powder

Missing out on the freshies the day before and with no overnight dump being predicted, I dilly-dallied in the morning. *Cornhead *came up in the night to harvest the sloppy second and thought he had it good.  I joined him late in the morning. We stayed at the Spruce side for a while as it started to snow again and we were getting fresh refills. 

By noon, we figured the gondi line should get a bit shorter, which it did. So we moved over to the Mansfield side. By then, the snow fall had been in earnest for a while and trails were getting quick re-fills all over. Now we were having fun, big time FUN!  

Stopped for lunch at the top of the Front Runner quad and met up with *dmw*. Took some turns together. I got some beta from him about easy woods for the next day. _Cornhead _and _dmw _skied till last chair while I took off around 3:45.

It was busy enough that we had to wait from time to time, and had to split up to join the single's line a couple times just to speed the wait up. Leaving at the end of the day turned out to be the longest wait (20-30 min for me and nearly an hour for cornhead)

*Sunday *-- fresh powder, tracked out powder, more fresh powder, more tracked out powder

_Cornhead _hit the Front Runner quad at 7:30 and was rewarded with fresh powder from overnight and the day before. I joined him around 9 when we bumped into each other at the gondi. Found some almost untouched powder on the edge of a terrain park and lapped it a couple time. Then we split up because he wanted to hit Spruce again while I went to check out the woods recommended by _dmw_. The powder was deep in the woods!

Much fewer people, no wait on most chairs. The sun came out about noon time. Taking advantage of the good visibility, I finally worked up enough courage to try Liftline (didn't do the narrow bits at the very top part though, dropped in from a short connector between National & National Drop In, whatever it's called). I believe cornhead did that trail earlier in the morning. Bumps were soft as baby's bottom. Easy peasy! What's all the fuss about?  

After lunch, casually cruised the lovely twisted trails on top of Spruce. That's when we noticed some guys hiking up from the top of Sensation quad. We decided to follow... very short hike and was rewarded with a short but sweet powder field. View was fantastic from the top. (I got some rather nice pictures, of _cornhead _in action in that snowfield. But will wait to upload later. I'm still recovering from the long day of skiing followed by long drive home)

Really, really nice 3 days of northeast "powder" skiing. One of the best. The part about it could have been even better, was mostly forgotten by the end of Sunday.


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## dmw (Mar 24, 2014)

DMW that is, but great report! Sounds like I missed out not being there Sunday.


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## abc (Mar 24, 2014)

Corrected.

Yeah, Sunday was also very good. 

I wish I could have stayed Monday (and Tuesday too). Hope it was worth it skipping such epic conditions.


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## billski (Mar 25, 2014)

It's amazing how different skiers on the same day and in the same place could have such a different experience.  Anyways, it didn't matter, we all had a blast, wherever we were.  I'll be interested in your Spruce peak pics.


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## Cornhead (Mar 25, 2014)

Great skiing with both of you. I picked a good weekend to end my 10 year Stowe hiatus. Thanks for mentioning the ski counsel days in a previous post abc, if you hadn't they'd probably have passed me by. Stowe seems more elitist than ever with the swank developement at base of Spruce. That's OK with me, just keep tossing us peasants some crumbs in the form of ski council discounts, and I'll be happy. Billski, sorry I misunderstood, I thought you were skiing Stowe Sunday. Glad you had fun at Jay. Here's a few pics from Spruce.



Abc on Smuggs extetion






Not Spruce, Sunset over Mansfield

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2


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## spring_mountain_high (Mar 25, 2014)

great pictures


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## billski (Mar 25, 2014)

spring_mountain_high said:


> great pictures


  For sure.   Each time I see photos from last weekend, I want to take the day off and git up there!


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## Cornhead (Mar 25, 2014)

billski said:


> For sure.   Each time I see photos from last weekend, I want to take the day off and git up there!



I hear you, I didn't want the weekend to end. My knee was happy it did. 

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## k123 (Mar 25, 2014)

First tracks on Friday were amazing!  Almost a foot of powder everywhere plus 3 foot drifts in the woods.  But either way the conditions were amazing all weekend.  If it wasn't for the ski club appreciation deal I probably wouldn't have gone to Stowe this year.  We lucked out that some of the best conditions of the season happened to be during the deal.


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## billski (Mar 25, 2014)

Well, they're having another appreciation day next month.  Imagine, another foot of pow???? What are the odds?  don't answer that!)


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## 180 (Mar 25, 2014)

How come you didn't catch first chair the next 2 days.  I heard there was lots of fresh


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## Cornhead (Mar 26, 2014)

billski said:


> Well, they're having another appreciation day next month.  Imagine, another foot of pow???? What are the odds?  don't answer that!)



A corn harvest at Stowe wouldn't suck either.

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## abc (Mar 26, 2014)

180 said:


> How come you didn't catch first chair the next 2 days.  I heard there was lots of fresh


There's no need for Sat/Sun. The snow fell during the day on Saturday. So the freshies were available throughout the day. 

(unlike on Friday morning, which had ALL the snow fell over Thursday night)


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## lerops (Mar 26, 2014)

Nice TR, and glad so many people got out last weekend. I had to stay home with my daughter and her stomach bug. She owes me now, I will remind her for many years to come. And at some point she will understand the sacrifice. :smile:


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## ScottySkis (Mar 26, 2014)

Looking like a great weekend and trip report eveyeyone glad you all got some this past weekend.


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## jarrodski (Mar 26, 2014)

i was there sunday -tuesday for a psia exam.  best conditions ive had in years.  so much fun to be had all over the mountain.  hayride woods, star woods, goat woods, bypass woods, chin clip woods, river bed, nose dive woods... all stellar.  the grooming was amazing for our psia chores.  couldnt have asked for better temps, sky or wind.  so many smiles everywhere.


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## Huck_It_Baby (Mar 27, 2014)

Stowe was perhaps the best it's been all season this past weekend!


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## Cornhead (Mar 27, 2014)

Awesome pics Huck, wish I could have joined you in your side country exploits, but skiing inbounds was enough to kick my ass. I'm going to work on returning to better physical condition this off season. Hopefully you can show me around next year. Glad you got to reap the rewards of all your off season recon. I couldn't have asked for better conditions for my long overdue return to Stowe. It still may be my favorite place to ski. Mansfield is an amazing mountain.

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## Huck_It_Baby (Mar 27, 2014)

Cornhead said:


> Awesome pics Huck, wish I could have joined you in your side country exploits, but skiing inbounds was enough to kick my ass. I'm going to work on returning to better physical condition this off season. Hopefully you can show me around next year. Glad you got to reap the rewards of all your off season recon. I couldn't have asked for better conditions for my long overdue return to Stowe. It still may be my favorite place to ski. Mansfield is an amazing mountain.
> 
> Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2



Sorry we didn't connect. I'm confident I'll see you around for spring bumps!


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## watkin (Mar 27, 2014)

Huck_It_Baby said:


> Stowe was perhaps the best it's been all season this past weekend! ]



I totally agree.  Was up there this past Monday and hiked over the Adam's apple to hit Hellbrook.  Bluebird and lots of Pow to play in!







Looking at Hellbrook from the top of Spruce:


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## Huck_It_Baby (Mar 27, 2014)

watkin said:


> I totally agree.  Was up there this past Monday and hiked over the Adam's apple to hit Hellbrook.  Bluebird and lots of Pow to play in!



I did Chin/Hellbrook Saturday in the winds and whiteout! So good!!!  Glad you plundered!


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## watkin (Mar 27, 2014)

Huck_It_Baby said:


> I did Chin/Hellbrook Saturday in the winds and whiteout! So good!!!  Glad you plundered!



How was Hellbrook that day?  It was gutted out by Monday, which was expected, but was thinking it must have been incredible on Fri/Sat.


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## JimG. (Mar 27, 2014)

Was there Tues-Wed, conditions were still amazing; still fresh lines in many woods areas with a little looking.

Best 2 days of the season by far; pretty exhausted even today.


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## Cornhead (Mar 27, 2014)

Stunning photos watkin, looks like paradise to me.

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## Huck_It_Baby (Mar 27, 2014)

watkin said:


> How was Hellbrook that day?  It was gutted out by Monday, which was expected, but was thinking it must have been incredible on Fri/Sat.



Powder =)


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## JimG. (Mar 27, 2014)

jarrodski said:


> i was there sunday -tuesday for a psia exam.  best conditions ive had in years.  so much fun to be had all over the mountain.  hayride woods, star woods, goat woods, bypass woods, chin clip woods, river bed, nose dive woods... all stellar.  the grooming was amazing for our psia chores.  couldnt have asked for better temps, sky or wind.  so many smiles everywhere.



I ate lunch in the midst of your group on Tuesday at the lodge above the gondola; Bob Shostek was the group leader? Level II? If you passed that with Bob you'll do well at other exams. Surprised I never saw you skiing, I was in the same areas as you.


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## jarrodski (Mar 28, 2014)

JimG. said:


> I ate lunch in the midst of your group on Tuesday at the lodge above the gondola; Bob Shostek was the group leader? Level II? If you passed that with Bob you'll do well at other exams. Surprised I never saw you skiing, I was in the same areas as you.



black and white striped under layer, grey puffy coat, grey helmet and green goggles.  drinking beers and smiling. along the back wall on the uphill side of the lodge.   fantastic couple of days.  i had dave capron, brian smith and wiz.  got all 3 skills by all three examiners.  i have a lot of fine tuning to do with my hips and inside half to advance beyond this onto level 3.  

i was super fortunate to be in a group of great people who were all solid skiers.  we did our tests on nose dive and hayride, with lower national and Gulch for bumps.  Good times.  

traversed out to angle food before we found out how we did during the exam.  was pretty good even a few days after the snow.


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## BenedictGomez (Mar 28, 2014)

JimG. said:


> *Was there Tues-Wed, conditions were still amazing;* still fresh lines in many woods areas with a little looking.
> 
> Best 2 days of the season by far; pretty exhausted even today.



Looking up at the mountain at Smuggs and packing the truck on Sunday morning, I didnt want to leave     Seriously.  I felt like a little kid being forced to leave the LEGO store.


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## JimG. (Mar 28, 2014)

BenedictGomez said:


> Looking up at the mountain at Smuggs and packing the truck on Sunday morning, I didnt want to leave     Seriously.  I felt like a little kid being forced to leave the LEGO store.



I got to ski stuff at Stowe usually not in play like the very top of Liftline, Goat, and National. Those trails and Starr and Lookout were solid powder bumps. Really sweet. But the woods were why I went and that's where my time was spent. 

Glad I got 2 days in, made my season!


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## BenedictGomez (Mar 29, 2014)

JimG. said:


> *Glad I got 2 days in, made my season*!



Truer words could not be spoken; and in my case, it was more like 1.75 days before my legs gave out.  But it was tree run upon tree run upon slackcountry upon tree run before my legs became jello................


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## jarrodski (Mar 29, 2014)

JimG. said:


> I got to ski stuff at Stowe usually not in play like the very top of Liftline, Goat, and National. Those trails and Starr and Lookout were solid powder bumps. Really sweet. But the woods were why I went and that's where my time was spent.
> 
> Glad I got 2 days in, made my season!



im still a little giddy.   warm temps and rain down here in CT isnt that exciting.


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## JimG. (Mar 29, 2014)

jarrodski said:


> im still a little giddy.   warm temps and rain down here in CT isnt that exciting.



No, not at all.


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## billski (Mar 29, 2014)

I'll be remembering last week/end until next season for sure.  I'm pretty much hanging up the towel, I've got far too much business travel on tap the next month.  I'm glad I went out with a bang.  First time, since I can't remember when, I woke up, got onto the mountain was was bone tired by the third run.  It was a helluva climax to what started out to be a mega-disappointing season opener.


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## jaysunn (Mar 30, 2014)

Those pictures are awesome. @billski rookie mistake. Hope you enjoyed the bagel while huck it or
Some other local was getting your stash of pow. Cool report. 


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


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## billski (Mar 30, 2014)

jaysunn said:


> Those pictures are awesome. @billski rookie mistake. Hope you enjoyed the bagel while huck it or
> Some other local was getting your stash of pow. Cool report.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


rookie?   Meh, I called the shots; too old to need first chair.  I always find first tracks or sloppy seconds someplace.  It's just playing in the snow after all!


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## abc (Mar 30, 2014)

jaysunn said:


> Those pictures are awesome. @billski rookie mistake. Hope you enjoyed the bagel while huck it or
> Some other local was getting your stash of pow. Cool report.


It was me who was the Stowe rookie missed first chair. I think *billski *did fine with his local knowledge


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## jaysunn (Mar 30, 2014)

Understood, @abc,


> It was me who was the Stowe rookie missed first chair. I think billski did fine with his local knowledge


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## abc (Mar 30, 2014)

Belated photo of the snowfield at the top of Spruce chair (the little dot at the far side just barely visible from the trees were _cornhead!)_: 



And a bit more *action*:


(do you see him? Yep, he's there, blend in with the trees)

(now you see him!)

(now you can even see how big his grin is!)


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## jaysunn (Mar 30, 2014)

Awesome


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