January 23rd, 2006, Stowe, Vermont

Day 29 <br>1-23-06<br>Stowe, Vermont <br>6" new on 24 - 36" base, 37 of 44 trails open<br>Vertical - Gosh, about 30,000 vf.    <br> <br>Home again, home again, jig-a-dee-jig.  <br> <br>I hope everyone has a place like Stowe in their hearts; warm, trustworthy, dependable and always ready to please when spirits are down.  Some place?  Most would settle for someone, but if you can find some place, well... <br> <br>Stowe.  The Grand Dame of Eastern skiing.  The Vail of the East Coast.  No, strike that, Killington would be the Vail of the East Coast.  Stowe would be the Jackson Hole of the East Coast.  Yes, Stowe may be as expensive as Vail and have the ambiance of Aspen, but, hey, Aspen and Vail mountains suck.  The skiers go to Jackson Hole and Stowe, the Fashion Queens go to Vail and Killington.  But I digress.    <br> <br>Monday morning and I'm tagging along with my father on his daily rituals.  Quickly, I see the fruit does not fall far from the tree.  6 am wake up and first chair on a monday - no crowds and no fuss on the 10 minute drive up to the slopes from the old man's house.  With his season pass I'm able to pick up a ticket for the ludicrous discounted amount of $49 (OK, I didn't buy it, but dipped into the bottomless well of parental good will - thanks for the present, Dad!) - I'm stunned to hear the normal price is now $78/day during the high season.  It's been over two years and some 120 days of skiing since I've purchased a lift ticket (I guess technically that streak continues), do normal people really pay these prices to go skiing?  Good gravy!<br><br>In typical Mt Mansfield fashion, I am amazed at the quality of the snow, so quick is it to transition from crap to goodness.  On Saturday it had been 50 degrees and raining (which Pops tells me was great fun skiing in spring-like corn and warmth) and the next it's 20 degrees and snowing lightly with boilerplate everywhere.  The next day, today, we plan on skiing where the snow guns had carpeted the ice with sticky snow and run laps on the corduroy, but Mansfield has other ideas.  As I wait for Dad at the lift (he had a ski debacle which I'm not at liberty to tell about for fear of dashing my good karma) I see the first few flakes of snow, a curious sight considering the forecast calls for cloudy skies and no snow.  By 9 am we're storm skiing, with an inch an hour falling and a half a foot by lunch.  <br><br>A surprise Powder Day at Stowe?  Home again, home again, jig-a-dee-jig.<br><br>We work our way around the mountain, starting on the Quad and working from skiers left to right, easing out of the steep Front Four to the 5-mile pleasure cruise down to the toll house chair and then cross back over to the Gondola.  I'm chasing my Dad around the mountain obviously escorting him on his Tour de Stowe, proud to be with the "old-guy-who-keeps-on-truckin" on our way to completing a jambalaya (I think I heard him right) - a complete sweep of all the open, worthy runs - a blessing that Starr and Goat are closed (although he confesses he wouldn't ski these two even if they were open.  With age comes wisdom, I guess.)<br><br>After a few runs on the Gondola, we stop at Jose's <br>Cantina, where the old man seems to know everyone, and has a story about them all for me to hear over a martini (for him) and coffee (for me) and the hottest "mild" wings I've ever had.<br><br>We catch the bus over to Big Spruce and I'm introduced to all the changes going on at "the Other Stowe" - long time coming changes, and progress that feels right for the mountain, all except the radical hotel and $35 million homes on the flanks of the ski runs.  The snowmaking guns now cover most of this sunny alter ego to the Main mountain, and a new high speed quad replaces the antiquated Big Spruce double and the 17 minute freeze of old.  Whisking us to the top in a blistering 7 minutes, we run lap after lap, sampling the stashes of powder on Main Street, Smuggs and even Sterling.  <br><br>" 'There's only shitty, icy skiing in the East' - Ha!" my father says sarcastically over his shoulder and we both laugh, skiing away from the top of the Sensation Lift in boot deep pow.  Truly, the fruit does not fall far from the tree.      

Wow, you don't hear that many people talking about Stowe out in these parts let alone singing its praises. It's the mountain that I grew up skiing on and Mom still lives there. Our parents probably know each other. When it is good there its as good as any place and when its not- hell if you can ski that blue ice you can ski anywhere. It has been to long since I have been home in the winter. Thanks for bringing back some of the good memories. I have tried to block out some of the bad ones like the day the coaches made us run gates when the wind chill was -86F. I will miss the old double on Big Spruce. It was so bumpy going over some of the towers that it could shake you right out of the seat. Or the good bad old days before the high speed quads when they had the blankets for you to ride the chair under.

[quote author=MW88888888 but, hey, Aspen and Vail mountains suck.        [/quote]<br><br>must have never skied highlands, snowmass, or ajax..a truly ridiculous statement.

Which, Juan, is why I did not say Highlands and Snowmass suck (both of which have very decent skiing). I do think, however, that both Ajax and Vail are not very exciting skiing on many levels. <br><br>But that's my opinion isn't it?