For many, Stowe defines New England skiing.
STOWE
RECOMMENDED BY Jeff Wise
Jeff Wise likes to say that he found Stowe by falling out of the sky.
“Twenty years ago, I was doing advertising sales for an alternative rock station in New York City,” Jeff began. “However, I always loved Vermont. I would always go in on a ski house in southern Vermont with friends, usually at Mount Snow. I’d drive up religiously on Friday nights and ski the weekend. In the fall of 1993, I decided that I wanted to change jobs and try living in Vermont. I made plans to attend a job fair at Mount Snow, and a friend who had a small plane offered to fly me up. The day we flew, we couldn’t land the plane in the Dover, as there were strong crosswinds. It was a clear day, and we could see Route 100 below and started following it north, taking in the foliage. Eventually, we saw a very small airport, and got permission to land. We found out we were in Morrisville. I had never been north of Killington [a ski area near Rutland, Vermont]. In the little town, I asked if there was a good place to have lunch, and someone said, ‘Stowe’s just down the road.’ The second I laid eyes on it, I said, ‘Wow!’ I was getting ready to move to a ski town in Vermont, and here was a ski town that’s a real town, not a resort with an access road. I walked around town and went up to the resort to inquire about getting a job as a snow-board instructor. By the time I got back to New York, there was no question I’d be heading north.”
The town of Stowe sits just northeast of Burlington, the state’s most populous city; the ski area (technically known as Stowe Mountain Resort) takes up the eastern flank of Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest summit at 4,395 feet. (The lift-served area tops out at 3,719 feet.) Like many ski areas in the Alps, Stowe had its start as an actual town (first settled in 1794) and later as a summer escape. “The first hotels opened in the 1850s and a toll road was built up to Mount Mansfield shortly thereafter,” Jeff continued. “Stowe had been welcoming visitors for almost a hundred years before the ski resort was established, and I think your first and last impression is that Stowe is authentic, not contrived.”
Stowe is not the oldest ski resort in the United States, though it certainly helped set the tone for the sport’s early development. The first official trails on Mount Mansfield were cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. The following year, the first ski patrol was established there (it provided a model for the National Ski Patrol), and Stowe hosted the U.S. Eastern Amateur Association Downhill and the Men’s and Women’s National Downhill and Slalom championships in 1937 and 1938, respectively. Both were held on a trail called Nose Dive, which was designed by an unemployed highway engineer named Charlie Lord, with the help of his friend Abner Coleman. There was a time when Nose Dive was considered the most fearsome trail in the country.
“Mount Mansfield is very well-suited to snowboarding and skiing, as there’s two thousand vertical feet of consistent pitch,” Jeff said. “Most of the trails were cut by hand, following the natural fall line of the mountain. On some hills, you can tell that a bulldozer went straight down the hill and there’s not much character to the skiing/riding experience. At Stowe, they twist and turn naturally. Though it’s not a large mountain, there are steeps that match those at other, bigger areas. If there’s a section of the mountain that defines the Stowe experience, it’s the Front Four: Liftline, National, Starr, and Goat. All are rated double black diamond, and that’s a legitimate double black. Each has a consistent pitch ranging from twenty-six to thirty-eight degrees, though each poses a different kind of challenge. Liftline might be the easiest of the four, as it’s fairly wide, and the left side gets some grooming; though as the name implies, you’re right under the Forerunner Quad, and have lots of spectators. National got its name from the fact that several ski-racing championships were held on the trail. If there’s enough snow, it can be one of the premiere mogul runs in the East. Starr is named for C. V. Starr, who founded AIG, the insurance giant. The view from the top of the trail is harrowing; it’s so steep, you seem to stare off into nothingness. Goat is the steepest and narrowest of the four, and has huge moguls.” Visitors who hope to conquer the Front Four are encouraged to leave Goat for last.
Beyond the challenge of the Front Four, one of the appeals of Stowe is the variety of accommodations and things to do in town once you’re off the slopes. “There’s everything from roadside motels to unique resort properties like the Trapp Family Lodge. If you recall the movie The Sound of Music, the family flees Austria at the conclusion. They actually relocated to Stowe and eventually opened a lodge and cross-country ski center, and they are still here. AIG [which owns Stowe Mountain Resort] recently constructed the Stowe Mountain Lodge, which has been getting incredible accolades, and brings a new level of luxury to the mix. The town has more than twenty-five restaurants and watering holes, so you have lots of options.”
One of Stowe’s most famous trails is one you won’t find on any trail maps—the Bruce Trail. This is the first trail at Stowe cut specifically for skiing, created in 1933 by the CCC. “Skiing the Bruce Trail is one of the most special things you can do at Stowe,” Jeff shared, “though technically, it takes you outside the resort boundary.” (Vermont state law requires that you pay for your own rescue if you are injured skiing outside the resort’s boundary.) “The Bruce Trail is four miles long. It takes you from the top of the Forerunner Quad, all the way to the Cross-Country Ski Center. In fact, you can practically ski all the way to Matterhorn Bar, which is the quintessential ski-town bar, with a wood-fired pizza oven, sushi bar, pool tables, and live music.
“My hypothetical best day on the mountain would end with me making fresh tracks on the Bruce down to the Matterhorn, and heading in for a refreshment. Legally, we don’t encourage people to do this. But it’s there.”
JEFF WISE was director of Stowe Mountain Resort’s Snowboard School for five years before becoming the resort’s marketing and communications director.
If You Go
Getting There: Stowe is less than an hour from Burlington, which is served by many carriers.
Season: Stowe’s season usually runs from late November to mid-April.
Lift Tickets: Advance day tickets are $79; multi-day tickets are available. Learn more at www.stowe.com.
Level of Difficulty: Stowe’s 116 trails are rated as 16 percent beginner; 59 percent intermediate; 25 percent expert.
Accommodations: Stowe Area Association (877-GOSTOWE; www.gostowe.com) and Stowe Mountain Resort (800-253-4754; www.stowe.com) offer a variety of lodging options.
