I met my old high school buddy for my first time skiing in VT.  Here's a quick recap.

THU
I headed out at 4 AM on Thu morning to the town of Londonderry,VT.  We saw a place called Magic Mtn was about 5 minutes from the Inn where we stayed.  They have a Throwback Thursday special - $20 lift ticket as long as there is not 6" of powder that day / night.  I pulled in at 12:30 and had a ticket in hand by 12:40.  It was about 560 miles one way from my house.  Old school mtn with only 1 chair running top to bottom.  Reminded me of Blue Knob.   There were more people at the bar than on the slopes.  We skied on and off from about 1 - 4 PM.  Steep blues and blacks - TONS of snow in VT.  For 20 bucks it was well worth it.  Not a destination place but I'm glad we decided to hit it for a 1/2 day.  It was steeper than Stratton.

FRI
We stayed at a place called the Swiss Inn and Tavern.  It's a dated old inn but has a bar and dining room on site.  FREE full service breakfast each AM.  We ate there every night - food was awesome.  We skied Stratton using the 250 snowbucks credit on my Snowshoe season pass.  Fri was very cold, crowds were light and we skied the crap out of that place from 10 - 4.  We kinda wasted time from 9 - 10 figuring out parking / tickets / lockers.   Not a cloud in the sky.  Total bluebird day.  Stratton IS Snowshoe on steriods.  More trails, longer runs and several high speed  6 pack chairs.   Since I'm a cruiser - this place worked well for my skill set and style. 

SAT
We discovered an alternate area to park near the Sun Bowl Lodge.  Pulled in at 8:15 and were on the slopes by 8:30.  Crowded with lift lines like Snowshoe's Ballhooter on Sat.  BIG difference with 6 packs - lines moved at a nice pace.  With all the terrain, the slopes were not crowded.  Sat was another bluebird day.  Cold in the AM but warmed into the 20s after lunch.  We took a group lesson with a few folks from our Inn.  The group wanted to learn / practice bumps - not thrilled but I went along.  We did a small tree bump area near an easy blue trail.  I'm still not a fan of bumps - I was last in my class if they were grading bump skills.   I did learn some proper techniques that I will try to apply going forward.

RECAP
I really liked VT.  I think I was lucky to catch it in a good year and a perfect weekend.  Most trails were as long as Cupp and Shays.  Stratton claims a little over 2000 ft vertical.  Nice variety of trails.  We stayed on blues and blacks.  Seemed like a lot of Spruce, Skip Jack and Gandy Dancer type slopes but just twice as long.  Nothing there was steeper than Shays. Double blacks were all bumps and we stayed away from those. 

SUPER EASY drive from Pgh.  All interstate to Albany, NY then a few small towns from there.  I will definitely return to the area again.

Nice report and good deal exploiting the Snowshoe-Stratton connection!  And I think it was a great year to check out VT.  From what I am hearing out west, New England is having one of it's snowiest winters ever, but also accompanied by a lot of bitter cold temps.  You seemed to have caught the snow, but avoided the bitter temps. The southern VT resorts of Stratton, Mt. Snow, and Okemo are all quite similar and very much fit your description of Snowshoe on steroids.  As you head further north to places like Killington, Sugarbush, Stowe, Whiteface, Wildcat, Sugarloaf, etc. the mountains take on a more rugged feel and the challenge and scenery factors go up.  

I skied Magic long ago, but didn't catch it in good conditions.  I have heard it can be great in a Blue Knob kind of way when firing on all cylinders.

I also spent a few days skiing in VT in early March.  Checked out Pico, Sugarbush, and Mad River Glen for the first time.  Lucked out and skied soft snow in reasonable temperatures in the 20s.

I really liked Pico.  Just the right size for a day or two.  Price was right too . . . $26 for Monday from Liftopia.  Turns out that's the same price as for Over 50.

Enjoyed the views at Sugarbush.  It was clear in the morning so could easily make out Whiteface and lots of mountains in VT/NH.  The main side got a bit scraped off by the afternoon, but the Mt. Ellen trails were good all day.  It was interesting how much better the groomers were at MRG the next day.  Mostly because they got far few people and it's mostly natural snow, although they do have some snowmaking on the lower half of the mountain earlier in the season.

I stayed at the Mad River Barn for Sugarbush and MRG.  Recently renovated.  Was owned by the former owner of MRG for a while.  Very neat place.  Bonus is the great breakfast, as well as the bar/restaurant so there is no need to drive anywhere in the evening.

Thanks for the trip report, I am planning to take the family up to Stratton over their spring break at the very end of March to use the same Intrawest program you did. I hope conditions hold up for us to get into the trees a little!

Yes, we've had the best Winter in Northern New England since probably the 1970s.  Right now, even with the thaw last week, I'm looking at 4 feet of snow left on my back yard, and we've had close to 10 feet of snow.  And the flurries we were supposed to have came in the form of two more inches.  My move to New England was at the right time.

We've been busily looking at different ski mountains to the tune of about 50 ski days so far this Winter.  Our home mountain (12 minutes away) is Sunapee, about the size of Snowshoe, on the small side of the mid-size range up here.  Our tickets are also valid in Okemo so we've been there a lot.  

Killington is, of course, the "Beast" of them all.  For us, the Skyeship Gondola is right off Route 4 with plenty of parking and a fast ride through two mountains, saving 15 minutes or more to the top on a busy day, besides not having to go all around the resort to the North and then brave the traffic jams on the K'ton access road and the parking nightmares by the K-1 gondola or Snowshed.  Just yesterday we went to Pico, Killington's sister resort that may eventually be joined with the Beast, but Pico has a totally different personality.  Quaint, quiet, quintessential New England.  For military retirees or active duty, the Killington Express Card is at no cost and that gets you 50% off on weekdays and 25% off on weekends with the seventh time as a freebie.  

Smaller areas abound.  Ragged Mountain, near I-89 is well worth it.  So is the Dartmouth Skiway.  Loon, to the North of us, is also an awesome place, and so is Waterville Valley, which I consider one of the best.  And of course, Stratton and Mt Snow.  A little further is my favorite ski area in the US, Stowe.  What it lacks compared to Park City or Deer Valley it makes it up in its Vermont character.  And as well, the front four at Stowe would challenge anyone's abilities.

I would recommend that in addition to the Stratton deal for Intrawest season pass holders, check Liftopia and the other ski resort websites.  You may find quite competitive prices for a variety of ski adventures.

lbotta wrote:

Yes, we've had the best Winter in Northern New England since probably the 1970s.  Right now, even with the thaw last week, I'm looking at 4 feet of snow left on my back yard, and we've had close to 10 feet of snow.  And the flurries we were supposed to have came in the form of two more inches.  My move to New England was at the right time.

We've been busily looking at different ski mountains to the tune of about 50 ski days so far this Winter.  Our home mountain (12 minutes away) is Sunapee, about the size of Snowshoe, on the small side of the mid-size range up here.  Our tickets are also valid in Okemo so we've been there a lot.  

Killington is, of course, the "Beast" of them all.  For us, the Skyeship Gondola is right off Route 4 with plenty of parking and a fast ride through two mountains, saving 15 minutes or more to the top on a busy day, besides not having to go all around the resort to the North and then brave the traffic jams on the K'ton access road and the parking nightmares by the K-1 gondola or Snowshed.  Just yesterday we went to Pico, Killington's sister resort that may eventually be joined with the Beast, but Pico has a totally different personality.  Quaint, quiet, quintessential New England.  For military retirees or active duty, the Killington Express Card is at no cost and that gets you 50% off on weekdays and 25% off on weekends with the seventh time as a freebie.  

Smaller areas abound.  Ragged Mountain, near I-89 is well worth it.  So is the Dartmouth Skiway.  Loon, to the North of us, is also an awesome place, and so is Waterville Valley, which I consider one of the best.  And of course, Stratton and Mt Snow.  A little further is my favorite ski area in the US, Stowe.  What it lacks compared to Park City or Deer Valley it makes it up in its Vermont character.  And as well, the front four at Stowe would challenge anyone's abilities.

I would recommend that in addition to the Stratton deal for Intrawest season pass holders, check Liftopia and the other ski resort websites.  You may find quite competitive prices for a variety of ski adventures.

 

 

Thanks for the insight, I will look into those for sure as long as we're up there.