Firsthand Report
Firsthand Report: Epic Pass Experience Part 2: Stowe 14
Author thumbnail By John Sherwood, DCSki Columnist

In Part 1 of this series, John Sherwood discussed his decision to purchase an Epic Pass and his experience using it at Heavenly Resort in early February. Part 2 focuses on his second trip to Stowe, Vermont in early March, and his thoughts on renewing the pass for the 2022-2023 season.

By John Sherwood, DCSki Columnist

The premise of the Epic Pass is the more you ski, the more you save. That imperative has led to excessive crowds at most Vail-owned resorts. My method for avoiding the hordes is to only ski at Vail resorts midweek — a strategy that worked well at Heavenly in early February.

It also meant that after using the pass just five days there, I would need to make another trip to break even on the cost of the Epic Pass. For a variety of reasons, I did not want to make a second ski trip. These included pressing deadlines at work and the West’s lackluster snow year. I made the second trip anyway. In the end, my love for skiing prevailed.

I chose Stowe in Vermont, a resort I have skied off and on since childhood. It offers one of the few big mountain experiences in New England with many trails covering over 2,000 feet of vertical. The variety of terrain is impressive even by western standards, and the area exudes a New England wintery gemülichkeit hard to find elsewhere in the country.

It’s also convenient. Burlington International Airport is just a one-hour commuter flight from Washington, D.C. and from there Stowe is an easy 40-minute drive over mostly flat roads. Unfortunately, many other Epic Pass holders had similar ideas. The Lodge at Spruce Peak in the base village was fully booked, and I could only get a direct flight returning from Burlington on March 5, 2022. I still went.

Spruce Peak Village. Photo by John Sherwood.

For the Delta flight to Vermont, I had to transfer planes at LaGuardia Airport in New York — a time-consuming hassle that required a bus transfer between terminals and a slog through the ongoing construction and ugliness of one of America’s worst-rated airports. That transfer transformed a one hour flight into a three hour experience. It still beat a ten-hour drive through snow squalls from Washington to Stowe, though.

Arriving in Burlington at 11:30 a.m. also gave us time to eat lunch at our favorite local restaurant, the Istanbul Kebab House. This wonderful Turkish venue serves meze plates and other Middle Eastern specialties. The food quality in northern Vermont is quite high due to the region’s many organic farms, its discerning foodie scene, and proximity to several culinary schools, including the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier. Burlington also has a fine lineup of grocery stores including Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, an excellent Hannaford supermarket, and several organic grocers.

We arrived at our rental an hour before check-in and decided to wait in the car and read. By the time we checked in, the car was covered by two inches of snow from a powerful squall that struck a few minutes after our arrival at the complex. It snowed off and on the entire night, coating the mountain with between 6 and 8 inches of new snow. We received five inches of snow the second and third nights of our stay as well. Maybe I did make the right decision.

New snow at condo. Photo by John Sherwood.

For our bitterly cold first day of skiing (Monday, February 28th), my wife and I chose to make a beeline for the Sterling trail on Spruce Peak. It’s a narrow, natural snow blue square that winds its way down the far side of Spruce Peak — a pure New England classic with a few moderately steep sections and short run-outs.

We skied fresh snow for the first few runs before things started getting tracked out and grass began to appear on the thinner spots of the trail. We then took a few laps down the single black Main Street trail before heading to Spruce Village for lunch. Local race academies rope off most of Main Street for training. Consequently, few skiers venture over to Big Spruce despite the fact that its trails are serviced by a detachable, high-speed quad. When Sterling is closed, there are only two black trails down the mountain, making this part of the resort inaccessible to beginners and lower level intermediates.

Sterling Trail. Photo by John Sherwood.

Stowe is one of the more challenging places I regularly ski. It’s not so much the steepness of the trails (and there are some steep ones here), but the ice. Snow on the mountain gets quickly skied and blown off on many of its signature trails, leaving some of the nastiest ice I have ever encountered. The problem has gotten worse of late due to Stowe’s increasing popularity as an Epic Pass Vail-owned resort.

I skied Hayride on the Mount Mansfield side of the mountain a couple of times on the afternoon of the February 28th before retreating to less steep but equally icy Mansfield blues: Lord, Ridgeview, North Slope, T-line, Tyro, and Standard. They all ski the same and blur together. They also got crowded, even midweek. I have never seen such crowds at Stowe during a midweek period. Admittedly, new snow and cold weather were draws, but most locals blamed the crowds on the Epic Pass. For next season, Stowe intends to replace the Mountain Triple with a detachable 6-pack. That will reduce lift lines but pump more people on the already crowded Mount Mansfield blues.

Late on the first afternoon, we skied the blue gondola trails: Perry Merrill and Gondolier. Perhaps because they receive more attention from the groomers, these trails were in great shape for our entire visit. We ended up lapping gondolier until the lifts closed. After 3:30 p.m., we had the mountain to ourselves.

Main Street. Photo by John Sherwood.

Typically, we avoid the Stowe “gondi” due to the lines, but on this trip, we frequently skied this area first thing in the morning or late in day. We never experienced any serious wait times or slope crowding. Stowe is known for its narrow, tree-lined terrain but also has a few wide, European-style trails. Perry Merrill falls into this latter category. Having this broad boulevard to myself on many runs was a rare treat.

I had read on SkiTalk that parking and traffic at Stowe has been worse this year than in any previous season. On the weekend we arrived, some people claimed that it took over an hour to drive 13 miles on the Mountain Road from Stowe to the resort. Stowe’s Twitter feed often declares parking areas to be full by 9 a.m. on weekend days. To avoid this mess and go green, we chose to ride the free Mountain Road shuttle every day.

Perry Merrill. Photo by John Sherwood.

It worked like a charm, dropping us off just a few steps from the Spruce Camp Lodge. Since we rented demo skis at the Spruce Rental shop and stored them there overnight, we never had to schlep skis. We booted up every day at the new Spruce Camp Lodge and stored our sneakers in free day lockers. The whole process of getting from the condo to the slopes could not have been easier. Our one bedroom condo, though slightly dated, was half the price of studios at the Lodge at Spruce Peak and twice the size. It was a great place to catch up on work after skiing.

In my article on Heavenly, I highlighted that resort’s poor food quality and choices. I am happy to report that the food at Stowe was decent to excellent. I ate a tasty, freshly cooked grilled cheese sandwich at the Octagon Café and a decent burger at the Spruce Camp lodge. For our other meals, we chose to eat at independently owned restaurants at the Spruce Peak base village.

Alpine Hall in the Lodge at Spruce Peak is a rebranded version of its excellent former restaurant, Solstice. Its lunch menu featured nouvelle Vermont cuisine. I particularly enjoyed the fried chicken sandwich. The Skinny Pancake, a popular Vermont fast casual chain, serves savory and sweet crepes. Both places offered a welcomed respite from standard ski grub and a place to relax and escape Mount Mansfield’s notoriously cold weather. Temperatures never got above the mid-twenties during our visit and on some mornings, we experienced single digits.

Weather and snow quality are the main reasons I generally favor the West over the East for destination skiing. The weather this week at Stowe was certainly cold but manageable with the right clothing. We never needed to dip into a lodge to warm-up. My new Hotronic boot warmers certainly helped as did our tendency to ride the gondola during the coldest periods of the day.

Ice spots aside, the new snow kept certain trails in decent shape. All in all, it was a great trip. I hope to return to Stowe in a few years to check out how the new Mount Mansfield 6-pack will change the skier flow on the mountain. Even with its existing lift infrastructure, Stowe makes it easy to “farm” a lot of terrain on each run. According to Liftblog, Fourrunner covers 2,046 feet of vertical; the Gondola, 2,020; and Sensation at Spruce Peak, 1,454.

Top of Meadows Trail on Spruce Peak. Photo by John Sherwood.

Looking at my Epic Mix statistics, I skied 265,365 feet of vertical in ten days of skiing at Vail-owned resorts this past season. That averages out to 26,536 feet of vertical per ski day — approximately what I ski at Timberline on a good day. My daily cost for the $841 pass was $84. Since I took 191 lift rides at Heavenly and Stowe, the average cost per ride was $4.40.

I saved approximately $250 on Epic food and rental discounts for myself and my wife. In the final analysis, I did OK financially with the pass and also got a lot of quality skiing for my money. Since I skied midweek, crowds were never a problem. Parking did not present any issues because I either stayed at the resort or took free shuttles. My only real quibble was with the food quality at Heavenly. On the other hand, the spectacular Tahoe weather and decent snow at Heavenly more than made up for the unappetizing cuisine.

So, will I renew the Epic Pass for next season? The answer is no, nor will I purchase an Ikon Pass. For next season, I plan to take only one destination trip, making the financial value of a multi-resort pass questionable. Two of my favorite Epic Pass resorts, Snowbasin and Sun Valley, switched their pass affiliation to Ikon but a full Ikon Pass costs $1,079 and the Base Plus Pass (which includes Sun Valley and Snowbasin) is $969 — too much for a midweek, one destination trip visitor.

By not purchasing either pass, I will have complete flexibility to go anywhere in the United States, Canada, or Europe. I will not be boxed into skiing certain venues or having to make multiple trips to justify the purchase. I am convinced that by purchasing midweek or late season tickets, I will rarely spend more than $100 per ticket and may spend significantly less depending on when and where I go. That translates to $500 for a five-day trip (as compared to $841 for an Epic Pass).

Even with discounts on rentals and food, I would not break even on a 5-day trip. I still think the Epic Pass is a great value for the Whitetail/Liberty/Roundtop skier who makes at least one trip to a pricey Vail property such as Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, or Park City. Another great value is the Epic Local Pass. For $626 next season, it offers unlimited skiing at most Vail-owned resorts with some holiday blackout dates at some of the major Vail flagships, including Vail, Park City, Heavenly, Stowe, and Whistler Blackcomb.

For me, however, the Epic Local Pass does not make sense for next season because my top choice destination resorts are Snowbasin, Telluride, and Schweitzer — none of which are covered by that pass. It might have made sense for 2021-22 had I known I would not ski Snowbasin or Telluride — my first choice destinations — but alas, hindsight is 20/20. In the final analysis, neither the Epic nor Ikon Passes will work for me next season. I am not opting out to “stick it to Vail” as many disgruntled pass holders are doing, but to gain absolute freedom of choice. Any savings I might derive from a pass would come at the expense of resort options, and at best would be paltry when compared to all the other costs inherent in a ski trip. To quote Warren Miller, skiing for me is more about “finding freedom” than choosing a ski pass plan.

About John Sherwood

John Sherwood is a columnist for DCSki. When he's not hiking, biking, or skiing, he works as an author of books on military history.

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Reader Comments

JimK - DCSki Columnist
April 18, 2022
Member since 01/14/2004 🔗
2,998 posts
Very good John.  I suspect the resurgence of your favorite local mountain (Timberline) has also eased the urge to spend big bucks to go far and wide on a frequent basis to ski.
johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
April 19, 2022
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts

Absolutely Jim.

BTW, Stowe just announced that all lots except Toll Road will be paid parking lots Friday-Sunday:

https://www.mynbc5.com/article/stowe-mountain-resort-implementing-paid-parking/39756171#

There will be exceptions for carpools with 4 or more passengers and cars that arrive after 2 pm.

The proceeds from the new paid parking system will go to its partnership with Green Mountain Transit, the company that runs most of the shuttles, including the Mountain Road shuttle we took. Paid parking and more reliance on shuttle bus networks is definitely the future for many US resorts.

Mongo
April 19, 2022
Member since 02/24/2015 🔗
99 posts

I am curious about the economics of flying to VT versus flying out West. From the standpoint of cost, if you get on a plane at all, you might as well go out West - true or false? I spent about $260 on gas to get to Killington and back, and of course that meant I didn't have to rent skis or rent a car when I got there. Plane tickets for three plus ski and car rental would be a much bigger hit. And as for time, 8-10 hours drive to VT is comparable to the total amount of time to fly out West, including get to the airport, check in, fly four or five hours, get luggage and rent a car, then maybe drive two or three hours to a resort. Fly out West or drive to VT it's a day of travel on each end.

That talk about nasty ice was very off-putting - another reason to go out West, as you say. 

As for economics, in Spring 2021, I bought the "full" Ikon for myself and two kids. We went to Snowshoe three times and Killington once, and overall, tickets came to $35 per person per day - a good deal even if we only went to one destination resort. Snowshoe remains a decisive reason for us to get Ikon as it is a do-able weekend trip. Of course now the question is, will the kids think Snowshoe is weak and lame now that they've been to a real mountain... 

Crush
April 19, 2022 (edited April 19, 2022)
Member since 03/21/2004 🔗
1,283 posts
as said here - skiing in the north-east is blech. 100% agree with Mongo - spend a little more money (or really not) for a superior experience that does not waste your precious ski time if you put in over 25 days per season. In addition I tend not to eat at a ski resort except I'll play ski-bum and get a cup and put ketchup in it and hot water to make soup - NONE of the food at ski hills is worth it (except for Deer Valley) I mean except for tater-tots or the occasional Clam Chowda is worth it - when I eat my body says "you are done with skiing" ha ha!
johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
April 19, 2022 (edited April 19, 2022)
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts
I agree with Mongo and Crush about the economics of flying to VT versus the West. The big issue for us was time, a bit of nostalgia for Stowe, and low base in the west.

The direct flight home was just one hour wheels up to wheels down and Burlington Airport is a breeze. You only need about 20 minutes to check-in and clear security.  There's also no jet lag. 

If there had been more snow in Utah at the time, however, I would have traveled west in a heartbeat.

PS I should also add that we used miles for most of the flights. That made flying more affordable. 
Denis - DCSki Supporter 
April 19, 2022
Member since 07/12/2004 🔗
2,350 posts

Crush> as said here - skiing in the north-east is blech. <

Absolutely, do not go there under any circumstances.  I tell California skiers this all the time.  And never go to Stowe, Mad River, Smugglers or Jay to catch a powder dump.  There is always ice lurking just an inch or two below.  You will die.

Crush
April 19, 2022 (edited April 19, 2022)
Member since 03/21/2004 🔗
1,283 posts

harsh Denis (I'm the one that does this)!  But - 100% ... nicely stated! My wife calls it "mean snow" and I agree! You go "oh that looks nice" and then your skis punch through it and it is drrr-RRRRR-krrr-krrr-woop-wtf. I'm lucky I occasionally like ice and crap snow just to stay sharp but I am stupid so ...1650399775_djbyctwgudxl.jpg

Denis - DCSki Supporter 
April 19, 2022
Member since 07/12/2004 🔗
2,350 posts

I love all skiing.  And, I’m a friend of all skiers.  But just to take the thought a bit further here is an old post.

https://www.dcski.com/forum/91553

Be sure to open the link to the 50” day at Jay Peak.  

wgo
April 22, 2022
Member since 02/10/2004 🔗
1,670 posts
I know it is a cliche but when I was most recently out west I definitely heard a couple people talk about the "icy conditions" when I thought the conditions were quite good (and believe me, I am not a fan of actual ice).
njcrash
May 20, 2022
Member since 05/20/2022 🔗
1 posts

I see all the negative comments about ice.  News flash, if you're complaining about ice you're not an advanced skier and probably should just not ski.  I have skied boilerplate at snowbird in mineral basin, I have skied boilerplate in jackson hile in and around rendevous bowl, and darn near boiler plate at copper and breck.  And I've skied enough days at stowe and other east coast resorts and ridden up the lifts with enough visitors to know that most of you have no idea what ice is.  I skied the same week at Stowe as this person did.  There was ice.  Solid, almost blue ice.  In exactly  places.  The headwall on upper Nosedive and the headwall on upper liftline.   The rest of the mountain skied fast, but it wasn't icy.  I have nearly 100 days at Stowe in the last 4 years and I've never skied on ice except the 2 places I just mentioned.  What is is is hardpack.  Its fast, but its all and always edgable.  Those that complain abouy ice are like my ex wife.  You don't like to go fast, and you can't carve turns, so you try to make a whole bunch of turns by turning your skis perpendicular to the fall line, and when you do that you have no control and the edges cant really bite in.  I skied 41,000 vertical at stowe on Feb 26 & feb 27th.  Between Feb 19th and march 5th I skied 112,000 feet vertical there.  There was ice in only the 2 places.  

Now in the article, there was something else I didn't understand.  The author says he took 191 runs for 265,000 vertical.  It doesn't add up.  The average vert is just over 2000 at stowe.  I'm guessing about the same at heavenly.  191 runs should have been closer to 400,000 vertical.  Hes about 140,000 short.  I know this because I skied 198 runs at stowe this season and was at 401,778 vertical.  The only explanation is that most of those runs were on the sunnyside lift or the triple.  Which goes to my earlier point.  It wasn't icy, but beginners might have not liked the hardpack, and sunnyside is mostly for beginners.  And if you're skiing sunnyside, you're also not tackling the terrain at snowbird, telluride, jacksonhole, alta, or a lot of other west coast resorts.  

Now, about stowe and vail and epic.  I had mistakenly signed up for a 2022/2023 epic pass and I hope I can get out of it.  The crowds coupled with Vails management has ruined many good mountains.  It has ruined Stowe and Breckenridge for sure.  Too crowded, too many beginner skiers skiing terrain they don't belong on, less snowmaking, poorer grooming, more expensive.  When they cut back and try to groom the mountain with 2/3rds the staff, it means they can't till as deeply because they have to go slower which with the smaller staff they cant do.  So, while not icy, the trails arent as good as they could be.  Same with snowmaking.  They start later, make less, and end earlier.  And this season I nearly got taken out 4 times by inattentive poor skiers.  The last time I was at Breckenridge the same, and a snow boarder at breck literally took out my ski pole.  Broke it.  After he nearly hit me, I went to plant my pole and it was snapped off.  Vail is goingnto get people killed by overloading their mountains, especially with weekend or 1 week warriors!  

Now, I dont have anything against visitors, weekend warriors, or 1 week warriors!  The sport is for everyone and everyone has to ski to get better.  And that includes challenging yourselves on trails you dont belong on.  But when you get too many like that, it starts getting really dangerous!  

By the way, for the love of G-d, stop making adrupt 90 degree turns, stop congregating with your friends at the runouts and the entries to lift lines, and when you get off the lifts, get far away and completely out of the way before you stop and whip out your cameras.  Yes, its a mountain, the views are often spectacular, please take pictures.  Stopping 20 feet from the lift in the path of everyone trying to get off just causes problems though.  And when you're skiing a trail, try to pick a fairly norrow line and stay in it.  Those of us that are better and faster don't want to run over you or collide with you.  We try often times to either ski the lines on the sides or the bumps in the middle.  But when you ski all over the place and make sudden turns, you endanger yourself and others.  

Okay, everyone have a great ski year next year.  I highly recommend Alta, Snowbird, Taos and Telluride if you havent skied them.  If you're looking for the true champagne powder experience, skip vermont, we don't get that.  But you also don't get the ski town experience at a lot of the west coast resorts that you do in vermont.  Unless you stay in town at someplace like Telluride or Jackson Hole.  

johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
May 28, 2022
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts

@njcrash,

After reading your comments, I checked my EpicMix stats again. I skied ten days on the pass last season, 5 at Heavenly and 5 at Stowe: all midweek days—no weekends. I took 191 lift rides and skied 265,365 vertical. That’s 1,389 average vertical per run. What made that average vertical lowish is all the runs at Heavenly. I noted that one one day at Heavenly, I made 28 runs but only got on average 1,122 feet of vertical per run. On another day there, I skied 26 runs and got 1,155 feet of vertical per run. By comparison, at Stowe, I took far fewer lifts rides but got more vertical per run but never more than 1,950. One day I road 14 lifts and got 27,232 vertical for 1,945 feet per run. On another day, I road 17 lifts and got 25,887 vertical for 1,522 feet of vertical. You only get 2,000 plus at Stowe on two lifts: Fourrunner and the Gondola. I skied Mountain Triple, Sunny Spruce, and Sensation on occasion as well, which lowered my average vertical per run. Anyway, I could have gotten more vertical per run by lapping Fourrunner or Gondi but what fun is that. I like moving around a mountain and discovering nooks and crannies. 

Ice is ice—whether blue ice or any other color. Everyone on the lifts complained about it. I see it as a grooming and high traffic issue more than anything else. Timberline has the same issues on weekends but midweek is usually pretty good. It was hard for me to believe that Stowe was significantly more icy midweek than Timberline, especially given all the new snow that fell that week. I remember skiing Stowe 20 years ago and never experiencing this type of ice during periods of good snowfall. I also have never seen more people at Stowe midweek. Again, blame it on the pass.

Mongo
June 6, 2022
Member since 02/24/2015 🔗
99 posts

"I see all the negative comments about ice.  News flash, if you're complaining about ice you're not an advanced skier and probably should just not ski."

Yeah well I can ski on ice, but I don't enjoy it at all. I feel the same way about moguls.

"And when you're skiing a trail, try to pick a fairly norrow line and stay in it.  Those of us that are better and faster don't want to run over you or collide with you.  We try often times to either ski the lines on the sides or the bumps in the middle.  But when you ski all over the place and make sudden turns, you endanger yourself and others. "

When you are behind other skiers it is 100% your job to make allowances for beginners, give them plenty of space, and be able to avoid running into them regardless of what they do, even if they "ski all over the place and make sudden turns". If you run into a skier who was doing that, then you were skiing too fast and that resulting collision was your fault

johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
June 7, 2022 (edited June 7, 2022)
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts

“When you are behind other skiers it is 100% your job to make allowances for beginners, give them plenty of space, and be able to avoid running into them regardless of what they do, even if they "ski all over the place and make sudden turns". If you run into a skier who was doing that, then you were skiing too fast and that resulting collision was your fault.”

Agree 100% but would take it one step further. The uphill skier must yield to the downslope skier regardless of their ability. The code is the code: downhill skiers always has the right of way. I actually took an intentional fall last season to avoid hitting a skier who made an unpredictable turn in front of me. That was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, many skiers in this area have no idea of the code and blame the downhill skier if they make an unpredictable move. They also will not slow down to account for unpredictable behavior downslope.

Slope crowding from fast lifts exacerbates the problem and makes slopes much more dangerous—another reason I typically avoid skiing on Saturdays at Timberline during the peak hours of 10 am - 3 pm.

dclivejazz
July 22, 2022
Member since 03/5/2017 🔗
59 posts
As the perpetual beginner, low intermediate I regularly refer to myself as, I found the one poster’s admonishment to to stick to a narrow path of note. All I can say is anyone skiing behind me should be able to see that my turns follow a regular pattern whether they are wide or narrow. For me, the steeper the slope the wider they will be. I have experienced on many occasions that some people flying down the hill aren’t showing much evidence of paying much attention to what is happening in front of them (most do of course). I will simply stop though, if I have to, and let a crowd go by. I also try to avoid busy days in general. I am pretty afraid of being run into or running into someone else.

One of the best tidbits I picked up on a YouTube instructional video last year was for even poorer skiers to avoid the sides and pick our lines and pathways down the center of a slope. That way you won’t be someone ran off an edge. 

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