Smugglers' Notch
December 5, 2006
I received one of the promational timeshare deals for Smugglers' Notch, but I have never been there. Can anyone tell me the good or the bad? Maybe I should not even waste the families time? We are intermediate skiers if that makes a difference.
Smuggs is good, for all. It's long been known as really focusing on family skiing, but with the opening of some super steeps and b/c access, it's good for all.
I have a timeshare there and love it. Has terrain for the whole family and the ski schools are A+++. Nightlife is family oriented with planned parents night outs and family activities (My kid lives for the karaoke). It is difficult to trade-into with RCI. I have too friends attempting to match up our weeks this year and have had no luck. The Timeshare pitch deal may be a good way to find out for yourself. We've had ours for many years now, but when we went through the pitch it was a very low key sale, but we had already made a decision to buy and I'm sure it showed. Ihave to run now, but I may be able to post some pics later.
Whats the advanced / expert terrain like? Is Maddona Mt. a full 2000ft vert? I see a lot of blue cruisers cutting in and out of their black trails. That must be annoying. Whats up with the triple diamond they have there?
Bumps this is too good
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How long and how much to do the job
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Smuggs seems hot right now, friend bought slopeside up there last spring, reserved a few weeks and the place was sold out three weeks later prolly need to plan a time share year in advance to get what you want?
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Whats the advanced / expert terrain like? Is Maddona Mt. a full 2000ft vert? I see a lot of blue cruisers cutting in and out of their black trails. That must be annoying. Whats up with the triple diamond they have there?
Madonna mtn is a full 2000, maybe 2100 vert. then there is a skate to get to the beginner hill and condo area which gives a total of 2600 vert when you get to the very bottom. The triple diamond is a long and very steep glade. I don't know if I'd skip past Stowe to go to Smuggs, but it's a very respectable mtn and if you have some kind of lodging deal I'd go for it.
My brother goes there a lot (he has a friend who owns a place there) and his big complaint is the slow lifts and lack of restaurants. Stowe has better lift infrastructure and much more to offer apres ski, but Stowe has become quite pricey these days. It's practically cheaper to ski UT than Stowe.
Smugg's is big and very nice for all levels of skiers. I haven't skied there nearly as much as Stowe and should correct that. The triple diamonds that I recall are under the lift and are indeed steep, but not gladed. They are narrow and double fall line and at the time thinly covered and icy so I didn't do them. They probably get skied a lot since they are showoff runs being under the lift. Doc Dempsey's glade is very very nice and not steep. It is partly open (left side) and gets tighter as you go right and into the trees. It seemed not to get much skier pressure and had very good snow some days after a storm.
There is much good backcountry off Sterling. Some leads back to the area and some goes down into the notch, then you ski back to the base on the road. Smugg's pitches itself as a family area, and it is a good one, but it has some really good challenging backcountry mostly skied only by locals. It gets a lot less pressure than the other side of the notch (Stowe).
Smuggs:
Cons:
- Cold, even by Vermont standards.
- Somewhat isolated. Stones throw from Stowe, but it is a 30-45 drive in the winter. Ya can't get there from here. Eeeyaaap.
- As stated before, slow lifts. Combined with the cold, T-Line's lifts can seem like South Beach by comparison.
Pro's
- Relatively uncrowded and not too expensive.
- Paradoxically, great beginner and advanced terrain. Steeps and trees, in particular.
- Family oriented.
Slight correction to Denis who has forgetten more about Vermont skiing than I'll ever hope to know. The triple black (marketing hype) is the glade to the skier's right of Liftline (the trail under the Madonna lift.) The rest of the trails are double or single black, probably the toughest marked slopes in the East. I've only skied the lower half of the triple black, ducked in with a bunch of skiers. It was steep and tight, but not that more difficult than a lot of other tree shots in Vermont. However, there is supposedly some very tight mandatory air sections in the trees on the upper half.
I haven't skied with anyone who posts on DCSki who could rip Liftline (even in good conditions.) That includes Crush. It's a tough, exposed slope, where a mistake could mean tumbling over rock bands for 500 or so feet. All in full view of a chairlift.
Doc Dempsey's is a great trail, but it's been a bit skied out when I've taken it.
Thanks for the info Denis and JohnL.
"I haven't skied with anyone who posts on DCSki who could rip Liftline (even in good conditions.) That includes Crush. It's a tough, exposed slope, where a mistake could mean tumbling over rock bands for 500 or so feet. All in full view of a chairlift."
This makes me hot.
There's is one person from DCSki who can rip Liftline. His name is JohnL...;) So fess up, have you ripped it??? Inquiring minds want to know.
We call him JohnL, but up at smuggs he goes by "jack".
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There's is one person from DCSki who can rip Liftline. His name is JohnL...;) So fess up, have you ripped it??? Inquiring minds want to know.
???
Liftline is out of my league for ripping. A man has to know his limits.
It would be fun to see one of the Eagan or DesLauriers Brothers or one of the Meatheads ski it with something to prove ...
I refuse to admit the wasted time spent on that
. Similar to today, I was playing hookey from work after a very tough week and my mind was on skiing. Please note the orange skis ,reflective of my Dynastar 8800's. See, I put way too much thought into that
. Back to Smuggs, there is an owner's club where you can buy and swap weeks and there almost aways something available there a few weeks in advance. I don't know what percentage of owners are part of RCI, I don't think it is mandatory, but we generally trade away our summer weeks so it works out for us. Also I think there are generally some studios avaible on RCI etc, but most folks who go to smuggs are looking for something larger.
JohnL summed it up pretty well.
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Cold, even by Vermont standards.
I was at top of madonna with temps at -20 degrees one year. I have boot heater and great gloves and warm clothes. I ski'd my butt off that day, it was great. The lift guys was checking everyone for signs of frost bite before they would let you get on lifts.
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Somewhat isolated. Stones throw from Stowe, but it is a 30-45 drive in the winter. Ya can't get there from here. Eeeyaaap.
Of course don't forget that your only an hour or so away from the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory and vermont teddy bear factory. 
We usually take one half day to get out of the village. This year we will probably take a whole day and go up to Canada.Montreal is about 2 hours away.
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As stated before, slow lifts. Combined with the cold, T-Line's lifts can seem like South Beach by comparison.
You always want to ride with someone you enjoy. Otherwise you might think about jumping. But when liftline is open you can watch folks trying it. I find that there always seem to be someone who can ski it with his/her buddy he talked into trying it. Entertainment value can be high. On cold days, you just zip up, shiver and groan everytime someone makes the lift stop.
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Paradoxically, great beginner and advanced terrain. Steeps and trees, in particular
Ski magzine rated the expert terrain as either 1 or 2 in the east. Here's a cool pic from the review SKI Mag review I am really looking forward to going this year and plan on attempting to push my terrain comfort level up another notch or so.
Funny I thought I replied yesterday...must have forgot to submit.
I was going to say the difference may be being local and going for a day or two vice spendng a week. It works well for me and my son since he takes lessons in AM (I don't consider this dumping him on someone else and if I had to teach him snowboarding he would still be on the bunny slope!) and we hook up in PM. When I'm with my son I basically ski what he wants to ski, with maybe an occasional cut through trail where I meet him on the other side. I usually drop him off at the condo for hot chocolate while I make a last run or two before joining him and my wife for an evening together. We spend 6 times the time together than we normally get to spend and also get to make friends in lessons while improving our skills. I'm sure everyones concept of family time differs but this works for us. As far as separate mountains go, I don't find it too big a deal. either by trail or bus its 15-20 min traverse betweeen them, tops.
