New England Updates On Vail Resorts / Stowe

[Mike Thomas]

Random speculation between entirely uninformed third party people is the SECOND most important use of the internet.

 

[LKLA]

Random speculation between entirely uninformed third party people is the SECOND most important use of the internet.

The FIRST most important use of the internet being randomly accusing people?

 

[LKLA]

Some news regarding the parking situation at Stowe:

• The parking lot at the Stowe x-country center will now have 427 vs 330.
• Want to build two parking lots next to the Midway lot, with 140 spots.
• Considering hiring more parking staff to minimize self-parking, which often does not make the best use of the space and better snow removal to avoid snow piles in the parking area.
• Want to designate a parking area just for uphill skiers.
• Considering using parking close to the lifts for vehicles with three or more occupants.
• Considering added bus routes: two buses village - resort with no stops, two buses village - resort with stops, and, shuttle employees from a staff parking lot to the mountain.

 

[at_nyc]

• Considering added bus routes: two buses village - resort with no stops, two buses village - resort with stops, and, shuttle employees from a staff parking lot to the mountain.

I thought they're already doing that. Perhaps the different is the shuttle? I vaguely remember giving rides to staff as they were hoofing it.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Staff shuttle has been in effect for years. What would be new is bus with no stops.

 

[no edge]

Some news regarding the parking situation at Stowe:

• The parking lot at the Stowe x-country center will now have 427 vs 330.
• Want to build two parking lots next to the Midway lot, with 140 spots.
• Considering hiring more parking staff to minimize self-parking, which often does not make the best use of the space and better snow removal to avoid snow piles in the parking area.
• Want to designate a parking area just for uphill skiers.
• Considering using parking close to the lifts for vehicles with three or more occupants.
• Considering added bus routes: two buses village - resort with no stops, two buses village - resort with stops, and, shuttle employees from a staff parking lot to the mountain.

Sounds like more lifts will be need

 

[UGASkiDawg]

Parking, traffic and lift lines on the weekend...sounds like VR

 

[LKLA]

Parking, traffic and lift lines on the weekend...sounds like VR

Or like any decent snow hill on the east coast after a decent snowfall.

 

[Seve]

Who's ever skied The Bruce Trail which was the first trail ever cut on Mt Mansfield back in the 30's?
I hiked up and down it last weekend. Started the hike just lookers right of the Matterhorn.
It looks like it would be a great run and plan to hit it several times this winter...however there is a looong flat of I'm guessing 1 1/2 miles to get back to the the bottom so prob best done with a tele set-up

And yes, it will be a sh**-show on weekends/holidays this year and parking will be a definite issue if you arrive late. I usually pull into the lot at 6:45 to hit the 4Runner at 7:30 so not worried.

 

[KevinF]

Who's ever skied The Bruce Trail which was the first trail ever cut on Mt Mansfield back in the 30's?
I hiked up and down it last weekend. Started the hike just lookers right of the Matterhorn.
It looks like it would be a great run and plan to hit it several times this winter...however there is a looong flat of I'm guessing 1 1/2 miles to get back to the the bottom so prob best done with a tele set-up

And yes, it will be a sh**-show on weekends/holidays this year and parking will be a definite issue if you arrive late. I usually pull into the lot at 6:45 to hit the 4Runner at 7:30 so not worried.

Uhhhh, I might have skied Bruce trail once or twice over the years...

Bruce is a very fun trail in the right snow conditions... The skate out is time consuming, but it's not as exhausting as it seems like it should be. Plus the Matterhorn bar is right there at the end (i.e., cold beer = motivation). I think it does trend very slightly downhill as I've been able to coast more of it than you'd think would be possible. But still, "get your skate on".

@epic , @Tony S and a few others did it a few years back when the ski down was in great shape and the skate out was completely frozen up ice. I think we set some sort of land speed record that time. I was having to slow down at times.

 

[Muleski]

The Bruce is a classic. My dad raced in it before WWII, and therefore my first time skiing it was at a pretty young age. Seven I think. The "Elevator Shaft" was a big deal at that age! If there is fresh snow over decent cover, it's great. It faces south, so it does lose snow and it's not typically as well covered as the front northern facing side of Mansfield. And yeah, the runout can be interesting depending on the surface. @KevinF describes it well. Have not skied it in a few years.

I'm hopeful that the woods, and out of bounds access does not change much under VR's ownership. I'll leave it at that. I grew up skiing there, and was a 50-60 days a season guy until the late 90's. Three seasons ago, we were there for four days, watching some racing and skiing a bunch. We spend most of our time in the woods as conditions were perfect. It that part of Stowe's character changes, it will be a shame. I assume that VR knows that, and won't go over the edge re: perceived potential liability.

 

[KevinF]

Some news regarding the parking situation at Stowe:

• The parking lot at the Stowe x-country center will now have 427 vs 330.
• Want to build two parking lots next to the Midway lot, with 140 spots.
• Considering hiring more parking staff to minimize self-parking, which often does not make the best use of the space and better snow removal to avoid snow piles in the parking area.
• Want to designate a parking area just for uphill skiers.
• Considering using parking close to the lifts for vehicles with three or more occupants.
• Considering added bus routes: two buses village - resort with no stops, two buses village - resort with stops, and, shuttle employees from a staff parking lot to the mountain.

Why would they need a special parking lot for uphill traffic? Stowe's policy page disallows it (unless they're changing their policy?). There's usually a couple cars parked in the area just beyond the parking lot entrance (i.e., to the gate that closes Rt. 108). I always assumed that was the "uphill traffic" area.

Stowe's parking staff has previously seemed to encourage leaving a decent amount of space between vehicles in order to ease the process of getting out for those leaving early. I've been at other areas where cars are wedged in much tighter; I'm wondering if they'll start trending in that direction?

 

[Muleski]

Stowe's parking staff has previously seemed to encourage leaving a decent amount of space between vehicles in order to ease the process of getting out for those leaving early. I've been at other areas where cars are wedged in much tighter; I'm wondering if they'll start trending in that direction?

I was joking with my brother about this. The clientele at Stowe can certainly trend toward "upscale". When I owned a home in Stowe. the vehicle that we drive form our house to the mountain was an old Wagoneer, with four studded snows. A beater. I could care less if a door was dinged, or if people leaned skis against it, etc.

Last winter, we were in out mint condition Land Cruiser, parked between a Cayenne Turbo, and a MB G-wagon. We were laughing at the number of Range Rovers that we saw. And BMW X5's.

I would bet on their getting a lot more efficient with parking and parking MUCH tighter. VR knows it's an issue. Turing away season pass holders is not good business. I can visualize a lot of current Stowe regulars who are not going to like it.

I'm wondering how many folks will end the season saying that they would gladly would pay twice or three times the cost of the Epic Pass to make it like it once was.....which of course will not happen. This place is not new to me. First winter was 1954, 5 months old.

Will be interested to see how this all works out....including what things look like at Sugarbush. Very interesting to talk about the whole thing with VT friends, and friends who are long time vacation home owners.

 

[KevinF]

The Bruce is a classic. My dad raced in it before WWII, and therefore my first time skiing it was at a pretty young age. Seven I think. The "Elevator Shaft" was a big deal at that age! If there is fresh snow over decent cover, it's great. It faces south, so it does lose snow and it's not typically as well covered as the front northern facing side of Mansfield. And yeah, the runout can be interesting depending on the surface. @KevinF describes it well. Have not skied it in a few years.

I'm hopeful that the woods, and out of bounds access does not change much under VR's ownership. I'll leave it at that. I grew up skiing there, and was a 50-60 days a season guy until the late 90's. Three seasons ago, we were there for four days, watching some racing and skiing a bunch. We spend most of our time in the woods as conditions were perfect. It that part of Stowe's character changes, it will be a shame. I assume that VR knows that, and won't go over the edge re: perceived potential liability.

How did you race on the Bruce? There's not enough room in there to set a gate!

The fact that Bruce was skiable to all in leather boots and wooden skis is amazing to me... It's pretty narrow!

 

[Muleski]

How did you race on the Bruce? There's not enough room in there to set a gate!

The fact that Bruce was skiable to all in leather boots and wooden skis is amazing to me... It's pretty narrow!

Guess we"ll so back to the dark ages.....Before WWII, racing in NE was often you and the trail.....no gates if the trail was narrow enough, at least in some parts of the trail. At Stowe, the first races on Nose Dive had no gates for much of the race.....basically ripping through the turns at the top, which were much narrower, more pronounced, and......sketchy conditions. Then it opened up and there would be gates, which were cut saplings. No breakaways! HaHa.

My dad would tell stories of breaking skis, and of passing guys on the way down, as well as being passed. Had some wild stories about a lot of race hills. Like the Thunderbolt on Mt. Greylock in MA.

Metal edges changed the game, BTW. In the 20's. In the late 30's, My dad was skiing on laminated wooden skis, with segmented edges. Bear trap bindings with leather long thong heels. I'm amazed at how those guys were able to ski them. Just a bit different than today's stuff! He was an engineering student, and he actually made a lot of his own edges.....better quality steel. Now that's serious tuning.

By the time he stopped skiing at 80+, I had him trying the original K2 Fours. He never really got the carving thing, and went back to a straight ski. Fun memories.

WWII, BTW sort of interfered with his ski racing career.

 

[mdf]

Uhhhh, I might have skied Bruce trail once or twice over the years...

Bruce is a very fun trail in the right snow conditions... The skate out is time consuming, but it's not as exhausting as it seems like it should be. Plus the Matterhorn bar is right there at the end (i.e., cold beer = motivation). I think it does trend very slightly downhill as I've been able to coast more of it than you'd think would be possible. But still, "get your skate on".

@epic , @Tony S and a few others did it a few years back when the ski down was in great shape and the skate out was completely frozen up ice. I think we set some sort of land speed record that time. I was having to slow down at times.

I've only skied the Bruce once. There is at least one place where another trail turns off so there is an opportunity to go the wrong way. I was told that if you turn off, there is a whole lot of nothing in that direction.

 

[Seve]

The only junction of any kind that I saw while hiking it would be on skiers left coming down somewhere in the mid-flats....My guess it it takes you over to the Toll Double but if you hit that left, the upper begins pretty quickly so unless you have skins it would be an obvious and quick turnaround..
With no skins you might soon be yelling: Captain, we need more power!!

 

[KevinF]

I've only skied the Bruce once. There is at least one place where another trail turns off so there is an opportunity to go the wrong way. I was told that if you turn off, there is a whole lot of nothing in that direction.

The only junction of any kind that I saw while hiking it would be on skiers left coming down somewhere in the mid-flats....My guess it it takes you over to the Toll Double but if you hit that left, the upper begins pretty quickly so unless you have skins it would be an obvious and quick turnaround..
With no skins you might soon be yelling: Captain, we need more power!!

This thread is seriously diverging from the horrors of Vail, but...

I've been told that left takes you over to the Forehead... that bald-ish, semi-open area off to lookers left when you're riding the quad. I've never verified it though as I've been told skinning gear is required to get out.

Part of the reason why I invested in skinning gear last season... Do some more exploring.

 

[Crank]

Skied the Bruce Trail twice, both times was with Kevin and a few other folks. Skate at the end is long, but manageable. Have skied Thunderbolt at Mt. Grey lock a few times as well. There is a group that maintains that trail now and you can ski it in a lot less snow now than the first time I was there.

 

[Tony S]

Will be interested to see how this all works out....including what things look like at Sugarbush.

I really want to like Sugarbush, but somehow it has just never spoken to me.