I hadn't skied Stowe since 1965 when I was a Junior in High School! But, I had 5 weekdays available on my EPIC Senior Northeast Weekday pass, so ...
Mansfield hasn't changed all that much except for the Gondola - it sure is one big hill, but Spruce - OMG, there was almost nothing at the base when I was last there!
Monday, my non-skiing lady friend came to the mountain to hang out while I skied, so I stayed on the Spruce Peak side. (I parked at Mansfield but used the Spruce Peak Lodge as my base of operations all week.) It was snowing lightly, and very windy; the Sunny Spruce Quad was closed on wind hold all day. I skied the other two lifts from 9 to 1 (my normal 4 hours on the hill these days) and had fun. There was a group of disabled veterans there all week, some of whom skied on 2 artificial legs. Very inspiring! Unfortunately, Main Street was closed all week due to their racing program.
Tuesday, I started out on the Mansfield Gondola. I enjoyed the terrain - Gondolier in particular is a great high-speed cruiser - but again, there was light snow, strong wind, and very poor visibility. The Gondola was running at half speed until late morning when they closed it down. By that time, I'd gone back over to Spruce for a few more runs. The Sunny Spruce Quad remained on wind hold.
Wednesday was my best day - still cloudy but relatively clear. Started on the Forerunner Quad and skied down to the new Sunrise 6-pack. Skied a few enjoyable blues and then went back to the Forerunner Quad for Hayride and National. Both were somewhat groomed and only mildly bumpy; my 74-year-old legs told me to skip Goat, Starr, and Nosedive. I took Crossover back to the Gondola and skied Gondolier a couple of times. Then back to Spruce where the Sunny Spruce Quad was finally running, so I did Lower Smugglers to West Slope a couple of times and finished off with my standard '2nd-to-last' run, Meadows/Easy Street off the Meadows Quad.
Thursday, I again started out on the Forerunner Quad. For old times' sake, I skied Toll Road all the way to the bottom. That base area has been expanded greatly from almost nothing as well. Took the incredibly slow Toll House Double back up and skied the Sunrise 6-Pack for a couple of runs. Then Crossover to the Gondola for two more runs on Gondolier. Back to Spruce for a couple more runs: Smugglers from the top and Meadows/Easy Street to finish the week off.
Friday, the day we left, was ironically the only really Sunny day of the week!
Mansfield hasn't changed all that much except for the Gondola - it sure is one big hill, but Spruce - OMG, there was almost nothing at the base when I was last there!
Monday, my non-skiing lady friend came to the mountain to hang out while I skied, so I stayed on the Spruce Peak side. (I parked at Mansfield but used the Spruce Peak Lodge as my base of operations all week.) It was snowing lightly, and very windy; the Sunny Spruce Quad was closed on wind hold all day. I skied the other two lifts from 9 to 1 (my normal 4 hours on the hill these days) and had fun. There was a group of disabled veterans there all week, some of whom skied on 2 artificial legs. Very inspiring! Unfortunately, Main Street was closed all week due to their racing program.
Tuesday, I started out on the Mansfield Gondola. I enjoyed the terrain - Gondolier in particular is a great high-speed cruiser - but again, there was light snow, strong wind, and very poor visibility. The Gondola was running at half speed until late morning when they closed it down. By that time, I'd gone back over to Spruce for a few more runs. The Sunny Spruce Quad remained on wind hold.
Wednesday was my best day - still cloudy but relatively clear. Started on the Forerunner Quad and skied down to the new Sunrise 6-pack. Skied a few enjoyable blues and then went back to the Forerunner Quad for Hayride and National. Both were somewhat groomed and only mildly bumpy; my 74-year-old legs told me to skip Goat, Starr, and Nosedive. I took Crossover back to the Gondola and skied Gondolier a couple of times. Then back to Spruce where the Sunny Spruce Quad was finally running, so I did Lower Smugglers to West Slope a couple of times and finished off with my standard '2nd-to-last' run, Meadows/Easy Street off the Meadows Quad.
Thursday, I again started out on the Forerunner Quad. For old times' sake, I skied Toll Road all the way to the bottom. That base area has been expanded greatly from almost nothing as well. Took the incredibly slow Toll House Double back up and skied the Sunrise 6-Pack for a couple of runs. Then Crossover to the Gondola for two more runs on Gondolier. Back to Spruce for a couple more runs: Smugglers from the top and Meadows/Easy Street to finish the week off.
Friday, the day we left, was ironically the only really Sunny day of the week!
) We never made it over to Spruce during our time. Skied mostly the Gondola, Four Runner and Sunrise. Monday I got into some nice wind blown on Lift Line and National and a little sunshine during the first run down these trails. Tuesday was a let down when they closed both Four Runner and the Gondola as you said, but I was able to get a run down Goat in the morning before they closed the lift. The wind didn't seem any stronger on Tuesday compared to Monday when both lifts stayed open, just running at a slower speed. But I guess it was worse.
