Summer Inside Line Returns May 23
Thanks for a fantastic and memorable winter!
Our Inside Line resort newsletter returns each week on May 23, with interesting and informative summer content about Stowe.
For now, please enjoy one of our last winter issues. We look forward to speaking with you again soon. |  |
Calendar
April 5-6 Spring Summit Part 3
The fun continues with the 68th annual Sugar Slalom, Nevado Mountain Adventure Day and Vermont Specialty Food Day. 800-253-4754.
April 5-6 68th Annual Sugar Slalom
Top level alpine racers take to the Exhibition Hill in one of the country’s oldest and best races. Spectators and racers all get to enjoy Vermont’s unique treat - Sugar on Snow. Info: 253-7704.
April 5 Nevado Mountain Day
Nevado will offer a wide variety of products for demo starting at 10 a.m. Equipment ranges from skis and boards to advanced electronics.
April 6 Vermont Specialty Food Day
This popular event returns to Stowe and localvores can really enjoy sampling a wide variety of Vermont produced foods.
April 12 UVM Snowboard Team’s All Girls Contest
The title says it all. The women throw down in the park on North Slope. 11:30am. Info: 800-253-4754.
April 13 UVM Snowboard Club “Box Social.”
Jam for fun in the park on North Slope. 11:30am. Info: 800-253-4754.
April 20 Vermont Foodbank Day
Ski on 4/20 for twenty dollars! Buy a $20 lift ticket with a donation of non-perishable food to the Vermont Food Bank. Info: 800-253-4754. The Sugar Slalom
This weekend the Sugar Slalom returns to Stowe and on Sunday the race course becomes carnival-like! This event traces its history back to 1940 and is one of the oldest alpine events in the country. The alumni who have raced here are world-famous. Current U.S. Alpine champions like Jimmy Cochran, winner of this year’s men’s slalom title at the Nationals and Lauren Ross who took the women’s GS crown are veterans of this event. 1972 Sapporo Slalom Olympic Gold winner Marilyn Cochran races year in and year out. Costumes are part of the fun as well and the level of hilarity is one of the signature notes in the final race of the year for most alpine racers. Spectators and racers alike enjoy the ritual of Sugar on Snow served piping hot during Sunday’s race. Freshly made Vermont Maple Syrup poured across fresh snow is a unique Vermont treat and it is free to all comers. The event is staged on the Exhibition Hill beneath the Gondola and it is an easy venue to visit. Watch 400 racers fight their way down a slalom course marked by the deepest ruts you will ever see! Stowe Mountain Lodge Close to Completion
This winter is reluctantly drawing toward its last few weeks, though you wouldn’t know it from the snowpack! Also nearing completion is the construction phase of the resort’s new centerpiece and signature hotel, Stowe Mountain Lodge. Interior fitting-up of the restaurants and retail spaces is progressing rapidly as is finish work and furnishing of the 139 suites and rooms that will provide lodging to the hotel’s owners and guests. The management group, Destination Hotels and Resorts, is shooting for an opening date late in the spring and when Stowe Mountain Lodge throws its doors open for the first time it will mark a significant new beginning for Stowe Mountain Resort. This building is going to be spectacular and it will offer luxurious accommodations, world-class service and exceptional dining from day one. It has been a long haul for everyone on the team that has been put together to create the unique property within Spruce Peak at Stowe. Foundation work started in November of 2005 and if you think that building foundations in winter weather in Vermont is a piece of cake, think again. Framing began late the following summer and now as spring finally reaches Stowe, the last few exterior areas are being completed. Work is progressing nicely on the new Spruce Base Camp building which will open in time for next Christmas as the new Spruce base lodge. Once the snow finally disappears from around the new hotel’s base, the finishing touches will be added to both the landscape and the grand entrance area. In the early part of the summer additional paving and landscape work will be completed in the area between the hotel and the Spruce Peak at Stowe Visitors Center. Extreme Report
Variable conditions remain the rule in spring. The woods will be good some days and not so good on others. Spring conditions make steep double black diamond runs more accessible to those who are less accomplished on board or skis but remember that outcroppings of ledge and other obstacles typically come into play as the snowpack begins to melt away. For you woods skiers and riders be aware, explore with care and remember that under Vermont law, you can be held financially liable for the cost of any rescue efforts mounted on your behalf regardless of whether or not you request. Spring Skiing Finally Arrives
It has been the winter without end. A year with thirty feet of snowfall. It all began with a great November marked by a perfectly timed storm arriving just before Thanksgiving. Now this weekend, there is a prospect that at last some real spring skiing and riding is in the offing and snow-sliders are ready for a change of pace from the winter conditions that ushered in last weekend. This weekend marks the third chapter of the annual Spring Summit Celebration and on tap are Nevado Mountain Day and the annual Sugar Slalom, staged by the Mount Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club. The resort is fully operational through the weekend and then things get dialed back a bit through the resort’s closing date of 4/20. There remains plenty of snow. It is likely that snow supply will outlast the skiers and riders. At the Spruce Peak Plaza
Complimentary Hot Chocolate and S’mores will be offered over the weekends from noon-4 p.m. On Saturday, Spruce peak at Stowe will stage a music festival in the Plaza. On Sunday, at the Spruce Little Top, from 11-3 Jess Graham will host interactive Mural Painting. The following weekend, there will be live music in the Plaza with the Blue Fox Band. Inside Line Takes a Break
This reporter will be shutting down the weekly newsletter until the summer season returns. It has been one of the very best winters in recent memory and it seems that when closing day arrives in late April the Mountain will be shutting down with plenty of good snow still in place, but few skiers or riders to be found. Stay tuned to www.stowe.com or for additional updates on the details of the closing schedule. The Summer Inside Line will resume for 2008 on May 23. Stay tuned… On the Hill
Trail Report:
Expect variable conditions throughout the next week. Some snow is a possibility but longer periods of sunshine and generally warmer temperatures will move trail conditions toward spring. Expect skiing on about 90-95 trails this weekend though significant snowfall will increase that total. When it is sunny and warm it is time to bump-on and big soft bumps will be the story just about everywhere on the Front Four and Lookout. Expect plenty of cruising as well and the cruisers will be at their peak first thing in the morning. If you haven’t enjoyed a first run down a corduroy track softened in eastern sunshine you are missing out on one of skiing’s best experiences. The Gondola will be good into mid-afternoon but will probably get sloppy late on warm days. Mansfield stays pretty manageable late into the afternoon though the legs may be too tired to enjoy the final runs. Spruce will be spectacular early but the best conditions there late in the day will probably involve a chilled beverage in the Plaza with a band playing music nearby. Toll House has shut down for this year so don’t expect either a lift ride or patrol support if you wander on to those lower trails.
Snow report:
The local view of snowfall here in early April is simple; give us a dump or nothing at all! A few inches fell coming into last weekend and then flurries continued early this week pushing the stake back up toward its season high. Finally the spring melt seems to have begun and the snowpack began contracting. Gee, it is down to only about eight feet on the upper Mountain. There does seem to still be some snow in the long-range forecast but sun is what everyone is craving. The snowdepth reading at the WCAX-TV stake located alongside the Toll Road began to drop this week reaching 96” as the snow melt begins. At this rate the snow will probably be all gone by say early June.
Snowmaking/Grooming Report:
Nightly grooming work will continue as long as lifts are operating and temperatures allow. Next week the forecast is for very warm days but cold nights and that should really help out with the grooming schedule. The big snowpack means groomers have plenty of snow to move into the high traffic areas that typically begin to erode quickly as the sunny days get longer and the earth begins to warm. Daily grooming of the park on North Slope will continue but the closing of Big Spruce after the weekend means the pipe and the big terrain park will no longer be maintained.
Lift Report:
This weekend, the Quad will be opening daily at 7:30 a.m., the earliest lift operation in the East. During the week it begins operation at 8 a.m. The Gondola is opening at 8:30. Over at Spruce, the Easy Street Chair opens at 8:30 and the rest of the Spruce lifts cycle in beginning at 9 a.m. The Triple opens at 8:30. The Lookout Double will run on weekends if it is needed. The Toll House lift is closed for the season. The Sensation Quad shuts down after Sunday but the Easy Street and Alpine double chairs as well as the Mountain Adventure Chair will run through the 8th of April. The Over Easy Gondola is scheduled to run daily from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Remember the Mountain Adventure triple chair runs until 4:30. The Gondola will operate throughout April 13. Insider Tips
Never more than in the spring, remember to dress for the mountain and not for the parking lot.
Ski early, relax late -- Enjoy soft snow early in the day. Relax at a deck for late lunch.
Last Chance to visit Big Spruce this winter - It has been a big year on Stowe’s other mountain but upper Spruce is always quiet. Enjoy it before the lift shuts down for the winter.
Stowe lodging specials and packages
The Inside Line is published by Kim Brown for Stowe Mountain Resort. The Inside Line provides up-to-date information on issues and events that affect skiers and the business community.
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