Stowe 2011

After a several year hiatus from the annual ski trip to Stowe, VT, Lucas and I made the it again. I hadn't realized that the last time we were here was in 2008! Between the recession and kids going off to college, our schedules just did not line up. (I did go skiing in the meantime, just not to Stowe, where the Feb vacation prices are outrageous.) Going in March has it's advantages - first, the price of the hotel for 3 days was about the same as one night during Feb. vacation; second, it was warm, with temps in the 20's mostly during the day at the top of the mountain (33 at the bottom), which brings on the sweat, as well as the slush.

We went with the Jonas' clan again. I'm not sure when we started this ritual, first at Bolton Valley for a couple of years, then Stowe when we outgrew that mountain. I do know I'm wearing the same ski-pants that I bought at Bolton the first night we were there because it was about 8 below zero! I'm guessing we were there in about 2001.

Here's a video I took on my little Canon point and shoot camera. It's Lucas skiing down Gondolier in front of me and me trying to keep up.

We had excellent weather and even some fresh snow on the first day. We mostly skied on the Gondola side, but took a few runs on the 'front four' off the Quad lift, including Haystack, National, Centerline, and Nosedive. Those are definitely hard on the thighs....steep, but not too mogul-y. Lucas and ZJ, David went down Chin Clip, which is the most mogul-ridden run on the mountain. He said it wasn't too bad this year. When I did it before, the moguls were steep and hard. :(

Here's Lucas (yellow coat) going down the top of Nosedive to get to the steep part. Over yonder are the trails from the gondola lift, including our favorite, Perry Merrill. Gorgeous day out there!

That's it for now! Until next year....no more snow!

Chris

Kathy, Zach, Fred, Lucas, David up top of Mt. Mansfield.