STOGUIDE pages 40-61:Layout 1 10/30/07 12:03 PM Page 48
WEHRLE
LAND
Heart & Stowe
DON
T
OS
O
PHO
BY DAVID HEALY
n the eve of its reinvention as a full-service
resort with a luxury base village, the Ski
Capital of the East remains a hardcore delight.
First love, it’s said, is always the most memorable, and I
won’t argue. Though it has been 25 years, I still recall the
day I fell for Stowe. It began innocently, as these things do.
I was chasing a college friend down the upper turns of
Nose Dive when an unexpected detour revealed one of the
East’s most beguiling glades, a heady mix of tender birch
and fragrant spruce. I emerged breathless, and by the time
we dropped into the maw of double-black Goat later in the
day, I was hooked.
Through the years, I’ve spent countless days at play on
the flanks of Mt. Mansfield—
Stowe’s primary peak. But like
a Gore-Tex cowboy, I’ve
strayed a bit lately. Stowe?
“Too high-maintenance,” I’d
snipe, injudiciously buying into
the stereotype of the place as
strictly an upscale haven, com-
plete with lift-line fashion
shows. But when my current
flame-better known as my wife,
Tricia—made the case for a
cushy getaway, I hatched a
plan. Stowe would be the per-
fect place. I’d ski; she’d shop.
Saturday dawns with a hint of
the coming of spring, and
Tricia announces, “I’ll ski if
F I R S T
you promise it’ll be soft.” T R A C K S
Pleasantly surprised, I play the
odds and assure her it will be.
Up at the mountain, the guest services agent backs me
up. “The groomers are great, and there’s still fresh snow in
the woods,” she announces as we pick up our lift tickets in
Mt. Mansfield’s historic timbered lodge, a creation of the
Civilian Conservation Corps. Fresh snow in the woods?
Small surprises are just rolling in today. Stowe, owned by
AIG, the insurance behemoth, isn’t generally known for
encouraging off-piste excursions—a fact that suits the bark-
eating locals just fine. Later, I mention the incident to Kim
Brown, a semi-pro Stowe ski bum, and he’s not surprised.
“The word on the woods-skiing has definitely gotten out,”
he chuckles.
Stowe’s storied slopes have drawn skiers to northern
Vermont since the CCC hand-cut the first trails, including
legendary Nose Dive, during the Depression. The resort’s
ascension to its place as the Ski Capital of the East was
boosted by the installation of a ropetow in 1937. Today, an
eight-person gondola and several high-speed quads serve
the bulk of the resort’s terrain, including the famed Front
Four: Starr, National, Liftline and Goat. l52
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