Chuck wrote:
"SkiHound" wrote in
ups.com:


Chuck wrote:
I'm thinking about booking a trip to Stowe for Christmas week
2005. I

know this is probably the busiest week of the year but it's the
only
week I can get the kids out of school during ski season. How is
the
snow
coverage that week usually? Can I count on snow or is there a
real
possibility that I might be not be able to ski at all? The levels
of
the
skiers in our party will vary and we'll need easy green through
easy
black terrain. Will we find this at Stowe? Also interested in XC.
Does
Stowe offer XC?
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Stowe is a bit of a crapshoot at Christmas though it's highly
unlikely
you wouldn't be able to ski at all. Stowe makes snow on quite a
few
trails. And are increasing snowmaking capabilities. This year
there
were periods of rain that really hurt conditions. We were there
the
2nd week in January and conditions were pretty good -- a week or so
earlier they'd had a bunch of rain and conditions were not good.
That's NE skiing. OTH, conditions could be fantastic. Most greens
at
Stowe are either located on Spruce Peak or on the far side of the
mountain off the Toll House double. Spruce is a very nice learning
area but the amount of terrain is somewhat limited for an
adventurous
novice. There's also Toll Road from the Mansfield summit -- a long
winding, narrow green that's very scenic. Most of the blues at
Stowe
are a pretty big jump from the greens. Sections of North Slope and
Lord have some pretty steep pitch that would likely be rated black
at
many NE resorts. Perry Merril off the Gondola is probably the most
consistent true blue cruiser -- Gondolier is a bit steeper. Stowe
village is fantastic with lots of excellent restaurants and
interesting shops.




Do they have much in the way of XC? I thought I heard somewhere that
they shut down some of the roads in town at some point and convert
them
to XC.

My XC experience is very limited but there are three cross-country
centers. One at Stowe resort, one at the Trapp Family Lodge, and I
don't recall the name of the third. I THINK (don't hold me to this)
that the trail networks of all three somehow connect with one another,
I think via the Stowe recreation path. Don't know of any other roads
that are converted to XC trails, but there may be. In short, I think
there's lots of opportunity for XC skiing but I don't have any first
hand experience with it. BTW, every year they have what's called the
Stowe Derby. My understanding is that it starts on top of Mansfield
and skiers race down the toll road trail on XC skis. I've heard it's
just a mass of humanity.