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Trip report - Stowe, Vermont - 21 Dec 2003



 
 
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Old December 22nd 03, 01:15 AM
Lew Lasher
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Default Trip report - Stowe, Vermont - 21 Dec 2003

I skied today at the Edson Hill touring center in Stowe, Vermont.
Conditions were fair. There was plenty of snow, but the grooming was
only fair. All the trails were open, but some trails had some water
features.

Edson Hill is in the second tier of cross-country centers in Stowe,
unquestionably outclassed by Trapps and by Stowe Mountain Resort in the
quantity and quality of skiing available. But I got a late start this
morning, so Edson Hill was an adequate choice for a half-day's skiing.
It would be an understatement to say that it was a lot less crowded than
the first-tier touring centers. I think I saw one other skier in almost
four hours of skiing. Usually there are a few more skiers than that at
Edson Hill, but I guess the holiday crunch hasn't totally kicked in yet.
The associated hotel, Edson Hill Manor, still had a "VACANCY",
according to their sign. By the way, it's a gorgeous place to stay or
to have a wedding or civil union, and their restaurant is excellent. I
wouldn't call the skiing excellent, but it's not that bad. They have
some easy trails and some decent hills - in fact, their trail system is
an example of the One Big Hill syndrome that afflicts a lot of trail
systems in Vermont, including Trapps. And if you are not a racer
wannabe and don't feel like skiing with racer wannabes, you can rest
(and then slowly ski) assured that you are very unlikely to come across
any racer wannabes here. You might see some backcountry types heading
out onto the Catamount Trail (section 24, formerly section U, starts
here and meanders 12 miles to the northeast towards route 100 in
Morristown).

My motivation today was to map the Edson Trails by carrying my GPS
receiver with me while skiing. I've already mapped all the trails on
the west side of route 108, so now I'm closing in on the east side. I
had mapped out half of the Edson Hill trails last winter, and I almost
finished today, but I think I missed a few short sections, so I may have
to go back again. I can already say that the simple map they give out
at Edson Hill is not to scale. When I finish making my own map, I'll
want to go back and fill in the major landmarks along the trails. In
this case, the major landmarks are a number of houses that have been
built in the area in the past decade. Edson Hill itself claims to have
225 acres of its own (it's a pretty big piece of property, if not at the
scale of the Trapps' property holdings), but their trails also extend
out across other people's property, as is typical at most trail networks
in New England. This particular area happens to be one of the most
expensive in Stowe. The houses start at McMansions and work their way
up to Trophy Homes. It isn't as though there's likely to be anyone
home, most of the time, but it is an odd feeling to be skiing so close
to some of these "homes." This isn't really what I had in mind when I
said that some parts of New England give you the sense of skiing through
and across a settled time. Nor the condos at Waterville Valley, nor the
just-built "villas" (don't call them "timeshares") at Trapps ...

We're assured of one more day of good skiing. Tuesday's forecast
includes "chance of snow or rain showers", Wednesday has "chance of snow
or rain" (although Burlington TV station WCAX is flat outright
predicting rain). Groomed trails (not sure whether that would include
Edson Hill) (I meant places that groom with Pisten Bully) should survive
the week. It's probably still too early for serious backcountry
skiing anyway.

Can't wait for winter to officially begin tomorrow!

Lew Lasher
Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts

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