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December 10, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

Best of Vermont: Green Mountains with envy

by Mitch Kaplan/

For me, Vermont and skiing have been synonymous since even before I took up the pastime. But, choosing among the state’s many ski areas on any given day, weekend or vacation can be challenging. So many destinations, so little time. So, here on the following pages, divided by some imprecise categories, is a look at the state’s best offerings.

Mountain Features

BEST SNOWMAKING

Okemo

Since almost everyone makes plenty of snow, it’s difficult to name a resort that’s “best.” Still, I have to name one. Combined with grooming — noted below — I anoint Okemo. When you consider that Okemo’s staffers manage to cover 96 percent of their nearly 600-plus acres and 119 trails with the white stuff, that they pioneered such techniques as building their own mountaintop water storage pond, that they keep adding capacity while actually reducing energy use and cost, and they get their most popular trails covered early, well, you’ve got to be impressed.

BEST GROOMING

Okemo

As with snowmaking, nearly every ski area grooms. And, most do a terrific job. But, when you combine Okemo’s predominant terrain (long, wide and easy-going) with its emphasis on creating corduroy, the tip of the hat goes there. Frankly, these guys know their clientele — families, terrain parkers and intermediate cruisers — and management does a bang-up job of crafting the sliding environment to please them. That not only goes for creating pleasant trail surfaces. It includes sculpting and maintaining terrific terrain parks and halfpipes using such technology as a laser-guided pipe monster, and machine-crafting moguls. Nice work all around.

BEST TERRAIN PARKS

Stratton Mountain

Few snowsliders realize how much time and resources (human and monetary) terrain parks and halfpipes require. Why do resorts do it? Because clientele (especially kids) demand top notch parks. While excellent parks are found statewide, Stratton has understood this phenomenon longest. Stratton was the first to welcome snowboarders. And, snowboarders pioneered terrain park use. Home to the annual Burton U.S. Snowboarding Open, Stratton maintains at least five parks serving all abilities and a superpipe. The resort also pioneered SES (Safety Education Session) to assure that parksters know how to safely use the facilities before they begin.

BEST CRUISERS

Okemo

Long, wide, manicured, deeply snow-covered and, above all, plentiful are the cruising runs at Okemo. On the mountain’s every peak, the ability to carve long, arcing turns makes happy campers of all who crave freely sailing. A few are steep, but most are blue-rated and welcoming. Examples? Off Okemo Peak, you can ride the Upper Tomahawk-Heaven’s Gate-Screamin’ Demon combo for nearly an eternity. Or, try the snake-like Tuckered Out off Jackson Gore Peak. Or, using the Green Ridge Triple Chair, you can do laps alternating on Jolly Green Giant, Timberline and Sapphire ’til the cows come home. Or ’til the lifts close, whichever comes first.

BEST BLACK DIAMONDS

Stowe

There are black diamond trails, and then there are legendary black diamond trails. At Stowe, long before there was snowmaking, high-speed chairlifts and five-star hotels, there was the Front Four: Goat, Starr, Liftline and National. And conquering them has always been a badge of honor. They’re steep. They begin with precipitous headwalls often coated with “hard-pack” (a.k.a. blue ice). Below that, moguls usually prevail, especially on ungroomed, 37-degree-pitch Starr. Just as it was when the Civilian Conservation Corps first cut Nose Dive in the 1930s, successfully negotiating this band of bad boys ranks among the East’s most notable achievements.

BEST TREES

Jay Peak

Some might say that Jay Peak invented Eastern tree skiing. Could be. Whatever the case, Jay certainly was the first to go boundary-to-boundary, saying “ski where you will.” Once Jay discovered that people enthusiastically took to the woods, it lured folks into the trees by thinning glades. And then thinning more glades. Until it had some two dozen gladed trails marked on its map — including novice-rated glades — and guided backcountry adventures catapulting down the mountain’s backside. (And a delightful backside it is!) Best of all, a weather anomaly blesses Jay with significantly more snow than any Eastern resort, which keeps the glades in top shape.

BEST DAY TRIP FROM BOSTON

Mount Snow

As in real estate, this is all about location, location, location. After all, Mount Snow is Vermont’s southern-most major resort. Even so, were it not a wholly worthwhile destination, it wouldn’t qualify as the best day trip. Meaning that, for driving time invested (about 2½ hours from Boston), the reward (1,700 vertical feet, 590 skiable acres, 20,000-plus per hour uphill capacity, an entire mountain — Carinthia Peak — devoted terrain parks) mitigates your road-weariness and then some.

BEST BEGINNER MOUNTAIN

Suicide Six

Starting at a site that’s not overwhelmingly large makes everything easier. And Woodstock is the place where uphill transport for downhill skiing had its own start in 1934, when America’s first rope tow was rigged up on a nearby slope. The diminutive Suicide Six in Pomfret (despite it’s dangerous name) eliminates the intimidation factor with just 23 trails, three lifts and a separate beginners slope. Lodge midweek at the four-star Woodstock Inn, and the skiing’s free. You’ll be spoiled rotten with superb service, and you can ease those beginner’s aches at the full-service spa, steam room, sauna and hot tub.

BEST OLD SCHOOL MOUNTAIN

Mad River Glen

It doesn’t get any more old school than this. Just four lifts, including a signature single chair. No snowboarding. No snowmaking. Nearly zero grooming. No slopeside development. A base lodge with the minimum accouterments. Classic, narrow, serpentine New England trails rife with bumps, rocks and ice. Tree skiing that can be as tight as an 18th century corset. Exhilarating challenge. The throwback skiing is augmented by riding that single chair, and by an ambience that’s highlighted by homemade soups served in the base lodge cafeteria. If ever a place gleefully screamed yesteryear, this is it.

BEST SCENERY

Sugarbush

Really, now, is there a Vermont ski resort with bad scenery and blighted views? No. Gun to my head, I’ll take Sugarbush for its combination of vistas and approach-road eye candy. Atop Lincoln Peak, you can gaze amazed: west, deep into New York’s high peaks; east, far into the White Mountains; down, into verdant valleys on both sides; north, along snow-covered mountaintops to Jay Peak; and south, to, jeez, almost mid-state. Add verdant agrarian surroundings with spectacular glimpses of the ski area when you approach by car on Route 100, and you have nothing short of visually dazzling.

BEST NIGHT SKIING

Bolton Valley

Frankly, I don’t know why anyone skis or rides at night. No matter how warm the temperatures might be, it always feels downright cold after dark. And sometimes it is downright cold. Yet, there are those who swear by night sliding, and no Vermont destination has more of it than Bolton, which also happens to be a very friendly place. Here, from 4-8 p.m. on any Wednesday to Saturday, and every day during holidays, you can take on the night on 12 lit trails and in three terrain parks, and that includes top to bottom on trails rated green, blue and black. Stay warm.

Bargains

BEST LIFT-TICKET DEALS

Magic Mountain

For those who think it’s impossible to ski for less than $50 a day, here’s hope: Magic’s $30, all-day, midweek lift ticket. Even on weekends and holidays, the price rises only to $56 (or, even better, $50.50 per day for a two-day ticket). Kids, teens and seniors pay less. Or, how about non-holiday “Car Pool Wednesdays,” when entire car-fulls (up to four folks) pay $80 total. Then there’s “Ski and Ride with Friends and Family” — bring at least thee friends or family midweek/non-holiday and pay $25 each. Cheap.

BEST SHOPPING

Manchester

A word association test: I say “Manchester.” You say? Well, if you didn’t say shopping, you haven’t been to Manchester. Manchester Designer Outlets, just a 20-minute drive from the Stratton or Bromley base lodges, houses 50 designer outlets. We’re talking big names such as Armani, Coach, Ralph Lauren, Polo, Brooks Brothers — you get the idea. Then there’s Manchester Center, a classic New England town, where you’ll find Orvis and other shops that are more boutique-style. Add to that antique quilts, art galleries and handmade furniture, and no one has trouble shopping until they drop.

Family

BEST FAMILY MOUNTAIN

Smugglers’ Notch

Nobody handles families better than Smuggs. You can pay a zillion dollars to go to North America’s fanciest resorts out west, and they’ll have excellent kids’ programs. But, as with most places, families at those sites comprise only part of the equation. Smuggs is all about families—starting with its slopeside, condominium base village, and ranging to its pervasive on- and off-slope programming that includes everything from family ski/ride lessons to entertainment, crafts making and even a study hall to help kids get their homework done. Here, families come first.

BEST FAMILY RESTAURANT

158 Main Restaurant & Bakery, Jeffersonville

After two generations of traveling with kids, I attest that Vermont holds fine family eateries galore. Our standout, when forced to choose, is 158 Main. First, it’s just down the road from Smugglers’ Notch, the best family resort. Second, it’s a funky place entered through a big, almost Western-style veranda, with a simple, don’t-worry-if-you-spill-it decor and staff whose attitude matches. Third, the food is simple, high-quality and aimed at everyone — from super breakfasts, sandwiches and traditional entrees such as meatloaf or the classic Vermont turkey dinner, to pizza and a nice kids’ menu. Oh, and desserts, of course. This is a bakery, too.

Après ski

BEST APRÈS SKI

Killington

The après-ski options seem endless on the Killington Road. Here, truly, is something for everyone. For loud and rowdy, the Wobbly Barn, Pickle Barrel and Charity’s are longtime après icons, their reputations earned from top-notch bands, dancing and, well, good drinks. Got the munchies? There’s all-you-can-eat pizza for $5 on Mondays at Outback Pizza (plus live music on weekends) or free happy-hour buffalo wings at Casey’s Caboose.
A quieter, more mature scene is found at The Grist Mill or The Summit. Or, find bar-based camaraderie on-mountain at the Killington, Snowshed or Bear Mountain base lodges. Further afield, McGrath’s Irish Pub at The Inn at Long Trail is just that — a real Irish pub. Yep, something for everyone.

BEST SINGLES SCENE

Killington

Because it’s the state’s largest. Because its après-ski scene is best. Because many ski clubs maintain houses near here, and many summertime beach house groups share ski houses here in winter. Because you find every ambience from rowdy to sophisticated. Because so many chairlifts (33) create innumerable opportunities to chat up intriguing strangers. Because it’s so easy to get lost, which forces you to ask intriguing strangers how to get to wherever you thought you were going. Because, in spring, hundreds of people watch mogul contests on Outer Limits from the Bear Mountain Lodge deck. Because the contests/events schedule includes so many beer company-sponsored parties. That’s why.

BEST SPORTS BAR

Christopher’s Sports & Spirits, Ludlow

"Best" depends on what you’re looking for in a “sports” bar. Christopher’s, just downhill from Okemo, has something “sports” for everyone, starting, obviously, with multiple big-screen TVs showing whatever the sports world has to offer. But, for those who like to play, there are video games, pool tables, air hockey, foosball and something called the “Buzztime Entertainment System,” which offers trivia, poker and other interactive games. This is the kind of place that you can bring kids in the early evening or rock ’til your head comes off late at night.