December 10, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

Mountain of the Month: Stowe

by Heather Burke/

Stowe’s gondola serves 2,160 vertical and delivers skiers and riders to the Cliff House for a superb sit-down lunch. (photo: Stowe Mountain Resort)

Stowe’s gondola serves 2,160 vertical and delivers skiers and riders to the Cliff House for a superb sit-down lunch. (photo: Stowe Mountain Resort)

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Like last summer’s blockbuster movie character from "Batman," Harvey Dent, Stowe is two-faced. Stowe is a dichotomy for downhillers, a beauty queen with a beastly side, glamorous with gritty steeps. Since Stowe’s 1930s inception, Mount Mansfield’s challenging terrain has called to core skiers, earning it the moniker “Ski Capital of the East.” Meanwhile, the church-steepled Main Street of Stowe and the bustling Mountain Road of European-inspired establishments lends a sophistication and elegance to this Vermont vacation spot.

If you haven’t visited Stowe in a while, this season you’ll find the classic just got classier, as the venerable Vermont ski area reveals a swank new Stowe Mountain Lodge and Spruce Base Camp. Skiers and riders finally will see the fruition of 15 years of master planning — and $400 million dollars — as the Spruce Peak Village opens for its first official winter. Stowe’s parent company, AIG, was the big bankroll behind this beautiful build-out. This massive mountainside development adds a Vail vibe and brings luxury lodging slopeside, something Stowe previously lacked.

For decades, Stowe’s ski terrain was divided in two faces. Mansfield featured big mountain skiing for big dogs, and Spruce Peak was Stowe’s sleepier side, with learning terrain anchored by a funky Austrian-style base lodge. Now, Spruce Peak is stately and stylish, with outdoor fireplaces dotting the pedestrian village, a massive, 139-room hotel and spa, and mountain “cabins” (rich people code for monstrous, $3 million mansions) hugging the hillside.

New lifts have revitalized the Spruce Peak terrain (which abuts Smugglers’ Notch Resort). Stowe even installed New England’s only 10-person gondola, Over Easy, which travels over the Notch Road connecting Stowe’s two mountains. So, skiers staying or parking at Spruce are just moments from the base of the Fore Runner quad and the gondola that access Mansfield (skiing on Vermont’s highest mountain at 4,395 feet).

Traditionalists needn’t worry about all this transformation — Stowe’s legendary terrain remains. Original trails like Nose Dive and the famous Front Four, dating back to the 1930s when Perry Merrill and Charlie Lord cut the first ski runs with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps, have been altered and widened over the years to accommodate snowmaking and grooming. But they are still 2,055 feet of butt-kicking vertical, just as steep and stunningly scenic. The rugged 1936 Stone Hut still stands at the summit as testament to early ski pioneers that shaped this mountain.

Stowe’s gutsy skiers still show up for first quad at 7:30 a.m. on weekends. This was a relief to my son on our recent visit; he was concerned that all the real estate development would wreak havoc on Stowe’s fall line traditions. But after a few humbling runs, we decided Stowe’s toughest trails, namely Starr and Goat, haven’t gotten any tamer with age. I was relieved to reconnect with Stowe’s more forgiving runs — Lord and Sunrise.

Stowe’s bright-red, eight-passenger gondola lifts you 2,160 vertical feet up another flank of Mansfield, which features classic runs like Gondolier and my personal favorite, Perry Merrill. If you have tackled your “10 by 10,” a Stowe locals thing, you start craving lunch at The Cliff House, in the Tyrolean lodge at 3,625 feet atop the gondola. The fondue will melt away your morning fatigue.

Stowe’s clientele is as split as its two mountains, Spruce and Mansfield. The separate social circles share quads and polite conversations — call them the rich and the radical, tycoons and Telemarkers, the elegant and the earthy. The well-pitched terrain attracts the East’s best backcountry blazers (I have been sworn to secrecy about Stowe’s awesome off-piste skiing), but Stowe is equally popular with Bogner-wearing city folk who bomb the groomed boulevards of Stowe on their ski holidays.

Now the powder-loving pedigree Bostonians and New Yorkers have luxury on-mountain lodging to buy and call home, and an Alpine concierge at their beck and call to store their skis and boots and fetch wine and cheese when they are ready for après ski or a spa treatment. This concierge service is very Deer Valley — and included when you stay (and when you buy ownership) at Spruce Peak’s posh new hotel. The Stowe Mountain Lodge decor is rocky mountain regal and the slope views are “reach out and touch” close.

If the tariff for Stowe’s supreme alpine accommodation is too steep, (prices are $500 to $1,500 a night), head down the Mountain Road. This Vermont ski town is soup to nuts when it comes to colorful and varied lodging and dining. You have full-service resorts such as Stoweflake and Topnotch, European hillside chalets at Trapp Family Lodge and Stowehof, and too many cute country inns to count.

Save après ski time to tour the dreamy postcard village of Stowe, which dates back to 1763. Along Main Street, you can find everything from penny candy and Vermont-made wool pants at the century-old Shaw’s General Store, to runway fashions and designer downhill apparel. Stowe’s gallery and boutique scene will keep even the most sophisticated shoppers amused. A visit to the Vermont Ski Museum in the historic town hall gives a glimpse of Stowe’s skiing past.

If you still have outdoor energy, the 5.3-mile recreation path is perfect for cross-country skiing or winter walks winding along the river. There’s even a year-round indoor pool and athletic facility called “The Swimming Hole.”

If cross country skiing is your knack, Stowe has an impressive network of touring trails encompassing 150-kilometers of groomed tracks and 100-kilometers of backcountry trails. The most famous Nordic facility is The Trapp Family Lodge — the first touring center in North America. This “The Sound of Music” family’s settlement is now a phenomenal resort perched on a gorgeous hillside, with must-see scenery.

Stowe’s dining repertoire is a rainbow of 60 some-odd restaurants, from family-friendly pizzerias, organic cafes and cozy pubs to candlelit inns and upscale bistros. Stowe’s diverse demographic inspires a culinary contest, like “Top Chef in ski country,” and the diner wins.

Stowe proudly embraces tradition with mantras like “If you can ski Stowe, you can ski anywhere” and, “There’s always snow in Stowe.” At the same time, this Vermont ski town continues to evolve, with avant-garde restaurants, chic shops, and a stylish new slopeside village at Spruce. As the two interconnected ski mountains, Spruce and Mansfield, straddle the Notch Road, Stowe Mountain Resort bridges the gap between old school classic and trendsetter.


 

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