‘Pleasant conditions’ reign as Stowe opens for season

Your scribe was on hand early, but he was still in the parking lot booting up — welcome to the new reality of COVID-19 recreation — as the lift began spinning. After that quick ascent of the northeast wall of what John Dostal refers to as the Quad Bowl, he took his place in the line.

This year lift riders will ascend singly or in pairs, unless members of a household; as a consequence of this policy, even with a relatively modest numbers of skiers and snowboarders on hand there was a bit of a wait. Soon enough the ride to the top for that inaugural run was underway. At least everything was white since a few inches of snow had fallen recently.

A year ago, opening day held an unexpected treat — Liftline open top to bottom. This year, milder temperatures had torpedoed that option right from the beginning of snowmaking season. Despite that restriction, the mountain operations snowmakers had done a good job with the temperatures they had and so Ridgeview, Upper Lord — better know as “Panic Alley” — provided two options off the top. Thanks to the lower volume of skiers with chair-loading limits, both routes were relatively quiet.

As his initial run unfolded, nonstop of course, which has become part of your scribe’s opening day routine, he was pleased to find soft and very pleasant snow. First run was Ridgeview down to Skimeister and then down North Slope and the surface was flawless. There were skiers and snowboarders proceeding at a faster pace but no one came close enough to be alarming.

It was cold enough so that off in the distance the guns were roaring. Over across the way, guns were running the whole length of The Meadows in preparation for the planned Thanksgiving Day opening at Little Spruce. Closer to the Mountain, Centerline had been receiving a final dose of snow as had Sunrise and Lower Lord, aka T-Line. As your scribe returned to the top, little did he know that the guns on Centerline were being shut down and the rope dropped. So, his second run was down Centerline with big soft piles of snow and no bumps. It was a nice surprise.

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Two and done, that was the plan for the morning as a long list of building tasks remained on the agenda to be completed before Christmas arrives. If it had been a year ago with fresh powder and Liftline open, The Scribe would have chiseled out a bit more time for skiing but it is a long time to April and there is plenty of good skiing ahead.

Your scribe was absent for the next few days but another visit on Sunday was his first opportunity after Friday and Saturday were blacked out for holders of the Epic Locals Pass. Those intervening three days had not been kind to mountain operations, mild and rainy not being optimum for snowmaking. The conditions however remained pleasant. Unfortunately, the warm weather had removed the white coating from the lower mountain, except, of course, the routes provided by the snowmakers.

This day The Scribe was skiing in the company of Ms. Scribe and naturally they had the chair to themselves as they headed up toward the Octagon. In the spring, as snows melts out down low, passengers on the lift get to see all sorts of debris that accumulates over the course of the long winter. Skiers drop gloves, hats, goggles, beer cans and all sorts of other belongings. Spotted going up on Sunday morning was one glove, and two face masks. Strange times indeed.

The crowd was manageable as it had been on opening day, so once again descents were free of high-speed hazards. The surface had become a bit more dense but nothing that couldn’t be navigated with a decent set of edges on one’s skis. On a second trip to the top, The Scribe popped into the Octagon to see what was happening in this most popular of the resort’s shelters.

He got scanned at the entrance — part of the COVID-19 checking protocol — and then entered the room. Across the way, he spotted Jay Pilcer seated with a friend. After a quick exchange of hellos from a socially distanced vantage point came the information that Jay had skied everyday so far and even on dreary warm days, with fog laying thick over the mountain, he had found good skiing. When the weather is not great, crowds are nowhere to be found.

It was destined to be another short day. There was a brief discussion about journeying across to Spruce on the Over Easy Gondola where The Meadows Quad was up and running just to see the sights so to speak. But somehow in the end the decision was taken to postpone the season’s inaugural visit to Little Spruce to a later date.

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So, what were the takeaways from this first week? Well, for one thing, it is still skiing once you head down the hill. Sure, the lift waits are a bit longer but far from onerous. It is not so easy to find one’s friends in line or skiing by since everyone, without exception, is wearing masks. Many familiar skiers and riders are recognizable simply by their garb.

Thank goodness for those who did not buy new jackets, often the only clue to one’s identity. When someone has a face mask tucked in under the goggles and a helmet snugged down to the top of said goggles, only the sound of a familiar voice will give away one’s identity.

There is one other thing to think about as week two approaches, how is this all going to work on a powder day? A couple of things may prove to be true when that first big storm arrives. You can expect really big numbers of skiers and snowboarders heading toward the top of the Quad or the Gondola in the darkness before dawn. You can also expect lots and lots of people won’t be near the lifts at all as backcountry beckons for the adventurous at heart.

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On those powder days there remains one surefire way to get at least one set of figure-8’s; make sure you are at the resort early enough to be at the front of a socially distanced line. First chair, first tracks still rules even during a pandemic.

Kim Brown lives in Waterbury Center with his very understanding family.