Earliest opening in resort’s history
Stowe Mountain Resort’s official season opener is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 17.
But last Saturday, the Mountain Co. gave season-pass holders a sneak peek of what’s in store for this winter. It was the earliest opening in history, resort officials said.
The resort fired up the FourRunner Quad from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and gave skiers and riders access to an impressive number of trails for such an early season run. In fact, parts of no fewer than 11 named trails were accessible — including Ridgeview, Sunrise, Lord and Center-line — thanks in part to a $4.7 million investment this summer in top-shelf snowmaking.
Stowe Mountain Resort’s first-ever Season Pass Appreciation Day was a beautiful thing — sunny, not too cold, definitely not too hot, and the longest line was inside Spruce Base Camp, where people were waiting to buy their passes.
The Mountain extended the early season pass rate through last Saturday, and more than a few people seized the opportunity to pick up a last-minute discount and turn it into the first day on the slopes.
To be sure, Season Pass Appreciation Day was an effective way to mend fences with some disgruntled pass holders who were dismayed that the popular six-day pass was eliminated this year. Instead, it seemed, they’d either have to give up Sunday skiing and go with a weekday pass only, or cough up several hundred extra dollars for a seven-day pass.
That’s not exactly true, according to Michael Colbourn, the resort’s vice president of marketing, sales and communication, who says discounted six- and seven-day skiing is very much available. More on that in a minute.
Early snow
My first ride up the lift on Saturday was with one such former six-day pass holder, and while he said he appreciated the gesture of Season Pass Appreciation Day, he still wasn’t happy about having to forgo Sundays for the rest of the season.
He chose the five-day pass because the jump up to a seven-day was too bitter a pill to swallow. In a stickin’-it-to-the-man type of way, he said the issue went beyond the extra $500 or so. He just didn’t want to give the resort the satisfaction of squeezing more money out of him.
But after that first run, I didn’t hear anyone complaining. Yup, it was that good.
Colbourn said Season Pass Appreciation Day was something the Mountain was planning to try the day before the slopes opened to the public, not a full week ahead of time. But a combination of low humidity and low temperatures led to optimal snowmaking conditions.
A week before the planned opener, the mountain operations crew had put down a 3- to 6-foot base on 3.8 miles of trails. As Colbourn put it, “The stars aligned.”
Of course, in addition to cosmic cooperation, there was also the snowmaking equipment upgrades the resort installed during the off-season — including 324 HKD tower-mounted guns and 16 additional Super Pole Cat fan guns (for 25 in all). Basically, the new equipment uses tower height to make more and better snow with less power, at a ratio of seven parts air to one part water.
Another benefit of the fan guns is that they do not require compressed air to be pumped up the hill in pipes, which means fewer noisy and carbon-producing diesel-driven air compressors running to make snow.
What else is new at the mountain? Year two of the Evolution Stowe card-ticketing system brings the introduction of the Stowe ByPass Program and the Resort Charge option.
Resort Charge lets you link a credit card to your Evolution card — or to your child’s card. Kids can use their ski pass to buy lunch at the lodge and charge it to mom or dad. For adults, it means not having to carry a wallet on the slopes.
Season-pass option
Remember that Colbourn wishes to challenge the notion that there are fewer pass options this year?
Here’s why: The ByPass Program allows you to pre-load your week-day Evolution-card pass with additional discounted seven days of no-restrictions skiing.
That means a five-day pass holder can load extra days onto their card, seven days at a time, for as little as $75 a day, to be used for weekends and blacked-out holidays.
Want more flexibility? The ByPass Program can also be used to buy any single-day access, just by getting on the lift. Go through the gate, get on the lift, and your credit card is charged a single-day rate.
Colbourn likens it to EZ Pass for skiing.
In short, he says, the thought process on the changes in the pass structure was to create more options, not fewer. Only time will tell if pass holders agree.
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