4393 Awards: Getting outdoors

The 4393 voting area is packed full of outdoor enthusiasts of all ilks. Whether you like to ski, snowboard, mountain bike, walk your dog, golf or just jump in a river, check out the top spots and shops divulged (or kept secret) by our readers.

Best tune—ski and snowboard

1. Pinnacle Ski & Sports

2. AJ’s Ski & Sports

3. Edgewise

Nominees: Darkside, Power Play Sports, Skiershop, Smugglers’ Notch Resort, Stowe Hardware, Stowe Mountain Resort, Today’s Edge.

Best ski or board rentals

1. Pinnacle Ski & Sports

2. AJ’s Ski & Sports

3. Nordic Barn

Nominees: Darkside, Power Play Sports, Skiershop, Stowe Mountain Resort.

Best ski/snowboard instructor

Four-way tie for 1st: Arturo Lyon, Bob Dimario, Darsey Moon, Lex Collazo

Nominees: JT Vize, Josie Furrer, Justin Pittinaro, Maggie Morrissey, Tom Silva.

Remember those names next November.

Best bike shop

1. Chuck’s Bikes

2. AJ’s Ski & Sports

3. iRide

Nominees: Mansfield Cycles at the Nordic Barn, Onion River Sports, Pinnacle Ski & Sports, Power Play Sports, Skiershop.

Best bike mechanic

1. Hank Glowiak at Chuck’s Bikes

2. Dave Clifford at Mansfield Cycles

3. Matt Hallett at Power Play Sports

Nominees: Tad Davis at AJ’s, Jarrod Ogden at iRide.

Best mountain bike trails

1. Cady Hill Forest

2. Cotton Brook & Little River State Park

3. Sterling Forest

Nominees: Adams Camp, Perry Hill, Trapp Family Lodge.

Adams Camp, Perry Hill, Trapps, Cotton Brook, Sterling … those are great networks, but Cady Hill rode away with this one.

Best golf course

1. Stowe Country Club

2. Country Club of Vermont

3. Stowe Mountain Club

Nominees: Blush Hill Country Club, Copley Country Club, Mountainview Country Club, Ryder Brook Golf Club.

Tradition reigns among 4393 golfers. Stowe Country Club, which opened in 1950, outputted all the newcomers.

Best ski trail—downhill

1. Nose Dive and glades

2. Goat and woods

3. Toll Road

Nominees: Hayride, Lookout, National, Perry Merrill, Starr, Sunrise.

Lots of favorites, but Nose Dive easily schussed its way to victory. Woods were a theme, did you notice?

Best ski trail—cross-country

1. Slayton Pasture

2. Catamount Trail

3. Stowe Recreation Path

Nominees: Bear Run, Burt Trail, Chris’s Run, Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Haul Road, Skytop.

Best ski trail on a powder day

1. In the woods

2. Nose Dive and glades

3. Hayride and woods

Nominees: Bruce, Chin Clip, Goat and Goat woods, Gondolier, Lift Line, Lookout, Perry Merrill, Slayton Pasture, Steeple, Sterling.

“No such thing as a trail on a powder day,” “It’s secret,” “Glades, bitches,” “Any trail,” “I’m telling you?” We get it. We won’t ask again.

Best outdoor activity other than skiing

1. Hiking

2. Mountain biking

3. Canoeing and kayaking

Nominees: Cross-country skiing, disc golf, falls and cliff jumping, fishing, golf, hunting, road biking, rock and ice climbing, running, snowshoeing, swimming, tennis, walking.

Best snowmobile trail

1. VAST

2. Lamoille Valley Rail Trail

Must be our snowmobilers fell asleep before they got this far in the survey. Very few respondents, but our two “winners” made up 90 percent of the picks.

Best place to walk

1. Wiessner Woods

2. Stowe Recreation Path

3. Stowe Quiet Path

Nominees: Cotton Brook, Kirchner Woods, Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, Long Trail, Sterling Valley.

Fritz and Moo Moo Wiessner must be thrilled to know that so many folks today enjoy the land they lived on and preserved for decades. Moo Moo donated the land to Stowe Land Trust and now thousands of walkers, skiers, snowshoers and others can delight in the 92 acres of this magical forestland off Edson Hill in Stowe.

Best fishing spot

1. Secret

2. Waterbury Reservoir

Duh.