Smugglers Notch, VT: 2/7/10

Hopkins Bridge

While it’s all about families at Smuggs (almost suffocating at times, and I’m a parent), the terrain really impressed me. It’s a good-sized mountain — a legitimate 2,600 vert covered by old-school EC terrain with lots of character, some steep shots, and skiable trees everywhere.

Harveys

Smuggs reminds me of a bigger version of Magic Mountain, including the outdated infrastructure: vintage double chairs and an undersized, out-of-date lodge at the bottom of the main hill. I can deal with slow lifts, but I’m kind of puzzled by how they’ve managed to avoid updating the uphill capacity while courting a demographic that insists on a certain level of amenities.

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Jay Peak, VT: 2/6/10

I’m in northern VT for the weekend on my way to several days in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Left my office in northern NJ at 6 pm last night. Stopped to send some e-mails at the best highway rest stop in all of North America: the one on northbound I-81 in Guilford VT, just before Brattleboro.

By 11 pm, while driving past White River Junction, I was falling asleep at the wheel, so I pulled off, drove into a church parking lot, cranked the seat back and fell asleep. Woke up at 3 am, and I’m pretty sure that it was near zero outside, and not much warmer inside the car. In my 20s, I used to do the sleep-in-the-car routine occasionally, but I’m getting too old for this crap. It’ll take me two spa treatments for my neck and back to recover.

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Killington vs Mad River Glen: Fair to Compare?

This weekend I set out to ski at two very different Vermont ski areas, Killington “The Beast of the East” and Mad River Glen “Ski It If You Can.” I expected two very different ski experiences, but there were some unexpected surprises along the way.

Killington, VT: Saturday 1/23/10

Since we decided to ski Killington on a beautiful Saturday, crowd avoidance was key. “The Beast” can see more than 20,000 people on a busy day. With years of Killington Ambassadorship under my belt from my ski bum days, I’ve got the beta to beat the crowd. For starters, we bypassed the Killington access road and drove over to Bear Mountain.

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