Love for Smuggs

What's the saying . . . Variety is the Spice of Life. Smuggs and Stowe are completely different experiences. Just as Jiminy Peak and Berkshire East are completely different. Would I want to ride the Smuggs or BEast lifts all the time? No. Far too spoiled by staying slopeside at Jiminy Peak with it's high speed 6-pack to the top. But I can certainly see reasons for people who live within reasonable driving distance to go every so often.
I like having a home mountain and being part of its community. It’s really nice.

that being said, I’m ready to spend more time at Taos. I’m really starting to feel the need for more aggressive lift served terrain. Snowbowl is great but it lacks on in bounds steeps.
 
That is fair, as I don't get the Smuggs hate. :D

If you want high speed lifts and wide open groomers, Smuggs is definitely not the best option. If you appreciate old school vibes, fixed grip lifts, natural snow, and some of the most challenging on map terrain in the east, Smuggs is the real deal. Add in some of the most technical off map tree skiing around plus extensive out of bounds and it has few peers.

Smuggs is a better "skier's mountain" than Stowe (excluding hiking to the ridge, than Mansfield gets the nod). I think MRG and Smuggs have more in common than MRG and Magic. The only thing Pico and Smuggs have in common is proximity to a corporate mountain, otherwise the two areas couldn't be more different.

For me, Smuggs is right up there with Jay, Cannon, and MRG as my favorites in the east. Difference between Jay and Smuggs? Smuggs has way better trees.

(y)
 
That is fair, as I don't get the Smuggs hate. :D

If you want high speed lifts and wide open groomers, Smuggs is definitely not the best option. If you appreciate old school vibes, fixed grip lifts, natural snow, and some of the most challenging on map terrain in the east, Smuggs is the real deal. Add in some of the most technical off map tree skiing around plus extensive out of bounds and it has few peers.

Smuggs is a better "skier's mountain" than Stowe (excluding hiking to the ridge, than Mansfield gets the nod). I think MRG and Smuggs have more in common than MRG and Magic. The only thing Pico and Smuggs have in common is proximity to a corporate mountain, otherwise the two areas couldn't be more different.

For me, Smuggs is right up there with Jay, Cannon, and MRG as my favorites in the east. Difference between Jay and Smuggs? Smuggs has way better trees.

(y)
Not a tree skier, nor an out bounds skier, Smuggs is a beautiful Mtn, but it’s no longer 1965, time for Smuggs to upgrade their lifts, my comparison of pico and Smuggs wasn’t to each other but how they are in the shadows of killington and Stowe, and if each was fifty miles away from killington and Stowe they would each be giants, in my opinion pico is way better than killington terrain wise, but that’s just me. My point about mad river glen is in the era of super passes, they get a lot of epic and ikon pass holders going to mrg as they are in the area, magic has the same situation in southern vt with ikon and epic pass holders passing thru to check out magic. My guess Stowe/ vail assuming five years from now they are still in their present form, purchases Smuggs for the tree skiing and expanded terrain, if they don’t it’s probably for two reasons, vt has told them no connections are allowed or they have done a financial analysis and the financial costs would out weigh any financial gain.
 
What's the saying . . . Variety is the Spice of Life. Smuggs and Stowe are completely different experiences. Just as Jiminy Peak and Berkshire East are completely different. Would I want to ride the Smuggs or BEast lifts all the time? No. Far too spoiled by staying slopeside at Jiminy Peak with it's high speed 6-pack to the top. But I can certainly see reasons for people who live within reasonable driving distance to go every so often.
Berkshire East doesn’t have ancient lifts from the 1960s, my guess Berkshire East folks have more money than the Smuggs folks, and they both do around 85 k skier visits per year
 
Yeah, Smuggs is awesome. I wish I got there on a regular basis. There’s nothing wrong with fixed grip lifts. It keeps the trails from getting overcrowded and keeps ticket prices down. Maybe they could use some refurbishment, new motors etc... but they don’t need high speed lifts at Smuggs.
 
Berkshire East doesn’t have ancient lifts from the 1960s, my guess Berkshire East folks have more money than the Smuggs folks, and they both do around 85 k skier visits per year
Right on the owners of Berkshire East have deeper resources
 
Yeah, Smuggs is awesome. I wish I got there on a regular basis. There’s nothing wrong with fixed grip lifts. It keeps the trails from getting overcrowded and keeps ticket prices down. Maybe they could use some refurbishment, new motors etc... but they don’t need high speed lifts at Smuggs.
Berkshire East doesn’t have high speed, nor will they ever according to their owners but they do have modern lifts.
 
Berkshire East doesn’t have high speed, nor will they ever according to their owners but they do have modern lifts.
Maybe but I know they’re considering one for Catamount. Berkshire is a great example of what can be accomplished by just maintaining and taking care of your equipment. They are pros.
 
Coming from a nordic background it's completely different.

A nordic skier could spend all morning climbing a mountain like Smuggs, for that ten minutes of joy on the way down. Then when you tell them they can do it all again for a twelve minute lift ride, we'd totally do it... it's just a different thing. Those slow lifts actually increase my own enjoyment, cray as that sounds. When I was at Smuggs, two different times, we had pow all day long.

You may not understand it, but do believe it. I love Smuggs.
 
Maybe but I know they’re considering one for Catamount. Berkshire is a great example of what can be accomplished by just maintaining and taking care of your equipment. They are pros.
Catamount is considering a high speed lift? Based upon his interview on storm skier podcast, Schaefer said they would never buy a high speed lift, not so much for the actual cost of the lift but because every five to six years the grips on a high speed quad need replacing and they are around 500 k. I guess his views are changing.
 
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