Stratton Mountain, VT: Jan 8/9, 2011

We drove up on Friday morning through the mess in NJ. The NYS Thruway was shaky until we got above Exit 21. It was smooth sailing until we drove out of Manchester, VT, up to Stratton. The snow was accumulating on the roads and it was a bit slippery.

We woke up to about 6-7 inches of new snow and it was still snowing. It would snow lightly all day. We dropped the girls off at ski school and we worked our way over to the Ursa lift for a few runs. Every run had been skied and chopped up. However there was considerable powder on the sides of every trail. By noon the high traffic trails were clumps of powder with hard ice or granular surfaces between the clumps. We moved over to the Snowbowl side and found some wonderful less traveled trails including U/L Spruce, Switchback, Slalom Glade, and super powder bumps on World Cup. The lower sections of these trails were almost untouched as most people cut over to the Ursa HS6 rather than ride the fixed grip SnowBowl quad. My one jump into the woods was some what disappointing as Stratton still has not received that much natural snow so far this season. North American was closed for race training until the afternoon and we lucked by getting some first tracks after they pulled the rope. We yo-yoed NA about 3-4 times, took a few runs on Standard and headed down to pick up the little girls. All  in all it was great day.
The next morning we woke up to another 1-2" of snow and a howling wind. The skiing was mostly hardpack with pockets of windblown powder. The mountain was way more crowded and the lodges were overflowing from the GS race on North American and the wind. After the usual runs off the Ursa 6 we worked our way down to the base area and took many runs on the Amercan Express 6. The snow on the lower trails was perfect. We ran this until we called it quits at 1pm to pick up the girls and start the trek home.
My last visit to Stratton was 1996. While they have plowed big $$ into lifts and snowmaking the place still skis and feels the same. It is way more crowded (a contact called the crowd at about 7000-8000 sliders)than Gore and it still lacks real challenging terrain. But most of the mountain is open and they have hired more than enough people to control the masses. We never waited more than 10 minutes and you could always find space on the trails.  I was very happy with the attention the girls got in the ski school and my daughter did not want to leave. That is a sure sign of a great time for her.
The ride home only took 3:15.
I had a great weekend and hopefully will be back soon.

Leaving early was smart. We left around noon, and it was a tough drive.

Sounds like the conditions, and weather were similar in So Vt and NY.  

Also sounds like you had a pretty good time.

Seems like lower angle stuff was the way to go. (?)

I skied there once and actually had a good time. While it wasn't really super challenging, not sure why there is some much Stratton bashing by the "core." Seemed like some nice trees there.

Disclaimer - I was there midweek in March = no crowds.

Harvey44 wrote

I skied there once and actually had a good time. While it wasn't really super challenging, not sure why there is some much Stratton bashing by the "core." Seemed like some nice trees there.

First - the terrain is pretty mellow. When compared to Gore there is nothing that rates a double diamond and most of the diamonds would be considered hard blues at Gore (or similar to Hawkeye/Chatiemac). There is some fun stuff in the woods, but not too much scary stuff.
Second - I think the more bashing comes from the country club atmosphere that Stratton has cultivated. There is a separate lodge for those who want to spend $$$ for membership. There is a special line on the HS6 and gondola lifts that allow you to ski right on, no waiting. There is a ton of slopeside housing which is expensive to rent or own. The little village is loaded with some high end retail. On the other hand there is a huge welcome mat out for snowboarders. The snowboarding community is not really well matched to the country club community at Stratton, yet there are huge numbers of snowboarders. The lift tickets are similar to Gore as is the ski school pricing. The food is a little more expensive, but Gore is not a bargain either.
I have always had a good time when I have skied Stratton, but I might not be a good judge. I always have a good time skiing.