Stratton, VT 1-24/25-2015

I was able to ski at Stratton this past weekend with my sister, my niece, and my daughter. We now all ski together as the girls can handle 90% of Stratton's trails. The speeds are much lower and the glades we ski are much mellower but it is great fun to ski with the girls. We woke up to snow on Saturday and it snowed until mid afternoon. The total snow was between 3-5 inches and conditions were excellent.


In the URSA HS6 lift line. The longest we waited all weekend was 8 minutes. We did not ride the updated gondola


The trails were not crowded and many of our lift rides were ski right on

 
Stratton had 4 different competitions this weekend on 4 different trails. You can see the bottom of the bump contest being held on World Cup.


Stratton has cut a beautiful new gladed area off Work Road called West Pilot. There are 2 entrances and 2 long, mellow gladed runs. The girls insisted on multiple runs and this area has become their first choice over the much shorter glade Emerald Forest.


West Pilot Glades - the snow was ankle deep


Work Road -the sun came out Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was windy with snow squalls in the morning, but eventually the sun came out

Sunriser Supertrail



Despite the empty trails and short lift lines (not the gondola), the lodges at Stratton were very crowded on Saturday. Maybe the many races caused the lodge crowding. They have also limited the food choices in the Sun Bowl Lodge to Tex-Mex and the Midmountian lodge is now BBQ. The main lodge offers a full menu. There are also a few more food choices in the Village.

We had a great weekend.

Great looking  x love reading and hearing about family skiing  

I visited Stratton for the first time last February.  I thought it was great.  Miles of perfectly groomed trails with lots of snowmaking and served by very fast high speed lifts.  That's just paradise for snoloco.  

Is that Bromley you are facing.. I have not skied there in a long long time.

Our friends love that place and I think they have more glades now right?  I always found that mountain to be very upper class and kind of of a scene rather than people going there to ski and ride. Has that changed?  

My wife nearly had a cow at Okemo 2 years ago as it had that same feeling, average terrain and lots of people showing off their Bogner outfits and not really skiing.  I mean, there isn't anything wrong with that and we can certainly afford to ski and stay there but, we are more about seeking mountains that want to get to know you..  Know what I mean? Resorts are fine as long as they are involving you. Jay Peak Resort to us does that incredibly well. The only real resort we visit.

The pics look amazing and we have friends (very wealthy too) that have houses on Stratton. Maybe we should give it a shot - I can break out my old school Bogner one piece that I got for like 50 bucks :).

Skiray wrote

Is that Bromley you are facing.. I have not skied there in a long long time.

Our friends love that place and I think they have more glades now right?  I always found that mountain to be very upper class and kind of of a scene rather than people going there to ski and ride. Has that changed?  

My wife nearly had a cow at Okemo 2 years ago as it had that same feeling, average terrain and lots of people showing off their Bogner outfits and not really skiing.  I mean, there isn't anything wrong with that and we can certainly afford to ski and stay there but, we are more about seeking mountains that want to get to know you..  Know what I mean? Resorts are fine as long as they are involving you. Jay Peak Resort to us does that incredibly well. The only real resort we visit.

The pics look amazing and we have friends (very wealthy too) that have houses on Stratton. Maybe we should give it a shot - I can break out my old school Bogner one piece that I got for like 50 bucks :).

The last shot is Bromley.

There is money at Stratton but it seems to me people are there to ski. The place is around 670 acres and has a boatload of glades. The mountain has lots of long, blues/easy blacks that allow for lots of high speed cruising. They also groom almost everything and have 95% snowmaking. Three of the 6 main lifts at Stratton are almost always ski right on (barring wind holds). Stratton was one of the first ski areas to embrace snowboarding. To my eye it seems that they have more snowboarders than other areas I ski. There are a ton of families.

Stratton does have a large total of ski in/out beds. It is a real treat to park the car on Friday night and not have to use it until Sunday when you drive home. I happen to think Stratton is better than Okemo or Mt Snow, but the 3 areas are pretty much serving the same product.

Gore remains my favorite area in the 3 to 4 hour drive range and it is a different experience than Stratton. I am usually able to get cheaper lift tickets at Stratton. I think you would have a good time at Stratton.

I might be a bad judge because I am happy no matter where I am skiing.

x10003q wrote

I might be a bad judge because I am happy no matter where I am skiing.

Ooh. I am with you there most of time!   We had a hard time this past Sunday at Hunter. It was like a very very scary day there with my kids. Son got clobbered at the end of the day by some real novice on the wrong run. Lucky he is OK. Wont be going back there until spring when only die hards are skiing and riding.

675 Acres! Wow that is alot. To bad about the grooming though but, it could be worse. :)

We have to check that place out and our place in Woodstock is about 50 miles away so, not that far of a drive.

We agree, hands down Gore is an incredible place. We just could afford to do the ski3 with a family of 4 getting it so late,  and the house and all the other passes we have. I hope to make it there this winter and of course Platty again.