Matthew Dickerson, Addison Independent, February 8, 2001 (reprinted by permission)
The last several years have made me a pessimist when it comes to cross-country ski conditions in Vermont. Even when they're great, I expect it all to come to an end at any moment. As I write this column, for example, I'm hearing weather reports that were in for two days of rain. (It is supposed to start around the time these words come into print, which is typical of my timing.) In fact, every evening for the past two months I have gone to bed half-expecting to wake up and find all the snow turned to slush or mud.
Instead, every morning for the past two months I've woken up to a continuation of the phenomenal cross-country ski conditions: snow, snow, and then a little more snow. Who can remember the last time December and January rolled past without a sign of bare ground? Even Middlebury College ski coach Terry Aldrich has trouble recalling the last such season. Nonetheless, my pessimism has some rewards. Because I keep expecting the great skiing to end, I feel an urgency to get out and make use of it while it lasts so that, when the rain finally does come, I won't be kicking myself for what I missed.
With the abundance of snow, no Vermonter has to go very far to ski this winter. Most of our familly's skiing has been out my back door along the sugaring roads through the neighboring woods: thirty minute trips before or after school and work. We've also managed to carve out a few larger chunks of time to visit some of our favorite ski-touring centers.
Blueberry Hill in Goshen is one of them. Though one of the smaller centers around, it has plenty of trails to keep even an ambitious skier busy for the greater part of a day. It would take several days to get bored of their trails, but even if that happened their system is connected to a much larger network including the Catamount trail. Our favorite loop circles around Hogback Mountain. It takes only an hour, but leads to one of the best scenic vistas in Vermont, with views of both the Adirondacks and of the Green Mountains farther south. Another perk of the Blueberry Hill center is that skiers can avail themselves of complementary hot soup at lunch time. We like to arrive around eleven in the morning, ski either the Lee Todd or Beaver Dam loop, take a lunch break, and then end the day with the Hogback loop. Of course if you really want a wonderful experience, have dinner and spend a night at the the Blueberry Hill Inn .
The Rikert center at Middlebury College's Bread Loaf campus in Ripton is another of our favorite haunts. The usual training ground for the college ski team, it offers plenty of challenging terrain for the advanced skier as well as easier trails for beginners. Several of the past few years, we've purchased a family season pass there. For most area residents, it's the closest and most accessible center around. I've never seen it over-crowded (except maybe during carnival weekend) and they have superbly groomed trails--although an occasional passing moose sometimes leaves footprints across the way.
Once or twice a year we take a longer drive up to Trapp Family Lodge near Stowe. As opposed to the quieter and almost rustic settings of Blueberry Hill and Bread Loaf, the Trapp Family Lodge is a major resort. Even on a quiet day, their parking lot always has dozens of cars. On a weekend you count cars (and skiers) in the hundreds. In my opinion, this is a major drawback. I go cross-country skiing to avoid crowds, not to find them. Fortunately, the majority of visitors to Trapp are not the most ambitious of skiers and many never make it more than a few hundred yards from the lodge. This means that one needs to ski only about ten minutes to get past the crowds. Twenty minutes out from the lodge and the trails are as quiet and secluded as anybody's. For a nice mid-day outing, try skiing all the way to the cabin at the top where they serve (for a moderate price) hot soup or chili and various accoutrements, and ski come back around the far side of the mountain. For a shorter trip, Owl's Howl is a great trail (if you like steep and winding). If possible, the views there rival even those from the Hogback Loop. And there are a few advantages of a large center. One of them is a fantastic ski school with lessons running through the day for skiers of all levels. We've been very pleased with the lessons our boys have received there.
All three of these centers offer equipment rentals including pulks if you want to haul a small child around with you. Even at Trapp Family Lodge (the most expensive of the three by a slight margin) an adult pass costs only fourteen dollars. So if the rain hasn't ruined the skiing by the time you read this, get yourself out there before another day passes by.