Trip Take: Stratton
Why We Enjoy New England Skiing (Even This Season)
I’ve always found the regional ski wars a little silly. Easterners extol the vitues of their local peaks and the gritty skills they teach, while western devotees sing the praises of powder and 12,000-foot summits. Which is “better”? Who has ultimate bragging rights?
Stratton Kid Crew
My take: who cares? The reality is that skiing in the East is just different than skiing out west. There’s no question that western snow is easier to ski and more reliable. In the East, snow quality (and quantity) are much more variable, and frequent freeze-and-thaw cycles mean that Easterners often contend with granular and icy conditions that those out west seldom see. The mountains are smaller, the runs sometimes shorter (see below), and those who love skiing above tree line will find less of it out East. That said…
Northeastern Skiing Has Its Upsides
Vertical Drop: Long runs and steeps? You’ll find them in the East. Whiteface (NY) and Killington (VT) each boast over 3000’ of vertical drop—a number that beats Vail, Breckenridge, Mammoth, Crested Butte, and many other western favorites. Several other New England resorts are competitive on this number, too. Plus, the fact that eastern mountains are so much closer to sea level offers another benefit: no altitude sickness. What’s more, the many deciduous trees on those lower-altitude northeastern slopes make for great glade skiing. Just ask H; you’ll always find him popping in and out of the trees on the edge of every trail we ski.
Airport Access: We love skiing the northeast because we can choose from several airports (Hartford/Springfield, Albany, Manchester (NH), Boston) and drive to our lodging in two hours or less, depending on the resort. On this most recent trip to Stratton, the drive from Albany was an hour and a half on good roads. As a teacher who’s often limited to traveling after work on Friday evenings, short drive times are key to getting the most from each trip. Infrequent blizzards notwithstanding, driving to New England mountain isn’t anywhere near as intimidating (or fraught with traffic and weather headaches) as heading to the mountains from, say, Denver on I-70. For a long weekend trip, heading east from the Midwest is almost always quicker and easier.
Lesson Budget: Anecdotally, we’re often able to find more affordable lesson options at eastern resorts than at their western counterparts. This isn’t always the case, but it’s been true frequently enough that when I wanted a quick, affordable tune-up on my own technique last season, I chose to get it at Okemo (VT). Half-day lessons there were a steal compared to the western Epic mountains we skied. Plus, learning how to ski New England’s challenging conditions is valuable for every skier, and working with an experienced PSIA instructor can help.
Ski Culture: New Englanders are passionate about their skiing. I grew up in a Massachusetts town where regular drives north for a day or weekend of skiing were commonplace. Families are used to working out of their cars and lodging in rough-and-ready motels along the region’s classic mountain roads (all of them packed with ski shops and unbuttoned après options). Stratton might be a cultural outlier, with its Euro-style base village and Manhattanite-heavy crowd, but elsewhere throughout the region, New England frugality and unfussiness color the skiing experience. To me, as a native New Englander, this feels like what skiing is supposed to be.
Has it become harder to plan eastern trips as winters become warmer and shorter? Yes. Are some towns struggling with growing pains following the purchase of their mountains by the western giants? Definitely. Will we keep coming back? Absolutely. As long as there are snow guns and occasional cold snaps, our family will ski the East.
The Flight : “Oh, Southwest: I Wish I Knew How to Quit You…”
I love Southwest Airlines. I always have. Even given the total meltdown they experienced over the holidays, we’ve remained loyal. (The fact that we happened to be flying United over the holidays probably helped.) Chicago’s Midway Airport is a Southwest hub, and we’ve always preferred Midway to O’Hare for its small size. Add to this Southwest’s no-fee baggage policy (which, among those of other carriers, seems like a relic from a bygone age), and we often find ourselves checking Southwest fares first when booking travel.
This time, though, our Southwest experience wasn’t the best. Around noon on Friday, our departure day, Mark discovered that the airline had delayed our early-evening flight by three hours. Though we had signed up for text and email notifications, we weren’t notified of the change. While the delay may have been unavoidable, it was the lack of notice that frustrated us. A potential 2:30AM arrival at Stratton wasn’t ideal, and we worried that since ours was the last flight of the day, it might not get out of Chicago at all. Unwilling to forfeit an entire day of our short trip, we hatched a plan.
From each of our workplaces, we quickly decided to change to a much earlier Southwest flight. Though this flight had a connection, it would get us to Albany at the same time we’d originally planned. Racing against the clock, I peeled out of the school parking lot. Mark scrambled to close out his workday, grab the kids early from school, and drop our dog off at boarding. When we arrived at Midway, we checked our skis late. We knew this might force us to rent skis if our own didn’t make the plane, but we were hopeful. We chose to keep our boot bags (our only other luggage) with us. We reasoned that if no room remained in the overhead bins (likely), the bags would be gate checked, ensuring that they made it onto the flight with us. This way, even if our skis didn’t arrive, we’d have our boots, all our clothes, and everything else we needed to ski.
After we boarded, our boot bags were gate checked, as expected. A flight attendant asked me to confirm the number of our connecting flight from Baltimore to Albany so our bags could be properly routed, and together we looked up the flight number in the Southwest app. The flight attendant then relayed that number to crew members at the front of the plane by intercom. Unfortunately, this information never made it to whichever employee completed our gate check tags, as that employee wrote only the number for the first leg of our flight. As we taxied out of Baltimore, Mark checked the location of the Apple air tags in our bags. “I don’t think our bags are on this plane,” he said. And so it was.
We arrived in Albany, then proceeded to Stratton, with four pair of skis (which ironically made the trip without issue) and the clothes on our backs, which we then slept in. Having given up on the idea of skiing the next day, we purchased a few overpriced toiletries at the Stratton Village Market & Deli (along with some excellent local beer in which to drown our sorrows) and snagged warm clothing for the whole family on the sale racks at North Face. Southwest had promised reimbursement for toiletries and clothing, and these purchases allowed us to leave our condo unit and explore a little.
Our boot bags finally arrived at Stratton by 6PM. While we missed a day of skiing, the airline’s willingness to compensate us for the clothing we purchased meant that we weren’t trapped inside. We often ski with our neighbors and friends, Katie and Jared, and their kids. They’d arrived on an earlier flight, and we were able to meet them after their morning of skiing for après, drinks, and dinner.
An ideal first day? Not really. Survivable? Definitely.
The Skiing
We hit Stratton on Presidents Weekend, which kicks off a week’s vacation for many New England school districts. From a crowding standpoint, our timing was not ideal. Given the constraints of my own school schedule, though, making use of holiday weekends is a necessity. The lack of snow in New England probably mitigated our crowd concerns somewhat; apart from some lift lines Jared and Katie encountered on their first day, waiting was minimal.
It was on this first day, too, that conditions were toughest. Stratton had about ¾ of its terrain open during our visit, and the chilly temps on Friday meant harder, icier crust on top despite the mountain’s best grooming efforts. As the weekend progressed, though, temps trended upward and the crust softened. By Sunday, the snow was springlike and very skiable. It’s worth noting that there are several other mountains nearby (Magic, Bromley, Mount Snow, etc.), too. For families with more time, and for those who don’t mind venturing off Ikon, they would be worth exploring as well. The flavor and terrain at each mountain is different, so it’s great to take full advantage of the southern Vermont ski buffet.
Z and Friend C Enjoying the Ice Coast
Jared and Katie’s kindergartener made good use of Stratton’s magic carpets under mom’s watchful eye while the rest of us explored. Our favorite runs included Polar Bear and Upper Standard, plus the scenic Black Bear the blues off the Snow Bowl Express. The dads and some of the older kids also tackled (and enjoyed) the double-black Grizzly Bear, though it might have skied a little better had we saved it for Sunday. Of course, the East’s first major snowfalls of the season rolled into town just one week after our trip, but hey—you can’t win ‘em all, and any skiing is better than no skiing!
The Lodging
In lieu of New England’s typical mountain road jammed with independent retail and eating establishments, Stratton has a charming, purpose-built resort village—a novelty among eastern mountains. With several restaurants, bars, and retail shops at the base, our choice to stay across the street, at Long Trail House, quickly felt like the right one. Our rental car remained parked in the garage throughout the trip; there was nowhere else we needed to be but exactly where we were.
Messing Around in the Great Room at Long Trail House
We booked a small studio condo for our family or four. While quarters were very close, the unit was uncharacteristically affordable for a holiday weekend at Stratton, and the community’s roomy common areas and the neighboring base village meant that we didn’t have to spend much time in our room at all. After skiing, we cracked beers with our friends in Long Trail’s great room while watching our kids enjoy the heated pool and hot tubs outside. With lifts just a five-minute walk across the street, mornings were a breeze, and ski lockers on the ground floor meant that we could keep our gear secure without sacrificing precious square footage in our unit. The condo we rented is available through VRBO and was for sale at the time of our stay, too. Long Trail House units can also be rented through the resort directly.
Katie and Jared took a different route and stayed at a bed and breakfast, Cold Moon Farm, about ten minutes down the mountain in nearby Jamaica. There, they awoke to roosters crowing with the sun and were treated to delicious, farm-fresh breakfasts each morning. As the bed and breakfast is also a working farm, their kids were also able to enjoy the resident animals, which was a highlight. We’re firm believers that there’s no one “right way” to do a ski vacation. We’ve stayed in all sorts of accommodations on trips of all different lengths, and we’ve found something to enjoy in every choice we’ve made.
The Dining
It seems an odd dining concept to combine pizza and Asian cuisine under one roof, but I suppose that rural restaurateurs might lean toward a jack-of-all approach sometimes. However it came about, the cuisine combo seems to work for this place. Business was brisk, and waits were long, but our takeout pizza and salad were exactly the no-frills food solution we needed on night #1.
Though Bar802 in Stratton Village has a relatively small menu, the food was tasty. We stopped for lunch just as they were opening up for the day. At 802, you’ll find craft cocktails galore and a decent selection of Vermont’s exceptional craft beer, too.
On Sunday night, we moms walked over to Mulligan’s in Stratton Village from Long Trail House. We put our name in for dinner, then enjoyed a quiet drink at the bar. As we sipped our wine, we checked in with the host staff until our wait time dwindled to 10 minutes. This allowed the kids to unwind at the condo instead of in the restaurant’s entry vestibule. Once the rest of our party joined us, we enjoyed a little bit of everything on Mulligan’s lengthy dinner menu. (I ordered a tuna bowl from Snowfish, the sushi spot on the third floor, which was exceptionally fresh and delicious.)
On-Mountain
Eats at the base lodge were (unsurprisingly) pricey, but hearty. The mac and cheese was especially delicious, and my chicken Caesar salad was huge. Stratton has a variety of on-mountain dining options, from lift-adjacent counter service to fancier slopeside dinners accessed by snowcat. Our time was limited on this trip, or we might have explored more of them.
Next Up: Deer Valley!
