Ski Vermont 2010 Magazine

The Soul of SNOW.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 SKiing & Riding with less Green. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 How I Ate My Way Through Ski Season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 ALSO: Vermont to Vancouver The Vermont 100 What Golden Years? + More

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID BURLINGTON, VT PERMIT NO. 19

“ I REALIZED

cold is just a state of mind.”

Available at the best mountains, resorts, and igloos.

Stop in to see us at our Waterbury, VT, Visitor Center & Café.

A REvELAtIon In EvERy cup™ www.GreenMountainCoffee.com 4

skivermont.com

PublisheR Ski Vermont Sky Foulkes, Chair Parker Riehle, President Kathy Murphy, Director of Marketing EDITOR Kathy Murphy DESIGN Methodikal, Inc. PRINTER Lane Press COVER PHOTO C. Nelson James / MHF CONTACT INFO Ski Vermont P.O. Box 368 Montpelier, VT 05601 T: 802.223.2439 F: 802.229.6917 www.SkiVermont.com – Ski Vermont – Ski_Vermont On the cover: Jay Bowen feeling the love of fresh, sunny tracks in the Stowe backcountry.

This was his last run before undergoing his first chemotherapy treatment that same day.

He has since completely recovered.

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FIRST TRACKS

What Golden Years?

The straight talk on the people, places, trends, deals, and happenings in Vermont this season.

It’s important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle.

Story by Kirk Kardashian

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The Soul Of SNOW

TO VERMONT, WITH LOVE

Story by Mike Hannigan

Story by Luke Q. Stafford

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SKIING AND RIDING IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS…WITH LESS GREEN

A RENAISSANCE YANKEE

Eight well-known Vermonters share what they’ve learned on powder.

Money-saving deals, tips, and ideas that won’t leave you short-changed.

These urbanites can’t get enough of the Green Mountain State.

A master storyteller gives his take on the ‘sticky’ bond between skiing and syrup.

Story by Mike Hannigan

Story by Sarah Tuff

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HOW I ATE MY WAY THROUGH SKI SEASON

ALPINE AND NORDIC SKIING FACTS AND STATS

Vermont’s local fare pleasures the palette and sustains a way of life.

Courtesy of Lenny Christopher

2010 ISSUE

Get the details on Vermont’s diverse array of skiing and riding destinations

Story by Ben Hewitt

SkiVermont.com

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FIRST TRACKS

How We Roll Vermonters are known for speaking their mind in an indirect way. Today’s economy is termed “darker than a pocket,” days off are “scarcer than hen’s teeth,” and the odd neighbor across the field is labeled “quite a rig.”

Generations of expressions reference farming, the land, animals and Vermont’s cheapest form of entertainment – the weather – and illustrate life in the Green Mountains quietly and purely.

So, with “10 months of winter and two months of damn poor sleddin’” fast approaching, this issue of Ski Vermont Magazine is devoted to plain speaking. As you flip through the pages, you’ll find real deals on how to make skiing and riding more affordable so you can come north more often this season. Not a skier yet, or have a pal to please? Our FREE Learn to Ski or Ride program January 4-10, 2010, will put you on the path.

Waiting in the wings of the Olympic stage, is a youthful, stateof-Vermont-tattooed, Nordic skier named Andy Newell, who together with mogul trickster Hannah Kearney and Ross Powers, half pipe medalist turned snowboard cross contender, seeks to stake a claim on gold in Vancouver.

even if you don’t reside here full time. Better yet, it’s likely you’ll meet them, face to face, on a quad chairlift bound for the summit, or on a wooded trail schussing in silence.

It’s the simple stuff that makes Vermont so special. Sure, the skiing and riding is world-class, the attitude as friendly as the altitude, and the “make snow/groom snow” insurance policy binding when Mother Nature turns menopausal.

But what makes Vermont more than just an array of resorts with high-speed chair lifts and 2000 vertical feet of challenging terrain is our communities and our people. You’ll fit in the moment you arrive, and while we may welcome you with phrases you don’t quite understand completely, you’ll feel the warmth of our smiles and the genuine spirit of our greeting.

So, grab your gear and join our “buy local” movement.

Whether you’re “from away” and back for the holidays, or “just across the fence” that secures our state boundaries, you’re family when you get here – and you belong in Vermont. It’s time to experience winter in its original state.

— Kathy Murphy

For those with an appetite for powder, Vermont’s enjoyed near record-setting snowfall over the past two seasons, with snow butthigh to a tall cow, and the stage is set for another snowy winter, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. How to fuel that passion for first tracks? Check out Ben Hewitt’s “all you can eat” commentary on the local foods, flavors, chews and brews that bring you back to Vermont for more than just the on-slope experience.

Courtesy of C. Nelson James / MHF

The secret to a long, happy life can indeed be found on snow.

We asked Burr Morse, Donna Carpenter, Ed Koren, Patrick Leahy and others why they call Vermont home and what they’ve learned about themselves – you’ll identify with them

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Courtesy of Jim Deshler

FIRST TRACKS

From Vermont to Vancouver Vermonters set their sights on the 2010 Olympics Vermont maintains a modest list of world-famous products.

Maple syrup. Tongue-twistingly sharp cheddar cheese. President Calvin Coolidge. (It’s true, he’s from Plymouth, Vt. Google it.)

Yet a new claim to fame may be imminent. Come February 2010, the collective eyes of the world will descend upon the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. In those weeks of agony and glory, global citizens will push their aged cheddar aside and witness Vermont’s greatest spawn since Grade A Fancy: nordic skier Andy Newell, freestyle skier Hannah Kearney, and snowboarder Ross Powers.

Andy Newell grew up in the southern part of the state doing what a Vermont kid typically does – loving a lot of different sports. Swimming, soccer, and lacrosse were all in the mix, but “skiing was what I did in winter,” says Newell. He dabbled in cross-country throughout childhood, but it wasn’t until he enrolled at the renowned Stratton Mountain School (SMS) in eighth grade that the idea of becoming an elite-level athlete took root.

The move to SMS was “one of those things that make you grow up quickly,” Newell says. A skinny pipsqueak – one of just five cross-country skiers at the academy at that time – Newell was tossed into a pack of physically and emotionally 4

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mature kids. “It was like an eighth-grade kid jumping right into the college scene,” he says. “The first few years I was scrapping to prove I belonged.”

The proof wasn’t long in coming. At 17 years old, he was recruited to the U.S. team for the Junior World Championships in Poland. And, while that experience cemented his dedication to the hard work essential for success at world-class levels, he hasn’t relinquished belief in an underlying truth: the soul of skiing is fun. The Vermont athlete who might soon win an Olympic medal in sprinting is the same “kid” who would goof off in a halfpipe at Prospect Mountain or launch off table-tops and kickers – all on cross-country skis. Too bad there aren’t points for a guy who can back flip nordic!

As the world’s top-ranked mogul skier, Hannah Kearney is no stranger to time in the air either. Having lived in the same house in Norwich, Vt. since birth, she began skiing “before I can remember. It was the default winter activity and something we could all do as a family.”

The Kearneys would routinely travel to a cabin near Newport and live as true ski junkies, pounding run after run at Jay Peak or Burke Mountain. Kearney’s fate was sealed when a coach first saw her ski and told her mother that “kids who ski that well at 9 years old go to the Olympics.”

Accomplishments quickly added up, including wins at the

team vermont

Now headed back to the international stage of Olympic competition, Kearney continues to draw strength from her Vermont upbringing. When the World Cup season ends, her idea of rejuvenation is not running off on vacation but hanging out at home, with family, friends, and her Rhodesian ridgeback, Lola. “I want to spend as much time in Vermont as I can,” she says. “That’s where I’m happiest.”

Ross Powers has come to know the feeling of an Olympic

medal dangling from his neck. A halfpipe contender at the Nagano, Japan, Olympics in 1998, he earned gold in Salt Lake City in 2002. Change is afoot these days, as Powers now challenges himself in a very different racing sport, snowboard cross. In his first World Cup cross event last year, Powers finished third; he likes his chances of winning a medal in February.

Think it’s unwise to switch sports in the run-up to the Olympics? Don’t worry, Powers is an experienced nonconformist. He grew up as a skier at Bromley, where his mother worked, and made the switch to snowboarding at a young age, when the sport was in its infancy. In fact, his future stardom was an unlikely prospect as “there were few people to look up to, and the equipment wasn’t very good,” he says. At the time, many areas banned snowboarders or required them to become certified, and Powers remembers the snowboarding population at Bromley consisting mainly of “some lift attendants coming down the hill at the end of the day.”

Still, the 9-year-old Bromley punk was talented enough to compete in the U.S. Open at Stratton, and went on to become one of snowboarding’s greatest heroes. He’s now a family man with two young children and takes his responsibilities as elder statesman and role model seriously, working with the Ross Powers Foundation, which is dedicated to raising money to help aspiring young athletes. “I think I’ve always been good about helping out younger athletes,” he says, “but yeah – now it’s more important than ever.”

Each of these three elite athletes will bring a piece of home with them to Vancouver. Newell needs only to look down at his biceps, where he recently had an outline of Vermont tattooed onto his skin. Kearney is bringing her “stubborn New England spirit,” which will keep her tough during

© VANOC/COVAN

Junior World Championships, on the World Cup, and at the World Championships. Her first Olympic foray, however, was disastrous. As the favorite in 2006 in Torino, she failed to qualify among the top 20 skiers for the finals. “I was a bundle of nerves, with a knot in my stomach,” she says. “I’m planning on not having that happen this time.”

Pending their performance in competitions leading up to the Games, as many as 10 Vermont skiers and riders are expected to represent the U.S. at the Vancouver Olympics in February 2010. Newell in crosscountry sprints, Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboard cross, and Hannah Teter in halfpipe will be on everyone’s short list of medal favorites.

Having Vermonters headed to the Winter Olympics is not new. Green Mountain State skiers and riders have won nine Olympic medals, from double gold medalist Andrea Mead Lawrence in 1952 to gold medalist Teter in the Salt Lake games. Not bad for a state that ranks 49th among 50 in population.

Hannah Kearney, the world’s top-ranked mogul skier, with a World Championship gold medal to her credit, has perhaps the best shot among Vermonters for the top podium position. Jacobellis, whose famous mistake over the last jump cost her gold in snowboard cross in 2006, is also an odds-on favorite to claim gold.

But you never know. Dark horses often surprise – native Vermonter Billy Kidd wasn’t a short lister when he won silver in slalom in 1964. That might give hope to someone like downhiller Chelsea Marshall, whose spot on the team is in no way certain but who has finished as high as eighth in World Cup competition.

That leads to this prediction: Vermont’s Olympic medal total will rise with performances in the 2010 Games.

competition. And Powers is bringing his wisdom as an Olympics veteren, rooted in his upbringing as a snow-sports renegade in the state where snowboarding was born.

— Peter Oliver

Training tips and Olympic updates from Andy Newell and Liz Stephen on SkiVermont.com SkiVermont.com

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2009-2010 SKI VERMONT CALENDAR OF EVENTS NOVEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

November 28, 2009

Ongoing January-March

February 4-7, 2010

DECEMBER

Learn-to-Ski Week with free rental equipment Smugglers’ Notch Resort

9th Annual Northern Vermont Snowshoe Race Smugglers’ Notch Resort

January 8-15, 2010

February 7, 2010

10th Annual NICA Ice Carving Competition Stowe Mountain Resort

Mardi Gras Jay Peak Resort

January 23, 2010

February 22-27, 20102010

Match My Trick Okemo Mountain Resort

Burke Mountain Sled Dog Dash Burke Mountain

January 30, 2010

February 27-28, 2010

Tubbs Snowshoes Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Stratton Mountain

The Bud Light Mardi Gras Celebration Mount Snow

What I Learned This Summer Rail Jam Okemo Mountain Resort

Rails2Riches Killington

December 5, 2009 East Coast Super Shoot Stowe Mountain Resort

December 14, 2009

Cliff House “Summit Series” Dinners Stowe Mountain Resort

January 30, 2010 Mountain Fire and Lights Nights Stratton Mountain

December 31, 2009

The Winter Dew Tour Finals Mount Snow

February 27, 2010 Black Magic Extreme Challenge Magic Mountain

February 27, 2010

Okemo is more than just a vacation, it’s a living story. There are thousands of stories. Thousands of moments. And many more to come.

FIRST TRACKS

MARCH

4th Annual Spring Fling Weekend Magic Mountain

March 20, 2010

APRIL

Pond Skimming Burke Mountain

April 3, 2010 Big Air/Rail Jam Burke Mountain

March 27-28, 2010

George Syrovatka Downhill Jay Peak Resort

Bud Light ReggaeFest Mount Snow

March 27-28, 2010

March 6, 2010 U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships Stratton Mountain

The Joey Jam Okemo Mountain Resort

March 27, 2010

April 3, 2010

March 16-21, 2010 Helly Hansen Big Mountain Battle Smugglers’ Notch Resort

Splash for Cash Okemo Mountain Resort

Beach Party Jay Peak Resort

March 27, 2010

March 20, 2010

Sunshine Daydream Festival Killington

April 17, 2010

For more information on these events and to find out what else is going on head to SkiVermont.com

What’s your story?

We invite you to share your stories with us at OKEMO.COM

LUDLOW, VERMONT | 1-800-78-OKEMO

FIRST TRACKS

3 and 5 Slider Sampler – A Meal of a Deal Ski Vermont boasts a hearty “full-meal deal” for those skiers and riders with an appetite for savings. Grab your gear and your friends and chow down on the challenging terrain and epic snow at our great ski resorts when you purchase your personalized non-holiday 3-day or 5-day sampler pass.

3-day passes are just $125 and 5-day passes cost $200 – that’s about Courtesy of C. Nelson James / MHF

$40 a day, which is a substantial savings, so you’ll have room on your plate for an après ski toast to your good fortune.

To place your order, please e-mail passes@SkiVermont.com or call 802.223.2439 for more information.

Need a Lift?

You don’t have to leave winter in Vermont behind when you head home. Before your memory melts away, scoop up the latest and greatest Ski Vermont poster to adorn your wall. Grab the one that speaks best to your day on snow, or make the entire collection yours. We’ve got you covered at SkiVermont.com, where you’ll find pricing details and how to place your order.

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Our GOal is reachinG YOurs.

Ranked #1 in Terrain Variety by SKI magazine Winner of the National Ski Areas Association award for Best Overall Guest Service Program Best Vermont Ski Burger according to Ski Vermont Picked Favorite Overall Resort In Northeast

by OnTheSnow.com visitors

FIRST TRACKS

The Vermont 100 In honor of Vermont’s famed Route 100, aka “The Skiers’ Highway,” we proudly present 100 things that can only be found here in the Green Mountain State.

Mad River Glen The Belfry in Montgomery Center Ben & Jerry’s factory store

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Only cat-skiing in the East at Sugarbush

Burr Morse Skiing the chin on Mt. Mansfield Vermonters

Nectar’s gravy fries A ski area with “suicide” in its name The first rope tow in the U.S. Outer Limits at Killington The Norman Rockwell Museum in Rutland Udderly Ridiculous Holstein cow pot holders

Green Mountain Coffee full body coffee oil massage The PHAT ski helmet program Vermont State Law: One bath per week is required Mirabelle’s hot white cocoa in Burlington American Society of Dowsers

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Bread and Puppet Museum Grafton Village Cheese Lord’s Prayer Rock

Green Mountain Coffee Visitor Center and Café in Waterbury

Paul Revere Bell Vermont Ski Museum

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

The Alchemist in Waterbury The original American Flatbread in Waitsfield Sugar on snow – the original

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Church Street in Burlington

Camel’s Hump Magic Hat Artifactory Tram Ale

Lake Champlain Sunsets

Cooper’s Cabin Castlerock at Sugarbush Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports The Vermont Covered Bridge Museum Vermont Maple Sugar Body Polish spa treatment Snowflake Bentley, first person to photograph a snowflake Vermont Teddy Bear Company, home to the Skier Bear Billings Farm and Museum American Museum of Fly Fishing

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Bennington Potters Yard

Miss Bellows Falls Diner New England Culinary Institute

Stephen Huneck’s Dog Chapel

Neil & Otto’s Pizza Cellar Snowflake Chocolates The Cochran Family of Olympic Skiers

FIRST TRACKS Vergennes, the smallest city in America The largest number of covered bridges per square mile Ski Vermont Farmhouse Chowder Backcountry Magazine Author Chris Bohjalian Green Mountain Flyer

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Grandma Moses Museum Cold Hollow Cider Donuts Hildene The Catamount Trail

The Stone Hut at Stowe Strolling of the Heifers Parade The floating bridge Hen of the Wood in Waterbury 920,000 gallons of maple syrup produced (2008 record)

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Clothespin grave marker Champ, the lake monster

Maple creemees The whales tails alongside I-89

Rock of Ages Granite Quarry

Johnson Woolen Mills, home to hunter’s plaid Norwich University, the oldest military university in the U.S. Winter croquet tournament An opera house that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border National Museum of the Morgan Horse in Shelburne Nutty Steph’s granola

49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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Vermont Country Store Mad River Rocket

Vermont Fresh Network

Ski Vermont Ale

Montpelier, the smallest state capital in the nation Red Hen Bakery Vermont Maple Outlet VINS, The Vermont Institute of Natural Science 140,000 dairy cows producing 2.5 billion pounds of milk Bag Balm factory Snow Farm Vineyard The Long Trail, the oldest long-distance trail in the U.S. Walk of the Santas Stowe Derby

U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships

Rotten Sneaker Contest

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A devil-resistant 16-sided round church The ice-out contest on Joe’s Pond The Vermont Marble Museum The highest moose-to-people ratio in the U.S. www.eatmorekale.com Frost Heaves, complete with a mascot

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The ice cream flavor graveyard Knight’s Spider Web Farm Dr. Dynasaur

Courtesy of: 9 – Brent Herwayn // 10 – Shayne Lynn Photography // 38 – Stephen Huneck // 43 – Green Mountain Coffee 69 – Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation // 78 – Justin Cash // 83 – Jim Sardonis // 100 – Justin Cash

Rte 100 itself For more information on all these hidden gems, head to SkiVermont.com SkiVermont.com

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Photo credit: Brian Mohr/Emberphoto.com

“Every sport has its Mecca; the stadiums, race tracks or ball parks against which everything else is judged...

Skiing has them too... There’s an agelessness to the place.

Mad River Glen is an institution...”

Powder Magazine

www.madriverglen.com

FIRST TRACKS

THE BUCK STOPS HERE Learn to Ski, Ride or ‘Shoe for FREE If your kids’ mantra is “Mom, I’m bored,” and you’re fighting the midwinter blues, we’re here to help.

Rescue your family with a winter sports lifeline and jump-start a lifetime of outdoor fun and fitness on snow.

January is Learn A Snow Sports Month, and more than a dozen Vermont alpine and Nordic resorts are offering FREE beginner lift tickets, rental equipment and a lesson for adults and children, January 4-10, 2010.

You’ll find all the facts and stats on our week long Learn to Ski or Ride for FREE program at www.SkiVermont.com including a pre-arrival checklist with tips on what to wear and what to bring so you’re well prepared to enjoy your time on the snow.

Not quite ready for the fast pace of alpine skiing or the exhilarating thrill of snowboarding? Give snowshoeing or Nordic skiing a go amid the solitude and serenity of Vermont’s wooded trails.

An event called Winter Trails® is January 9, 2010, and Vermont offers dozens of sites where you can experience either sport for FREE. The most meaningful moments in your life are the ones shared with family. Make a New Year’s Resolution to share some slope time skiing, riding and ‘shoeing in Vermont this season.

Courtesy of Dennis Curran

— Kathy Murphy

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Why confine yourself to the average ski vacation when Killington offers so much more? How much more? How about twice the skiing and riding than virtually any other Eastern resort. Twice the lifts too. And the most powerful snowmaking system on the planet makes for the most dependable conditions. But you don’t want to leave it all out on the slopes, because our nightlife is as limitless and diverse as our terrain.

See how easy it is to customize your personal adventure on our seven spectacular mountains, just visit killington.com.

800.621.MTNS • WWW.KILLINGTON.COM

©2009. Killington/Pico Ski Resort Partners, LLC.

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INSIDER GEAR GUIDE:

Thumbs Up: Kombi’s UC Gore Plaid mid winter glove is both waterproof and breathable, with a natural bamboo charcoal combo lining that keeps your fingers toasty warm. For dealers nationwide, www.kombiltd.com Feet First: Skiing Magazine’s Best Gear of the Year, Darn Tough over-the-calf Ultra-light ski socks keep your feet oblivious to the elements. Family owned and run, in Northfield Vermont, for over 30 years. In a word, local. And guaranteed for life. www.darntough.com

Nordic Ski & Snowshoe Center 60km Trails � 40km Groomed Snowmaking � Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides Casual Dining � Family Fun � Nordic Quest

8 02.483.2 311

�

www. moun taintopinn.com

Chilly Power: Eider’s classic fit Cymbae jacket stops cold in its tracks.

Underarm air vents, removable powder skirt and Lycra cuffs with thumbholes together combine with an adjustable and removable hood to make this jacket the ideal piece for all of your snow sports activities. www.eider.com SkiVermont.com

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THE

SOUL OF SNOW Interviews by Mike Hannigan

Ed Koren, Cartoonist, The New Yorker Magazine

Is there more to skiing and snowboarding than just going downhill? Can spiritual redemption, creative inspiration and the secret to a happy life be found on snow? We spoke with eight well-known Vermonters to find out what they’ve learned about themselves and about human nature through a lifetime in the Green Mountains.

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What do you remember about your first time Nordic skiing?

I obviously liked it because it was much more freewheeling and it was a whole different part of Vermont that I could access. That was a kind of pleasure, an unexpected joy, that you could be off on skis in the middle of the winter. For me, it was just a wonderful freedom that sort of presented itself.

Why have you continued to ski?

Because I love it. I’m passionately addicted to it. I go out every day in the winter. I have my trails around here. I can range across the whole landscape and it’s just a wonderful part of the day. There’s a reflection and a thinking about human life that comes along when trucking through the woods.

Is skiing an escape from your studio?

I wouldn’t think of it as an escape; it’s more positive than that. It’s really an important part of my life – to be out in this winter world. Also, for an artist, the world of the woods and fields and winter is just a delight, an endless discovery of things to observe. So no, it’s not an escape at all. It’s almost a nourishment. If it wasn’t so transcendently wonderful, I wouldn’t do it.

Elisabeth Von Trapp, Musician

Dave Esty, Retired USAF Fighter Pilot, Advertising Executive and President, Friends of Tuckerman Ravine

Who taught you to ski?

What’s your earliest skiing memory?

My father taught us. And I always thought as a child, “How does he know how to ski so fast?” I just watched him and observed him. And it was the same way as when he played guitar. He demonstrated. He showed you and then you just followed behind, like a mother duck with her ducklings.

I remember that I was maybe 3 or 4, and behind our house we had a little hill. All I wanted to do was go fast, and I went very, very fast. I wound up crashing and burning and putting a ski pole through my ankle – there’s still a scar there.

What’s it like to live in a ski community?

I’ve been doing it all my life and I’m going to do it until I die.

But the ability to be my age and experience what I do – it’s almost like being in an airplane. Skiing gives me the freedom and the sense of speed and the sense that I am in total control that I got from flying. I was a good pilot, and a lot of that had to do with skiing. The same rhythm, the same balance, the same edge – you edge your wings into the snowy air. It’s the same dance. And to be at my age and to get close to that same thrill makes me forget that I’m 77. It makes me ageless.

They’re very, very strong communities. It’s a vision of a lifestyle, of being loyal to nature, to the weather. When you’re involved in skiing, you’re really connected with the rhythm of the seasons, the weather, the joy and playfulness of the days. I do believe that people who love to be outdoors are invigorated by it; we stay healthy that way. You’re able to go off the beaten track and you’re allowed to explore.

Has that exploration affected your music?

It has. People don’t know how to categorize my music. I tend to take in songs and explore genres and styles. It’s like a friendship. It’s connecting to what’s out there and bringing it in and then sharing it again in my own style. And I think when you ski with people – for example, my husband is a very fast skier. And I love to watch how he skis – it’s so graceful. I love watching the choices he makes with the turns. And I find that if I follow him, it’s like, wow, my skiing gets so much better. I just feel like I’m freer. Some people, they just lift you up.

What role does it play in your life now?

So what have you learned by being around skiers?

The kind of people who ski, for the most part, have a higher level of citizenship, a higher level of loving the outdoors, being very much attached to their natural surroundings. I’ve found that most people who ski or ride, people who go to mountains and go through all of that effort – you have to really be devoted. My wife and I brought two families together and skiing was the common denominator – there couldn’t be a better way to bring a family together.

SkiVermont.com

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Courtesy of Dave Thomas

Donna Carpenter, Founder & Director of Burton’s Women’s Initiatives What was it like to be around the beginnings of snowboarding?

It must be interesting to see people really embrace it.

We used to go at night when the ski areas were closed. I figured out that if I made the snowcat drivers brownies or cookies that they would give us rides all night long. So I’d bring shoe boxes of brownies and hand them out to the cat drivers.

I think it’s such an individual sport. It’s such a way to express yourself. You have minimal equipment, there are so many facets to the sport. We used to have a tagline: “There is no wrong way of snowboarding.” I think that’s what a lot of people embrace about it. And even now, when I see my kids, they’re doing a different sport than I am.

It seems like it was such a different time back then.

Absolutely. It’s interesting to see how when it first started to be allowed at ski areas, some people were very open-minded and wanted to try it. Even if they didn’t try it, they saw it as a very positive thing – the more fun on snow, the better. And other people were very close-minded and discriminatory.

Is that just human nature – reacting to something new?

You know, it’s funny. Even though we don’t want to admit it, I think that there’s always a generational divide. I came to see it as very generational – “Oh my god, these young people.

First, they’re growing their hair long and listening to rock and roll. [And now this.]” And I used to say that to [the baby boomers], which would really throw them off – “Well, I bet your mother didn’t like your long hair and music.” It was a generational thing.

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Have you picked up anything about what makes people tick?

I think that people approach learning to snowboard like they approach life. And I see what a difference attitude makes.

It just makes all the difference in the world. You can have someone who’s negative and pessimistic, and they’re going to have a miserable time. And then you get somebody who’s positive and open and can laugh at themselves, and they’re going to get it because they’re going to stick with it. There is no end result. There is no point where you say, “Oh, that’s it. I’ve learned it. It’s over.” It’s going to be a lifelong process and if I relax and just have fun, it’s going to come a lot quicker than if I’m negative and uptight and determined that I can’t do it. So that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned: Enjoy the ride. Each moment should be fun. It’s not about getting somewhere. Some people are so determined that they’re going to get somewhere, and I always wonder, “Where exactly is that? Where are they going to go?”

Courtesy of Poppy Gall

“And then I’m also really inspired by just being in the outdoors – the colors and shapes and forms of things in the natural environment, whether it’s birchbark or sky or the mounds that the snow gets blown into.”

- Poppy Gall

Lyman Orton, Chairman, The Vermont Country Store

Poppy Gall, Co-Founder/Product Design & Development, Isis for Women

How old were you when you first started skiing?

Describe your first memory on the slopes.

Five. We had a local rope tow in Weston, Vermont, which was 400-500 yards from the house where I grew up. So all I had to do was put a strap on my skis and I was in business.

Just the exhilaration and freedom was terrific.

My mother would drop my sister and me off in the morning before she went to work with $2 for hot chocolates in our pockets and a bag lunch. Everyone knew everyone else there, so it was like a big family.

Why do you think you’ve continued to ski?

I ski almost every day of the winter. I’m addicted to the sensation of sliding on snow, the challenges of varying snow conditions, the love of powder snow, the rush of speed, the cold, the grace of the motion.

Well, it’s still the thrill of it, the speed. And the focus. It’s great fun. Now I cross-country ski more than I alpine ski, and I love that for the workout, the breathing, the energy – staying in shape. Going through the hardwood trees – you’re miles away from anything else and it’s quiet and cold and wonderful.

You’ve been around skiers for a long time – what have you learned from that?

What’s great is when I’m out there with other people and there’s a rhythm and a connection that gets going. There’s kind of – without talking – there’s this connection of following each other, passing each other. There’s this wonderful communication that’s going on even if you aren’t speaking.

Why have you continued to ski or ride?

Have you observed differences between men and women on skis?

In my work, I look at it from a physiological standpoint, how body shapes are different, that type of thing. But as far as emotionally, I think men and women get the same joy out of skiing. I know women tend to be a little more social. As far as the friendships go, there’s a lot of life-problem-solving happening on the chairlift. You know, I have to say I really miss double chairlifts.

Just a double?

Yeah, I just loved that part of my life where you were on a chairlift for 10 or 12 minutes and you were just with that person one-on-one. You cover a lot of ground.

How does skiing inspire your work?

Primarily what I do is design apparel for outdoor activities, so a lot of times I’m inspired by “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if this pocket could do this.” And then I’m also really inspired by just being in the outdoors – the colors and shapes and forms of things in the natural environment, whether it’s birchbark or sky or the mounds that the snow gets blown into. It’s just a lifelong appreciation that I’ve had, and it translates into what I’ve chosen to do for my work.

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Courtesy of Michael Jager

Michael Jager, Creative Director and President, JDK Design When did you start skiing?

Has snowboarding impacted your work as a designer?

When I was 4 or 5 years old, I was like, “I need to ski.” So my parents went to Ames department store and got me these horrible cable-binding, sketchy things. I would just do it over and over, trying to figure it out. All through high school, I was constantly thinking about it. And in my sketchbooks, I was constantly drawing skis, ski boots, graphics, designs, shapes. I was imagining ski boots with knees and hinges. So when I realized I was going to get into design and art, I was like, “Man, I’d love to do ski graphics someday.

Album covers and ski graphics.”

Absolutely. Very early on, we realized the importance of diversity and cross-fertilization. Design has to be built upon an understanding of the fabric of life. If you’re trying to attract someone to a snowboard, you have to realize that probably two months ago, they might have been in the Apple Store buying a new iPhone. Snowboarding itself has definitely had an impact on our work and a lot of areas beyond it.

Snowboarding’s creative freedom was the threshold that opened minds to what was possible, graphically, on so many things – bikes, motorcycles, helmets, trucks, etc.

Did you start snowboarding because of your involvement with Burton?

Snowboarding was something I got inside of through skateboarding. Once I was out of design school, I had a skate ramp in the woods behind my house. A young kid named Brian Reed came and asked if he could skate the ramp, which was cool, as skating is about friends and community. He was the person who brought up snowboarding, so we started riding together at Bolton every day and night that we could. It was interesting – as an extension of skating, snowboarding made the mountain totally new for me again. Snowboarding got me dreaming about mountains again. About a year later, we met Jake and his crew and the snowboarding world evolved for us from there.

Do you think the cultural difference between skiers and snowboarders is still relevant?

I do think there’s a fundamental cultural divide, but it’s just not as electric now. The sparks are gone. But there is a difference at the core; I call it “sideways culture.” Surf, snow and skate – it’s this sideways, against-the-grain-of-culture kind of thing. It’s very individualist. And once upon a time, skiing represented that. I saw that. I mean Stein Eriksen was a punk, really. He was a rebel character, very maverick. So is there a difference? Yes. But there are skiers and riders doing amazing things on mountains that people couldn’t even imagine ten years ago.

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What role does riding play in your life now?

It’s huge. I have three kids and they all snowboard. It’s certainly transitioned to a place of being in nature; being on the mountains with the people you love is pretty damn cool. It’s different from the speed, the progression, the desire, which was the fuel for me for a long time. I like to ride fast and smooth and confident, and try to teach the kids good etiquette, but it’s mostly about celebrating being outside and hanging out. The connect and flow – I feel like I’ve imparted that to my kids. My oldest son, Eli – I can just rage with him anywhere and I know that I’ve embedded the ability in him to just pick a line and understand the relationship to a mountain. A lot of people get to experience riding or skiing, but very few get to do it enough to actually get connected to the mountain. It’s just like magic when you hit it. And to know that you’ve passed that on to a son or daughter, it’s a real accomplishment. You really connect to nature somehow. And unless you’ve ever gotten confident enough to connect with the equipment and the mountain, the weightlessness of snapping out of a turn – once you get it, you’ll never forget it. It’s so beautifully addictive. You’ve got to seize every moment of it that you can get.

“Seize the day…or night! This is a photo I shot of a kid at the 20th U.S. Open at Stratton. It was at the Friday night quarter-pipe session, 9:00 at night, zero degrees and he’s there, stoked to see the best riders in the world go off. It’s a raw image, but the feeling is pure love of a culture. His buddy’s peace sign adds the perfect touch, as that’s what the world needs more than anything.” - Michael Jager

Terry Barbour, Ski School Director, Mad River Glen You ski all the time – do you still enjoy it?

Oh my god, I’m addicted to it. I would ski every day if I could.

Why do you ski?

I ski because of the mental and physical satisfaction it gives me. The sensations of skiing are just so pleasurable to me that my body’s addicted to them. I love the symmetry of skiing, I love what it does for you mentally and physically.

To me, when you’re skiing, you start to feel that gravity is your friend. A lot of times we tend to feel pretty heavy on the earth, and when you ski you feel really light on the earth. It’s almost like flying.

You talk about it like it’s an art form.

Absolutely. It is an art form. Initially, there’s a science to it where you try to get the basics, but then it becomes an art form. My goal, in order to addict people to it, is to show them the art form side of it – the freedom of it – so they’re not thinking of it as all science and all rules. When someone says to me that skiing’s boring, I say they don’t understand the art of it. It’s like an artist saying they’re bored with painting or drawing. If you’re truly addicted and it truly is an art, you’ll never get bored.

Technique aside, what do you try to teach people about skiing?

I want them to think of skiing as a dance – it’s a dance with the mountain, with gravity and with snow. Life should also be a dance – with family, work and play. We need to have flowing movements versus tension and stress. We need to look at problems differently – you know that saying “water under the bridge?” – you’ve got to do that. When you make a mistake, in life or on the slopes, you gotta let it go and keep dancing. If you keep dancing, it becomes beautiful.

Also, there’s something I call “the Zen of Skiing,” in that a lot of skiers think they need to fight the mountain or gravity.

And really, good skiing is about yielding to the mountain, observing and redirecting the energy, feeling like you are part of the mountain. The life lesson there is that a lot of people think you need to fight the world, that everything is against them; that’s an endless, mindless struggle. We need to relax and take in what the world has to offer.

What did skiing show you about yourself?

The part of skiing that I really love is that it teaches me to be in the moment. I think of skiing as a form of kinetic meditation; if you’re going to have a good day skiing, you have to be in the moment. You can’t be thinking of, “Oh, what I am going to do next? What did I do yesterday?” You have to be purely enjoying where you are at that moment. To me, that’s the really important life lesson: No matter what we’re doing, we need to be in the moment.

Vermonters Jim Fredericks, Howard Mosher, Doug Lewis and Jennifer Kimmich all share their stories at SkiVermont.com this season.

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Skiing and Riding the Green Mountains… with Less Green An insider’s guide to finding the best deals and steals at Vermont resorts Let’s face it: Even if you still have thousands stashed in secret bank accounts, penny-pinching is hot. Which means that right about now, you’re probably looking at a budget, or the bottom line on your last ATM receipt, and trying to figure out how to save this ski season. But skiing and riding the Green Mountain State doesn’t have to cost much green.

“What’s great about skiing Vermont is that there are so many options to choose from,” says Ron Schneidermann, co-founder of Liftopia.com. “The key thing is to plan early and do your research before you go.”

Here, those in the know offer their two cents on saving money this winter.

Build Up Sweat Equity

One of the best ways to find insider deals, says Barbara Thomke of Smugglers’ Notch, is to actually become an insider – working on the inside at a Vermont resort. At Smuggs, for example, all winter employees get free family ski passes, lessons, midweek rentals and more. “Getting all the deals on food and services, discounts on gear and purchases, and free family ski passes is easy when you join the Smuggs team,” says Thomke. “We employ nearly 850 full- and part-time workers and the benefits are plentiful!”

Many other Vermont resorts, including Ascutney Mountain in Brownsville and the Northeast Kingdom’s Burke Mountain, offer similar deals for winter workers and their families. And if relocating to the Green Mountain State for the season isn’t an option, there are still discounts and freebies for weekend employees, and even for folks who volunteer. Mount Snow depends on a slew of volunteers for its lineup of festivals, from August’s Mountain Bike Festival to Oktoberfest (October 10 and 11) and the Winter Dew Tour, and gives everyone who donates a day, a day on the slopes.

“We get something we desperately need,” says Mount Snow’s events & public relations manager, Vinnie Lewis, “and it’s a $75 value to our volunteers.”

Find Friends

Whether you’re part of a ski club or a family of four, chances are you can negotiate for lower prices on lift tickets, lodging and more. The Ski & Snowboard Club of NY, Inc. (based in Manhattan) frequents such Vermont resorts as Killington, Stowe and Stratton – and scores packages for less than $500 that include transportation to the resort, three nights at a mountainside inn, and breakfasts and dinners. The 24

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Top 5 money-saving tips 1. Ski with friends: Many resorts offer great deals for those who travel in packs.

2. More mountains mean more fun: When booking big ski trips, check out all of the ski resorts regardless of size.

From the biggest mountain to the smallest hill, you’ll find the right deal and the best ski-and-stay package that fit your trip and pocketbook.

3. Try that new pair first: Looking to buy skis? Demo them first. Most stores will apply the cost of a demo to the cost of new skis, and you may actually get to try better equipment than what you left at home.

4. Scope out the mountain: Most resorts offer tours at the beginning of the day. It’s an easy and cheap way to get a feel for the mountain and find the runs that are geared to your level. Plus, tours are a great way to meet people.

5. Plan early and get the most bang for your buck: As the economy softens and consumer spending tightens, families tend to cut discretionary spending on the activities they love, such as skiing. However, you can still afford it by planning early and finding discounted lift tickets online. For example, Liftopia.com offers as much as 60 percent off regular lift ticket prices at some of North America’s leading ski resorts.

Boston Ski & Sports Club, meanwhile, brings urbanites to Jay Peak, Stowe and Killington for $73 a day.

At Mad River Glen, mountain marketing director Eric Friedman points to the ski area’s award-winning Free Kids Pass Program, which is just what it sounds like: a free pass for kids 12 and under, provided their parents buy a full season pass or Family Mad Card by mid-October. Worried about your company transferring you to another part of the country? For $25, Mad River adds a refundable pass option to its season passes.

Stratton Mountain offers a Sunday Family Four Pack, which allows two adults and two children to ski Sunday afternoons for just $99, a price that includes an après-ski pizza at Grizzly’s.

And “cheaper by the dozen” is how Thomke refers to the Smuggs policy of skiers and riders joining forces. “When two families travel together – or three, or more – the rates go down,” she says.

Speaking of dozen, you can get dozens of wings absolutely free

FIRST TRACKS while making the happy-hour rounds with your friends and family members at Killington. The world-famous Killington Access Road has equally world-famous après ski specials. Save even more money by skiing nearby Pico during the day, as lift tickets are much less than at the “Big K,” and a family of four can ski here all winter long for less than $1200.

offer special cards that get skiers and riders discounts for the rest of the season. The Stratton X2 Card gives customers one free day, $30 off non-holiday weekdays, $20 off non-holiday weekends and $10 off holidays for the price of a lift ticket, while the Killington Express Card offers up to $40 off lift tickets for cardholders.

“The Stowe Points Card allows holders to purchaseWI_TurnCentury_AD3_4.5x7.125.eps single-day tickets at a

discount – for adults, about $60 – and every seventh ticket is free,” explains the resort’s communications director, Jeff Wise. “Points can also be accumulated year-round with purchases around the resort, and cards can be obtained for free during Market Fest.”

(Market Fest runs from September 11 through October 11 in Burlington, 1 10:56 AM and7/10/09 also allows customers to put up to

Find More “Friends”

Thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Vermont ski resorts can now offer last-minute deals to skiers and riders like never before, says Josh Arneson, director of marketing for Bolton Valley Resort. His favorite for finding great bargains for himself around the Green Mountain State?

Coupon Tweet. “You can get discounts on anything,” says Arneson.

“Gone are the days of one-way conversations,” says Bonnie MacPherson of Okemo Mountain Resort. “We want to give people a reason to ‘follow’ us or ‘friend’ us, and getting a good deal on lift tickets seems like the best excuse ever.” Among Okemo’s “pop-up” specials last season was a $44 ticket on OkemObama Days for the inauguration of our 44th president, and MacPherson says friends and followers can expect similar promotions this season.

If you can imagine a virtual warehouse of lift tickets and lodging packages, then you can picture the web site Liftopia.com, which now works with several Vermont ski resorts. “Deals are updated on the fly throughout the season depending on factors such as weather, snow, day of the week, even the price of gas,” says Schneidermann. “It’s a win-win for skiers and the resorts. Skiers get to enjoy more days out on the slopes, and the resorts get more customers during lower-demand days.”

Get Carded

For regular Vermont visitors who aren’t quite regular enough to justify a season pass, many Green Mountain ski resorts SkiVermont.com

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FIRST TRACKS

$350 in purchases at participating stores toward a season pass purchase at Stowe.)

And at Smugglers’ Notch, a $90 Bash Badge gets you $25 lift tickets for the rest of the season – plus half off rentals, lessons, and Nordic fees, among other discounts. “This can be a real budget stretcher,” says Thomke, “allowing the user to adjust spending on a daily basis.”

Act Like a Local

Look around: chances are the guy next to you on the chairlift has a money-saving trick or two up his Gore-Tex sleeve. At Okemo, for example, the “try before you buy” policy gives skiers and riders 60 minutes of free access to the resort, no questions asked. (This also happens to the best time to sample the mountain’s renowned corduroy grooming.) And

Worth the Splurge

5 indulgences not to miss 1. The Ski Room at the Pitcher Inn, Warren: $650 per night 2. Tavern S’Mores at Coleman Brook Tavern, Okemo: $15 (serves four)

Saint Michael’s College

3. The Sugarhouse cocktail at The Stowe Mountain Lodge: $14 4. First Tracks cat skiing tours at Sugarbush: $75 per person

Nature supplies the snow...we do the rest.

5. The Total Transformation Massage at the Spa at Stratton: $210 for 85 minutes

Okemo’s surface lifts are always free.

Locals also know to visit resorts during offpeak times like January and April. “The week before Christmas is typically a slow time, so we offer deep discounts to get people to the mountain,” says Arneson of Bolton Valley’s policies. He also mentions how nearby residents will often stop by area ski shops such as the Ski Rack in Burlington or Onion River Sports in Montpelier to find discounted vouchers for skiing and riding during those times.

Saint Michael’s students receive an all-access pass to Smugglers’ Notch as part of their college experience. As a residential, liberal arts college, it’s our way of encouraging students to explore Vermont’s natural beauty and sports they can enjoy for a lifetime.

Then there’s brown-bagging lunch (OK at most Vermont ski resorts, though sometimes only in certain areas of lodges), saving your turns for Sundays and using your lift ticket for other area deals – the Big Picture Theater, for example, slashes movie-ticket prices for anyone who shows a Mad River Glen lift ticket.

And if you’re looking for more ways to save, just ask that chairlift guy. He’s probably a Yankee, and we’ve been pinching pennies for centuries.

— Sarah Tuff

802.654.2000 26

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802.SMC.8000

www.smcvt.edu/smuggs

Visit our all-new Deals page at SkiVermont.com for special offers all season long!

#1 in North America for Family Programs SKI Magazine Reader Survey 10 years

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Some vacations promise fun, we actually guarantee it! At America’s Family Resort,SM we start with three, big, spectacular mountains, combine them with mountainside resort village lodging, award-winning children’s programs and off-mountain activities your whole family will love. Nothing could be better or easier for you!

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How I Ate My Way Through Ski Season

by Ben Hewitt

It was going to be a big day. It had snowed heavily the night before; indeed, when we gathered at the head of the lift line at 8:30, it was still snowing. Big, fat, floaty flakes landed on the sleeves of our jackets and slowly melted. Big, fat, floaty flakes landed atop the millions of others that had assembled in the pre-dawn hours. By the time the lift started churning at 9:00, 20 fresh inches of low-moisture powder covered the ground.

Yes, it was going to be a big day.

Eight hours later, soaking wet, caught somewhere between exhaustion and exhilaration, I sat in my car, unwrapping a meatball sub. We’d skied right through lunch, fueled by cookies and energy bars tucked into jacket pockets. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now… now, I was blown. My hands shook as I pulled back the foil around my meal, releasing a wave of steam that fogged the windshield. I 28

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needed food, and I needed it now. The sub disappeared in five bites, one for each tender meatball. There was tomato sauce on my chin, jacket, and the sliver of seat fabric visible between my legs. Burned skin hung from the roof of my mouth. And all I could think was, I need another one.

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a glutton. Despite what transpired on a certain afternoon last winter, I am not the guy who pushes to the front of the buffet line and empties the shrimp platter. I am not the guy who goes to weddings solely for the food. Do I find it convenient that buffet lines often have shrimp platters and that by positioning myself at the front of the line, I can assure myself my fair share? Why, I suppose I do. Do I find it convenient that weddings are a place where good food and drink can be found in profusion, and that guests are expected to partake of each in guiltless abundance?

Courtesy of Cabot Creamery Cooperative

es Why Food Tast ont Better in Verm

Why, I suppose I do.

And so it is with skiing (and riding too, I guess, though I am a two-plank kind of guy). It’s not that the mountain and snow and cold don’t offer enough in the way of enticements; it’s just, um, convenient that a day on the hill is best bookended by copious quantities of food and drink. And indeed, it is convenient that I have chosen to live and ski in Vermont, where quantity and quality are never mutually exclusive, whether I’m sluicing through my 17th tree run of the day, or tipping back my third pint of microbrew (don’t worry: only if I have a designated driver), or attacking a plate with a fork and knife.

“I came to Vermont to ski, and I stayed to eat,” is how Lisa Gosselin puts it. Gosselin is the editorial director at Charlottebased Eating Well magazine, and an avid skier. I’d called her because I was beginning to worry that perhaps there was something wrong with me: Serious skiers are supposed to be lean and mean, their bodies honed to physical perfection, their minds focused like a laser on the subjects of snow and descents. And somewhere along the way, I’d become the kind of fellow who could be found sprawled across the front seats of his Subaru, in the throes of a meatball sub stupor.

I had hoped to get Gosselin to share a similarly embarrassing anecdote, so I asked her to recall a particularly poignant moment at the intersection of skiing and food. “I remember sitting on the snow eating maple sugar that had come from trees behind me.” She sounded wistful. “There’s nothing more Vermont than

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maple sugar that’s produced by the trees you just skied.” For a brief moment, I considered telling her about how I’d dripped hot marinara sauce on my crotch. Fortunately, I kept my mouth shut.

Even if Gosselin’s experience was a bit more… refined than mine, I was pretty sure we were on the same page. Vermont has long been defined, at least in part, by its skiing and its food. Why shouldn’t the two commingle? Why shouldn’t SkiVermont.com

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I spend the latter hours of a powder day at Mad River Glen fixated on the Woodcreek Farm Grassfed Ribeye with fingerling potatoes and tarragon aioli at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury? What’s wrong with passing the early morning hours at McCarthy’s in Stowe, drinking coffee and noshing on one of their incomparable breakfast burritos while the April sun turns Stowe’s Nosedive trail to corn? Nothing, that’s what, especially as Vermont’s chefs increasingly source ingredients from local farmers, thus bolstering the state’s economy and the quality of their food. As Gosselin notes, you no longer have to go out of your way to find local food in ski country. “I love having a salad at the Cliff House at Stowe and knowing that the greens were grown in Craftsbury.”

With this ubiquity comes another significant bonus: Price.

Or, more specifically, lack thereof. As demand for local food has grown, prices have dropped. Want proof? Consider Claire’s Restaurant and Bar in Hardwick. Claire’s opened in May 2008, with a stated goal of sourcing 70 percent of its ingredients from within 15 miles. One year later, the figure stood at 78

percent. Perhaps even more impressive than the truncated supply chain of the plates emerging from Chef Steven Obranovich’s kitchen are the price tags attached to them. At Claire’s, entrees range from $12 to just over $20, and lighter fare (you might have guessed by now that I’m not big on my food being “lighter”) will cost you half that. “It’s a major priority for me to keep this food accessible,” says Obranovich.

“I am very conscious of being perceived as elitist.”

Since I ain’t real big on elitism myself, I swung into Claire’s one evening after a day of chasing my ski buddies’ vapor trails through the trees of Smugglers’ Notch. I’d started the day with a couple of jelly-filled’s at Jana’s Cupboard in Jeffersonville, done my usual ski-through-lunch routine, and arrived at Claire’s in a haze of fatigue and low blood sugar.

I collapsed onto a barstool. A pint of Rock Art’s fine Ridge Runner ale (brewed right up the road in Morrisville) provided the crucial degree of fortitude necessary to restrain myself from sneaking fries off the plate of the innocent fellow sitting to my left, even when he departed for the restroom, leaving his meal unguarded. I ordered a crab cake, a bowl of poutine, and a creamy mass of penne pasta topped by cheese and embedded with big, honkin’ chunks of Italian sausage. The potatoes (continued

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34)

Vermont Farmer Profile: Sally Goodrich There are more than 100 Jersey cows in the tall, airy hoop barn at Molly Broo k Farm in West Danville, Vt. and Sally Goodrich knows them all by name.

She walks slowly down the row, stopping to scratch a back here and rub a forehead there. “It’s important for me to see and feel my cows,” she says. “Th at’s the only way I can really know how they’re doing.”

Sally, 79, her 81-year-old husband Walter, and their son Myles have farmed this 565acre spread since each of them took their first steps on its fertile soil.

They’ve ridden the rollercoaster of milk price s and endured dozens of seemingly endless winters’ and sometimes, they admi t, it can feel as if the deck is stacked again st them. A tractor breaks: $4000.

A load of sawdust bedding arrives: It’s up to $1800, and they’ll need another in two week s’ time. “Someone once said to me ‘what would you do if you won a $2 millio n dollars in the lottery?’ And I said ‘farm for a couple of years,’” Sally says.

There’s been no lotto jackpot (not yet), but here they are, rearing Jersey cattle that rank among the very best in North America. The offspring of Molly Brook’s tawny, doe-eyed cows are so coveted for the quali ty and quantity of their milk that they can be found as far away as Sout h Africa, Denmark and even Australia. “Th ere are people all over the world that know Molly Brook,” Walter says, with no trace of brag in his voice.

“Come on, let’s go see some more of the girls ,” Sally says, striking out across the barn yard. Walter and Myles fall in behind her, trying to keep pace with a woma n who, with nearly 80 years of farming in her bones, shows no signs of slowing down.

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Courtesy of Justin Cash

Courtesy of Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Courtesy of Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Courtesy of Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Courtesy of Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Courtesy of Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Courtesy of Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

(continued

Gerry Nooneyugarbush Resort S Executive Chef

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and cheese were from just up the road; the crab had made the voyage from Maine.

By the standards of Claire’s, it was probably the least local meal I could have ordered. But then, I’m the guy with grease stains on his Gore-Tex; I’m not exactly a purist. I’m just a skier who likes to eat, thankful to be living in a place that feeds both of these appetites.

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 4 to 6)

Try this tasty Vermont classic

by Gerry Nooney, executive chef at Sugarbush Resort

1 qt chicken stock ¾ cup Vermont cider 12 oz Vermont potato 1 link hot Italian sausage 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 small Spanish onion, diced small 2 stalks celery, diced small 1 teaspoon smoked paprika ½ cup heavy cream 8 oz additional Vt. potatoes, diced large 1 teaspoon whole-leaf dried marjoram 1 teaspoon whole-leaf dried basil 1 teaspoon kosher salt Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

directions:

Simmer peeled potato in chicken stock and cider until very tender. Puree all in blender.

Slow roast hot Italian sausage until cooked through. Chill, then pulse in food processor — not too fine. Add sausage to pureed soup mixture.

Sweat onion and celery in vegetable oil until translucent. Add smoked paprika and cook an additional 3 minutes, stirring often. Add vegetable-paprika mixture to pureed soup.

Add cream to soup mixture.

Simmer large diced potato in salted water until tender.

Drain and rinse under cold water. Add to soup mixture.

Mouth-watering recipes, farmer and resort chef profiles, and Vermont Specialty Food Days’ calendar of events at SkiVermont.com in the new Food Zone.

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SkiVermont.com

Add marjoram, basil, salt and pepper to soup.

Bring soup back to simmer.

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What Golden Years?

We’re Seeing White The skiers who just keep on sliding.

By Kirk Kardashian If the only sport you hope to do during retirement is couch surfing, stop reading now.

Still here? Good. Because you’re about to meet three people who qualify for a subscription to AARP magazine, but choose to spend their free time skiing down, up and across Vermont’s mountains. Yes, they’re chock-full of stories about the “old days,” yet they have more fun thinking about their next turns than the ones they made back when wool was state-of-the-art.

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Courtesy of Wendy Hill

75, Rutland

W e ndy H ill There were quite a few years – too many to count, at least – when Wendy Hill skied seven days a week during the winter. “I taught ski school Monday through Saturday,” Hill recalls, “and raced on Sunday.”

It all started on a golf course, strangely enough. The ninth hole of the Troy, N.Y. golf course, to be precise. “I have a picture of me with white rubber overshoes and wooden skis with toe-straps, including the ski poles that came up about shoulder-height, and I’m standing there in my snowsuit and so is my mom. We had a little bank that she sent me down,” she says.

Hill was lucky enough to have an aunt and uncle who liked to ski, and they picked her up every other Sunday and brought her to Bromley and Stowe. “We skied a lot in those days,” she says, “and we loved it.”

By the time college beckoned, skiing was firmly in her bones. Cornell University, however, didn’t exactly have a ski team.

No matter, she explains, “a few of us decided to be the women’s team. We had no coach. We skied once in a while with the men and had very little training.”

Hill and her husband and three kids moved to Rutland, Vt. in 1963, and she quickly began teaching in the junior program at Killington. All her children became skiers and one, Bob Hill, was a member of the U.S. Ski Team in the late 1970s.

Eventually, Hill decided she could use some race training herself, so she went out to Mammoth Mountain, in California, for a clinic. That experience introduced her to masters racing, a circuit she competed in up until about three years ago, when she had an ankle fused.

Today, even with two hip replacements, Hill skis at Killington and Pico a couple of times a week, and in all kinds of weather.

“My philosophy is pretty much to take advantage of doing what I can when I can,” she explains. “There’s always limitations – time and money and stuff – but the weather has never deterred me. My husband feels the same way, and we both just go. I’ve preached it to my kids, too: you’re not fair-weather skiers. You go anyway, and it usually turns out to be a pretty good thing.”

SkiVermont.com

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Courtesy of Neely Washington

69, Middlesex

se n at o r pat r ic k lea hy Patrick Leahy spends more time in Washington, D.C., than Vermont these days, but he keeps a comforting image of home on the wall of his office there. “It’s taken from our living room window,” he says of the picture, “looking down across the Mad River Valley, and you can see Sugarbush there.”

Leahy lives on a pastoral piece of land in Middlesex that’s been in his family since he was a teenager, and he learned to ski just down the road, in Vermont’s capital. “I think my first skiing was actually in Sabin’s pasture in Montpelier,” he recalls. “They had this old rope tow connected to an automobile engine and it would clank and bang and crack, but we all had fun.” Later on, Leahy frequented Stowe, which is nearby.

These days, the demands of public office – and security concerns – limit his winter sports to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing on the logging trails near his home. “I can be sitting there,” he explains, “doing phone calls and paperwork and say, ‘I’ve had enough of this; it’s gorgeous out there.’ And 10 minutes later I’ll be out skiing. That’s the beauty of it.”

Aside from the convenience of snow-covered hills just outside his window, skiing provides a certain solitude that’s hard to find as a senator. “What I like about it so much,” he says, “is that you can get away from the cell phones and the BlackBerries. I also scuba dive, and they are entirely different types of sports, but in both you concentrate on what you’re doing and forget about everything else.”

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Courtesy of Manfred Karlhuber

61, Killington

ma n fr e d k a r lhu b e r If you happen to be at Killington and hear a person in the lift line who sounds just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, there’s a good chance it’s Manfred Karlhuber. But that’s where the comparison ends. Karlhuber, who with his wife owns the Snowed Inn on the Killington access road, is built more like a soccer player than a bodybuilder.

Karlhuber started skiing in the early 1960s, in Austria. “I grew up mostly on my grandmother’s farm on the outskirts of Salzburg,” he says. An uncle who was just 9 years older took Karlhuber under his wing and taught him to ski. “We did a lot of odd stuff,” he recalls, “like hiking up the mountain and skiing through the woods, through the powder. We skied up the back of a hay barn and jumped off it. That’s how we became kind of fearless.”

Karlhuber raced on the Austrian junior development team for a while, then taught skiing at an area near the Dachstein glacier.

He met his wife, a New Jersey native, when he was 20 years old. They moved to the United States about seven years later.

Karlhuber was active on the masters circuit for a number of years and is known in local circles for his technical skiing ability.

But today, he just enjoys being in nature. “I really like the winter landscape,” he says. “I still enjoy the skiing, but I don’t have to ski every day anymore. I like to get out three times a week. I still have this little racing temperament in my body, so the first hour I ski pretty hard and then I ease up a little and cruise. I like hard, firm slopes – that’s the way it should be on the race course – but then I also like powder and corn snow and to get into the trees. I also like to skin up the mountain for exercise.”

With the popularity of headphones these days, Karlhuber thinks many skiers and riders are becoming more detached from the mountain experience. “I don’t believe in skiing to music,” he ruminates, “because I like to hear the wind whistle and I like to hear my edges going through the snow.”

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Doubling up.

Throwing Down.

JusTin Dorey.

More on Dorey and the rest of the Kombi Team at kombisports.com/team

Raising Jay The rebuilding of a Northeast ski icon.

We’re not showing fancy CAD drawings of the new

through summer heat and 369 inches of winter to get

rental and demo center. We’re not showing swatches

the first of two new hotels up in time for this season.

from the suites. And we’re definitely not talking

Of course, if you’re into CAD drawings, you

about building a village around the outdoor patio.

can see them and the rest of our expansion plans at

We’re just gonna give a nod to the guys who worked

www.jaypeakresort.com/growingup

* To Vermont, With Love Massachusetts has 16 ski resorts.

Connecticut’s got five. Even New Jersey has four resorts within an hour’s drive of Hoboken. So why do we regularly make the hours-long trip to Vermont to do something as silly as sliding down snow-covered trails? What makes us forsake our native land in search of those northern hills?

For most of us (I’m a native upstate New Yorker myself), the answer is simple. “There’s just something about Vermont.”

It’s difficult to put into words, but if you’re holding this magazine, you probably have an understanding of the Green Mountain State’s magnetic personality.

I vividly remember the moment I first crossed into Vermont.

My mom was driving my brother and me in our gray Dodge Caravan minivan to visit our aunt, who was “ski bumming” 46

SkiVermont.com

by Luke Q. Stafford

for the winter as a ski instructor at Stratton. As soon as we saw the “Welcome to Vermont” sign, the landscape seemed to mutate. The snow was noticeably deeper, and the suburbanized feel of my homeland gradually dissipated. There were no billboards lining the highway. Gas stations became general stores. There were cows instead of strip malls. And when the ivory white slopes of Stratton first came into view, juxtaposed against the blue sky backdrop, I instantly knew that I would someday call this state my home. That may sound cheesy, but believe me, it’s true.

Serendipitously, a storm rolled through that night and left a 10-inch gift. I had no idea a mountain could get that much snow in one shot, and I would spend the entire following day frolicking in the untouched stashes on the sides of the trails.

Yup, I was hooked.

During my subsequent years at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, I planned my class schedule, Rain Man-style, to accommodate daily trips to Sugarbush and Stowe (to my Ballet for Beginners and Stage Lighting 101 professors: Thank you

Courtesy of Justin Cash

Courtesy of Justin Cash

Jay and Lisa became acquainted through roommates, and before long the two were taking weekend trips to Jay’s parents’ house at the base of Magic Mountain. As a new love between college students blossomed on the lazy Magic chairlifts, a different kind of love was developing on the slopes. Lisa quickly discovered that skiing was her sport, and Magic Mountain was her arena.

for not questioning my motives).

Post-graduation, I spent a few years snowboarding in the Cascades and Rocky Mountains, but before long I was back in my beloved maple syrup–producing, cheddar cheese–loving, politically rebellious state. I couldn’t stay away.

Why couldn’t I resist? Maybe it’s the people. Maybe it’s the 20 different ski hills dotting the map, each with its own distinct personality and clientele. Maybe it’s the taste of that Vermont micro-brewed beer at a crowded après-ski joint. Or maybe Governor Jim Douglas slips something in the drinking water.

It’s impossible to nail down a single reason for Vermont’s allure, because my story is one of many. In addition to the three winter enthusiasts represented here, there are countless others who have their own “minivan road trip to Stratton” stories.

You can share yours by e-mailing Luke@SkiVermont.com.

Name: Lisa Henneberry Day Job: Cardiothoracic Intensive Care RN Hometown: Madison, CT Lisa Beggan had never skied, or even been to Vermont, when she started her freshman year at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. But that would all change when she met a young man named Jay Henneberry.

“Magic Mountain is like ‘Cheers’ to me,” says Henneberry.

“You walk into the lodge and everyone knows your name.”

That community-oriented atmosphere is one Henneberry holds dear. So dear that she spends all but a few weekends of every ski season at a big house not too far from the one she and her husband shacked up in two decades ago. Together with their two children, ages 9 and 7, Lisa and Jay share the house with two other couples, their children and their dogs. “It’s a rowdy, crowded house... and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Henneberry still glides on two planks from time to time, but she considers herself a snowboarder these days. And that’s just fine with the rest of the gliders at Magic. “The people are strictly there to ski and ride. It doesn’t matter if you have the latest gear or duct tape on your jacket, it’s about getting outside to enjoy yourself.”

Although she sometimes brings her family to Okemo, Killington or Bromley Mountain, the comparatively tiny Magic Mountain is Henneberry’s all-time favorite. It’s so special to her that she and her husband, along with the couples sharing her ski house, have started savemagicvermont.com, a Web site that sells stickers and T-shirts to help the financially struggling ski area through its transition to a cooperative.

“I’ll take extra shifts at work if that’s what it takes to keep Magic open,” laughs Henneberry, although she’s very serious about the prospect.

“Magic keeps you on your toes. It’s different,” says Henneberry.

“I don’t mind the old slow chairlift – it gives me time to chat with my kids and friends.”

Once in a while, Henneberry is able to rearrange her work SkiVermont.com

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Courtesy of Justin Cash

schedule and shoot up to her beloved mountain for a midweek day of skiing. On those crowd-free days, “I’ll stop and realize that I’m the only person on the trail. The solitude is amazing.”

Name: Ken Rule Day Job: Commercial Diver Hometown: Ottawa, Canada Ken Rule likes his freedom. And he’s willing to cross the border to get it.

Rule, 40, spends much of his year underwater, repairing bridges, ships and barges as a commercial diver. By the time winter rolls around, though, he has more free time. There are at least half a dozen mountains within an hour’s drive of his native Ottawa, but he makes the four-hour trek to Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe several weekends a year.

Rule was introduced to Vermont by his father at the age of 8.

The two stayed at a hostel-like bunkhouse near the base of Jay Peak, and when Rule awoke in the daylight, he “was in awe” at the massive peak that lay before him. A few days later, they skied at Stowe and Smuggs. Rule was particularly smitten with the connecting trail between the adjacent peaks. “It was a big adventure to be able to link big mountains like that.”

After that fateful day at Jay Peak, Rule made a habit of visiting Smuggs and Stowe. These days the wilderness between the two peaks is just as intriguing as the slopes themselves – Rule sometimes spends entire days hiking and skiing in the backcountry and mountaineering on the frozen cascades in the notch.

“The mountains [in Vermont] are huge compared to what we have here in Ottawa. There is more variety and challenging terrain, and the quality of the natural snow is awesome.”

“Everyone I meet in Vermont is so psyched about the snow,”

Courtesy of Jim Deshler

“Canada is very strict about keeping everyone on the trails,” says Rule. “In Vermont, you have the freedom to duck into the woods, to go off-trail. The natural terrain is just... it’s the best.”

says Rule. “The energy when there’s a big storm is like a natural high that you can’t get anywhere else, especially not in a city in Canada.”

That “Vermont energy” is something he has exposed his children to since they were in diapers. Justin, 10, and Katelin, 8, both learned to ski at Smuggs at the age of 2 under the tutelage of Dad. Rule spreads his Vermont-love much further than his kin, however. Every year he organizes and leads the “Crazy Canadian Weekend,” a foray of 100+ Canadian skiers to the slopes of Vermont’s ski areas.

“No matter what mountain you go to in Vermont, you can make it into an adventure. It’s amazing to be able to explore all the state land that borders [the resorts].”

After a long day of skiing, and maybe hitting the Black Bear bar at Smuggs for some après-ski, Rule likes to soak it all in.

“If I have an ice-cold beer and a cigar while I’m standing at the grill, and I can look up and see the mountain in front of me, life doesn’t get any better.”

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Courtesy of Lenny Christopher

Name: Shaun M. Murphy Day Job: Terrain Park Crew Hometown: Westfield, MA Shaun Murphy’s parents couldn’t keep him on skis for very long. Halfway through his second season, at the age of 5, he convinced his parents that he was going to snowboard.

And snowboard he did. Now 21, Murphy’s list of accomplishments is impressive: 1st place, Last Call ‘09 at Loon Mountain; 2nd place, Peanut Butter and Rail Jam at Mammoth Mountain; 2nd place, Union Square Street Session Qualifier at Sunday River. The list goes on.

Murphy grew up in Westfield, a small town in western Massachusetts that has produced a handful of the East Coast’s best freestyle snowboarders, including Scott Stevens, a rising star in the world of snowboarding videos. Murphy spends his summers at home in this unlikely snowboards’ sanctuary, skateboarding in his free time and remaining a part of the scene that fostered his love and talent for snowboarding.

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Since graduating from high school, Murphy has gained wellearned respect and burgeoning fame around southern Vermont and beyond. He can be seen sliding rails at Carinthia at Mount Snow, stump-stalling in The Stash at Killington, or hiking urban rails around the condominium developments in Wilmington, Vt. Murphy is proud to say that he snowboards every single day during the winter, so long as he’s not laid up from one of his injury-inducing freestyle maneuvers. “I work every day during the week [as a park ranger at Mount Snow], then it’s contests every weekend. Summertime comes and kind of messes with me. But I just find a job to make money until I can make it to winter and get back on my board. Snowboarding is pretty much my life.”

This passion began for Murphy when he was 8 years old, when his parents brought him to Stratton for snowboarding’s pinnacle event, the U.S. Open. Since then, he’s been a regular at Mount Snow, where he spends his winters.

“To me, Vermont means good friends and fun. Everyone is easygoing and friendly and always ready to just cruise and

relax,” says Murphy. “And it’s all a short drive from home.”

A young but seasoned competitor on the freestyle contest circuit, Murphy has observed that Vermonters have a unique advantage at contests. “We know how to ride because of the harsh conditions you usually find. So when we get into contests [with West Coasters], we’re stoked, falling or not falling. It’s just loving life and the shred.”

Courtesy of Jim Deshler

Because Murphy’s skills are beginning to outpace those of most of his peers, he plans to move to mecca-like Lake Tahoe this season, bringing his East Coast mentality and “shredvantage” with him. His western Massachusetts roots and stand-out style will no doubt get noticed.

When asked what his vanity license plate will read if he moves back to Vermont, Murphy answered matter-of-factly.

“GET RAD.”

Get carded. and get ready to save!

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Holidays: 12/26/09 -1/2/10; 1/16-1/17/10; 2/13-2/19/10

Conditions: 866-856-2201

SkiVermont.com

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FIRST TRACKS

14 9

JAY PEAK

C a na da

12

Maine

SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH

7

Ve rmo n t

BURKE 10

23

N e w Yo r k

STOWE

24 27

M a s s ac h u s e t t s

BOLTON VALLEY

6 22

Connecticut Rhode Island

4

COCHRAN’S

New Hampsh i re

13

15

MAD RIVER GLEN

P e n n s y lva n i a New Jersey

Atlantic Oce an

SUGARBUSH 19 3

21

NORTHEAST SLOPES

Maryland D e l awa r e

MIDDLEBURY SNOW BOWL 2

how do you get here?

PICO KILLINGTON 17

16

SUICIDE SIX 30

BEAR CREEK

By Car

ASCUTNEY 1 OKEMO

Vermont resorts are an easy, convenient drive from anywhere in the East. Interstates 89, 91, and Vermont Route 100, the fabled skiers’ highway, provide excellent access to our mountains and villages.

18

BROMLEY 11

29

MAGIC 28

8

By train

STRATTON 25

Two Amtrak routes operate between Washington, D.C., New York City and Vermont, providing daily passenger service to many of Vermont’s mountain communities. For information, log onto Amtrak.com or call the resort you plan to visit.

MOUNT SNOW 20

26

5

Blue dots correspond with Nordic ski areas listed below.

nordic ski areas

By bus

Vermont Transit, part of the Greyhound system, connects Vermont communities with Boston, Montreal, New York and other regional and national destinations. Call 1.800.231.2222 for information.

1. Ascutney Mountain Nordic Center

17. Mountain Top Inn & Resort

2. Blueberry Hill

18. Okemo Valley Nordic Center

3. Blueberry Lake Cross Country

19. Ole’s Cross Country Center.

By air

4. Bolton Valley Nordic Center

20.s Prospect Mountain

With excellent air service, Burlington International Airport is a convenient point of access to northern and central Vermont resorts. Major air carriers include AirTran, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, United and US Airways. Visitors to central and southern resorts often fly to Albany, Boston, Hartford, Manchester NH, Newark, NJ and Rutland VT. Gateway cities for international visitors include Boston, New York, Montreal, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Rental cars are available at all airports and many resorts offer ground transportation.

5. Brattleboro Outing Club

Cross-Country Ski Center

6. Catamount Family Center

21.sRikert Touring Center

7. Craftsbury Outdoor Center

22. Sleepy Hollow Inn Ski & Bike Center

8. Grafton Ponds Nordic Center

23. Smugglers’ Notch Nordic Center

9. Hazen’s Notch

24. Stowe/Mt. Mansfield XC Center

10. Highland Lodge & XC Ski Center

25. Stratton Mountain Nordic Center

11. Hildene Ski Touring Center

26. Timber Creek XC Ski Area

12. Jay Peak Ski Touring Center

27. Trapp Family Lodge XC Ski Center

13. Kingdom Trails

28. Viking Nordic Center

14. Memphremagog Ski Touring

29. Wild Wings Ski Touring Center

15. Morse Farm Ski Touring Center

30. Woodstock Inn & Resort Nordic Center

16. Mountain Meadows XC Ski Area

Catamount Trail

SkiVermont.com

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by Mike Hannigan

Unfortunately, most of us will never have the chance to ride up a chairlift with Harry “Burr” Morse, Jr. That’s not because he’s no longer with us – far from it, he’s quite alive at age 61. It’s just that his alpine skiing days are behind him, and with them the chairlifts and the opportunity to be regaled by a master Vermont storyteller while riding up a mountain.

Instead, if you want to hear what Burr has to say – and trust me, you do – you’ll have to traipse off the beaten path a bit to his farm on the steep hills northeast of Montpelier. There, Burr’s family has been working the land in one way or another for the better part of 200 years.

Between his white beard, the clipped T’s at the end of certain words and the slight stoop that betrays years spent working the bony Green Mountain soil, Burr exudes the very essence of “old time” Vermont.

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At first blush, he seems quiet and reserved, but that’s more likely the product of Burr’s Yankee farming roots and the economy of words so inherent in that kind of upbringing. The illusion quickly vanishes, however, once he shakes your hand and starts telling you stories – about farming, about skiing, about maple sugaring, about Vermont itself and the role it plays in people’s lives.

Burr’s dad, Harry Sr., is the one who engineered the family’s transition from dairy farm to maplesugaring house and must-see attraction. As Burr recounts, mimicking his father’s plodding, deep, authentic (and sadly, disappearing) Vermont accent, “My father came home from the barn one day and started talking to my mother. ‘Now Dot,’ he said, ‘I know…how you hate…the way I smell… when I come in from the baahn from milkin’ the cows…So I’ve decided…that we should staaht milkin’ people instead.’”

And thus, a tourist destination was born.

Burr, however, didn’t want to work on the farm at first. He wanted to be a writer or a long-distance trucker, but decided to return to the farm after college instead. But now, he admits, “It’s exactly what I should have done. It’s given me so many opportunities. And here I am and here it is. I love it here.”

Today, Morse Farm’s staple is maple: maple syrup, maple cream, maple kettle corn and summertime maple creemees (don’t you dare call them soft-serve) account for about 70 percent of the family’s business.

In the winter, they operate a cross-country ski center as well. (Years ago, Burr’s brother and a friend even had a downhill operation across the road with a ski tow fashioned from an old Ford V6.)

Morse Farm is a smallish sugaring operation (it only has about 3,600 taps, compared to more than 70,000 taps at some larger sugarhouses), but the business more than makes up for it through Burr’s relentless

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desire to share his world with others. He clearly loves the spotlight and is a self-described glutton for PR. “I’ll bend over backward for people to come here. People is where it’s at for us – the more, the merrier.

“My father was very charismatic and personable,” – a trait Burr clearly inherited – “and he was getting people up here. At first, he was hustling the buses to get them up here. They’d stop at the State House and he’d go down and introduce himself and say, ‘We’ve got a farm and I can show you how maple sugar is made.’ And those that did come up loved it because he’d mix in the local color. And then the buses started to come [on their own]. And then it just started to grow and grow.”

Spend some time with Burr and you feel like you’ve been let in on a wonderful secret, like someone showed you a secret powder stash in the woods. It’s special; you can’t quite decide whether you should tell everyone you know or horde it all for yourself. Frankly, either one would be perfectly acceptable.

And while Burr’s maple offerings are delicious, his business is about more than just selling jugs of syrup – just as Vermont’s ski areas are selling more than lift tickets. They’re selling a lifestyle. An idealized one? Perhaps. But authentic? You betcha.

In the last few decades, Vermont’s ski industry and its sugar makers have grown into a symbiotic relationship with joint marketing efforts and sugar-on-snow tastings. Burr sees other parallels between the two industries: They both happen when there’s snow on the ground, both rely on visitors from other states and countries, and both are weather-dependent businesses – a fact that surely accounts for some of the gray in Burr’s beard.

“You’ve got to be strong or you’re going to wind up a neurotic invalid,” he deadpans. “Every day, it’s the weather that makes it or breaks it – in skiing and sugaring. I don’t do well with it – I bitch

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and moan about the rain when it’s raining, the cold when it’s cold, the thaw when it thaws. As if it’s going to do any good…”

But Burr does see one key difference for the sugar makers. While Vermont does have a deep, rich and well-earned skiing heritage, Vermont’s sugar makers are “blessed with the image,” he says.

“Vermont is the place that maple is produced. Quebec makes a lot more than we do, but you ask the average person anywhere in the world, ‘Where do you think they make maple syrup?’ and they’re going to say, ‘Vermont.’ If you ask the same question about skiing, some of them will say ‘Vermont,’ other’s might say somewhere else. So we have that image. And it’s up to us to keep it alive and promote it and inform the whole world about the process of sugaring – because it’s such a small business in such a small corner of the world that most people don’t know anything about – but they want to know about it.”

Often people have no idea what to expect from a visit to a sugarhouse, he says. ”They’re surprised that it’s not a factory they’re coming to. They’re surprised that it’s not some huge, huge industry owned by General Foods or whomever. And their final reaction is, ‘Wow, I had no idea [what was involved] and now I know why it’s as expensive as it is. And now I wanta go buy some.’”

As with ski resorts, weather can be a huge factor in the success of sugar makers. And just as with ski resorts and their huge advances in snowmaking technology, sugar makers are making strides in getting an edge on Mother Nature. Many now use advanced technology like reverse osmosis to turn sap into syrup more efficiently. Some also use vacuum technology similar to that of cattle-milking machines to replicate the atmospheric pressure needed for sap to run.

Still, as far as Burr is concerned, like skiers craving a foot of fresh powder, there’s no topping a perfect spring day. Asked what an ideal sugaring day looks like, Burr smiles easily and says, “Twenty-five degrees last night, 40 degrees at 11:00 a.m., and the sap’s just started running a stream. The wind’s from the west and we’re gonta make ‘fancy.’” Asked why it matters that the wind blows from the west, he scratches his head and says, “I don’t know – ask God. But it does [matter].”

Helped by Vermont’s growing green technology industry and realizing the importance of weather to their survival, the state’s ski resorts long ago got out in front of the issue of climate change and energy efficiency. And despite the fact that Burr is a conservative and a Republican (his grandfather, George Aiken, was a two-term Republican governor as well as Vermont’s U.S. senator for 34 years), he displays a classic commonsense Yankee attitude when it comes to issues of the environment.

“One thing that’s gotten my ugly face in the news a lot is that I’ve spoken up about climate change,” he says. “I’ve seen it in the last 25 years in that we’ve had an overage of not-so-good sugaring seasons and many have been because the nights didn’t get cold enough. I swear, I don’t know why this has become a conservative-versus-liberal question; it seems like we’re all humans, we all have to have the weather working right for us to live and grow food. And I’m a conservative, but I’m not going to bury my head in the ground about pollution and the need to be responsible with our energy production and fuel.”

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SkiVermont.com

In recent years, the combination of Vermont’s agricultural heritage and its abundance of great restaurants has blossomed into the “localvore” movement, in which chefs and the general public source their food from nearby farms. It’s become a huge hit with skiers and riders as they seek out Vermontmade beers and delicious foods to fill their bellies after a long day on the slopes. In a way, Morse Farm was a precursor of the movement.

“My father reached a point in ’66 where he’d had it with cows, and we’d always sugared for generations going back, so he had it in his head that it might be possible to do more with maple products and tourism – that was before agritourism [or localvore] was even a word.” Asked about the future of this tasty trend, Burr sounds upbeat. “There’s a whole world out there. And they want more natural products and stuff that’s better for them.”

While Burr may not have envisioned himself as a farmer in his younger years, his desire to write has belatedly come to fruition, and he can now add the title of “book author” to his lengthy list of talents and accomplishments. Burr’s words of wit and wisdom now appear every two weeks in his column for the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. He’s also been able to turn his natural storytelling abilities into two books (Sweet Days and Beyond and Golden Times, available at MorseFarm.com) with the idea for a third tome starting to percolate around Burr’s brain.

The concept of being a real writer is clearly still new to him. Asked how it feels to be a published author, Burr hesitates. “I still think of myself as a farm boy. I guess I’m an author. I’ve written two books and they’re out there selling. Before I started [writing them], I had come back to the farm and forgotten how to even sign my name for 25 years.”

But as good as his maple syrup and snacks are, and as nice as the views are from the grounds of Morse Farm, it’s hard not to conclude that Burr’s storytelling abilities will be his lasting contribution to Vermont, the syrup industry and the skiing business. It’s like a skier bragging about the best day of his life – the powder he bombed through, the laughter shared, the views soaked in. It’s the emotion of it that makes Vermont special, whether you’re skiing on snow or eating sugar on snow.

When the subject of storytelling comes up as it relates to the two industries, Burr responds, “It’s huge. Vermont is kind of an island. People think of it as this quaint place: down to earth, green, unpolluted. They’re probably thinking, ‘If I could live anywhere I wanted, maybe I’d live there.

Because now I’m in the middle of rush hour traffic and it SUCKS.’ “And so our job as Vermonters, whether it’s someone who owns a big ski resort like Sugarbush or Stowe, or someone like me…is to perpetuate that, to tell the stories enough that it goes right on, that Vermont is viewed as this utopia.

“One of the most common comments I get about my writing is, ‘You bring me back to a time in my life when I was happier.’ And my writing isn’t always…” he pauses. “I bend things a little. I don’t write negative stuff – politics, any of that. I write happy stuff and, sometimes, if I have to tweak it a little bit to make it a little happier, I will. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Because people want that. So I think we all have to tell stories that have happy endings as they relate to Vermont and what we’re doing here, whether it’s skiing or maple sugaring. Because that’s what’s going to keep people comin’ to Vermont.”

SkiVermont.com

59

Courtesy of Lenny Christopher

ALPINE

burke mountain ski area

cochran’s ski area

Jay peak resort

killington resort

East Burke, VT 05832 www.skiburke.com

Richmond, VT 05477 www.cochranskiarea.com

Jay, VT 05859 www.jaypeakresort.com

Killington, VT 05751 www.killington.com

General Info:............888-BURKEVT Snow Conditions:.......866-496-1699 Reservations:...........888-BURKEVT Fax:............................802-626-7310

General Info:.............802-434-2479 Snow Conditions:.......802-434-2479 Reservations:...............................— Fax:...............................................—

General Info:.............802-988-2611 Snow Conditions:.......802-988-9601 Reservations:............800-451-4449 Fax:............................802-988-4049

General Info:.............802-422-3333 Snow Conditions:.......802-422-3261 Reservations:......... 800-621-MTNS Fax:............................802-422-6113

Vertical:................................. 2,011’ Trails:.......................................... 45 Trail Acreage:........................... 250 Lifts:.............................................. 4

Vertical:.................................... 350’ Trails:............................................ 8 Trail Acreage:............................. 15 Lifts:.............................................. 3

Vertical:................................. 2,153’ Trails:.......................................... 76 Trail Acreage:........................... 385 Lifts:.............................................. 8

Vertical:................................. 3,050’ Trails:........................................ 141 Trail Acreage:........................... 752 Lifts:............................................ 22

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 200 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 80% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 4 of 4

Snowmaking Acreage:................— Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 66% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 3 of 3

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 238 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 80% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 8 of 8

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 543 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 70% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.22 of 22

northeast slopes

Okemo mountain resort

pico mountain

Smugglers’ Notch Resort

Rt. 25, East Corinth, VT 05040 www.northeastslopes.org

Ludlow, VT 05149 www.okemo.com

Killington, VT 05751 www.picomountain.com

Smugglers’ Notch, VT 05464 www.smuggs.com

General Info:.............802-439-5789 Snow Conditions:.......802-439-5789 Reservations:............802-439-5789 Fax:............................802-228-4558

General Info:.............802-228-1600 Snow Conditions:.......802-228-5222 Reservations:.........800-78-OKEMO Fax:............................802-228-4558

General Info:.............802-422-3333 Snow Conditions:.......802-422-1200 Reservations:......... 800-621-MTNS Fax:............................802-422-6113

General Info:.............802-644-8851 Snow Conditions:.......802-644-1111 Reservations:............800-451-8752 Fax:............................802-644-1230

Vertical:.................................... 360’ Trails:.......................................... 12 Trail Acreage:............................. 35 Lifts:.............................................. 3

Vertical:................................. 2,200’ Trails:........................................ 119 Trail Acreage:........................... 632 Lifts:............................................ 19

Vertical:................................. 1,967’ Trails:.......................................... 50 Trail Acreage:........................... 252 Lifts:.............................................. 6

Vertical:................................. 2,610’ Trails:.......................................... 78 Trail Acreage:........................... 310 Lifts:.............................................. 8

Snowmaking Acreage:................— Snowmaking Coverage:..............— Lifts Serving Snowmaking:...........—

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 605 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 96% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.19 of 19

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 171 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 75% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 6 of 6

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 159 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 62% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 8 of 8

60

SkiVermont.com

ALPINE

Ascutney Mountain Resort

Bear Creek Mountain Club

bolton valley resort

Bromley Mountain Resort

Brownsville, VT 05037 www.ascutney.com

Plymouth, VT 05056 www.bearcreekclub.com

Bolton Valley, VT 05477 www.boltonvalley.com

Manchester Ctr., VT 05255 www.bromley.com

General Info:.............802-484-7000 Snow Conditions:... 800-484-7000 x2 Reservations:............ 800-243-0011 Fax:............................802-484-3925

General Info:.............802-672-4242 Snow Conditions:.......802-672-4242 Reservations:............802-672-4242 Fax:............................802-672-4243

General Info:.............802-434-3444 Snow Conditions:.... 802-434-SNOW Reservations:........... 877-9BOLTON FAX:...........................802-434-6850

General Info:.............802-824-5522 Snow Conditions:.......866-856-2201 Reservations:............800-865-4786 Fax:............................802-824-3659

Vertical:................................. 1,800’ Trails:.......................................... 57 Trail Acreage:........................... 150 Lifts:.............................................. 6

Vertical:................................. 1,300’ Trails:.......................................... 15 Trail Acreage:............................. 60 Lifts:.............................................. 2

Vertical:................................. 1,704’ Trails:.......................................... 64 Trail Acreage:........................... 165 Lifts:.............................................. 6

Vertical:................................. 1,334’ Trails:.......................................... 45 Trail Acreage:........................... 177 Lifts:............................................ 10

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 142 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 95% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 6 of 6

Snowmaking Acreage:............... 15 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 30% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 1 of 2

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 100 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 60% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 5 of 6

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 138 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 85% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.10 of 10

mad river glen

magic mountain

middlebury college snow bowl

mount snow Resort

Waitsfield, VT 05673 www.madriverglen.com

Londonderry, VT 05148 www.magicmtn.com

Middlebury, VT 05753 www.middleburysnowbowl.com

West Dover, VT 05356 www.mountsnow.com

General Info:.............802-496-3551 Snow Conditions:.......802-496-3551 Reservations:...............................— Fax:............................802-496-3562

General Info:.............802-824-5645 Snow Conditions:..........................— Reservations:...............................— Fax:............................802-824-5199

General Info:.............802-388-4356 Snow Conditions:.......802-388-4356 Reservations:...............................— Fax:............................802-388-2871

General Info:.............802-464-3333 Snow Conditions:.......802-464-2151 Reservations:......... 800-245-SNOW Fax:............................802-464-4141

Vertical:................................. 2,037’ Trails:.......................................... 45 Trail Acreage:........................... 120 Lifts:.............................................. 5

Vertical:................................. 1,700’ Trails:.......................................... 40 Trail Acreage:........................... 135 Lifts:.............................................. 4

Vertical:................................. 1,050’ Trails:.......................................... 17 Trail Acreage:........................... 120 Lifts:.............................................. 3

Vertical:................................. 1,700’ Trails:........................................ 102 Trail Acreage:........................... 588 Lifts:............................................ 20

Snowmaking Acreage:............... 20 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 15% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 3 of 5

Snowmaking Acreage:............... 95 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 70% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 4 of 4

Snowmaking Acreage:............... 52 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 43% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 3 of 3

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 472 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 80% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:. 20 of 20

stowe mountain resort

stratton mountain resort

sugarbush resort

suicide six ski area/ woodstock inn

Stowe, VT 05672 www.stowe.com

Stratton Mountain, VT 05155 www.stratton.com

Warren, VT 05674 www.sugarbush.com

Woodstock, VT 05091 www.woodstockinn.com

General Info:.............802-253-3000 Snow Conditions:.......802-253-3600 Reservations:............800-253-4SKI Fax:............................802-253-3406

General Info:.............802-297-2200 Snow Conditions:.......802-297-4211 Reservations:......... 800-STRATTON Fax:............................802-297-4395

General Info:.............802-583-6300 Snow Conditions:.......802-583-7669 Reservations:..........800-53-SUGAR Fax:............................802-583-6390

General Info:.............802-457-6661 Snow Conditions:.......802-457-6666 Reservations:............866-448-7900 Fax:............................802-457-3830

Vertical:................................. 2,360’ Trails:........................................ 116 Trail Acreage:........................... 485 Lifts:............................................ 13

Vertical:................................. 2,003’ Trails:.......................................... 92 Trail Acreage:......................... 600+ Lifts:............................................ 16

Vertical:................................. 2,600’ Trails:........................................ 111 Trail Acreage:........................... 578 Lifts:............................................ 16

Vertical:.................................... 650’ Trails:.......................................... 23 Trail Acreage:........................... 100 Lifts:.............................................. 3

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 485 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 90% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.11 of 13

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 570 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 95% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.16 of 16

Snowmaking Acreage:............. 356 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 70% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:.15 of 16

Snowmaking Acreage:............... 50 Snowmaking Coverage:.......... 50% Lifts Serving Snowmaking:..... 3 of 3 SkiVermont.com

61

NORDIC Resort

Location

Email & Website

Phone

Toll-Free

Fax

Trails

Machine Tracked/ Skating Terrain

Instruction/ Rental

Ascutney Mountain Resort

Brownsville, VT 05037

info@ascutney.com www.ascutney.com

802-484-7711

800-243-0011

802-484-3117

30km

25km/15km

Y/Y

Blueberry Hill Ski Center

Goshen, VT 05733

info@blueberryhillinn.com www.blueberryhillinn.com

802-247-6735

800-448-0707

802-247-3983

75km

60km/40km

Y/Y

Blueberry Lake X-C

Warren, VT 05674

www.blueberrylakeskivt.com

802-496-6687

-

802-496-6687

30km

30km/30km

Y/Y

Bolton Valley Nordic Center

Bolton Valley, VT 05477

info@boltonvalley.com www.boltonvalley.com

802-434-3444 x1076

877-9BOLTON

802-434-6870

100km

30km/30km

Y/Y

Brattleboro Outing Club

Brattleboro, VT 05302

xc@brattleborooutingclub.com www.brattleborooutingclub.com

802-257-1208

-

802-257-3537

33km

25km/18km

Y/Y

Catamount Outdoor Family Center, Inc.

Williston, VT 05495

landj@catamountoutdoor.com www.catamountoutdoor.com

802-879-6001

888-680-1011

802-879-6066

35km

20km/20km

Y/Y

Catamount Trail Association

Burlington, VT 05401

info@catamounttrail.org www.catamounttrail.org

802-864-5794

-

-

300mi

-

Craftsbury Outdoor Center

Craftsbury Common, VT 05827

stay@craftsbury.com www.craftsbury.com

802-586-7767

-

802-586-7768

135km

85km/85km

Y/Y

Grafton Ponds Nordic Center

Grafton, VT 05146

info@graftonponds.com www.graftonponds.com

802-843-2400

800-843-1801

802-843-2245

60km

30km/30km

Y/Y

Hazen’s Notch Association

Montgomery Ctr., VT 05471

info@hazensnotch.org www.hazensnotch.org

802-326-4799

-

802-326-4966

70km

40km/0km

Y/Y

Highland Lodge & XC Center

Greensboro, VT 05841

highland.lodge@verizon.net www.highlandlodge.com

802-533-2647

-

802-533-7494

52km

45km/45km

Y/Y

Hildene Ski Touring Center

Manchester, VT 05254

info@hildene.org www.hildene.org

802-382-1788

800-578-1788

802-362-1564

15km

12km/3km

Y/Y

Jay Peak Ski Touring Center

Jay, VT 05859

info@jaypeakresort.com www.jaypeakresort.com

802-988-2611

800-451-4449

802-988-4049

20km

20km/20km

Y/Y

Kingdom Trails

East Burke, VT 05871

info@kingdomtrails.org www.kingdomtrails.com

802-626-0737

-

802-626-7310

50km

50km/50km

N/N

Memphremagog Ski Touring

Derby, VT 05829

info@mstf.net www.mstf.net

-

-

-

30km

30km/30km

N/N

Morse Farm Ski Touring Center

Montpelier, VT 05601

ski@morsefarm.com www.skimorsefarm.com

802-223-0090

800-242-2740

802-223-7450

25km

25km/20km

Y*/Y

Mountain Meadow XC Ski Area

Killington, VT 05751

bcoutfitters@adelphia.net www.xcskiing.net

802-775-7077

800-221-0598

802-747-1929

57km

57km/57km

Y/Y

Mountain Top Nordic Ski & Snowshoe Ctr.

Chittenden, VT 05737

stay@mountaintopinn.com www.mountaintopinn.com

802-483-6089

800-445-2100

802-483-6373

60km

40km/40km

Y/Y

Okemo Valley Nordic Center

Ludlow, VT 05149

info@okemo.com www.okemo.com

802-228-1600

800-78-OKEMO

802-228-7095

22km

22km/22km

Y/Y

Ole’s Cross Country Center

Warren, VT 05674

ski@olesxc.com www.olesxc.com

802-496-3430

877-863-3001

802-496-3089

50km

50km/45km

Y/Y

Prospect Mountain X-Country Ski Ctr.

Woodford, VT 05201

ski@prospectmountain.com www.prospectmountain.com

802-442-2575

-

-

45km

35km/30km

Y/Y

Rikert Touring Center

Middlebury, VT 05753

rubright@middlebury.edu http://go.middlebury.edu/rikert

802-443-2744

-

802-388-2871

42km

30km/15km

Y/Y

Sleepy Hollow Inn Ski & Bike Ctr.

Huntington, VT 05462

info@skisleepyhollow.com www.skisleepyhollow.com

802-434-2283

866-254-1524

802-434-2283

40km

30km/25km

Y/Y

Smugglers’ Notch Nordic Center

Smugglers’ Notch, VT 05464

smuggs@smuggs.com www.smuggs.com

802-644-1173

800-451-8752

802-644-2713

30km

18km/26km

Y/Y

Stowe/Mt. Mansfield XC Center

Stowe, VT 05672

info@stowe.com www.stowe.com

802-253-3688

800-253-4754

802-253-3406

75km

35km/35km

Y/Y

Stratton Mountain Nordic Center

Stratton Mountain, VT 05155

agriswold@intrawest.com www.stratton.com

802-297-2200

800-STRATTON

802-297-4117

30+km

10km/10km

Y/Y

Timber Creek XC Ski Area

West Dover, VT 05356

vtcxc@sover.net www.timbercreekxc.com

802-464-0999

-

802-464-8308

14km

14km/14km

Y/Y

Trapp Family Lodge XC Ski Ctr.

Stowe, VT 05672

www.trappfamily.com info@trappfamily.com

802-253-5755

800-826-7000

802-253-5757

100km

55km/55km

Y/Y

Viking Nordic Center

Londonderry, VT 05148

skiandstay@vikingnordic.com www.vikingnordic.com

802-824-3933

-

802-824-5602

35km

35km/30km

Y/Y

Wild Wings Ski Touring Ctr.

Peru, VT 05152

wwwxcski@sover.net www.wildwingsski.com

802-824-6793

-

802-824-4574

28km

28km/0km

Y/Y

Woodstock Inn & Resort Nordic Center

Woodstock, VT 05091

email@woodstockinn.com www.woodstockinn.com

802-457-6674

866-448-7900

802-457-6699

60km

50km/20km

Y/Y

*Weekends by appointment

Photo: Stowe Mountain Resort

www.VermontVacation.com

1-800-VERMONT

Courtesy of Jim Deshler

And last, but certainly not least, a very special thank you to all of our sponsors.

64

SkiVermont.com

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