After skiing Utah’s bouncy powder a couple of years ago, I resolved never to brave the chill winds and scratchy slopes of the East Coast. But with the end of the season fast approaching, no skiing on the horizon, and an offer of a bed in a house in Stowe, Vermont, for the weekend, I succumbed.
And guess what? The ice I’d been warned of (“I hope you wear a helmet,” said a friend portentously when I told her I was going) never materialized. We swooshed down empty pistes coated in fresh flakes and bordered by ghostly trees. It was cold enough for our goggles to freeze at the top, and the sky was a blunt off-white instead of Park City’s perennial blue, but that added to the otherworldly atmosphere.
I took the photo above on a trail called Sterling, which was probably the prettiest I’ve ever skied—don’t miss it if you’re in Stowe before the snow melts.
Powder report from the WOM blog: You can Ski With An Olympian at Four Seasons Whistler
The heavily wooded x-country trails at the Trapp Family Lodge a few moments from Stowe are especially otherworldly. You can meander along the trails under a huge pine canopy for hours without seeing a single other person. It's amazing.