Stowe, VT 23FEB2020

An image of Erica and the boys having a snack at the Great Room Grill in the Spruce Camp Lodge at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont
E and the boys having a snack today during an afternoon snack at the Great Room Grill

Today at Stowe we had some absolutely fabulous weather and ski conditions for our students in the BJAMS ski program.  Temperatures were in the 30s F with plenty of sunshine, and on the slopes of Spruce Peak where we spent our time, the snow had softened to just the right consistency to be perfect for confidence building, exploration, and advancement.

Dylan and I were with Viviana, so we started her off with a couple of runs off the Meadows Quad where she’d last been skiing.  I was astonished to see that in many spots on the standard Easy Street run, she was already making parallel turns – these were just happening naturally without any mention of it from us, which is a great sign.

“Temperatures were in the 30s F with plenty of sunshine, and on the slopes of Spruce Peak where we spent our time, the snow had softened to just the right consistency to be perfect for confidence building, exploration, and advancement.”

Before program today we’d taken an early trip to the Sunny Spruce Quad to check on the West Run route.  We’d confirmed that there was no ice and no moguls, and with the consistency of the snow I was confident that Viviana could make the progression to those trails.  While on the lift we noted that this was Viviana’s fourth day on skis, and each day she’d progressed to a new lift.  Viviana did great oh her Sunny Spruce runs, although the steepest pitches on West Run were definitely pushing her.  She had to work hard to control her speed, but it was challenging her to just the right level.  She even got to ski trees for the first time along Easy Street and really liked that experience.

After a break for some food at the Great Room Grill, E joined us for a run to see how Viviana was doing off the Sunny Spruce Quad.  Even though Viviana’s brain didn’t know it, I could tell by her body language that she needed to be done for the day during the course of that run.  She had a real hard time controlling her speed on the steep pitches, and she barely turned for the last part of Easy Street.  Even though she wanted to keep going, I had to explain to her dad that she needed to be done, and he understood.  Viviana made excellent progress with the fantastic snow conditions today, so the last thing we wanted to do was ruin it with one of those “last run” injuries.

After dropping off Viviana to her dad, we did join up with one of the other groups for a run off the Sunny Spruce Quad.  Dylan and I had an amazing time skiing the ridge off to the left side of West Slope, catching nice air with each turn for a really fun end to the day.

We may have a substantial winter storm coming to the area from midweek into the weekend that could drop a foot or more of snow in the mountains, so we’ll be watching for that as the forecast develops.