As resident Dad at Macaroni Kid I often share the manly view of things. I avoid sentimentality, weeping and the like. But be warned, my review of Mount Snow brings on waves of nostalgia of my youth and family. And isn’t that what family vacations in general, and family ski vacations in particular, are all about?
Looking deep into my minds’ eye, I can clearly see some powerful memories from my childhood trips to Mount Snow. Riding the “Sky Car” from Snow Lake Lodge to the base area, jumping in the outdoor pool at the base lodge, and the family classic, riding up the ski lift with my fathers’ glove on my foot after my hand-me-down ski boot fell right off as it dangled from the lift.
Later in life I returned to Mount Snow, this time as a twenty-something single. While I didn’t meet my wife there, it is where we dated and where I proposed one March evening. So when Macaroni Kid sent us there to review the skiing experience as a family, who could blame me for being a bit sappy?
First, let me say that a lot has changed in the past 40 years since I started skiing at Mount Snow. Gone is the Sky Car and the indoor ice rink. Now there’s the Blue Bird Express Lift and the Grand Summit Lodge.
The Blue Bird Express is a Mount Snow’s new 6-person “bubble-lift” that whisks passengers to the summit with the comfort of a retractable bubble to keep out the wind and snow, and on warm days, you simply raise the bubble and enjoy the sunshine. From the top, there’s something for everyone. Green slopes that wander for miles, the North Face with imposing black diamonds and double black diamonds, and the main face with blue cruisers that roll down the mountain. Skiing the North Face, where I skied my first black diamond trail, with my son was a great treat.
We dropped our daughter off at ski school with confidence. Right outside the ski school building is the Launch Pad Learning Area, completely separate from the rest of the slopes. There’s also easy access to beginner and intermediate terrain so classes are super-efficient.
Mount Snow is the biggest ski mountain in southern Vermont and we had a great day getting reacquainted with its trails. But one of the biggest changes for me was the Grand Summit Lodge. In my youth, skiing at Mount Snow meant a stay at a road-side motel, or the aforementioned Snow Lake Lodge, best described as a "rustic." This visit, we stayed at the Grand Summit, a modern ski lodge with all the expected amenities: pools, restaurants, ski shop, deli, spa and more. The Grand Summit was convenient, comfortable and very family friendly. It was also right near the Snow Tubing hill which is one of our favorite after ski activities, and this trip was no exception.
So what memories did we create for my kids? I don’t know, but I’ll ask them in 20 years … remember that trip we took to Mount Snow? I’m sure they’ll come back with some tiny thing that I barely noticed but stood out for them, and you know what? I’ll probably get sentimental and weepy then too.
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The writer and his family were guests of Mt. Snow for a two-night stay in which accommodations and lift tickets were provided to facilitate the preparation of this review. No other compensation was received.
