STOWE, Vt. -- They called it the Big Pig: a chairlift so slow that your face likely would be numb by the time you skied off and had to choose between Sterling Trail to the right or Main Street to the left. On the far eastern perimeter of Spruce Mountain at Stowe Ski Area, the trails were favored by locals, especially in late afternoon, when you could still bathe in sunshine while whisking through a placid tapestry of balsams and birches.
Business is booming around Stowe, Vt.
As of this year, the Big Pig has been laid to rest, replaced by a high-speed, detachable quad called Sensation. The 20-minute ride to the 3,390-foot peak of Spruce has been reduced to six minutes. It's one of many changes at Spruce as Stowe Mountain Resort is undergoing a massive overhaul.
''We've always attracted the core skier lured by the challenging terrain," says Mike Colburn, vice president of sales and marketing at Stowe. ''Now we want to open up the area to families, with beginner and easier intermediate runs."
The challenging terrain Colburn is referring to is made up of the legendary Front Four: Goat, Lift Line, National, and Starr. These double diamonds plummet down Mount Mansfield, Vermont's tallest peak, teaching young cocky skiers the meaning of the word respect. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Inspiration, the latest trail to be created at Spruce. This easy green run has a 10 percent grade, designed for the first-time skier. Lining Inspiration are new town homes and, in front of the base lodge, a huge pit will soon be the site of a 108-room hotel called Stowe Mountain Lodge. It's all part of a big real estate initiative to make Stowe one of the leading ski in/ski out resorts (or golf in/golf out resorts in the warm weather months) in the East.
It took more than a decade of negotiating with conservation organizations in Vermont to acquire the 32 acres Stowe would need to enhance adjacent Spruce Peak. The resort would have to donate the surrounding 2,000 acres to the state and allay fears of townspeople that this new community would not be self-sufficient, still relying on the town of Stowe for its dining and shopping needs.
In return, Spruce Peak would get to build 400 dwellings that include houses, town homes, and one- to three-bedroom condominiums in a new hotel. Then there are amenities like the new base lodge, a spa, retail shops, a 250-seat performing arts center, and heated roads to and from Route 108 so drivers won't have to deal with ice in winter. A shuttle service will run folks into town so they can leave their cars behind.
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