Vermont Ski Vacations

Vermont is renowned for its best cross-country and downhill ski areas. It has more than 20 alpine ski resorts and almost 50 cross-country touring centers. The combination of skiing areas and picturesque Vermont villages offers visitors a superb chance to explore the quintessential New England winter experience.

The state's most renowned alpine ski areas are Stowe, Killington, Mad River Glen and Mount Snow. Among these, Stowe offers traditional New England charm and the biggest vertical drop in the area. The largest in New England, Killington has seven mountain peaks, 200 trails, five terrain parks, 33 lifts, and a vertical drop of 3,050 feet. Mad River Glen, renowned for its classically cut New England trails, is recognized as the best ski terrain in New England. A romantic getaway, Southern Vermont near the Mount Snow ski resort offers five mountain faces, extensive tree areas and top rated parks and pipes.

Vermont's cross-country skiing has a tradition of 100 years. Its Green Mountains make an ideal setting for most of the cross-country ski centers. Its cross country ski areas feature wide groomed trails that meander through woods, across fields and along fantastic ice encrusted streams. Of the more than 40 cross-country tourist centers, the Catamount Trail system is very famous. It has been designed to connect eleven of Vermont's finest cross-country ski centers as it winds its way north from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border.

Other famous destinations for Vermont ski vacations are Ascutney Mountain Resort, Bolton Valley Resort, Bromley, Maple Valley, Middlebury College, Okemo Mountain Resort, Smugglers Notch, Stratton, Sugarbush and Suicide Six.

Vermont ski resorts offer a wide variety of ski vacation packages, stay packages and ski discounts. This area has all the facilities for fine lodging, dining and shopping to please any traveler. High-performance equipment and related accessories are available for rent. In addition to skiing, Vermont offers various recreational activities and conducts winter carnivals.

Vermont Skiing

Vermont's a place where barns come painted
Red as a strong man's heart,
Where stout carts and stout boys in freckles,
Are highest forms of art.
- Robert Tristram Coffin

The peaks, the snow and the skiing just a few things that make Vermont a place people wish to visit again and again. Vermont is one of those places that are always available and that offer a romantic getaway, as well as an adventurous retreat in the same place at the same time.

Skiing is to Vermont what Chardonnay is to France an experience and means of living. The state of Vermont, located around the peaks of the Green Mountains in northeastern United States offers some of the best skiing trails and sites in the country. It is the only state in the region of New England without a coastline and has one of the least populated places in the United States. It retains much of the rustic charms that New England is known and loved for and the people, although rural, are welcoming and friendly. The highest peak in this region is Mt. Mansfield (4393 ft) and it offers some of the smoothest and most maneuverable slopes in the country, despite its overwhelming height. Other peaks such as Killington, Mt. Helen and Camel's Hump also at a considerable height have become the happy hunting grounds of some of the world's most famous skiing champions.

Much of Vermont is wooded, largely wild and unexplored territory and an unguided skiing trip in these regions can be hazardous. The safest places to ski are generally the areas designated for the purpose by the state authorities. These are designed to include some of the best trails and are even patrolled by officials to ensure the well being of the visitors. The most popular ski areas in Vermont include Magic Mountain, which has over 135 acres of trails and terrains for experts skiing and the Vermont Cross Country Ski that has some of the longest trails. Family skiing destinations such as the Hermitage Ski Touring Center, with trails suitable for all levels of skiing expertise, and Bromley Mountain are also very famous among tourists.

Don't Punish Vermont for the Myopic Rulings of Men in Robes

Truly, to any sane person, the ruling was unthinkable, a sentence so inexcusably inadequate for the magnitude of the crime as to defy any precedent going back to the Cenozoic Era.

Edward Cashman, his face alight with pug-like arrogance as he handed down his ruling, appeared to have gnawed himself free of his senses. His concept of punishment of a convicted child rapist, a mere 60-day confinement--three months short of Martha Stewart's term--was an atrocity unmatched since Cut'em Loose Bruce sat on the bench in New York City.

The victim, a young girl, will serve a life sentence, imprisoned not by bars of emotional trauma so strong they can't be broken, nor doorways to freedom opened. Gone are her innocence, her child-like trust, wonder and awe.

Cashman claims, to the astonishment of the nation, that "punishment doesn't work." He defends his decision by explaining that since the convict, Mark Hulett, was ineligible for immediate treatment in prison, he needed to be freed quickly to begin treatment.

Here is a felon with a mental defect so vast that he views life darkly through the eyes of a fiendish predator unable to control his hideous attraction to children.

Fortunately, the state has changed its rules specifically for this case. The prison system will allow this pedophile to get treatment while incarcerated for an appropriate period of time. So Cashman has placed him behind bars for three years, but that's still inadequate.

Unfortunately, Judge Cashman isn't the only judge who seems to have a soft spot in his heart for pedophiles. According to Bill O'Reilly, Judge David Howard, also a Vermont judge, sentenced a man who molested a four-year-old boy to probation, and was removed from a case when he set free another defendant--a man whom the judge represented in 1991, but never told the court before presiding over the case and letting the man walk.

These rulings are anathema to the trust we confer on our judges to sentence appropriately. It's not a judge's place to decide whether or not punishment works, but rather they are tasked with meting out punishment prescribed by sentencing guidelines. If repeatedly raping a child is worthy of 60 days, then surely, by the rules of comparative rationality, murder should garner no more than a year.

We all are endangered and diminished by such asinine precepts. Sensing the winds of reassignment blowing against him in the Legislature, Cashman has wisely announced his "retirement." Now we need to push Howard off the bench, and hopefully it's one well splintered.

The reaction to the Cashman ruling was swift and barbed. When it was announced, Vermont became an instant pariah, a state under siege, to a legitimately enraged nation. The Governor's office was inundated by emails, letters and phone calls from irate Vermont visitors who swore off future Vermont vacations and threats to boycott any Vermont-made products.

I understand the anger, as do many in the state. But we must ask with the utmost respect and humility that you consider your decision not to come here carefully. You may be denying yourself a visit to one of the nation's most scenic states.

And we must also ask, was it Vermont B&B owners who handed down the ruling? Hotel owners? Spa and Resort operators? Restaurateurs? Museums? Ski Area owners? Cheese makers? Wood crafters? Nay, it was two woefully misguided judges whose rationality is much in need of questioning.

Those of you stung to fury, enough so to make your feelings tangibly known, are correct. Truly this is malfeasance of the worst sort, but don't deny yourself the extraordinary wonder that is Vermont.

Instead, come on up. Vermont's wonder and magic have just started to bloom for summer and the views are striking.

This Winter You Should Consider A Vermont Ski Vacation

Every winter there are many people who like to travel to the ski resorts and ski the slopes. Mount Snow in Vermont is often referred to as one of the best ski resorts throughout the United States. If you are standing at the top of Mount Snow, you are 3600 feet above sea level and there is a 1700 feet vertical drop. The ski resort consists of 26 lifts total and over 135 trails. Each winter the resort is full of ski loving vacationers.

Many of them are families because the Resort has accommodations for all ages. There are designated areas for kids and childcare is also available. The children can learn to ski too because there are instructors on duty for group or individual training. Lessons are also available for adults. There are also discounts for families. If they choose to go in the middle of the week there are special deals for the family. There are also discounts if you go in January. There are Kids Ski & Learn Free weeks in January. This is one of their most popular deals for the family.

There are many winter activities at Mount Snow. Some of these are skiing, snow boarding, snowmobiling, tubing, snowshoeing, and even sleigh rides. There is a ski shop with all of the ski or other supplies you might need. There are restaurants, and bars for entertainment and fine dining. You can call for reservations and have an enjoyable vacation for the whole family. There are many vacation packages to choose from and there is one to fit your family's needs. Even if you go alone, you are guaranteed to have fun. There are so many things to do; the time will fly by before you know it. You will definitely want to return sometime. The customer service is very good. The staff at the resort wants to make sure everyone has an enjoyable time and they will help you any way they can.

There is a Grand Summit Hotel and Crown Club near the slopes, as well as a heated outdoor pool and other entertainment so there is never a dull minute while you are there. If it is fun and enjoyment you are looking for in the dead of winter, Mount Snow is the place for you. Relax, kick back and have an enjoyable vacation. It will be a memory for the whole family and not one they will soon forget. If you like cold weather and love to ski or just to get outdoors and enjoy the winter mountain air, you will want to consider Mount Snow for your next winter vacation. Do a little more research online and you can find out more about it. You will not regret the trip and you will want to return again and again.

Vermont Ski Resort News

     From new chairlifts to wind turbines, from routine trail mowing to new cooperative ownership structures, Vermont ski areas have been busy these last few months preparing for the exciting winter sports season ahead. Here's a look at what's new for the 2009-2010 season.

ASCUTNEY MOUNTAIN RESORT
      Look for more snow this season, with the addition of two new snowmaking air compressors and additions to the grooming fleet to smooth it all out. The resort is now affiliated with the InterContintental Hotel Group and its Holiday Inn Club Vacations subsidiary, which has the potential of drawing more destination skiers.

BOLTON VALLEY
      Talk about going green, this place will be generating approximately one-eighth of their electrical power needs this winter with a new wind turbine electrical generator-the first one for a Vermont ski area! If that wasn't enough, two new SMI Polecat snowmaking fan guns will be churning out the white stuff in the terrain park; 5,500 feet of snowmaking pipeline was upgraded for increased water flow; and a Prinoth Bison grooming machine was added to the fleet. Last, but not least, look for new tables and chairs in the cafeteria.

BROMLEY
      After a busy summer entertaining visitors in their adventure park, with its new Zip Line, the mountain's staff has been mowing the trails, checking the snowmaking lines, and greasing the lifts in preparation for the skiing and riding season.

JAY PEAK RESORT
      The big news here is the debut of the Tram House Lodge in the base area. Open to overnight guests and day skiers and riders alike, this new facility sports an indoor fitness club, rental equipment center, restaurant, coffee shop, and the Golden Eagle Bar, featuring front row seat views of the slopes.

KILLINGTON
      The resort added more low-energy snowguns to its existing arsenal, upgraded the operational software on the Skyeship Gondola, and reseeded sections of the popular Great Eastern novice trail. Over at Pico, the Upper Pike trail has new snowmaking pipelines and hydrants to insure more efficient coverage.

MAD RIVER GLEN
Trail maintenance crews have been working over the summer on trail bridges and drainage systems. The Sunnyside Double chairlift's bullwheel had new bearings installed to keep it spinning smoothly along this winter.

MAGIC MOUNTAIN
     "Save Magic Mountain" signs are back up around the town of Londonderry, as the current owners make the partial transition to a cooperative ownership arrangement, a la Mad River Glen. Three hundred and thirty-three shares at $3,000 a pop are being offered to the public in exchange for 60-percent ownership of the ski area and voting rights. To slash costs, the area will only operate Fridays through Mondays and holiday weeks. However, after a big dump, management may open the area if six inches or more falls and 50 percent or more of the terrain is skiable.

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE SNOW BOWL
      The best improvement statewide happens here this season, with the opening of the $1.7-million fixed-grip triple chairlift on Worth Mountain. Middlebury College, owner of the ski area, had a choice: either spend half a million to fix up the existing 40-year-old double chairlift so it could pass state lift inspection, or bite the bullet and spring for a new lift. They wisely chose the latter.

MOUNT SNOW
      Mountain crews have been at work tweaking the infrastructure of the snowmaking system and preparing hits for the freestyle terrain park on the Carinthia side. The resort is gearing up to host the national Winter Dew Tour freestyle finals in early February.

OKEMO MOUNTAIN RESORT
      The mountain's entire HKD snowmaking system was reconfigured to improve resurfacing response time. A second 500-horsepower turbocharged Prinoth BR500 grooming machine will be at work tilling up and smoothing out the trails this season.

SMUGGLERS'NOTCH RESORT
      Full Nelson, a black-diamond trail, was extended from above mid-Sterling Mountain to the base area. If you are one of those people who likes to keep score of the vertical feet and the miles skied on any given day, Smuggs will be renting out Flaik GPS tracking units to log your accomplishments. For beginner snowboarders, the new Burton Learn-to-Ride Center will be open for business.

STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT
      After last season's spending spree on the Stowe Mountain Lodge and Spruce Camp, and the financial woes resulting from federal bailout of corporate parent AIG, the mood is somber here as potential resort buyers drop by to "kick the tires." That's not to say the skiing and riding won't be great. The resort infrastructure is in top shape with employees standing by, ready to spin the lifts and crank out the snow once again this season.

STRATTON MOUNTAIN
      A new Adventure Zone and lift-served four-lane tubing park will add new spark to the Sun Bowl area. Guests can also Nordic ski, snowshoe, and arrange for snowmobile tours out of the Sun Bowl Day Lodge. Also look for a new Jib Park on Lower Middlebrook, border-cross on East Byrneside, and beginner mogul areas on the White Birch and Daniel Webster trails.

SUGARBUSH
      More "official" wooded terrain, 75 acres or so, was thinned out, ready to welcome adventurous skiers and riders this season, when snow depths permit. In the snowsports school, après ski and ride, students will be able to view online video clips of their lessons, with instructors' comments.

SUICIDE SIX
      The trails are mowed, the lifts are inspected, and everything is ready to go in December.

Look to Residence Inn in Williston For Your Next Vermont Ski Trip

     Nestled snuggly between Stowe and Sugarbush lies the town of Williston in the Green Mountain state more commonly known as Vermont.

     Easily accessible off of Interstate 89, and just four miles away from Burlington, VT, and the Burlington International Airport, Williston boasts home to many hotels to stay, but none that offer that home away from home feeling like the Residence Inn by Marriott.

     The rooms at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Williston Vermont feature spacious suites, fully equipped kitchens, free wireless Internet access and an Indoor pool. If waking up in the morning and cooking your own breakfast in your fully equipped kitchen before you head off to the slopes doesn't sound like a lot fun then take advantage of their complimentary "Home Touch" breakfast.

     Their complimentary breakfast offers a variety of cereals and oatmeals, to muffins, pastries and bagels as well as home fries, sausage, waffles (that you make yourself in their waffle irons) and of course scrambled eggs. Load up your plate, grab yourself your complimentary, tea or coffee and sit by the fire in their lounge area as you watch the falling snow.

     If you do want to take advantage of your kitchen, grocery shopping is less than 2 miles away at the local Shaw's grocery store. The Residence Inn is also within distance to a variety of great restaurants and shopping outlets.

     But lets face it you went to Vermont to ski and that is great, because you are in luck. The Residence Inn in Williston sits nearly smack in the middle between Stowe mountain (my personal favorite) and Sugarbush. Jump on Interstate 89 to route 100 and head north to Stowe or south to Sugarbush. You should reach your destination within 35 to 50 minutes depending on traffic and of course how you drive.

     Before you leave for the day hit the front desk at the Residence Inn for discount lift tickets. They vary from week to week but you should be able to grab a nice discount if you are there Monday through Thursday, which are also the best times to ski at both Stowe and Sugarbush since there are virtually no lift lines.

     If for some reason at the end of your long and fun day of traversing down the hundreds of trails at Vermont's ski slopes you find yourself needing to do more activity, then do not fear the Residence Inn in Williston features a fitness center and complimentary passes to a local gym.

     Many rooms (but not all) come equipped with fireplaces. These are available in most suites and if it is an amenity you really desire make sure you put your request in when you book your room.

    The suite that my family and I booked easily slept all 5 of us and at $189 per night split 5 ways, with all the amenities that we received, it is a deal that you just can not beat.

If you are planning to ski in Vermont in the Stowe or Sugarbush area, consider the Residence Inn in Williston, VT, they are sure to make your trip an enjoyable one.