Change is coming! Soon, Vermont will reveal its much beloved Wintry presence. See whats new for 2009-2010!
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Not much of a recession going on at the 27th annual US Open held March 16-22 at Stratton Mountain, Vermont, where the top male and female winners took home $100,000 each for capturing the Burton Global Open Series (with US Open as the final stop) which is the largest single payout in the sport. Check out the photos.
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The second day of the 27th annual US Open saw a field of 121 men vying for 40 spots in Friday’s slopestyle qualification round. Of those 40, only ten will move on to Sunday’s semi-finals where they will face invited riders like Chas Guldemond, Shaun White, Tim Humpreys, Charles Reid, Risto Mattila and Sebastien Toutant.
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Snowboarding’s Original and Longest Running Competition to Award Over $200,000 in Prizes
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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - Stratton Mountain, VT- Good weather, mid-season like conditions, 30% open terrain, and a huge turnout is a good way to characterize the holiday weekend at Stratton, which some are considering to be one of the best in recent years.
“The past few days were a strong testament to our guest’s passion for the sport and our snowmaking and grooming team’s ability to create a quality product. Despite the current economic climate, we definitely exceeded our expectations for the weekend so perhaps this is a signal that winter and snow can trump the economy, confirming that skiing and riding are not only a hobby for many, but also a lifestyle.” said Stratton COO and president Sky Foulkes.
Stratton management were not the only ones happy with the conditions over the weekend. On opening day, Livingston, New Jersey resident and a local homeowner, Margo, quipped “the conditions today were better than some Christmases” while 13 year old Nick from New Canaan, CT. loved the conditions on Polar Bear and describing them as “really smooth”.
Great snow doesn’t always happen overnight and often it is man-made snow that forms the foundation of an east coast resort’s base. Stratton has been making snow since 1965 and is an industry leader due to the experience of Chief Snowmaker Lynn Capen who has been here for “too long” in his words (33 years for the rest of us), the mountain’s 16 million dollar investment in equipment (More than 800 tower, land, and fan guns) over the past decade, the ability to cover 95% of the terrain, and the mountain’s large water source which holds 220 million gallons of water in reserve. This last fact alone gives Stratton a huge advantage as the mountain’s arsenal is capable of pumping 11,400 gallons of water a minute. Putting it in simpler terms, that’s enough fire power to bury three football fields in one foot of snow in one hour.
While Stratton is set up with an efficient infrastructure, it’s the quality and hard work of the snowmaking team that makes the difference. Snowmaking guns cannot just run non-stop and unattended. Shifting temperatures require modifications to the process while changing weather and wind conditions require the team to pay constant attention to positioning and flow. When conditions are good (cold temperatures, relatively calm weather), as they were the two weeks leading up to opening day, the snow will begin to pile up in no time. If not, a snowmaker’s job may be one of the toughest around.
The last step is getting the snow groomed down, particularly after a thaw or in periods of inclement weather. The Stratton grooming team under the direction of Al Desroches do an amazing job of turning the most adverse conditions into some of the smoothest and cleanest groomed corduroy that you will find in the world. A groomer’s job begins when the public’s ski or snowboard day ends, often working through the night to ensure that Stratton’s famously groomed conditions are in place when the lifts open the following morning.
Combining these two snow farming elements, while sprinkling in some help from Mother Nature and adding a dash of skier and rider enthusiasm may help to explain the recipe for Stratton’s early season success.
For the day or for the week, Stratton Mountain Resort is looking forward to another great season of bountiful snow, gold medal grooming, and providing its guests with unforgettable memories and everything they love about Vermont in one place!
Weekend Event Highlights…other than the snow!
Gobble Gobble Wobble
On Thanksgiving Day, 222 “Wobblers” turned out for the fun when the mountain held its third annual “Gobble Gobble Wobble” 5K race. Carter Simard won the Junior’s division, Alyce Alfano took the honors in the Women’s, George Forbes triumphed for the Men and was the overall winner, while Jim Perry won for Best Turkey Flair!
Fire and Lights Night
On Friday, the mountain celebrated its first ever “Fire and Lights” Night with a torchlight parade, campfires, S’mores, extended store hours in the Village, and Fireworks! Next F & L night will be New Years Eve.
Tree Lighting Ceremony & Village Fashion Show
Saturday afternoon brought tree lighting, Santa Claus, and fashion modeling to the Stratton Village. After getting in the holiday spirit, guests were treated to a winter, snowboard fashion show presented by Burton at Stratton.
Stratton Mountain VT - Crow’s feet, memory loss, stiff joints, hair loss in desired places, hair growth in unwanted places. Getting older is not always pretty for humankind. But like a fine wine or Brady Bunch re-run, Stratton Mountain seems to get better with age. After experiencing one of the snowiest winters in recent history, the resort couldn’t be more excited for the 2008-2009 ski season. In preparation, a number of changes, additions, and overall improvements to the terrain, equipment and events calendar will have the place looking and feeling better than ever when the first skiers and snowboarders arrive in November.
Terrain
New Trails: Two new (yet to be named) intermediate trails in the Sunbowl area of the mountain, located off skiers right off of Sunriser Supertrail. The trails will be treated as glades this season with no snowmaking.
Glades: The largest off season glade project has been the creation of natural terrain features (ie: jumps, rails, banks, rollers etc) in the Emerald Forest glade. This process, originally used in the Test Pilot glade, utilizes logs, felled trees, rocks and other naturally occurring obstacles to create organic counterparts to features normally found in terrain parks. Stratton’s longest and most innovative glade, Test Pilot, is also receiving some attention this off season as some of the more densely treed areas are being thinned out to create better lines and more space to rip. All of the harvested timber will then be used to create features within the glade.
A New Way Down: Easy Street will be a newly launched, three mile long, family friendly trail that starts at the summit and winds down to the base through Mike’s Way, West Meadow, Drifter Link and Old Log Road. Mountain Patrol will be stationed along the route as a reminder that this trail is designed for an easy-does-it style of skiing and riding. The route delivers big time views of the surrounding area and will cater to families, beginners and everyone looking to take it easy.
Retooled and Revamped Parks and Pipes:
* Suntanner trail will no longer host a terrain park but will instead have a Boarder-X course on its lower reaches
* Tyrolienne will be the beginner/ intermediate park and will play host to a Saturday night, under the lights, series of events
* East Byrneside and Old Smoothie will be the intermediate/advanced parks and will be updated with newer features for 08’/09’.
* An 18 foot Superpipe will be built on Sunriser Supertrail (in the Sunbowl area) by MLK day or before if conditions permit.
* Betwixt/Beeline will be a rail/jib park with multiple lines designed for all abilities of park riders.
Equipment
New and Improved Machines: The grooming fleet is enhanced with a new Prinoth Sherpa Winch Cat (for grooming steep pitches) and a Prinoth BR350 terrain park cat with more horsepower and range of motion for better functionality when creating terrain park features.
Better Efficiency and Lower Enviromental Impact: Stratton is investing half a million dollars in snowmaking energy efficiency programs including…
* 40 new low E tower guns which increase snow particle size leaving flakes less susceptible to wind, reducing air consumption and saving energy dollars, increases snow output, and reduces small snow particle fog.
* The installation of a more efficient VFD pump which provides up to 30% energy savings with an Efficiency VT rebate attached to it.
* A New 1700 cfm air compressor which creates 20 – 30% more energy efficient and better overall output.
Events
Under The Lights: New this year to the events calendar is a series of amateur snowboard and freeskiing events that will be held on Saturday nights, under the lights on the Tyrolienne Slopestyle course. Events are open to all and are currently scheduled for December 27, January 17, and February 7. Details to come!
Being one year older and one year wiser, it should be obvious that time is best spent at Stratton Mountain Resort; A blend of traditional with cutting edge and a place of mixed generations where both Generation Y’ers and Octogenarians can co-mingle amongst terrain park features and boutiques in the Stratton Village. Where terrain expansion does not come at the expense of the natural environment and mountain advancements complement the traditional features that have made Stratton great for many years.
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