2015-16

CASTLEROCK ‘N’ ROLL DAWN PATROL AT THE MOUNTAIN Plus: Beginner Lesson Breakthrough Local Wine Experts Amazing Desserts 2015-16

JUMP IN! BLUEBERRY LAKE SUMMER TENNIS HOLIDAY

Plus: Beginner Lesson Breakthrough Local Wine Experts Amazing Desserts IVING 2016 L SPRING

VISIT US AT SUGARBUSH RESORT REAL ESTATE LOCATED IN THE FARMHOUSE AT 800.806.1070 | SUGARBUSHLIVING.COM AO Sugarbush Magazine 2015 - w bleeds.pdf 1 7/28/2015 7:47:09 PM

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and expertise intheMad River Valley.and expertise providing highqualityequipment of Celebrating our20thAnniversary PhotograPher: Blake Jorgenson 20

years • in Sugarbush , Warren, VT. Conveniently locatednext toRiceBrook Residences www.mountainsideski.com 802-583-WAXX (9299) Equipment &Accessories Leasing Children’s Seasonal Equipment Custom BootFitting /Board Tuning &Repair &Demos Ski Rentals 1995 –2015

8/5/15 12:27PM HANS JONATHAN VON BRIESEN

27 The ’Rock Is a Hard Place Welcome to one of the most eccentric (but beloved) trail networks in the world of and . BY PETER OLIVER Plus: Lessons for advanced skiers and snowboarders. 33 The Mountain Wakes Up Skinning up and skiing down as the sun rises— and the mountain crew prepares for the day. BY CANDICE WHITE Plus: After the storm ... 41 Never Too Late A skier gets back on the slopes after a two-decade break, and takes her first lesson ever. BY AMY STACKHOUSE Plus: Lessons for beginners. 45 (Blueberry) Lake of Dreams One man’s dream for his children becomes a reality for an entire community. BY PETER OLIVER 51 Courting Success Two days of tennis instruction in one beautiful Valley equals redemption on the court. BY KATIE BACON Sugarbush skier Alix Klein ripping it up on Castlerock’s Lift Line. Plus: Tennis in the Valley: Then and now. SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE

PRESIDENT Winthrop Smith Jr.

EDITOR Candice White AUDREY HUFFMAN

MANAGING EDITOR

CLARISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM Katie Bacon

PRODUCTION EDITOR Amy Stackhouse

ART DIRECTOR Audrey Huffman

ADVERTISING MANAGER 72 Calli Willette

CONTRIBUTORS John Bleh Chris Enman 14 Laura Friedland JACK GARVIN JACK Jack Garvin Inside Lines Peter Oliver 6 One on one with Win Smith, owner and Mary Simmons president of Sugarbush Resort. PHOTOGRAPHER Arts & Culture John Atkinson 8 FOR THE LOVE OF WINE In the Valley, knowledge of wine runs deep. CONTRIBUTING Plus: Wine recommendations from local PHOTOGRAPHERS experts. clarisphotography.com Eugene Krylov 12 FOUR-SEASON SECRET STASHES 8 Everyone knows about the Valley’s main Alexandra Morse attractions. Here, we lift the curtain on Michael Riddell Style Hans Jonathan von Briesen some lesser-known favorites. 38 Just desserts. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur Summertime Timeline SUGARBUSH RESORT 14 HIGH-FLYING WEDDING WEEKEND 54 A quick history of Sugarbush. 1840 Sugarbush Access Road A plane, a , and a zip line were Warren, VT 05674 all part of the fun when Beth Pollock Sugar-Kids 800.53.SUGAR and Chauncey Griffith tied the knot 56 Go mad with our Mad (River) Libs, sugarbush.com at Sugarbush. a word search, a scrambler, and Plus: Pre-nuptivities. ON THE COVER some awesome jokes. WINTER: Wintertime Sugarbush season passholder 61 Dining Directory 18 A DAY IN THE LIFE AT SUGARBUSH Darian Boyle in Slide Brook. Photographer: John Atkinson Profiles of six Sugarbushers. 65 Lodging Directory SUMMER: Training Ground Sugarbush Close-Up A summer day at Blueberry Lake. Photographer: John Atkinson 22 SHAPE UP! 68 Facts and figures about the Five personal training sessions at SHaRC mountain and the latest get the author off the couch and into shape. developments there. Plus: Beyond the training gym. 72 Events Calendar 2015–16 Mountain Life 24 #SBCOMMUNITY 73 Closing Shot

4 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE ALPINE SHOP

(802) 862-2714 AlpineShopVT.com 1184 Williston Road, South Burlington, VT. /AlpineShopVT

2015/16 5 INSIDE LINES LLACE-BRODEUR

At Sugarbush, we have a motto we take very seriously: Be Better Here. JEB WA Each year, we work hard to improve what we do so that you, our guests, will have a better experience. Annually, we make visible and quantifiable investments—in new lifts, low-energy equipment, new groomers, new rental equipment, and lodge construction and improvements—so that your experience gets better.

Another way we strive to be better is to continually work to strengthen the bonds of our community. I truly believe that we have a special community here in the Valley— this is what attracted my family here years ago. Many things go into creating a vibrant and Win and Lili at the Big Kicker at American lasting community, but it is the shared values of a community that hold it together. Flatbread’s Lareau Farm.

Some of the values I see that hold this community together include a strong sense of individualism; a commitment to exercise freedom of expression (just go watch the Warren Parade!); a willingness to help each other in times of need (I think most recently of Tropical Storm Irene); and a true appreciation for the natural environment.

That natural environment provides so many recreational opportunities for us to pursue, from hiking and cycling to fishing and swimming to skiing and snowboarding. But as with many things in life, there are risks comingled with the rewards of pursuing our recreational passions. This year at the resort, we will be talking a lot about safety, and focusing on the role that each and every one of us plays in staying safe at work and at play. Safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Up to this point, we have put a great deal of effort into making sure our employees perform their jobs safely. You might be impressed by how much thought our housekeeping staff puts into the cleaning supplies they use, or the training that every on-snow staff member goes through. We are equally concerned about the safety of our guests, and I am asking that all of you take part as we place more emphasis on this topic.

We have resources to guide all levels of skiers and riders. We publish a Winter Trail Use Policy that includes the National Ski Areas Association’s Skier’s Responsibility Code, a list of seven points that every skier or rider should know and follow. Our policy also addresses skiing in control, skiing on closed terrain, uphill travel, and skiing in the woods. In addition to policy, we have staff who support us in recreating safely. We deploy a trained group of professional ski patrollers who are on the mountain to assess when to safely open and close trails, and to assist anyone who is injured. We have ambassadors stationed around the mountain to help guests decide on appropriate routes down; these ambassadors also run free “Meet the Mountain” tours for anyone unfamiliar with the terrain. We are also very fortunate to have a clinic staffed with orthopedic physicians from the Medical Center who have been serving Sugarbush for the past several decades.

Safety resources are not meant to take the fun out of skiing or riding. To the contrary, they are there to help all of us enjoy ourselves. I look forward to another great, safe year at Sugarbush, with you, your friends, and family.

Cheers,

Win Smith President, Sugarbush Resort Win awaiting the Mad Bus after a powder run in Slide Brook.

6 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Route 100, WWaitsfield,aitsfield,VTVT 802-496-3272 wwwwww.spor.sportiveinc.comtiveinc.com ARTS & CULTURE For the Love of

WINEIn the Valley, knowledge of wine runs deep. BY JACK GARVIN

A glass of pinot noir on the patio at Timbers, surrounded by mountains.

any know that the Mad River Valley is filled with food geeks for Pinot Noir lovers. My Oregon experience took me through every and beer geeks—people who bring knowledge, curiosity, aspect of the wine-making process, from canopy management to M and high standards to what they create, eat, and drink. pest control, chemistry, geology, blending, and tasting. For me, Fewer know that the Valley has its share of wine geeks, too. I mean learning from the wine maker and touring the vineyards in some of passionate people without pretension who have been informing and the most beautiful areas on earth is the best education. You can truly impressing new wine aficionados and sophisticated consumers for understand wine when you see how much care is taken to ensure that years. Most of us are self-trained, introduced to the world of wine by it reflects the wine maker’s creativity and sense of place. Often wine a mentor or a singular wine experience, or just brought up in a way of makers will manipulate alcohol and sugar levels—and sometimes life where wine on the table at meals is a part of the everyday fabric this is necessary, given the vagaries and challenges of each growing of living. But there are formally trained people in the Valley as well. season—but the real masters tend to have a hands-off approach and let the wine speak for itself. My own love for wine began when I came to the Warren Store thirty- five years ago. Bill Wadsworth was the proprietor of the wine shop I’m a firm believer that a wine should be more about finesse than at the time. When I started working I heard that he was in California power. (Power wines tend to be overly alcoholic fruit bombs, such rounding up hard-to-find reds and whites from Napa Valley and was as a very oaky Chardonnay, that overwhelm the flavors of the food. actually icing down the whites daily in his car as he worked his way Finesse wines tend to have a good balance of fruit and acidity and back to Vermont. What dedication! alcohol levels around 11 or 12 percent.) I encourage my customers to get out of their comfort zone and “drink outside the box.” There’s My real love of wine began, however, when Bill and I tried a bottle of La so much good wine out there from lesser-known wine regions. My Mission Haut Brion 1974. As someone who grew up drinking Mateus hands-on approach in choosing wines and educating my customers and Lancers, I knew right then and there that I wasn’t in Kansas about them will often lead people to a Zweigelt from Austria, a Nero anymore. The layers of flavor, complexity, and nuance from that wine d’Avola from Sicily, or a Tannat from Uruguay. Each of these wines has converted me. I learned a great deal from Bill, and through numerous a provincial rustic quality and lends itself well to food from the same tastings and long conversations my palate developed and my curiosity region. I love talking about wine so much that I like to offer a “long” or grew. Soon I was traveling to California to visit many of the wineries “short” answer option. Some people let me go on and on, and others we represented, and to this day my vacations revolve around wine are pressed for time and just want to hear the scaled-down version. regions in France, , and the Pacific Northwest, where last summer I’m happy either way. I participated in the annual Oregon Pinot Camp—a sort of boot camp

8 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Chris Alberti, the chef/owner of Peasant and a and studying—required.) Wilson has also been certified through the grape grower himself, likewise came to his knowledge Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in London. In January 2015, she of wine through life experience rather than specific training. He passed level 3, involving a two-hour exam on wine theory and a tasting grew up in a family that appreciated wine, and as a youth was exam for which she had to identify three whites and three reds down allowed to drink wine at family meals on holidays and Sundays. to their vintage, appellation, and village of origin. She’ll begin studying Later, when he was working in finance on Wall Street, he started for level 4, a two-year process, in October. collecting wines in earnest. “I became a big fan of the Rhône from Wilson worked on Wall Street for thirty years before moving to the Bandol to Côte Rôtie and everything in between. The older I get Valley in 2005; she opened the wine shop with her husband the the more Burgundy I want to drink, but the power of the Rhône following year. Her father worked for a wine importer when Wilson wines will always be a love of mine.” The approach he takes to food was young, so she used to try a range of wines and ask her father and wine is a traditional one. For him, “farm to table” is not a new questions about them. Then, in the late 1970s, a customer sent her phenomenon but the way it’s always been, at least in Europe. And a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieux Télégraphe, which spurred that’s what he aspires to in the kitchen: classic, rustic, Old World Wilson’s love for French wines. These days, with 1,000 different kinds food paired with the classic varietals, paying homage to the areas of wine (and 350 kinds of craft beer) at her store, Wilson has one of the he feels make the best examples of a given varietal type. “If I need largest selections in the state. She travels when she has time, and has a Sauvignon Blanc for a food pairing I’ll use a Sancerre. You go with visited vineyards over the past few years in Austria, Italy, Germany, the best.” (Sancerre is the region in France where some of the best California, and Washington. During a trip to Oregon (which she says Sauvignon Blanc is produced; in Europe, wine is identified by place is like “Vermont on steroids—pretty, green, and with huge trees”), she of origin, whereas in this country it’s by varietal.) explored some of her favorite Pinot Noirs. “California’s are very fruit- When Chris is not at Peasant he’s up at the vineyard he manages forward, and Oregon’s are a little more Burgundian in style; the fact above the Valley corridor on East Warren Road in Warren, pruning, that the wines are grown a little further north, with hot days but cool doing canopy management, and harvesting (he taps friends and nights, means they’re lighter and earthier.” Lately Wilson has found family to help). Only a crazy man herself drawn to “natural” wines, a new movement that harkens back would throw himself into the stressful to how wines used to be made. In natural wine making, nothing is and never-ending challenges of added to the grapes—no sulfites, and no yeast (they use open tanks, running a vineyard and overseeing all so the yeast shows up naturally). She stocks a lot of those wines aspects of a restaurant. The vineyard in her store, but she has many other kinds as well—to fit all of her is dedicated to Frontenac Gris and customers’ preferences. “My philosophy is, drink what you really like. Prairie Star—not household names It shouldn’t be that difficult or complicated.” but interesting grapes that can tolerate Vermont’s harsh winters and Timbers manager Bruce Hyde first started becoming have the flavors and acidity to pair knowledgeable about wine when he took an introduction well with Chris’s wonderful cuisine. to wine course at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration; since he Vermont wines are slowly being was nineteen at the time, the course was the only legitimate way he appreciated for what they are and Up close on Chris Alberti’s could try wine. Every spring, they went on wine tours of the Finger Lakes what they can become. grapes. region, where Hyde came to appreciate the fine Rieslings produced at the Hermann Wiemer vineyards and elsewhere. As his knowledge and Others in the Valley have sought out more official training have evolved, Hyde has found himself gravitating, like Wilson, credentials. Joan Wilson, owner of the Waitsfield toward what he calls “honest wines—wines that have very little human Wine Shoppe, and Bruce Hyde, manager of Timbers Restaurant, are manipulation and tend to reflect the natural state of the vineyards.” pursuing certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers in With these wines, the variation in taste comes not from what the wine London, an international examining body that requires people to pass makers do after the grapes are picked, but from where the grapes are four leveled exams in order to become master sommeliers. Wilson grown—what the French call terroir. recently passed level 2; Hyde is preparing to take the level 2 exam in Hyde tries to bring this approach to the wine list at Timbers, where the fall. Ari Sadri, the manager of the Pitcher Inn, has passed level 1, his overarching goal is to serve though most of his wine knowledge, he says, comes from tasting up wines that have a sense of place. to three dozen wines per week, and from “thirty years of falling asleep For research, Hyde travels to reading books on wine every night.” Level 1 requires knowledge a range of wine regions. “It’s of (and ability to identify wines by taste from) all the wine-growing very difficult to understand wine regions in the world. The knowledge required for each level becomes from a region without seeing more and more specific: master sommeliers must be able to identify the vineyards and talking to the specific wines from specific vineyards, and articulate what makes wine makers.” Last fall, Hyde them different from their neighbors. (In forty years, only 227 people went to Sicily, where he sought worldwide have passed level 4, which hints at the level of dedication— out wine makers who share Bruce Hyde of Timbers.

2015/16 9 his feeling about the importance of a sense of place. “The new guard of Sicilian wine makers—Arianna Occhipinti, Lamoresca, and Frank Cornelissen—are all making incredible wines with little manipulation in the winery. Call them natural wine makers or non-interventionists, but in essence they are growing grapes with great care and trying to put little human influence into the bottle. I identify with these guys and really enjoy the wines.” Sometimes the mystery that wine makers employ is just letting nature take care of its own destiny.

Ari Sadri’s interest in diving deep into all things wine happened under the wing of Andy Ayers, proprietor of the now-closed Riddle’s Penultimate Cafe & Wine Bar in St. Louis, which was the best wine restaurant in the city. Sadri recalls that each week Ayers would sit down with whatever staff was interested to talk about Chris Alberti, Joan Wilson, author Jack Garvin, and Ari Sadri on Timbers patio. wine: What should you pair this particular wine with? What is that wine Wine Recommendations from Local Experts region known for? “It spoke to my inner nerd,” says Sadri. As he learned more, he realized that for him, too, a wine’s strong to the CHRIS ALBERTI A specialty at Peasant is our cassoulet (made with white beans, place where it was made was all-important. “Each wine is temporal, an sausage, pork, and chicken). The Burgundy I love with it is the expression of a grape grown in a specific place at a specific time under Frédéric Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur—it has a little specific conditions,” he says. “This is compelling to me, as it means oak and lots of earth, barnyard, and pure terroir. I also love a that each wine is unique, never again to be completely duplicated.” crisp acidic white with the cassoulet, like my Frontenac Gris from As an example, Sadri points to the 1989 Cabernet Sauvignon vintage the vineyard, or the Trimbach Riesling. from California. “It was relatively rainy at harvest, lots of people JACK GARVIN freaked out and picked early, and ended up either with green stemmy I’ve been matching Spinetta Il Rosé di Casanova with grilled wines, or diluted, watery wines. Some producers, like Paul Draper at salmon and capers. This Rosé is very pale, but packs a deceptive punch of Tuscan Sangiovese and Prugnolo Gentile. The current Ridge Vineyards, had seen this pattern before and knew they would vintage is a fifty-fifty blend of these two grape varietals. They can get a normal harvest. Draper waited it out and made a stupendous certainly stand up to the richness of the salmon, and the wine 1989 Cabernet reflective of its location, area, and season. He knew not offers a thirst-quenching acidity that cleanses the palate and to panic, and made better wine than the others.” Through studying, leaves me looking for another quaff. tasting, and traveling to vineyards around the world, Sadri is on the hunt BRUCE HYDE for wines to introduce We have a Monday-night BBQ at Timbers in the summer, and my to his customers at the favorite summer pairing with it has to be Rosé. Seriously, in the summer, why drink anything else? The key to pairing wine with Pitcher Inn. “Beautiful BBQ is matching the acidity and spiciness level in the sauce with wines are made all over your wine. For spicier sauces, you might look to wines with a bit of the planet these days. residual sugar to offset the spice. Really vinegary sauces call for I’m always seeking them higher acidity in wines. For our chef’s smoked chicken I’ve been out; it doesn’t matter loving the Donkey & Goat Claim Jumper Rosé. The searing acidity where they come from. and touch of smokiness complement the dish perfectly. But I am never looking ARI SADRI for powerhouse wine; I One of my favorite pairings is a Couly-Dutheil Chinon Blanc with diver scallops and clementine brown butter. The ripe peach and want balanced, elegant nectarine notes of the Chinon bring out the natural sweetness in wines that speak to me the flesh of the scallop that’s mirrored by the clementine. about place.” Ari Sadri tastes a wine. JOAN WILSON Right now I have two favorite pairings: one red, one white. Lately ine takes us through many portals. We learn about farming, the I’ve been grilling two-inch-thick lamb chops marinated with Wimpact of weather, wine as a commodity, wine in ritual and rites lemon, olive oil, and rosemary, cooked to medium rare. The lamb of passage. We learn about wine’s nuances and its interrelationship is wonderful with Syrah, specifically Côte-Rôtie from the northern with food through its flavor profile and balance of fruit and acidity. For Rhône. I’ve also started experimenting with the Viognier grape us, the learning never stops, and the enthusiasm never ends. Ask any from various growing areas. I prefer Viognier from Condrieu, although other areas in the Rhône are also really good and a of us about a bottle of wine, and we’ll tell you its story—the long or the lot more reasonably priced. A dry, floral, full-bodied white wine short version. like this pairs well with grilled lobster with a plain melted-butter sauce. It can also be paired with spicy Indian dishes because of Jack Garvin is the manager of the Warren Store and has been there its amazing apricot, peaches, and cream aroma and its balanced since 1980, when he “stopped in for a cup of coffee and never left.” fruit and acidity. Along with his other responsibilities, he chooses the wines and plans the store’s wine-tasting events. He lives in Waitsfield.

10 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE The Waitsfield Wine Shoppe offers one of the largest selections of quality wines in Vermont. With over 900 Wine facingS in all price ranges and over 300 Select craft beerS, it is your one stop shoppe for fine wines and beer. h Established 2006 by Joan Wilson Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 h WaitSfield Wine Shoppe 4330 Main Street • Waitsfield, Vermont 802-583-9463 (Wine) www.waitsfieldwine.com

FOOD & WINE SAMPLERS FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL December 28, 2015 September 30 – October 2, 2016 March 12, 2016 Three-day food and wine festival including A food and wine sampling event with opening chef’s reception and wine dinner, educational seminars, followed by an evening educational seminars, Artisan Taste, featured dining experience featuring guest vintners wine dinners around the Valley, “Late Night and wine merchants. In collaboration with the on the Mountain” after-hours party, charitable Nantucket Wine Festival. walk, and champagne brunch.

800.53.SUGAR www.sugarbush.com

2015/16 11 ARTS & CULTURE The Great Vermont Plein Air Paint-Out, part of August’s Festival of the Arts. FOUR-SEASON Secret Everyone knows about the StashesValley’s main attractions. Here, we lift the curtain on some lesser-known favorites. BED & BREW SNOWSHOE TOURS Vermont is known for its cozy Sugarbush offers guided snowshoe tours into Slide accomodations and for producing some of the Brook Basin, home territory of black bears, moose, deer, country’s best craft beer, like the Alchemist’s Heady Topper and coyotes, bobcats, fishers, ermine, owls, turkeys, and woodpeckers. Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine. Why not put the two together? Enjoy Tours can be both physically warming and mentally stimulating, Vermont Bed & Brew Packages, which include two nights’ lodging, a as trekkers learn to interpret tracks, the scars on trees, and other private tour of four craft breweries, more than twelve beer tastings, evidence of wildlife. offers a similar program, including and a hearty snack box with local Vermont treats. Tours available in full-moon treks, and tours that explore local ecology and animal life. the spring and fall. More info: madrivervalley.com/beer For a more upscale trek, try a Night Time Snowshoe Dinner Tour at the Inn at Round Barn Farm: tromp through the snowy woods to a rustic COOKING CLASSES cabin lit by candles and a roaring fire for a delicious dinner. The Kitchen at the Store is high entertainment. Choose More info: sugarbush.com; madriverglen.com; theroundbarn.com from cooking classes on a wide variety of themes, including desserts, Spanish food, Italian food, poaching, and sauces. DESIGN-AND-BUILD CLASSES But don’t think it’s a spectator sport—you’ll be getting dirty with Get your learning on at Yestermorrow Design/Build School hands-on preparation of the dishes, under the watchful eye of Chef in Waitsfield. The school offers over 100 hands-on courses John Lumbra. More info: kitchenatthestore.com per year in design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft. Classes range from one-day tutorials to multi-day lessons to MEATBALL TRUCK semester-long programs. The school was founded by Yale architecture Local restaurant the Common Man has introduced a students more than thirty years ago and specializes in green building mobile kitchen in the form of the Common Kitchen and treehouses. People come from all over the world to both teach Meatball Co. Serving hot and homemade meatball sandwiches in a and attend classes at Yestermorrow. More info: yestermorrow.org variety of forms—beef, lamb, and vegetarian—the truck can be found at numerous Valley events, as well as parked outside the Common Man. FAMILY GAMES Follow them on Instagram and Twitter (@feisty_meatball) to find their The recently renovated Mad River Barn is home to inspired next stop. More info: commonkitchenco.com food that goes beyond typical pub fare. The Barn serves ROUND UP ON THE RIVER dinner in the upstairs pub and the downstairs dining room. But while you enjoy the soaring (yet cozy) interior for cocktail hour, the kids In a city there are block parties, but in the Mad River Valley can play games including air hockey, foosball, and shuffleboard (on a there are round ups. Every Wednesday in the summer (July 1 restored antique table). Or find your inner kid and join in on the fun. through Labor Day), Bridge Street’s Round Up on the River hosts live music More info: madriverbarn.com and culinary treats from nearby shops and local food trucks and vendors. Come to Historic Bridge Street alongside the Mad River to , eat, and THEATER IN THE BARN drink from 4 p.m. on. More info: facebook.com/roundupontheriver Each summer the Skinner Barn prepares a series of live ART shows for the public. Led by Broadway veteran Peter The Valley is filled with an eclectic mix of artisans whose Boynton, the group performs productions inside a beautifully restored work can be seen (and purchased) in many different venues. historic dairy barn originally built in 1891. Past productions include During Festival of the Arts in August, enthusiasts will find a wide range The Fantasticks, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Pete ’n’ Keely. Plays of art on display in places like the Round Barn and the Big Picture Café typically run in July and August, and the theater hosts a kids’ theater & Theater. A Meet the Artists Reception is held in early August at Lareau camp in June. More info: theskinnerbarn.com Farm, which also hosts the Big Red Barn Art Show. August is also the For more live performances, check out the Phantom Theater at month when many artists open their studios to visitors. Worthwhile the Edgcomb Barn in Warren, featuring orginal performances and stops open year-round include the Artisans’ Gallery, Mad River Glass workshops in dance, theater, and music. Shows run in July and Gallery, and the Collection in Waitsfield; and the Parade Gallery and August; each performance is a completely original piece. Warren Store in Warren. More info: valleyartsfoundation.org More info: phantomtheater.org

12 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Offering fun-filled winter vacations at discounted rates

2015/16 SKI THE PEAK TOURS SUGARBUSH – Weekend Bus Trips december 11–13, 2015, from $249. With over 20 years of experience, Ski The Peak Tours will March 25–27, 2016, from $289. organize your next ski and vacation to a high- Includes bus from NJ, 2-day lift ticket & lodging. quality in Vermont or with steeply discounted prices, allowing you to enjoy spending time with family and UTAH – January 10–15, $1,560/person. friends and meeting great people with the same passion. Trip includes air, bag fees, SUV car rental , five nights in Discounts available for children at Sugarbush and . house, 5-day lift ticket, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin & Snowbird, two snowcat runs, two dinners. Discounted Sugarbush lift tickets available when ordered 5 days in advance. JAY PEAK – 5-day Trips January 3–8, 2016 or January 31–February 5, 2016. ski The peak Tours $459/6 adults, $499/5 adults, $553/4 adults per condo. 732-330-4774 $100/child 14 & under. [email protected] Includes slopeside condo and 6-day lift ticket. skithepeaktours.com JAY PEAK – Weekend Bus Trip 652 Hillside Ave, Brick, NJ 08724 February 26–28, 2016, from $329. Tom Trout/Tour Operator Includes 3-day lift ticket, condo, bus from NJ. SUMMERTIME CLARISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

High-Flying WEDDING Weekend Bride Beth Pollock, accompanied by her parents on her way to the altar. A plane, a ski lift, and a zip line were all part of the fun when Beth Pollock and Chauncey Griffith tied the knot at Sugarbush. BY KATIE BACON

or Beth Pollock, who married Chauncey Griffith at the top of sixteen, and these days is a captain for United. Part of the reason the Gate House lift in August 2014, the relaxed atmosphere they picked Sugarbush as a wedding spot was because of the airfield Fof their wedding weekend at Sugarbush was epitomized by nearby, where they hoped to land in Chauncey’s plane (as it turned something that happened a few hours before the ceremony. Beth out, the weather on the day they were flying in didn’t cooperate). was getting ready in the bridal suite at Clay Brook. She was the last Chauncey and Beth knew the mountain well; he had been on the of her three sisters to get married, and there was no mother of the ski team at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, and the couple had bride hovering over her; this was a low-stress event. In fact, when skied at Sugarbush over the years. The intimate, community feel of Beth happened to glance out the window, she saw her mother whiz by Sugarbush appealed to them both, and they made the wedding into a outside on a zip line. “The whole weekend was just fun like that; it was weekend-long event. like going to camp with our family and friends,” says Beth. On Friday, the groomsmen went swimming at Warren Falls before She and Chauncey met in 2009, when they worked next to each other heading to the rehearsal dinner at Mad River Barn. Saturday brought at UBS financial services. A year and a half later, Chauncey left to golfing at the Sugarbush course, swimming at the Clay Brook pool, follow his dream of becoming a professional pilot. He learned to fly at hiking Lincoln Peak, playing disc golf, and, of course, zip lining.

CLARISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM For the afternoon ceremony, guests took the Gate House Express quad to the wedding spot, and watched Beth and Chauncey get married in front of a canopy made of birch logs, framing the Northfield Mountains and the cloud-dotted blue sky. The couple walked back down the aisle with their golden retriever, Murray, and eventually everyone headed to Gate House Lodge for cocktails on the terrace before a family-style dinner inside of cedar-planked salmon, barbecued chicken, a summer pasta salad, and whoopie pies made by Beth’s mother. (The food clearly made an impression. “As we make the rounds to our friends’ weddings now, everyone is still talking about how much fun they had, and raving about the food! No one ever talks about wedding food, especially ten months later,” says Chauncey.) Later on came an after party at Castlerock Pub, and s’mores by the fire pit outside. Throughout, Beth The bridal party heading to Gate House lift. and Chauncey made sure to include some local Vermont products,

14 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE DJS PHOTOBOOTHS VIDEOGRAPHY WEDDING UPLIGHTING

supersounds.com 802.899.2823

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Photography by 822 Weddings

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2015/16 15 PRE-NUPTIVITIES A wedding in the Mad River Valley is not just about the ceremony and reception. Over the years, couples have booked a range of activities for their guests. YOGA Take a scenic chair lift ride up the mountain for CLARISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM a class held on the Allyn’s Lodge deck, or plan a class on the lawn next to the Clay Brook pool or at Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center (SHaRC). GUIDED NATURE HIKES Walk with a local nature expert along one of the many Lincoln Peak trails, or grab a local hiking map and head to one of several trailheads on the Mad River Path (madriverpath.com) or the . ROAD BIKING Explore the Valley’s gorgeous landscapes on Route 100 or off the beaten path (guided or self- guided with map). GOLF Test your skill at Sugarbush Resort Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. Special wedding packages are available for groups of twelve or more. DISC GOLF Play one of two eighteen-hole courses: the lower course, hike-able from the Lincoln Peak base area; or the upper course, which starts at the top of the Super Bravo lift. KAYAKING/CANOEING Paddle along the Mad River or explore Blueberry Lake. Tours and rentals available at Clearwater Sports in Waitsfield. (Clearwater can also arrange picnics or barbecues for wedding groups.) TUBING Float down the Mad River, through Clearwater Sports; or the Tweed River, through Tweed River Beth, Chauncey, and Murray. Tubing in Stockbridge. Both businesses offer drop-off and pickup after two hours on the river. including Heady Topper at the rehearsal with Murray in their four-seat Mooney MOUNTAIN BIKING dinner and Switchback Ale at the wedding. airplane up to Prince Edward’s Island, Test out the downhill trails on the mountain, or the Groomsmen received WhistlePig whiskey, where Chauncey’s family has a cabin. mellower cross-country trails around Blueberry and the goody bags included maple sugar But first, family and friends wandered Lake (see madriverriders.com). Rentals and candies and VerMints. into Timbers for a low-key brunch before safety equipment available at the Farmhouse seeing the couple off. It was a fitting end Rental Shop (for downhill) or The next day the bride and groom flew to the wedding weekend. “We loved the Bike Works or Infinite Sports (for cross-country). ease of being at Sugarbush, everything HORSEBACK RIDING felt very comfortable, and we loved how Try out the smooth gait of an Icelandic horse on a everything was right there,” says Beth. guided trail ride at the Vermont Icelandic Horse Farm. Like camp—except with delicious food, SPINNING CLASSES & ROCK CLIMBING beautiful dresses, and some happily-ever- Organize a group class in the spin studio or on after thrown into the mix. the climbing wall at SHaRC to get circulation flowing before the main event. Katie Bacon, a writer and editor based in Boston, is the managing editor of BUNGEE TRAMPOLINE/ZIP LINE Sugarbush Magazine. She is a former Get the pre-nup jitters out with belayed editor at the Atlantic and her work has trampoline jumping or an exhilarating zip line appeared in the Boston Globe and the New ride at Lincoln Peak. The memorable homemade whoopie pies. York Times, among other publications. 16 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE

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2015/16 17 WINTERTIME

A ATin SUGARBUSHthe life DAY Profiles of six Sugarbushers. BY LAURA FRIEDLAND

Ella Switzer, 10 Thomas Sullivan, 14 Blazers Program Diamond Dogs Freestyle Team Ella Switzer is a five-year Blazers veteran to the core and can Thomas Sullivan loves skiing more than anything else. He’s been known to hit the Mall (a black diamond trail with wall-to-wall moguls) catch first chair on powder days (think the Valentine’s Day storm of 2014) top to bottom as her last run of the day. While the boys are busy and enjoys getting inverted with the Sugarbush Diamond Dogs Freestyle dipping their Cheetos in hot chocolate, Ella is plotting her next Team on weekends. Thomas is one of four children and has grown up on run through the stashes-not-to-be-named off Heaven’s Gate. the unadulterated terrain of Castlerock and the challenges of skinning Ella always sports a mountaineering backpack filled with the up Lincoln Peak with his father, Mark. His habit of loading the car with typical necessities (a CamelBak with water and protein snacks)— the family’s gear every morning (that’s six sets of ) is a testament but what else is inside may surprise you. Ella has type 1 diabetes, to Thomas’s kindhearted and diligent spirit. If you want to catch Thomas and her backpack houses a monitor that continuously tracks her après ski at his ski home in Warren, you’d better watch your head on the glucose level and transmits the data to her parents wherever way in. He’s been known to build big kickers over the driveway. they are across the mountain (thanks to the Switzers’ innovation 6:00 AM: Rise and shine to freshly waxed skis and gear laid out the night of using a mitten and a disposable hand warmer to protect before. Get dressed, eat a bagel with cream cheese, and load the car the monitor in cold weather). She has competed in the Junior for a special skin up L incoln Peak with Dad. Endure a way-too-long ten- Castlerock Extreme event for three years, placing in the top three minute commute to L incoln Peak. Feel the adrenaline rush from seeing an of her age category each time entire mountain covered in fresh snow with only two cars in the parking lot. Skin up Racer's Edge to L ow er Snowball just in time to catch the sunrise at the top of the Mall. Pow er through a serving of untouched powder on the way down. Hop in line for first chair up Super Bravo. 8:45 AM: Take the Mad Bus to Mt. Ellen and meet the Diamond Dogs at the yurt. Ride GMX to the top for a “warm-up” on the steeps of FIS. Lap Sugarbush Parks until coach says it’s time for lunch. 12:00 PM: Stop at the base lodge to hunt for macaroni and cheese. A ssemble lunch transportation method (tin foil) for traverse to yurt to eat with the team. 1:00 PM: Hit the biggest jumps of the day once everyone’s legs are warmed up. Ski Sugarbush Parks until close. 4:00 PM: On the Mad Bus ride home, brainstorm ideas for the new backyard jump setup. Launch over the road via kicker jump for the first time and show Dad. COURTESY OF JOE FOSTER

Joe Foster, 26 For20s Passholder Joe Foster, by a stroke of serendipity, was gifted a plot of land in Warren, where he and two friends built the “Sugarden,” a secret oasis featuring a sizable tipi warmed by a Vermont woodstove. Prayer flags, tiki torches, and a sled track requiring the use of a Liz Harris, 38 helmet adorn the site, along with two propane tanks powering a Mt. Ellen Passholder hanging lantern and a Coleman dual burner that can cook meals Twenty-nine Sugarbush season passes (twenty for Mt. Ellen only), for twenty people. Many For20s passholders often think they are sixteen years of motherhood, and five energetic children: if you living the dream—but Joe might really be living it at the Sugarden. were to quantify Liz Harris’s life experiences, these stats would just scratch the surface. Nesting locally in Moretown as a family of 1:00 AM: Arrive at Sugarden parking spot and unload beer, seven—including Liz’s husband, Dan, and kids, Isabella (16), Mary food, and necessities onto sled. Skin fifteen minutes to the (15), Eloise (11), Hazel (9), and Peter (7)—this family calls Mt. Ellen their true home. Also known as “North,” Mt. Ellen is the Harrises’ tipi with thirty pounds of supplies in tow. Cry the official playground, where the kids roam free, the lifties know them all by “OoOoop” call to announce arrival, and hear an “OoOoop” name, and the snow is, well … better, according to Liz. When she’s not chasing her own family, Liz chases the powder as a coach with in return, signifying that friends have already arrived. the Green Mountain Valley School ski team, along with her other Crack a beer while catching up with Rosie and Andy, who are career, painting colorfully creative animal portraits (ehfreshie.com). already nestled in their sleeping bags. 6:30 AM: Wake up first. Pack the youngest kids’ ski bags. 6:00 AM: Awake to light snowflakes falling and step up to Prepare five egg burritos for the kids and wrap them up to make breakfast. Dubbed “Champion Badass of the Day.” go. Walk Georgia (the pup), wake up the kids, and sort out Forgot water, but Andy’s brought enough for everyone. who’s coming to the mountain. (#TipiProvides.) Cook the usual two pounds of bacon, and 7:40 AM: Yell, “I’M LEAVING AT 8! IF YOU’RE NOT IN THE CAR, make coffee. Collectively devour “the mess”-peppers, DAD WILL TAKE YOU LATER!” onions, eggs, cheese, and crumbled bacon. Skin to the car, 8:30 AM: Drop the kids and skis off at the Mt. Ellen base pop one boot off, and drive to Sugarbush. lodge loop. Park the car, and run back up the hill to meet 8:30 AM: Ski straight to the goods off of Heaven’s Gate. Rip GMVS team. a few runs on Castlerock and adventure into the woods. 12:00 PM: Remind team that “there’s still fresh powder 12:00 PM: Pull out a smashed PB&J from backpack and eat somewhere and we gotta find it.” lunch on the lift. Send work emails between runs. 1:00 PM: Meet oldest daughter, Izzy (who also coaches for GMVS), after classes wrap up and drive home for lunch. 3:30 PM: Catch North Lynx in time for a final Slide Brook Work on latest chicken portrait painting until kids return. run, then take the Mad Bus back to the base. Go to the 4:00 PM: Remind the kids to wear an extra jacket as they Wünderbar for drinks until late-night music starts at run in and out the door to build jumps; kids refuse because Castlerock Pub. they’re playing too hard to be cold. Robert Forenza, 60 Richard Jones, 79 All Mountain 7 Passholder Ski & Ride School Instructor Robert Forenza captures the heart and soul of Sugarbush, knows (and Chances are, seventy-nine-year-old Richard Jones skis more days probably first discovered) the best secret stashes, cliffs, and woods a season than almost anyone else on the mountain, capping the lines on the mountain, and believes in the power of powder to bring 2014–15 season with 146 days on snow. When he’s not conquering a diverse group of people together. He first set foot at Sugarbush his favorite trail under the Castlerock Double, he’s testing out in 1958 when he was three years old and grew up skiing it with the the terrain on Push Over for his beginner-level ski class. In his likes of Stein Eriksen, the Murphy family, and John Egan. Since then, forty-five years at Sugarbush, Richard has worked as an events Robert and his friends have adjusted the phrase “No friends on a ambassador, a media guide, and, for the past nine years, a ski powder day” to “No Forenzas on a powder day” and christened the instructor. Richard is one of the famous few responsible for making large face near Castlerock “The Church.” Slide Brook accessible through the trails he helped cut. 6:00 AM: Wake up with a full pot of coffee and 6:00 AM: Wake up with an egg, English muffin, thoughts of powder. and cup of coffee. Sit down for morning stretches in the living room. Drive to the 7:30 AM: Congregate with eight friends in Gate mountain via Rolston Road (arguably the most House Lodge before setting out for Super treacherous road in the Mad River Valley). Bravo. Ski Heaven’s Gate to Paradise and woods stashes. 8:00 AM: Catch the Gate House chair. Ski down Push Over and make a note to warn 11:00 AM: Break for water in Gate House for ten students about rough section on the right. minutes, then bundle up for more runs. 9:45 AM: Greet two beginner women at lesson 1:00 PM: Dig into pockets for a lunch on the lineup and ease them onto Push Over for the go of dried fruit and granola. Stop inside Gate first run of the day. Ensure that the group is House for a water break; some stragglers stay comfortable before taking on the challenge of behind. Sleeper for the first time. 3:45 PM: Run into original eight at the top of 12:00 PM: Order a salad in Valley House for Snowball and finish the day with a run in Race lunch. Return to the Gate House lift for Course Woods. afternoon lineup. 4:00 PM: Ski straight to Castlerock Pub for 3:45 PM: Drive home and take a hot shower. après beers. Meet friends in town for a hearty Cook a special fish recipe from Martha’s homemade dinner and share stories of the day. Vineyard for dinner with wife, Kate.

Laura Friedland is a recent graduate of the University of Vermont who served as Sugarbush’s social media guru before moving west.

20 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE LIVE YOUR PASSION

PHOTO by Peter Cirilli ‘16, Graphic Design & Digital Media major and freelance photographer LOCATION Champlain College’s Quad, Burlington, VT EVENT Annual Campus Rail Jam Competition

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2014/15 15 TRAINING GROUND SHAPE Up!

John Bleh and fiancée Rachel working with their trainer, Roarke Sharlow. Five personal training sessions at SHaRC get the author off the couch and into shape. BY JOHN BLEH

s a tri-sport athlete in high school who also exercised The next week, Rachel and I met Roarke for our first training session: consistently in college, I never thought I would be out of cardio. Now, it isn’t as if we didn’t know how to work out. Many of us shape. I was wrong. have learned how to use gym equipment, but exercises, stretches, and A tips have changed significantly over the years, and knowing the new While I still skied over fifty days last year and occasionally hiked, techniques can make a significant difference. There’s a reason nobody skinned, or ran, the effort exhausted me. I was in the worst shape does those 1980s highlighter-spandex exercise anymore, of my life. Walking up the Mt. Ellen parking lot, I was huffing and even if watching them is entertaining. I used to go to the gym (not in puffing—tired before I even started skiing. And I’m only twenty-six. spandex) and run on a treadmill for thirty minutes, and then maybe do You see, my problem with working out is that it’s really boring. And some random exercises on a few weight machines for my abs, biceps, the hardest part about getting back into shape is sticking it out during and triceps and leave. Roarke gave us proper training techniques those first few weeks. I would often quit partway through because I and multiple variations on cardio. We focused on interval training as was bored—and tired. My fiancée, Rachel, has the same problem, and a way to break up the monotony of doing cardio at the same speed. thus we found ourselves trapped in a cycle of sampling, and quickly This was actually fun, and it helped boost my average running speed. discarding, various workouts. And then there was the laziness factor: He also stressed the importance of warming up, cooling down, and I can’t count the number of times we would be sitting on the couch stretching—three things most people (including me) ignore. planning to exercise, but instead would begin watching a cooking Our first session was more than we expected. We were both tired after show marathon on the Food Network for the rest of the afternoon. running intervals for an hour and stretching, but it felt good. I would So when a colleague at Sugarbush suggested that I be the one to never have had the motivation to push myself like that. Rachel wasn’t try out personal training at Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center sure she’d make it the whole way through the program. But that’s why (SHaRC), I was enthusiastic—and a little amused. Was I chosen we were in it together. because I always talk about needing to get back in shape? Probably. We left with exercise ideas, stretching diagrams (turns out I’d been So I signed us up for five weeks of personal training sessions. mixing up a deltoid stretch with a bicep stretch for the last ten years), Enter Roarke Sharlow, a SHaRC instructor and Aerobics and Fitness and a goal to do cardio twice a week, though in the weeks since then Association of America certified trainer. Roarke is also a former art I’ve found myself doing more. teacher and fine art photographer, and the skill sets behind both are The next session was focused on upper-body strength—something evident in his teaching style: open to questions, detailed, and good at Rachel and I both lack—and here our personal goals really came into presenting something from new angles, like when he explained a new play. Neither of us wanted to build significant muscle size, but we did (and safer) way to stretch the groin muscles. He loves teaching fitness want some muscle endurance and tone. Also, knowing our lazy habits, and worries about the lack of fitness knowledge in the world today, we wanted workouts we could do at home. Roarke created an upper- which can lead to injuries while drilling a hole in your wallet. The first body regimen with weights we already owned that would help us reach thing we did was sit down with him to review our medical histories, our goals without getting the bulging muscles that would land us on the goals, hopes, and fears. I’ll admit that Rachel and I were hesitant, but cover of a fitness magazine. We now have a list of exercises that can be I liked what I heard: that fitness should be about having fun, and that done with dumbbells—including bicep curls, standing rows, and side lifts. variation is the key to success. And the warm-up upper-body exercise? Rachel’s archnemesis: push-

22 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE BEYOND THE TRAINING GYM It’s not just personal training at SHaRC. Activities for both adults and kids are available year round. FITNESS AND YOGA CLASSES Classes available for all ages and abilities including Zumba, barre, and spinning. MASSAGE Offered daily by appointment. Available as deep tissue, Swedish, relaxation, reiki, hot stone, and sports recovery. TENNIS Hosted by New England Tennis Holidays and offering tennis camps as well as clinics and round robins. Courts available by reservation. (See article on page 51.) SWIMMING SHaRC has indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs—along with saunas and a steam room. Lessons and aqua-aerobics classes available. The 25-yard outdoor pool is open Memorial Day to Labor Day. VALLEY ROCK GYM Rock gym with equipment and instruction stay fit available, as well as private rental. Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center SQUASH & RACQUETBALL (SHaRC) is a fully-appointed year-round Courts available by reservation. Equipment fitness and racquet club. Whether you seek rental available. group classes, personal training, tennis, ADVENTURE ZONE swim instruction, family entertainment, Activities include a bounce house, bungee or relaxation, a visit to SHaRC will trampoline, set (Thanksgiving through enhance your Sugarbush experience. April 30), ping-pong, basketball court, and Open to members and non-members. gaga ball. Birthday party private rentals also available. MASSAGE & BODYWORKS ups. Roarke suggested a modified push-up what we had learned. Roarke quizzed us on POOLS & HOT TUBS exercise for Rachel that was more mellow. the exercises, which we mostly remembered SPIN CLASSES (thanks to Rachel). He also showed us Next came lower-body strength. Exercises VALLEY ROCK GYM variations to increase the difficulty, since we revolved around the use of ankle weights or PERSONAL TRAINING were increasing our fitness level. These have dumbbells, incorporating them into classics helped keep our boredom at bay. SQUASH & RAQUETBALL like lunges and squats. Here Roarke was able to allow for our past injuries (my knees, A personal trainer can seem intimidating, GROUP FITNESS CLASSES and Rachel’s knees and hips). He showed us and I would not have sought one out on my YOGA & PILATES modifications to protect our problem areas. own. But I have changed my tune. Don’t wait CARDIO & WEIGHT TRAINING until you’re huffing and puffing on the way to Our fourth session focused totally on the EQUIPMENT the mountain. Roarke and the other trainers core, and was the hardest session we had. TPI–PERSONAL TRAINING at SHaRC want to help you and enjoy doing Our cores were in need of serious help, FOR GOLFERS it. It’s not very expensive (a five-session which may be attributed to Vermont craft package for groups of three or more costs NEW ENGLAND TENNIS HOLIDAY beers and wine drinking coupled with that $85 per person; five individual sessions cost INSTRUCTION cursed couch. Roarke showed us a series $285, or $57 each), and you’ll come away of exercises for our abs, lower back, and with a personalized plan developed around obliques, with additional exercises to work your needs, preferences, and habits. toward as we got in better shape. We learned how to do proper crunches and planks, and So turn off the Food Network, get off the the speed at which to do them—not like couch, stop reading this article, and get back that guy you see in the gym who’s violently into shape. shaking up and down.

The most helpful session was our final John Bleh has worked for various ski resorts For more information, call one, which came several weeks after our throughout Vermont over the last ten years. He 802.583.6700 or visit sugarbush.com previous session. It was mostly a review of now works in communications for Sugarbush.

2015/16 23 MOUNTNTAIN LIFEIFE #SBCOMMUNITY Over the course of last winter, members of the Sugarbush community posted nearly 3,000 photos on social media with the hashtag #sbcommunity. Prizes donated by local businesses were awarded to the winners in numerous categories. Herewith, the winners . . .

@GETUP_GETDOWN @ARLINLADUE @REBECCAMOREE

@FREESKIERINVT @IAMBRIANMARCUS @CBURBS

@LE_PERCHE @LIVRAINVILLE @RACHELTHO @LUCY77L

@KENTHEPLUMBER @MUPPYMENDS82199 @BIG_WILLARD_STYLE @THE_MAD_HOUSE

24 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE 2014/15 19

OV EUGENE KRYL

Welcome to one of the most eccentric ust when you thought you had the basics of turning a ski figured out, you (but beloved) trail networks in the encounter the riddle that is Castlerock, where the four main trails that form its world of skiing and snowboarding. Jsoul and substance—Castlerock Run, Lift Line, Rumble, and Middle Earth—are so BY PETER OLIVER technically complex that virtually every turn is like its own unique dance step. The pressuring of the ski is different, the edge angle is different, the radius, body position, pole plant, and so on. Cue the music: imagine linking the bossa nova with break dancing and jitterbugging and crip walking in rapid-fire succession.

You can throw in a bit of , too, as the rhythmic variation imposed by pockets of powder, rocky protuberances, and crusty moguls requires a surefooted nimbleness. And with the ’Rock’s slightly eastern exposure, the snow texture—the dance floor—is constantly being reinvented by the effects of morning sun and afternoon shadow. What worked on your first Photo: Eleven-year-old George Madison com- peting in the 2015 Junior Castlerock Extreme. run might fail miserably later in the day, and vice versa. HANS JONATHAN VON BRIESEN VON HANS JONATHAN

Sugarbush Chief Recreation Officer John Egan on Castlerock’s Lift Line.

Skiers who manage to maintain elegance and fluidity on Castlerock the rest of the ridgeline—a muscular bit of mountain landscape raising terrain, guys like Sugarbush’s own John Egan, are so light on their feet its middle finger, geologically, toward any attempt to be tamed with ski as to seem to barely touch the ground. But even Egan would concede trails. It seemed to be saying, Don’t mess with me. that you never really master Castlerock skiing. You can love it like you After finally taking on the challenge, the developers found that they love a favorite dance partner, but when you dance with the ’Rock, you had to play a trail-building game according to the ’Rock’s rules. The are always the follower. It is forever exerting its authority, insisting on usual trail-clearing method of sawing down trees, bulldozing over taking the lead. rough lumps, and cutting a trail more or less down the fall line simply Castlerock skiing first came into being at the end of the 1950s, wouldn’t work. The terrain idiosyncrasies—the rock in the ’Rock, the almost as an afterthought, after the development of the main body of jumble of oblique pitches, the irregular rolls, the sudden, steep drop- offs—conspired as a curmudgeonly force of natural resistance every You can love it like you love step of the way.

a favorite dance partner, When the development mission was finally accomplished, the result was one of the most eccentric and unconventional trail networks in the but when you dance world of skiing. with the ’Rock, If you want the rare sensation of skiing through a tunnel of trees, you are always the follower. there is sliver-thin Rumble, with the tree canopy gathering together overhead from both sides of the trail and at times blotting out the sky. Sugarbush terrain from the Lincoln Peak summit. Castlerock was a Skiing the serpentine spillway of moguls that is Middle Earth renders a high saddle flanked by granite buttresses that stood out defiantly from feeling of being trapped in a sort of revolving door. Around each bend,

28 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE HANS JONATHAN VON BRIESEN LESSONS FOR ADVANCED SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS MAX 4 WORKSHOPS Join a small, personalized group lesson with a four-person maximum. Max 4 Workshops are geared toward black diamond skiers and riders looking for the intimacy of individualized instruction in a small-group setting. Terrain includes black diamond trails and wooded areas. $70–$75/half day; $125–$135/full day. (Lower prices reflect non-holiday, weekday, and advanced-reservation rates.) SKI WITH JOHN EGAN More than just a Warren Miller film star, John Egan is a gifted coach and an exceptional mountain guide. John Egan’s Bush Pilots, an expert ski/tele program, meets every Saturday from mid-December to mid-March. $1,415. Private lessons with John are also available; $250–$300 for two hours/$599–$659 per day. (Lower prices reflect non-holiday, weekday, and advanced-reservation rates.) ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS A season-long program for advanced skiers and snowboarders (ages 18+) who want to expand their ability on expert trails and in the woods. Meets every Saturday (10 a.m.–3 p.m.) from mid-December to mid-March. $1,290. ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS: BLACK DIAMOND CLUB The Black Diamond Club, a four-lesson series, is for dedicated skiers and riders (ages 18+) who already spend their time on black diamond trails and want to fine-tune their skills and tactics. Coached by an all-star group of instructors, the Black Diamond Club meets on Saturdays (10 a.m.–3 p.m.) for four consecutive weeks. $370. BLAZERS Sugarbush’s Mountaineering Blazers are youth skiers and split snowboarders (ages 10–17) interested in blending smart decisionmaking, route finding, group dynamics, leadership, snow and terrain evaluation, shelter building, backcountry rescue, self- sufficiency, and constant preparedness to become true skiing and riding gurus. The Mountaineering Blazers meet every Saturday from mid-December to mid-March. $2,175.

Details at sugarbush.com. For reservations and more information, please call the Sugarbush Ski & Ride School at 888.651.4827. John Egan giving some tips on Castlerock.

you might expect and hope for the trail to ease off, with your quad catastrophic injury. It is on Castlerock where he developed the technical muscles reduced to gelatin by the trail’s incessant bumpiness. Instead, skill and confidence to take on anything any mountain anywhere could another cluster of tightly packed, peculiarly dysmorphic moguls lies John Egan has skied some of the ahead, and the door takes another turn. The trail just goes on and on.

Even the lift ride up sometimes offers surprises, including the illusion most extreme terrain in the world. of a possible head-on collision as you come face-to-face with a It is on Castlerock where he developed human projectile—Egan, perhaps—flying toward you over Lift Line’s the technical skill and confidence rocky headwall at Tower 11. A crash landing on your lap might seem possible, and even sensible, given that the alternative of landing on the to take on anything any mountain slope below—an amalgam of rock, evergreen debris, ice, corrugated anywhere could throw at him. muck, and other surfaces of undetermined composition—appears to invite disaster. throw at him. “I had encountered it all at Castlerock,” he says. “You

John Egan has skied some of the most extreme terrain in the world, need at least 300 turns in your repertoire.” where the slightest false move or flutter of nerves can mean death or It has been said that the ’Rock is emblematic of traditional eastern

2015/16 29 HANS JONATHAN VONBRIESEN 30 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Castlerock chair.

EUGENE KRYLOV thousand different optionsonitsdance card. school andnew schoolandenigmatically oneofakind,withatleast a nouveau creativity andimagination.Castlerock issimultaneously old sorts oftrickery—this large andsingularpatch ofmountain turftriggers possibilities. Rummaginginthetrees, goingairborne,executing all its character, too, asanatural terrain parkofmanifold freeskiing anachronism isonly partly true;ithasatouch ofhaute modernein And to adegree, soitiswithCastlerock, butcalling the’Rockan of least resistance, according to thecontours ofthemountainside. camber. Themenwhocutthetrails byhandmore orless followed paths or SpringFling—thoseoldtrails were narrow, winding,andoften off- more moderntrails—straight andwide,like Ripcord, orStein’s Run, skiing, athrowback to thefirst man-madetrails ofthe1930s.Unlike national andCanadianpublications. inWarren. Helives Peter is awriterhasappeared andeditor Oliver whosework inmany OV EUGENE KRYL

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28Atkinson photo: John SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE The Mountain Wakes Up Skinning up and skiing down as the sun rises— and the mountain crew prepares for the day. BY CANDICE WHITE

pull into the parking lot at Lincoln Peak just before 6 a.m. on a late March morning. The sun has not yet risen, but the glow from the east onto the mountain signals its imminent arrival. The Clay Brook hotel presides, like a sleeping giant, at the base of the mountain— no discernible movement other than a steady cloud of steam rising from the exhaust pipes of the Iroof, and a solitary white truck slowly pulling away after its morning delivery. I scan the lot, a little unnerved by the amount of open space in a lot that’s usually jammed. Rows and rows of parking, empty, but for a handful of cars. The reserved spaces, too, are vacant— The author heading up the mountain before sunrise at Lincoln Peak. those for the handicapped, for 80+ skiers, for ten-minute parking, and for permitted employees. As much as I love the communal spirit of skiing with friends and family, our early- morning ski down Snowball and Spring Fling is of another caliber entirely. Making slow, rounded tele turns on freshly groomed snow in the morning light, practically alone, is a

The author skiing down Spring Fling. meditative and spiritual experience.

The resort unveiled a new hiking and skinning policy going into the to test items like stop gates, stop buttons, and stopping distances. If all 2014–2015 season, and I was here before sunrise to take advantage is clear, the lift is powered up and a new round of tests begins—stop of that. The prior policy prohibited skinning and hiking except on a the lift, slow the lift, take it from full speed to normal speed, take it from specified trail during the mountain’s operating hours; the new policy— full speed to a full stop, and measure the time and distance of each updated in response to customer requests—allows hikers access to variation. It is a formulaic method that requires documentation at each more of the mountain, as long as they adhere to certain parameters. step. Every lift must operate within its own specific set of parameters. For instance, they are directed to use designated trails within certain During the winter, for example, Super Bravo comes to a complete stop hours before the mountain opens and after it closes for the day, and in eight seconds and twenty-one feet, and it should operate within they are asked to park in places that don’t interfere with the morning those same guidelines every day the chair is in operation (give or take plows. (Sugarbush’s new skinning policy can be found at sugarbush. a small percentage). This data is logged and stored in the lift shack, com/discover/winter-trail-use-policy.) ready for a state inspector—who may show up unannounced—to review at a moment’s notice. Seeing as it has not snowed in several days, and it is a late-season, midweek day, I park right in front of Clay Brook. I open the trunk When I think of a lift maintenance mechanic, I imagine someone who and maneuver my telemark boots on, lacing and buckling. I grab my is excited and challenged by machines and the manifold parts that skis, whose bottoms are already covered with orange felt skins that fit together to make them run. Earlier in the week I had talked with transform downhill skis into uphill climbing tools. I hoist my backpack Scott Tuttle, who ran the lift maintenance crew last year. He mentioned and walk up Gate House Lane toward the mountain. “stops and switches” and “tripping and clearing,” all of which relate to the detailed checklist each crew member follows to start a lift each There is something magical about seeing a place that can hold as morning. He patiently answered my questions, explaining things like many as 10,000 skiers on a busy day absolutely empty. Not one person how often the crew runs a lift on its auxiliary motor (once a month) and interrupts my vista of the base area—ski racks standing empty, dim how long they allow a lift to be stopped before calling for an emergency lights glowing from inside the base lodge, the courtyard cleared of evacuation by ski patrol (fifteen minutes). snow, everything expectantly awaiting guests. (Had it snowed last night, plow drivers would have been here by 5 a.m. to clear the courtyard and I don’t think of a lift mechanic as someone who’s inspired by nature. the main parking lots.) It’s like a stage before the curtain opens. But that is my mistake. One of the lasting details Scott shared was this: “We see the best sunrises.” I step into my bindings next to the stone statue of Allyn, a Sugarbush skier who died young, immortalized by the lodge that bears her name at s the lift maintenance team deploys across the mountain, John the top of Gadd Peak. I wear a headlamp, though it’s not really necessary; and I crest the top of Snowball, just past the entrance to Eden the sky is brightening by the minute. As I slide past Valley House Lodge, A Woods, and see the light change in front of us. I turn around I meet up with my friend John, an experienced back-country skier and to see a giant red-orange ball rising and brightening the eastern sky. longtime coach. He can’t resist giving me a few pointers. “Raise your chin and look up the mountain where you want to go. Keep your poles We continue our ascent and see the lines of corduroy in the snow ahead behind you on the steeps and push your hips forward,” he encourages. of us now illuminated, accentuating the work of last night’s grooming team. (The groomers work the Spring Fling side of Lincoln Peak at We ascend, and I anxiously glance over my shoulder to see when the night, the Gate House side in the morning; at Mt. Ellen, they groom sun will rise, not wanting to miss it. Inverness, North Star, and Cruiser first, and the upper mountain in We pass by just before the lift maintenance crew heads out to the the morning. These schedules dictate which trails are designated for mountain’s various lift terminals, where they begin their systematic uphill travel, so as to avoid human-machine confrontation.) The lines checks. They first conduct a visual inspection, checking every safety are perfect other than a series of figure eights that extend down the switch and chair position around the terminal. Each lift terminal has trail—a fireside dinner at Allyn’s Lodge the night before had ended with between twenty and thirty switches in a safety circuit, allowing the crew a guided moonlit ski down Snowball and Spring Fling.

34 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE John and I end our skin at the Valley House terminal at the top of the Mall. We remove our skis, and then our skins, and roll and pack them into our bags. I zip up my jacket, change my gloves, and drink some water. Snapping back into my bindings, I linger on the view of the Valley House Double and recognize that soon the old lift, built in 1960, will be a fading memory. As much as I love the communal spirit of skiing with friends and family, our early-morning ski down Snowball and Spring Fling is of another caliber entirely. Making slow, rounded tele turns on freshly groomed snow in the morning light, practically alone, is a meditative and spiritual experience. I am reminded of Scott’s comment about the sunrise. And it is not just seeing the sunrise, but seeing it from atop a mountain almost alone, that makes me feel as if this experience were uniquely mine.

s lift maintenance clears each lift, the dispatcher is notified A groomer making his final morning passes. and the lift operations team steps in to take the reins. Lift A operators arrive at around 6:45 a.m. for an 8 a.m. mountain their assignments for the day, spanning a wide range of trail work opening, 7:45 for a 9 a.m. opening. The team that works the fixed-grip and supply delivery, which they will work on after trail checks and in lifts—Valley House, Heaven’s Gate, Castlerock, and Village Double at between calls to assist skiers and riders. Lincoln Peak, and Summit, Inverness, and Sunny Double at Mt. Ellen— “Patrick, Jared, and Kehoe, you’re on the ’Rock today. You’re going tends to rotate between lifts throughout the week. Teams working to need to grab some water to bring to the shack, and do some tree on the detachable express quads—Super Bravo and Gate House at trimming on Rumble. I also want you to check the snow surface on Lincoln Peak, Slide Brook, Green Mountain Express, and North Ridge the catwalk [the area leading to the lift] and if necessary, do some at Mt. Ellen—stay with one lift throughout the season. shoveling.” It is late in the season, and patrol is working hard to keep I meet Roger, a lift operator with noticeably blue eyes, outside the Castlerock open as long as possible, which today means moving snow Gate House lift shack. He invites me inside, taking me through the from a more plentiful area to a bare spot. complex control panel of lights and buttons that allows lift operators to observe, slow down, speed up, or stop a lift at any time throughout ifts are spinning, patrol is dispersed on the mountain, and the day. We go back outside, cross over the lift ramp, and head to the the groomers are resting quietly outside the lift maintenance motor room, crawling up a straight metal ladder until we reach the top garage. Since 6:45, the morning facilities crew has been of the lift terminal. I feel like a bird, perched inside the control room, shoveling,L salting, and sanding all entries and exits, and opening up observing the brain of a complex machine that can carry as many as base-area buildings. (Their evening counterparts worked until 2 a.m. 2,400 people 3,868 feet to the midpoint of North Lynx Peak in an hour. cleaning the building interiors and removing trash.) The food and I feel naive. In my more than forty years of skiing, I have never given beverage teams are in motion, making coffee and preparing breakfast much thought to the massive machines housed inside the terminals and lunch items. The smells of brewing Mountain Grove coffee and that take us safely up the mountain. The lift maintenance team, on frying bacon waft through the air in Gate House Lodge, reminding me the other hand, spends their entire day paying meticulous attention that I am overdue for breakfast. I follow the scents up the stairs, take to them—twice a day they crawl up the ladders and observe, using a tray, and make my way to the small stack of foil-wrapped breakfast infrared guns to check the temperatures of gear boxes, motors, and sandwiches. I take one with sausage, pour a black coffee, and head to oil—looking for baseline information that would alert them to any an empty table lit by the sun streaming in through the windows. I look changes in the machines. around and see some familiar faces—skiers who log over 100 days a year; groomers, snowmakers, and mountain operations guys who Back on the ground, ski patrol readies to head out for morning trail have already put in several hours of work this morning. checks—skiing or riding every open trail and marking with bamboo any areas they deem hazardous. Arriving at their locker room about Though I’m a little weary, I feel invigorated by the memory of my an hour before the first lifts open to guests, patrol members boot up morning. I hear a ping from my phone and see that John has sent me while sitting on wooden benches, and assemble their packs, which some photos. I slowly review them, as well as the few I took—the faint include a mélange of the following: radios, lunch, water, extra layers, orange glow in the eastern sky streaming through trees, the rising sun trauma shears for cutting items like jackets and gauze, Leathermen just cresting a mountain, and the bright pinkish tint on the ski trail. I for binding adjustments, Band-Aids, abdominal pads, CPR masks, peel open the foil on my breakfast sandwich and take a bite. The tastes and goggle shammies. This morning, the guys are yakking about the of sausage, egg, cheese, and English muffin mingle together. I want to end-of-the-year dinner at the Common Man on Saturday night—and hold on to that taste, just like I want to hold on to the morning, which about babies (the assistant patrol director has just had his first). Colin somehow feels like it was all my own. Cascadden, a red-haired veteran patrol member who has served as Candice White has written for publications that include Vermont Life, patrol director since 2008, saunters to the front of the room and stops Mothering online, and Seven Days Vermont. She has worked at in front of a large whiteboard calendar. He talks the group through Sugarbush since 2008. 2015/16 35 After the storm ...

A frosty morning at Heaven’s Gate.

ugarbush’s lift maintenance crew—about a dozen men, freezes, it cannot turn. If the cable travels through a frozen working full-time year round—start their day at the sheave, it can saw right through the entire sheave, or the cable mountain by 6:30 a.m. Shortly after arriving, they mount itself. To prevent this from happening, crew members must climb Ssnowmobiles and embark on solo journeys to lift terminals at the the lift towers to hammer the ice away from the sheaves. This base and summit of each mountain. Depending on the time of is a high-stakes process that can take half the day to complete. year, these rides may be in heavy snow or slick ice, amid sub-zero Conveyor lifts, like the Schoolhouse Lift and the Welcome Mat, temperatures, and in the dark. are driven by a drum motor. Ice buildup on the drum can cause If the weather pattern has included rain followed by colder it to freeze, thus blocking the conveyor’s movement. In this case, temperatures, the crew may need to deal with ice and the myriad lift maintenance crew members must thaw the drum by locking problems it causes. In the terminals, team members conduct a out the power supply, dropping down into a basement-like pit (the visual check first, and then move on to check each safety switch. size of a commercial refrigerator) located directly below each Wet snow or frozen water will cause switches to freeze, requiring terminal, manually scraping the ice off the part of the drum they a crew member to take the switch apart by hand (gloves don’t can reach, climbing back out of the pit, and turning the power work for this), thaw and dry it (again, with bare hands), and then back on. They repeat this process, shutting the power on and off, rebuild it piece by piece (switches can have up to six parts). dropping down into and climbing out of the pit, until the drum is Crew members also check for warning lights, indicating a completely deiced. problem outside the terminal relating to the chairs, the towers, or If the weather pattern includes heavy snowfall (which often the cable. Chairs on a detachable quad come off the haul rope as motivates skiers to start their day early), the lift maintenance they enter the terminal and reattach to the haul rope as they leave. team’s world becomes more complicated. It can be difficult for (This allows the chairs to slow down for loading and unloading.) the team to navigate their snowmobiles through the heavy snow Each chair is fastened to the haul rope by a grip, on top of which to reach the terminals. Once they have arrived, they need to shovel sits a traction plate that moves the chair around the terminal. out the area beneath the chair to allow safe passage. Then, every These traction plates may freeze, preventing chairs from traveling chair needs to be swept clear of snow before guests can load. through the terminal at the correct speed. In a freeze, the team For conveyor lifts, the pits located below each terminal must be (which doubles from two to four) must manually remove the ice shoveled out each morning of operation, and with a snowfall, the from each traction plate by pounding it off as the chairs enter the amount of snow needing to be removed increases. terminals. This process requires repeated stopping and starting The next time you find yourself (impatiently?) waiting for of the lift until each traction plate on every chair is cleared. A a lift to open, think of a lift maintenance crew member high freeze also changes the spacing on a lift, requiring re-spacing to up on a lift tower, holding on with one hand and smacking a ensure that chairs are a proper distance from each other. hammer on the sheave with the other. He’s been up there for A frozen sheave is yet another complication that can affect both some time, diligently working as safely and quickly as he can detachable and fixed-grip lifts. When a sheave (or tower wheel) to get the lift spinning. —C.W.

36 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE “WITHOUT GMTA, IT WOULD BE A STRUGGLE TO GET TO THE MOUNTAIN.”

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40 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE NeverA skier gets back on the slopesToo after a two-decade break, Late and takes her first lesson ever. BY AMY STACKHOUSE

t’s 1986, and I’m standing halfway down the big middle trail at the Camden Snow Bowl, on the coast of Maine. I’m twenty, and it’s my first time skiing. My boyfriend is coaching me down the Ihill—never the best idea, even on the best of days and in the best of relationships. It’s freezing cold, the snow is icy, and it’s pouring down rain. I’m wearing jeans.

While there are beginner trails around the edges of the mountain, the main way down to the bottom is over intermediate terrain. To me as a beginner on a rainy day, the intermediate Windjammer looks like a double black diamond. I make it down, but it isn’t graceful, it isn’t easy, and it certainly isn’t fun. I slide much of the way, fighting the mountain. I find the mountain’s fall line by falling down it. By the end, I’m soaking wet. As an introduction to the sport of skiing, it’s less than ideal. I ski two more days between then and 1992, and then I give it up.

The author, working on her turns. Fast-forward to January 2015. I’ve been to Sugarbush numerous times over the past few years—but never during the winter. This time, I’ll be at the mountain while the Snowlogic guns are spraying snow, Super Bravo’s spinning, the pub’s hopping, and the grounds are filled with skiers. It’s time for me to get back on the slopes. After fueling myself with a crepe at Skinny Pancake in the Farmhouse, I head upstairs to check in at the Ski & Ride School and rent equipment. First major difference from skiing in 1992: my skis look like baby versions of the ones I remember. The guy at the desk tells me not to panic—they may look really short, but they’ll help me turn more easily, and learn more quickly. Tamping down my worry, I throw on my goggles and a helmet (another change since the last time I skied) and head out to the blue flag outside the Farmhouse to meet my instructor and my group. My group, it turns out, on this quiet weekday, is just me. I tell my

M.A. giving some on-snow turning advice to the author. instructor, long-time Sugarbusher M.A. Raymond, my history—no skiing in more than two decades, no lessons ever—and she takes me through the basics. This is the tip of the ski; this is the tail. These are the edges; this is the bottom. So far, so good. We ride the Welcome Mat to the top and look down the soft slope of First Time. M.A. talks about how to turn. She wants me to cross the mountain with my skis as parallel as possible, using very little The author with award-winning instructor M.A. Raymond on the Village wedge as I bring my skis around. She wants me to keep my hips Double. balanced above my skis. She talks about using turns to take speed LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS away from the descent, and after she demonstrates I follow her down the mountain, turn after turn after turn, gaining confidence and losing FIRST TIMER TO LIFE TIMER PROGRAM A three-day beginner lesson series with a free All Mountain Season fear. When we go up next, she talks about skiing back and forth across Pass (a $2,244 value) upon completion. Program includes three the line of the mountain, about working with the mountain, not against days of beginner-specific ski or snowboard equipment rentals and it. About gathering strength by feeling grounded to the snow and the beginner lessons that focus on gaining comfort with the equipment, frozen earth below the skis, while still trying to float lightly above. sliding on snow for the first time, making first turns, and using lifts. Ages 13+. $255 (first-time skiers and riders only). I’m concentrating hard as I make my way down, and she has to remind me to breathe. But it feels fantastic when I relax and get it right. NEXT TIMER PROGRAM A three-day lesson package designed to help skiers and riders And then I graduate to the Village Double lift, and we go up to Easy continue their progress, gain confidence, and discover more of Rider. A colorful pack of Mini Bears—the four- to six-year-old ski the mountain. Program includes lift tickets and rental equipment. students—tumble off a cart being hauled by a snowmobile in front Ages 13+. $340 for First Timer to Life Timer graduates; $360 for everyone else. of us, and suddenly I have another set of teachers. They’re light on their skis, their small bodies balanced naturally above their boots. MICRO, MINI, AND SUGAR BEARS Micro Bear programs (age 3) introduce young children to skiing. They’re grounded to the snow but still floating above. And they’re not Programs include time on- and off-snow, depending on the worried—so I’m not worried either, anymore. M.A. and I follow the child’s stamina. Mini Bear (ages 4–6) and Sugar Bear (ages 7–12) Mini Bears down, and we’re all working with the mountain, turning programs teach both skiing and snowboarding. All programs place gently across the line. Had I taken a lesson like this back in 1986, I’d children in groups based on ability. $95–$130/half day; $130–$160/ have been skiing ever since. But it’s never too late to start. And this full day. (Lower prices reflect non-holiday, weekday, and advanced- time, I can’t wait to get back up on the mountain again. reservation rates.) Amy Stackhouse is an editor living in Maine. She has worked for the Details at sugarbush.com. For reservations and more information, call American Prospect, the Atlantic, and the Washington Monthly, and is the Sugarbush Ski & Ride School at 888.651.4827. the production editor of Sugarbush Magazine.

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44 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE One man’s dream for his children becomes a reality for an entire community.

BY PETER OLIVER

bout six years ago, Reid and Laurie Greenberg moved with their three young children to the threshold of paradise, to take up residence on a patch of idyllic turf. They could walk out their front door to see layers of mist drifting over lake waters, illuminated by the sun rising above the low mountains to the east. Waxwings, woodpeckers, osprey, and bald eagles would be going about their daily chores, and migrating ducks and geese would circle overhead. Laurie would head out for a morning run “and just suck in the majesty of the view,” according to Reid.

In the lake’s waters, trout as large as twenty inches long flourished. Beavers could be seen collecting material to use in various construction projects. In the evening, Reid and Laurie might head out for a short paddle to a tiny island to enjoy the alpenglow of the setting sun followed by the darkening of the skies and the gradual emergence of a starry firmament. It was all “pretty magical,” says Reid. That paradisiacal place was Blueberry Lake, at the foot of the Roxbury range in the southeastern corner of the Mad River Valley. The Greenbergs have since moved on to live elsewhere in the Valley, but the lake remains for them and for hundreds of other Valley residents and visitors an exceptional—and magically beautiful— recreational asset.

As natural phenomena go, however, Blueberry Lake is almost literally a babe in the woods. It is barely thirty-five years old, the brainchild of Lenord Robinson, now eighty-five, whose family has lived near the lake site for several decades. For more than twenty years, Robinson had been thinking of creating a lake on a tract of marshy land that lay cradled in a high basin beneath the Roxbury ridge. Although he had abstract (and never realized) ideas for revenue- generating development, his primary motivation was to provide a space for his nine children to fish and swim. But he was also driven by a primal, deeply imbedded urge simply to build something cool. “I think I always had water on the brain,” says Robinson. “And I like to build things.” Robinson partnered with the out-of-state investor Jack Keir in the late 1970s in the purchase of hundreds of acres, including the proposed lake site, at which point the creation of a forty-five-acre lake might have seemed fairly straightforward. Get the state and federal permits, build a dam in the right location, let the lake fill in. But as often happens with land transactions and development, it was a complicated legal and financial process, one that did not go Robinson’s way. When he partnered with Keir, says Robinson, “it seemed like a perfect match. I had the [earth-moving] equipment, he had the money.” But Robinson and Keir were almost literally on different pages. Not surprisingly, Keir required that lawyers draw up paperwork, while Robinson wanted to do things in the old-fashioned manner—“I had always done business this way,” he says, extending an arm as if for a handshake. But eventually an agreement on paper was reached, and the new partners proceeded. When a test hole dug at the original dam site envisioned by geologists and engineers produced what Robinson calls a “gusher,” the site of the dam was relocated nearly 1,500 feet away, to where it is today, on the lake’s northwestern edge. Peat as deep as twenty-five feet was moved from the dam site, and tree stumps were bulldozed to build a base layer, to be covered with peat and sand, for the island that would later become the Greenbergs’ sunset spot. The lake, says Robinson, filled up in surprisingly rapid order after the dam was completed, in the winter of 1981. Filled by numerous springs, the lake was fully formed in just a matter of months. “It was the cleanest lake in the country as far as I was concerned,” says Robinson proudly. “It was all spring fed.” But if the lake itself was finished business, determining who owned it was not. After various legal negotiations and an encounter in court, Keir ended up with full ownership of the land. That outcome, says Robinson, was “a bitter pill to swallow,” although he was able to hold on to land just down the road, where he had laid out the trail network of the Blueberry Lake Cross Country Center.

< August is blueberry season at the lake. A Women’s Wednesday Night Ride, organized by the Mad River Riders. Hannah Flynn leads the way along the Tootsie Roll trail at Blueberry Lake.

Eventually, in 2001, Keir’s family sold 370 acres—the lion’s share of loosely, in keeping with the Forest Service’s somewhat vague the property previously owned by Keir—to the Trust for Public Land mission (“to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the for $1.1 million, and the U.S. Forest Service acquired the land from nation’s forests”) for public land use. The Forest Service acquisition the TPL for about the same amount a few months later. was a means “to stave off potential development around the lake,” according to Whitney Hatch, who was the New England regional While the building of the lake may have been a financial Waterloo director for the Trust for Public Land at the time. But, Hatch said, for Robinson, he has no regrets about what he created. “I drive by it the lake was a valuable resource “for public use and enjoyment.” almost every day, and it pleases me to see all the people enjoying it. It was something I had to do,” he says, sounding almost as if he had In other words, the lake would become protected from development, been prodded into action by some mystical force of divine providence. but not from public use. Since then, the Forest Service has stated that its twin objectives for the land are to provide “better access The acquisition of the land by the Forest Service in 2001 was greeted and better recreational opportunities,” according to Holly Knox, by Vermont’s political leaders—U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and district recreation program manager for the Forest Service office Jim Jeffords and Representative Bernie Sanders—with a chorus in Rochester. (Knox also acknowledges that, while unlikely, future of joyful hallelujahs. “This land will make a great addition to the logging on the land cannot be ruled out.) National Forest,” said Jeffords. Sanders chimed in: “The protection The main focus of the first objective has been simply to improve of Blueberry Lake is good for the people of Vermont.” parking areas at the main north and south access points for the “Protection,” however, would not mean a door slammed entirely shut lake. The main focus of the second objective has been far more for future use of the land. It was a concept to be applied somewhat compelling: the creation of a multi-use mountain bike trail system, primarily on the land to the west of the lakeshore. Over the last few years, the Forest Service has teamed with the Mad River Riders, the Vermont Mountain Biking Association, the Mad River Valley Planning District, and Sustainable Trailworks, a Vermont company that specializes in the design and construction of multi-use trails. Sugarbush President Win Smith was also a key partner in the project. It has been, by all accounts, a job well done; the first phase of the trail network—about five miles—earned awards from the Forest Service as well as the International Mountain Biking Association. “I wish all of our trails could be built this sustainably,” says a USFS representative. Sustainability, however, was just one objective of the trail network, and a somewhat secondary one at that. The main objective was to create trails that would be accessible and fun for a wide variety of users. The Blueberry Lake trails, relatively “nontechnical” in

2015/16 47 mountain biking terms, filled an important realize) possibility. void in the overall Mad River Valley mountain biking picture, according to Atkinson. The But if the trail network has been a terrific Mad River Rippers, a group of young and recreational addition to the Valley, it is only often novice mountain bikers, had “no place a part of the overall recreational asset that to go without Blueberry Lake,” he says. the lake and its environs represent. In the Now here was a relatively easy set of trails entire Valley, stretching twenty-five miles that kids and families could enjoy, and from Granville Gulf in the south to Moretown not just as mountain bikers; according to in the north, there is no body of water Atkinson, about 50 percent of all users are comparable to Blueberry Lake. There are on foot, whether in sneakers or snowshoes. other mountain biking trails in the Valley, So successful was the first phase in the but for stand-up paddleboarding, flat-water trail-building effort that three more phases kayaking, still-water fishing, and swimming are now in the works. A big piece of the in comfortably warm water (thanks to the Ansley and Matt Emelett practicing some mountain biking technique. puzzle is expected to be a trail down to Route relative shallowness of the lake), where else 100 and Warren Falls, and an around-the- are you going to go? barbecues, for outings with the family canine, lake trail is a future (though challenging to The lake is a popular site for picnics, for and for birding, especially in the spring and fall. According to the Mad Birders, migrating waterfowl include mergansers, scoters, loons, and long-tailed ducks, with American redstarts, northern parulas, and magnolia warblers also frequent visitors. And sometimes the lake has surprises up its sleeve. In January 2014, when the natural snow cover was thin, the best recreational entertainment in the Mad River Valley was cross-country skiing on the frozen lake, covered by an inch or two of pliable snow that made for skiing conditions comparable to those on a well-groomed trail. That added one more way to enjoy the lake for the Greenberg family, who were out there frequently as enthusiastic cross-country skiers. So from Lenord Robinson’s water on the brain, this is what has come to pass. It can be thought of as something so grand as a piece of paradise or something as down-to- earth as a place to grill burgers on a warm summer evening. It is, simply, a beautiful body of water in exquisite surroundings. Blueberry Lake may be new, but it’s hard to imagine the Valley without it.

< Lenord’s Loop trail at Blueberry Lake.

48 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE GIVE YOUR EVENT DISCOVER A BRE ATH THE Greener Side OF FRESH OF THE MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN A IR

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2015/16 49 Play one of Mother Nature’s

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50 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Courting Success

Two days of tennis instruction in one beautiful Valley equals redemption on the court. By Katie Bacon

y husband, Mark, used to be afraid of my backhand. For the first five years or so of our marriage, we’d play tennis on weekends or Mon trips, and I could often end a point by hitting a strong, angled cross-court backhand that he couldn’t get to, even though he always tried. Those shots could not have felt more satisfying, with that deep thwack off your racquet that only happens when you hit the ball in the right place, at the right time, and with pace.

Then we had kids and stopped playing as much, and I lost my best shot. For eleven years now, despite lessons here and there, it’s been unreliable, either popping up too high or going into the net. Worse, it never feels right when I hit it: The author working on her lefty backhand. the resonant thwack has been replaced by a tinny punch. So when I went to camp for two days at Sugarbush in June through video together, Kurt told me, “You’re making the balls look like they’re New England Tennis Holidays (NETH), it was with the hope that I could out of your range because you’re moving so much. You are stepping finally reclaim my long-lost shot, while working on the rest of my and committing too early.” Seeing it on the screen in front of me, I was game and enjoying late spring in the Valley. able to understand much more clearly how the NETH mantra of calm, quiet, and square could help me with my game. After starting off the day with coffee, berries, and a sausage, egg, and cheddar sandwich at Timbers (lodging at Clay Brook and meals Back out on the court, we worked on our volleys and approaches. are included in the program), I headed over to Sugarbush Health & Two people started on the baseline, and tried to close in with each Recreation Center (SHaRC) for the 9 a.m. start. Each day would be successive shot. Another person played net on the other side, and tried five hours of playing: three before lunch, two after. There were nine to hit the ball back deep and to the middle of the court (the highest participants—all varying shades of intermediate—and three coaches: percentage shot). One of the participants, a woman from the Boston Kurt Grabher, the founder of New England Tennis Holidays; Curt area who was there with three friends, hit a stinging passing shot, Johnson, a Montpelier native who has been head pro for NETH for low over the net. Curt called her in. “Come over here and look at this. thirteen years; and Dave Hullett, You’re giving me goose bumps! You a California transplant who has stopped, you set, you hit, and you been coaching with Grabher for drove it home.” fifteen years. Soon we headed to lunch, at We started off with some Hogan’s Pub, with views over the groundstrokes, three quick hits as Sugarbush golf course and the we each shuffled across the court. mountains beyond. After three Most were hitting forehands, but hours on the court, all of us felt like as a lefty, I was hitting backhands; we deserved our meal; some went as usual, some of my shots were for cheeseburgers made with local going into the net; others were beef from Neill Farm, others for sailing long. Kurt stopped us and an Asian fish taco or a roast turkey The author with instructor Dave Hullett. brought us in. “You are spending club. During the high season, your time running around, not Whichever piece of advice it was, my lunches alternate between Hogan’s preparing for your shot. What I and Castlerock Pub. (Dinners rotate want is for you to be calm, quiet, backhand started to click. Throughout among Timbers, the Hideaway, the and square.” Instead of taking Elusive Moose, Common Man, and the racquet back (often too far the rest of the day, through drills and Terra Rossa.) Over lunch, Kurt told back), he explained, the first groundstroke practice and games, I kept us about the history of NETH, which movement should be a small turn has three locations in addition to of the shoulders, which brings the on thinking of the sword-in-the-sheath Sugarbush: North Conway and racquet back to its proper place. image as a way to get my racquet down Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, Then put the racquet out with a and, in the winter, Vero Beach, firm wrist, and with the strings where it needed to be. Florida. Kurt started his coaching square—pointed where you want career at Sugarbush back in the the ball to go. “The ball is only on your strings for a millisecond: it’s late 1970s, left to found NETH in North Conway, and brought NETH to all about the contact point,” he said. “It’s the holy grail of tennis.” At Sugarbush six years ago, enticed by the combination of the mountain’s different points during camp, Curt and Dave each expressed their own tennis facilities, its beautiful new lodging (Clay Brook opened in 2006), take on how to improve. Curt told me, “As a group, the big thing we try and the Valley’s array of recreational and restaurant choices. The to get people to do is actually less. We want people to calm down, take Sugarbush camp (unlike the ones at North Conway and Waterville Valley) shorter swings, and hit a cleaner ball, with balance and steadiness.” goes from late May continuously through mid-October, and participants But it’s Dave’s advice that I think will turn out to be my go-to quick fix can choose any combination of days, from two to seven. (NETH runs when I start thinking too much about my shots: “Do you know what the lessons and clinics at Sugarbush during the rest of the year too.) NETH four most important words in tennis are? Hit the damn ball!” at Sugarbush has been ranked among the top four tennis camps in the After some volley drills working on this idea of finding the right contact world each year, according to Tennis Resorts Online, and number one point, we got to what, for me, was the part of camp I was most worried in New England. Kurt credits this in part to the experience of his staff. about: being videotaped and then having my strokes dissected. Kurt While many camps tend to hire college students just for the summer, stood behind each of us as we hit a series of volleys, shadowing our Kurt’s focus is on finding teachers who are both good players in their strokes. At first I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, but when I own right and experienced in coaching the type of players who come saw the video, it was crystal clear: each time I hit a ball, he, behind to NETH. “We coach from an adult’s point of view; it’s different from me, had prepared for the same ball perhaps a half second earlier. coaching kids.” Kurt and his wife, Clare, a former professional tennis While I looked like I was dancing and bobbing (flailing?) around the player, were very deliberate about NETH’s name and what it conveyed. court, his movements were small but efficient. When watching the “This is meant to be a holiday, not a boot camp. We’re not here to beat 52 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE you up; we’re here to enjoy ourselves and learn tennis.” Dave put it another way: “We’re not prepping you for the U.S. Open. We are trying to make the game a little easier and more fun.” When the end of the tennis day came, two hours later, I did still have energy to take a hike on a trail up Lincoln Peak, or play a match set up for me by one of the pros, or work out on one of the machines at SHaRC. But The decisive backhand shot. instead, I decided to take the TENNIS IN THE VALLEY: THEN AND NOW “holiday” part of NETH to heart and spend time reading my book Back in the day, in the late 1970s and early ’80s, when John in the outside hot tub at Clay Brook before exploring the shops and McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were duking it out on the courts cafés of Waitsfield. and the popularity of tennis in the U.S. was soaring, the Mad River Valley was something of a tennis mecca. John Gardiner opened If day one was volleys, day two was groundstrokes: my chance to try the first big East Coast tennis camp right by the Sugarbush Inn: to address my backhand. twelve clay courts, with an indoor pool and water slide across the But first, we examined my forehand, which I’d thought was working road. (Gardiner, who had several camps around the country, was pretty well. In the video, though, Curt showed me how instead of known for attracting illustrious guests, including Ronald Reagan, turning my shoulders (along with my core) and bringing both hands Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, and Eva Gabor, who stayed at his back together, I was letting my hands separate—a habit, he explained, camp in Carmel, California.) The Australian tennis champion that lessens both the power and the consistency of the shot. (I know Ken Rosewall was head pro at the Sugarbush camp, and tennis that I will never forget his advice, since he told me that my hand was professionals who played on the circuit trained in the Valley too, wrongly coming out in front, as if I were a member of Diana Ross and including Clare Grabher (back when she was married to fellow the Supremes singing “Stop! In the Name of Love.”) tennis pro Mike Fishbach and ranked in the top 100 in the world). As we watched the video of me hitting my backhand, he had a couple Nine hard courts (three indoor, six outdoor) were built at the of specific pieces of advice. “Your racquet is too horizontal. You should mountain in 1979, and four clay courts were added a few years be coming uphill to the ball, which gives a little more margin for error. later. In addition, players took to the courts at the Bridges Tennis Think of your racquet starting out as the sword down in its sheath.” He Club, the Tucker Hill Inn, and the Alpine Inn. Curt Johnson, who also talked to me about thinking of turning my shoulders with me as I completed my shot. This, again, would help me involve my core and used to drive from Montpelier to play matches in the Valley, strengthen my play. Later, Dave asked me to think about loosening the recalls that as he drove through the Valley, past the Sugarbush grip of my left hand a bit so that the shot could be more of a right- Inn, and up to the club at the mountain, all the courts he passed handed forehand than a backhand pulled by my dominant hand. would be full. “The courts were so beautiful, with the mountain views. I remember thinking, This is a tennis Xanadu!” Whichever piece of advice it was, my backhand started to click. Throughout the rest of the day, through drills and groundstroke practice But, in the Valley and the rest of the country, tennis has and games, I kept on thinking of the sword-in-the-sheath image as a declined in popularity, from a peak of 50 million players down to way to get my racquet down where it needed to be. It was such a simple 25 million now. The courts by the Sugarbush Inn and the Alpine thing, but it worked. Later on, Curt told me that it’s exactly this sort of Inn have disappeared (along with the Alpine Inn itself); the interaction on the court that keeps him coaching. “What I love about courts at the Tucker Hill Inn have fallen into disuse. Still, along teaching tennis is how making a little change in someone’s game can with the program at SHaRC (played on four outdoor and three make a big difference. Even after teaching for more than twenty years, indoor courts), there’s an active tennis program at the Bridges, it’s very gratifying seeing someone get better and the enjoyment they which has clinics, round robins, tournaments, and lessons, as get out of that.” well as camps for kids, on their twelve courts. And people can Sure enough, when Mark and I were able to head out to play on a always hit around on the courts behind the Warren Elementary court in our neighborhood the weekend after camp, my backhand had School. Even if the tennis crowds are gone, the beautiful clay returned from its eleven-year hiatus. After he watched a shot whiz by courts with the mountains in the background still exist: tennis him, out of reach, he asked, “Do you think next time we could go to Xanadu, there for the taking. — K.B. tennis camp together?” 2015/16 53 TIMELINE Damon and Sara Gadd, along with Jack Murphy and Lixi Fortna, open Sugarbush Resort. Sugarbush boasts the “greatest vertical rise in the East” thanks to its top-to-bottom gondola. ‘58 The resort installs a Carlevaro & Savio double chair lift, opening up the legendary Castlerock area. This area was immediately ‘59 known for its expert ski terrain. That reputation continues today.

With a newly rebuilt access road, a top-to-bottom gondola, Walt Elliott opens Glen Ellen Ski Area. Complete a new Valley House chair lift, and varied terrain, Sugarbush ‘60 with Scotch-themed trail names, Glen Ellen claims quickly attracts throngs of New York glitterati. Vogue “the greatest vertical descent in the East” with its magazine dubs Sugarbush “Mascara Mountain” because tiered lifts to the 4,083-foot summit of Mt. Ellen. of its glamorous guest list, including actress Kim Novak, the Kennedy clan, musician Skitch Henderson, and fashion ‘63 The Gate House area opens with a new double designer Oleg Cassini. chair, spreading skiers around the mountain, opening up more beginner terrain, and Olympic Gold Medalist Stein Eriksen serves allowing ski-to access to Sugarbush Village. as director of the Sugarbush . Each Sunday afternoon he entertains the Sugarbush Chez Henri, a Parisian-style bistro, faithful with his signature flip on skis. opens in what is to become historic ‘64 Sugarbush Village.

Roy Cohen purchases Sugarbush (in ‘66 1977) and Glen Ellen (in 1979). The two areas join under the Sugarbush name. ‘77 Sugarbush is featured in Warren Miller’s film Ski a Glen Ellen is renamed Sugarbush North ‘78 la Carte. Trails highlighted in the segment include a to reflect the union. (In 1995, it is again powdery Murphy’s Glades, Organgrinder, Birdland, renamed Mt. Ellen.) ‘79 and Middle Earth.

Roy Cohen sells Sugarbush to ARA Service. ARA removes the three-person top-to-bottom gondola. ‘83 Super Bravo and Heaven’s Gate chairs are installed and uphill capacity increases fourfold. With a plan to operate as a four-season resort, Claneil Enterprises purchases the mountain, ‘84 Sugarbush Inn, the racquet club, the golf course, and numerous condo and townhouse developments.

‘90 American Skiing Company purchases Sugarbush and makes major infrastructure Three new investments including installing seven new lifts, three of which are detachable quads. chair lifts are The Slide Brook Express ferries skiers back and forth to newly renamed Mt. Ellen. installed at Mt. Ellen— ‘95 Snowmaking improvements include a new 25-million-gallon pond and miles of pipe. including Green Mountain Express, at that time the fastest quad in the Warren Miller films local legends John Egan, Doug Lewis, Jesse Murphy, world, transporting skiers at ‘96 Sally Knight, and Seth Miller at Sugarbush for the film Snowriders. 1,100 feet per minute. Summit Ventures, a small group of local investors Summit Ventures begins to lay the ‘01 led by Win Smith, purchases Sugarbush. groundwork for a new master plan for the resort that closely reflects ‘02 the values and philosophies of the Lincoln Peak Village opens to the public. The new facilities original owners, as well as the include Gate House Lodge and a luxury hotel and restaurant character and style of the Mad ‘06 complex: Clay Brook and Timbers Restaurant. The new village River Valley and Vermont. is modeled on the traditional style of Vermont farmhouses, barns, and schoolhouses.

Housing children’s programs and skier services, the Schoolhouse and Farmhouse ‘10 open, rounding out the base facilities at Lincoln Peak Village.

Construction is completed on Rice Brook Residences, private homes linking Lincoln Peak ‘13 Village to historic Sugarbush Village. Sugarbush purchases 414 low-energy snowmaking guns, completing a five-year, $5 million plan to ‘14 upgrade the mountain’s snowmaking program.

The original Valley House lift is replaced with a fixed-grip quad, more than doubling its uphill capacity. ‘15 Construction begins on Gadd Brook Slopeside, sixteen private homes named after the resort’s founding family.

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2015/16 55 SUGAR-KIDS River Mad > Libs

Directions: Without revealing the subject of the story, one player (the “Reader”) asks the other players to give him/her words to fill in the blanks. When all the blanks have been filled, the Reader reads the story back to the other players. THE LEGEND OF MURPHY MOOSE

Sugarbush is part of the ______Mountain National Forest, giving us color places to hike, bike, fish, camp, ski, ride, and ______. It is also home to action verb many ______animals such as bears, foxes, bobcats, ______, and adjective name of animal (pl.) our favorite, Murphy Moose.

No one is sure when Sugarbush visitors first saw Murphy. He has been spotted not only by ______bikers, hikers, and golfers on ______summer adjective adjective days, but also by skiers, riders, and snowshoers on ______winter days. adjective Murphy likes to eat ______and gnaw on the bark of ______maple trees. type of food adjective Murphy usually roams around Castlerock or ______. Skiers often see ski trail name him in the morning when they are riding the . Rumble, One of the noun ______trails on the mountain, is one of Murphy’s favorite places. adjective

Murphy made national TV news in 2013 when the snow was so ______it adjective made it challenging for him to walk in the woods, even with his long ______! Instead, he traversed from Slide Brook to Castlerock on the part of body (pl.) ski trails at the top of ______. A video taken by was Sugarbush lift name of relative shown on ______! late-night TV show

Murphy ______avoids people and cameras, and likes to hide behind adverb ending in -ly ______as people schuss by him. If you ever see ______holes in the plural noun adjective snow, look around, those may be Murphy’s ______prints! If you are part of body lucky enough to see him, please Watch ______and keep your distance. adverb ending in -ly

56 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE Monday - Saturday GIFT 9:30 am - 5:30 pm Sunday SHOP 10 am - 5 pm 10 am -3 pm (summer) TOY STORE Rt. 100/Mad River Green Everything from Sofas to Slinkies Waitsfield, Vermont 5 out of 4 People Shop Here! 802-496-6055 HOME Something for Everyone vtcollection.com DECOR Miska and Lily are Waiting for You

Eco-minded toys, ® clothing, and gifts for babies and children.

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2015/16 57 SUGAR-KIDS WORD S E ARCH D A G G C G U E N G M M R B M B L T B S Y J U W S D O O W S N I E T S C U B P T CAN YOU FIND MURPHY IN L U O Z X D N D N A O H D J Q M K G B W THESE WOODED AREAS... T E U T Z N H C R I B G I B B J G Z Y L EDEN Q O T D P A X N B U J J X L H A C B R A RACE COURSE WOODS W N I W C T H N C Z Q K E J N A C R R J GANGSTAS’ GROTTO W S Y S L S K W L Z P R W G B R A P E H SAPLINE GRAND STAND A W E E F D S W R H W O S X Y C G U P Z WOOD LOT L Q K M I N Q X F O O T S F E E P D E J RUFFED UP T R R I S A X E O D A G F C F O V E E A WILD TURKEY S D U T H R Y D L S K K O F G J G F L A BIG BIRCH W N T O E G S O G X J U N L H A J F S L WITCH HAZEL O C D U R M T R I L R M E I N R Z U R D FISHER CAT O K L G C C O P X S E F I S V T P R E T STEIN’S WOODS D X I H A T E A E S E Z W L L Z L L P N EGAN’S WOODS LEWS LINE S M W W T G W W T D F O S A P L I N E G DEEPER SLEEPER Z G O O J E O B E M O M T Q M C S A E Q TUMBLER WOODS X G I O B O E N D D J V S D J T L I D D WALT’S WOODS R R O D D B T B S B E N I L S W E L Z E SEMI TOUGH WOODS P P F S W I T C H H A Z E L L C Y V L O

1. How do you know if there is a SCRAMBLER snowman in your bed? First, unscramble the letters below to form the words. Then, unscramble the letters in the circles to complete the answer to the question . 2. What do you call a deer with no eyes? SINE ST NRU 3. What do you call ten snowshoe ------hares hopping backwards through RELES EP the snow together? ------4. What do you get when you cross PGISNR G NLIF a vampire with a snowman?

------HOW DO FROGS SKI POWDER? 5. Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up? LTIF INLE THEY ------, tired. 2 was it Because (5.)

------FROSTBITE! (4.) line. hare receding A (3.) ------! deer. eye no have I (2.) wet. up wake You (1.)

58 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE family

fun SUGARBUSH ADVENTURE CAMPS Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center Themed Summer Camps include (ages 6-17): (SHaRC) offers an array of Mountain Bike Adventure, Rock Climbing, Water Exploration Outdoor Survival, Farm-To-Plate, Junior Tennis, Junior Golf WINTER ACTIVITIES Mini Adventure (ages 3-5) for kids of all ages. SUGARBUSH.COM | 800.53.SUGAR | #SBCOMMUNITY

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2015/16 59 The Elusive Moose Pub & Eatery

Come visit us at Lincoln Join us for Dinner Specials Peak, right across from the beginning at 5:30pm everyday! Schoolhouse! Sunday: International Food Night & Kids menu is half price Also visit our other Tuesday:Design Your Own Pasta locations at the Burlington Wednesday:BBQ Ribs & Chicken Built in 1839, this spirited country store Waterfront, Downtown combines an eclectic deli and bakery, Montpelier and the Thursday:50 Cent Wings an award winning wine shop, Vermont Burlington International (begins at 2pm) artisanal beer and plenty of local color. Airport. Friday: Bring on the Seafood! From penny candy to contemporary Saturday: Prime Rib Night clothing and gifts...” 60 Lake Street 89 Main Street Regular & children’s menu available. Beer • Open 363 1/2 days a year! Burlington Downtown specials every day! No reservations needed! • Located 1 mile south of the Waterfront Montpelier Sugarbush Access Road off Route 100. Breakfast: Thurs-Sat 8-11; Sun 8-11:30 Burlington Lunch: Tues-Sat: 11-2: Sun: 11:30-2

“Best One Stop Shopping International Grazing (Small Plates, Burgers & Airport Sandwiches): Tues-Sun 2-5:30pm in Vermont” Dinner: Tues-Sun 5:30-9pm – Yankee Magazine www.skinnypancake.com Bar open till?? Closed Mondays. warrenstore.com 802-496-3864 #lovelocal 6163 Main St. Waitsfield, VT 05673 802.496.6444

CASTLEROCK d PUB Full Service Butcher Shop Farm-Fresh ~ Local Fresh Seafood Gourmet Sandwiches Imported Fine Foods

Beer Open 7 Nights A diverse bar food menu with local Neill Food ‘til 10 Wine Farm burgers, creative sandwiches, wings, and an extensive Vermont craft Classic Tavern Open Late Full Selection of beer menu. Open winter and summer Stay · Eat · Play Vermont & Imported Cheeses for lunch and après when Super Bravo spins, and dinner on select nights. 1428 Millbrook Rd (Rt 17) Waitsfield, VT d 802.496.2322 ~ hydeawayinn.com [email protected] sugarbush.com 800.53.SUGAR

60 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE DINING DIRECTORY

RESTAURANT DESCRIPTION PRICE RANGE CONTACT

275 Main at the Pitcher Inn Elegant farm-to-table cuisine and fine wine in a sophisticated setting. $$$$$ 802.496.6350 “This may be Vermont’s best restaurant,” writes the New York Times. pitcherinn.com American Flatbread Farm-to-table pizza baked in a primitive wood-fired earthen oven. $$ 802.496.8856 americanflatbread.com Big Picture Café & Theater The Valley’s unofficial cultural center and café, open seven days $$ 802.496.8994 a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. bigpicturetheater.info The Butchery Full-service butcher shop and fish market featuring local meats $$$ 802.496.FISH and Wood Mountain Fish. thebridgestreetbutchery.com Castlerock Pub Classic Vermont-influenced pub menu with outstanding craft $$ 802.583.6594 beverages. Open winter and summer when Super Bravo spins. sugarbush.com Chez Henri Parisian bistrot in historic Sugarbush Village since 1964. Winter only. $$$ 802.583.2600 China Fun Standard Chinese; takeout only. $ 802.496.7889 Common Man Contemporary American cuisine prepared by chef-owner Adam $$$ 802.583.2800 Longworth. Full bar, diverse wine list, and warm hospitality. commonmanrestaurant.com East Warren The Valley’s local food co-op, providing local, organic, and specialty $$ 802.496.6758 Community Market items from cheese and eggs to beer and bakery items. Open daily. eastwarrenmarket.com Elusive Moose Pub & Eatery Family-friendly elevated comfort food in a casual environment. $$$ 802.496.6444 General Stark’s Pub Full bar and table service for lunch and après in winter; $$ 802.496.3551 Fri.–Sun. 4–8 p.m. in summer. In Mad River Glen’s basebox. madriverglen.com Hogan’s Pub Seasonal lunch menu, local burgers, well-stocked bar, $$ 802.583.6723 long Valley views. Summer only. sugarbush.com Hostel Tevere Full bar with great local draught beers and live music. $ 802.496.9222 hosteltevere.com Local Folk Smokehouse Serving a wide variety of smoked meats, burgers, sandwiches, $$ 802.496.5623 and over 24 beers on draft. localfolkvt.com Mad River Barn Pub with burgers, entrées, and local brews; family-style dinners $$$ 802.496.3310 on winter Saturdays. madriverbarn.com Mad Taco Offering some of the most authentic Mexican fare in Vermont, as well $$ 802.496.3832 as a small selection of fine craft and Mexican beers and tequila. themadtaco.com MINT Vegetarian/vegan cuisine located in historic Waitsfield Village. $$$ 802.496.5514 mintvermont.com Mix Cupcakerie Home-baked ice cream cupcakes, wedding and birthday cakes, $$ 802.496.4944 cookies, bars, and pies in Waitsfield’s Village Square. Open daily. mixcupcakerie.com Mutha Stuffers Eat-in or takeout deli serving full line of Boar’s Head products $$ 802.583.4477 and local Vermont beers in historic Sugarbush Village. muthastuffers.com Paradise Deli & Market Local grocery and takeout deli located along the Sugarbush Access Road. $ 802.583.2757 Peasant Traditional rustic European food, open Thurs.–Mon. after 5:30 p.m., $$$ 802.496.6856 reservations recommended. peasantvt.com Phantom Creative and affordable dishes that are sourced locally, $$$ 802.496.6068 made from scratch, and changed on a regular basis. phantomvt.com Pine Tree Pub Burgers, salads, sandwiches, local brews, and nightlife. Winter only. $$ 802.496.7463 Pizza Soul Authentic, hand-crafted, thin crust, gourmet pizza, calzones, $$ 802.496.6202 and strombolis in historic Sugarbush Village. pizzasoul.com Skinny Pancake Serving sweet and savory crepes with local sustainable products. $$ 802.583.7444 Located on the first floor of the Farmhouse. skinnypancake.com Sweet Spot Bakery, ice cream, espresso, and cocktails. $$ 802.496.9199 Made-to-order custom cakes. sweetspotvt.com Terra Rossa Ristorante Italian/Mediterranean/American cuisine in a family-friendly, $$$ 802.583.7676 relaxed, and casual atmosphere. terrarossavermont.com Three Mountain Café Breakfast sandwiches, lunch to go, pastries, sweet treats, $ 802.496.5470 espresso, and coffee. threemountaincafe.com Timbers Restaurant World cuisine with a Vermont twist. Slope-side. Breakfast $$$ 802.583.6800 and dinner year-round; lunch during winter holidays. sugarbush.com Tracks at the Pitcher Inn Craft beers, fine wine, and imaginative pub fare. $$$ 802.496.6350 pitcherinn.com Warren Store Sumptuous baked goods, prepared foods, artisanal beer, and plenty $$ 802.496.3864 of wine choices. Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and staples. warrenstore.com Zach’s Tavern Farm-fresh local fare featuring creative entrées, sandwiches, $$$ 802.496.2322 at Hyde Away Inn burgers, wings, and salads. hydeawayinn.com $: budget $$: affordable $$$: moderate $$$$: fine $$$$$: luxury 2015/16 61

Comfortable Accommodations Indulgence Creative, Farm-Fresh Restaurant. Classic Local Tavern. is better at Open 7 Nights • Food ‘til 10 Sugarbush Stay · Eat · Play Farm-to-table cuisine with fine wines in an 1428 Millbrook Rd (Rt 17) atmosphere modeled after a nineteenth-century Waitsfield, VT dairy barn. Vegetarian and gluten-free options 802.496.2322 ~ hydeawayinn.com available. Open year-round for breakfast and Reservations recommended [email protected] dinner, and lunch during holiday periods. 802.583.6800

2015/16 63 • Thurs-Sun, 5:00-9:30pm • All Natural Pizza Baked in a Wood Fired Oven • Farm to table cuisine AMERICAN • Local craft brews on tap • Nightly Après ski bonfire ph: (802) 496-8856, americanflatbread.com • $85-$135 per night, Hearty farmhouse breakfast included • Minutes from Mad River Glen & Sugarbush • Stay 3 nights, 4th night free • Families & Pets accommodated AT LAREAU ph: (802) 496-4949, lareaufarminn.com FARM

“THE PITCHER INN MAY BE VERMONT’S BEST RESTAURANT” THE NEW YORK TIMES Elegant dining upstairs at 275 Main while Tracks serves a casual lounge-style menu on the lower level. A Relais & Châteaux property and a Condé Nast Top 100 Hotel. The Pitcher Inn Warren, Vermont

Warren, Vermont 05674 802-496-6350 www.pitcherinn.com

64 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE LODGING DIRECTORY

INN/HOTEL STYLE PRICE RANGE CONTACT

1824 House Comfortable country inn. Warm breakfasts, hearths, and hospitality. $$$ 802.496.7555 1824house.com Beaver Pond Farm Inn Quintessentially restored, beautiful B&B with hot tub. $$$ 800.685.8285 Also available as a house rental. beaverpondfarminn.com Bridges Family Resort One-, two-, or three-bedroom condominiums with resort $$$ 800.453.2922 & Tennis Club amenities just minutes from Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen. bridgesresort.com Clay Brook at Sugarbush Luxury slope-side one- to five-bedroom residences $$$$ 800.53.SUGAR with year-round outdoor heated pool and hot tubs. sugarbush.com Eagles Resort Freestanding, Swedish-design, two-bedroom homes. $$$ 802.496.5700 eaglesresortvt.com Featherbed Inn Charming Waitsfield bed and breakfast with fieldstone fireplace $$-$$$ 802.496.7151 and home-baked pies on Saturdays. featherbedinn.com Garrison Condos, studios, and motel rooms just 1.5 miles from Mt. Ellen $$ 802.496.2352 and Mad River Glen. garrisonlodge.com Golden Lion Riverside Inn Local inn atmosphere, minutes from Sugarbush, $$ 802.496.3084 breakfast offered, standard and family-style rooms. goldenlionriversideinn.com Hostel Tevere Thirty beds of European hostel–style lodging; shared $ 802.496.9222 bathrooms and common spaces. hosteltevere.com Hyde Away Inn Family-friendly nine-room inn with casual accomodations. $$ 802.496.2322 Farm-fresh restaurant and classic local tavern. hydeawayinn.com Inn at Lareau Farm Family- and pet-friendly farmhouse with hearty breakfast minutes $$ 802.496.4949 from Sugarbush and Mad River Glen. lareaufarminn.com Inn at Round Barn Farm Luxury country inn, twelve rooms with private baths, $$$$ 802.496.2276 steam showers, and whirlpools. theroundbarn.com Mad River Barn Family-friendly lodging with on-site restaurant, pub, and game room. $$$ 802.496.3310 madriverbarn.com Mad River Inn Relaxed atmosphere, with outdoor hot tub and BYOB lounge $$$ 802.496.7900 with pool table. madriverinn.com Millbrook Inn Set in a 19th-century farmhouse, a homey B&B with views $$ 802.496.2405 of the . millbrookinn.com Mountain View Inn Beautiful inn with cozy rooms and delicious breakfasts. $$ 802.496.2426 Minutes from skiing and town. vtmountainviewinn.com Pitcher Inn Relais & Châteaux luxury with eleven well-appointed, $$$$$ 802.496.6350 unique guest rooms and exquisite dining. pitcherinn.com Sugarbush Inn Comfortable and affordable family-friendly inn $$ 800.53.SUGAR minutes from the mountain; winter only. sugarbush.com Sugarbush Resort One- to four-bedroom privately owned condos, on or near the mountain. $$$ 800.53.SUGAR Condominiums sugarbush.com Sugar Lodge One-half mile from Lincoln Peak. Family-friendly, $$ 800.982.3465 modern hotel rooms with great ski packages. sugarlodge.com Sugartree Inn Closest inn to Lincoln Peak; nine great rooms, creative full $$$ 802.583.3211 breakfast, and outdoor hot tub. sugartree.com Tucker Hill Inn Peaceful country B&B lodging close to Sugarbush. $$$ 802.496.3983 Fireplace rooms to multi-person suites. tuckerhill.com Warren Falls Inn and Hostel The Olsen House, a post-and-beam structure built in 1971, offering $ 802.496.2977 single beds and private rooms with shared baths and communal kitchen. warrenfallsinn.com Weathertop Mountain Inn Eight private rooms with private baths, personally overseen $$-$$$ 800.800.3625 by innkeepers Lisa and Michael Lang. weathertopmountaininn.com West Hill House B&B Beautiful en-suite guest rooms, great breakfasts, and $$$ 802.496.7162 minutes from skiing with door-to-slope shuttle. westhillbb.com White Horse Inn A twenty-six-room B&B at the entrance to Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush ski area. $$ 802.496.9448 whitehorseinn-vermont.com Wilder Farm Inn Where farm fresh meets fashion forward. Beautiful rooms, $$$ 800.496.8878 delicious breakfast, and wood-burning fireplaces. wilderfarminn.com Yellow Farmhouse Inn King and queen beds, private baths with Jacuzzis, and gas stoves; $$$ 802.496.4263 on shuttle route. yellowfarmhouseinn.com $: budget $$: affordable $$$: moderate $$$$: fine $$$$$: luxury 2015/16 65 h

Your Perfect Retreat. Where rustic charm and luxurious comfort combine to welcome you to your home away from home. Three Course Gourmet Breakfast Cozy, Well-Appointed rooms Gas Fireplaces, Steam Showers Whirlpoolh Tubs 1661 E. Warren Road, Waitsfield, VT 802.496.2276 WhiteHorseInn-SugarbushAd_Layoutwww.theroundbarn.com 1 7/22/14 11:23 A Cozy Comfort at the Center of Vermont’s Three Finest Ski Areas

At the entrance to Sugarbush Mt. Ellen & just 5 MAD RIVER INN minutes 1860 country Victorian inn with seven from guest rooms and one small suite with Sugarbush Lincoln Peak & Mad River Glen, private baths, some with television our 26-room Inn serves a full breakfast in and A/C. Relaxed atmosphere. a homey setting at Comfortable living room with wood affordable rates. fireplace. BYOB lounge with pool table, Serving Vermont TV, stereo, guest refrigerator, and beers & wines. woodstove. Outdoor hot tub. Perfect for groups. Spacious Swedish Contemporary Homes Located on Tremblay Road, Rentals & Sales just off scenic Route 100 802-496-9448 in Waitsfield, / P.O. BOX 208 Fayston/Waitsfield 802.496.7900 WAITSFIELD, VERMONT 05673 800.832.8278 802-496-5700 madriverinn.com www.WhiteHorseInn-Vermont.com eaglesresortvt.com

66 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE CLAY BROOK HOTEL & RESIDENCES

Modern luxury meets slopeside convenience with studio to five-bedroom suites, concierge services, ski and boot valet, heated outdoor pool and hot tubs, and onsite dining.

For a more casual stay, explore the classic country charm of Sugarbush Inn or our selection of over 100 privately-owned, resort-managed condos. Complimentary access to Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center and Valley-wide shuttle service included.

sugarbush.com | 800.53.SUGAR

2014/15 67 SUGARBUSH CLOSE-UP

SUGARBUSH After years of skiing at the mountain with his family, Win Smith and a small group of investors purchased Sugarbush in September of 2001. They have since embarked on reshaping the Sugarbush experience to reflect the nature of the Mad River Valley. The investor group includes Adam Greshin, a Warren resident who also has served as the state representative for Washington County. Incorporating traditional Vermont architecture into the village, hosting cultural events, and highlighting the local agricultural economy in the resort’s culinary offerings are just some of the ways Sugarbush delivers a rich experience for its guests. In 2006, Sugarbush completed construction of Clay Brook Hotel & Residences and Gate House Lodge. Four years later, two more skier- services buildings—the Schoolhouse and the Farmhouse—were added to Lincoln Peak Village. Rice Brook Residences—fifteen new homes in three buildings—were completed in 2013, connecting Lincoln Peak Village and historic Sugarbush Village. And this year, construction began on the next phase of development in the resort’s master plan, Gadd Brook Slopeside—sixteen private homes named after the resort’s founding family. Each year, Win Smith and his entire resort team work hard to make good on the Sugarbush promise: Be Better Here. This year, the resort is investing over $3 million in replacing the original Valley House lift (built in 1960) with a fixed-grip quad. With this improvement, Sugarbush will have one of the largest uphill capacities in the Northeast. Last year, the resort completed a five-year, $5 million upgrade to its snowmaking operation at both mountains, and added a new 450-space parking lot at Lincoln Peak. Linking Sugarbush’s rich history, the uniqueness of the Mad River Valley, and the modernity of new amenities, Sugarbush is committed to offering the best in customer service, four seasons of outdoor recreation, and an unrivaled and quintessential Vermont experience.

68 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE JEB WA LLACE-BRODEUR

THE MOUNTAINS Sugarbush brings some of the flavor of western skiing to the East. in between Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen, is an adventurer’s paradise. Like many ski areas west of the Mississippi, Sugarbush’s Lincoln Guided trips are available with legendary skier John Egan and the staff Peak spreads out in a natural bowl of terrain. Runs at Lincoln Peak of the Adventure Learning Center’s Ski & Ride School. face north, south, and east and make for spectacular skiing no matter Sugarbush isn’t the only attraction to the Mad River Valley. Mad River the time of day. The natural bowl also makes the trail network easy Glen, just a few miles to the north of Sugarbush, boasts some of to navigate. Beginners, intermediates, and experts can all start from the most challenging terrain in the East. The Valley is also home to the same place on many lifts, find terrain suitable to their tastes, and two centers, Blueberry Lake and Ole’s Cross Country end up together back where they started. The lift and trail network Center, as well as the Catamount Trail. In Waitsfield, the Skatium Ice quickly disperses crowds on peak traffic days, while mid-mountain Rink provides a unique outdoor skating experience. lifts serve higher elevation runs, which minimizes long lift lines in the base area. Lincoln Peak is home to the legendary terrain of Castlerock LODGING Peak, whose narrow, steep, and winding trails offer seasoned experts From slope-side luxury to quaint country living, the Sugarbush a challenge and an old-time New England ski experience. Powder Vacation Team can assist in finding accommodations to suit a variety hungry? Get up early for first tracks on the Lincoln Limo. When it’s of needs and budgets (for reservations, call 800-53-SUGAR). The snowing, the twelve-passenger snowcat heads to the top as early as slope-side Clay Brook Hotel & Residences offers sixty-one suites, 7 a.m., before the lifts even open. ranging from king rooms to five-bedroom suites, and features ski- Connected by the Slide Brook Express to Lincoln Peak, Mt. Ellen is in/ski-out access, full valet service, a year-round outdoor heated the third-highest peak in Vermont (serviced by the highest chair lift pool, a fitness center, and Timbers Restaurant. Down the road is in the state). With thirty-nine trails, Mt. Ellen has steeps, wide-open the forty-two-room Sugarbush Inn, open all winter and for private cruisers, and some great beginner terrain. The base area at Mt. groups in the summer. The lodging—with nooks for reading and a Ellen is a no-frills experience with a classic lodge that’s home to the parlor with an adjoining taproom, open on Saturdays and holidays convivial Green Mountain Lounge. Mt. Ellen is where you’ll find the from 4 to 7 p.m. for après—has the cozy charm of a Vermont country Riemergasse Terrain Park, recognized over the last several years as inn. Sugarbush also offers a mix of resort-managed condominiums one of the top terrain parks in the East by Transworld Snowboarding. surrounding Lincoln Peak. All Sugarbush lodging comes with With rails, tables, and jumps for all levels, the park is home to local complimentary access to Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center, talent and a series of events and competitions. Whether at Mt. Ellen which offers a pool, hot tubs, steam rooms, the Adventure Zone for or Lincoln Peak, skiing in the trees is often the best way to find great kids, rock climbing, tennis, and massage. For additional lodging snow. Twenty-eight marked areas provide beginner to advanced tree recommendations, please call the Mad River Valley Chamber of skiing. Want more? The 2,000-acre Slide Brook backcountry, tucked Commerce at 802-496-3409. 2015/16 69 SUGARBUSH CLOSE-UP TRANSPORTATION The Burlington International Airport is just fifty minutes from Sugarbush, with direct flights arriving from New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and seasonal direct flights from Toronto. Amtrak runs trains from major eastern cities into Rutland (one hour south of Sugarbush) and Waterbury (thirty minutes north). And once you’ve arrived, Green Mountain Transit offers free public transportation services in the winter season within the Mad River Valley region via the Mad Bus. DISTANCE FROM: Burlington: 46 miles Boston: 180 miles New York City: 300 miles Montreal: 139 miles (224 KM)

FIRST-TIME VISITORS can find information on where to go for lift tickets, rentals/demos, ski & ride school, and dining options at www.sugarbush.com/discover/first-time-visitor. MOUNTAIN OPERATION MOUNTAIN STATISTICS HOURS Winter: mid-Nov. – Apr. LIFTS (16 TOTAL) Weekdays: 8 AM – 4 PM at Mt. Ellen; 4,083 9 AM – 4 PM at Lincoln Peak 581 SUMMIT 8 quads (5 high speed) SKIABLE 1,483 ELEVATION Weekends/holidays: 8 AM – 4 PM ACRES BASE 2 triples ELEVATION Spring: Apr. – May 3 doubles Call for spring-adjusted hours. 3 surface lifts 53MILES 2,600 Summer: mid-June – Labor Day VERTICAL OF TRAILS DROP TERRAIN2 Sun. – Thu.: 10 AM – 4 PM 28TREE-SKIING PARKS Fri., Sat., & holidays: 10 AM – 6 PM AREAS INCHES Fall: early Sept. – Columbus Day AVERAGE ANNUAL SNOWFALL 269 Weekends & Columbus Day: 10 AM – 4 PM Two weeks leading up to Columbus Day: 10 AM – 4 PM daily Times are subject to change. Please call 800.53.SUGAR or visit sugarbush.com for up-to-date information. Sugarbush Resort Warren, Vermont

LEGEND

EASIER WOODED AREA

DIFFICULT FREESTYLE TERRAIN

MORE DIFFICULT FLAT OUT/SLOW AREA

MOST DIFFICULT SNOWMAKING EVENTS CALENDAR 2015–16 JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

USSA “B” Mogul Competition Annual Dog Parade Pond Skimming Brew-Grass Festival 10/10–11 Community Weekend 1/23–24 & 2/6 Champlain 3/20 Sugarbush Mountaineering 9/30–10/2 Sugarbush Food & Celebrate autumn in Vermont with College Fresh Tracks Film Camp Race Wine Festival pumpkin carving, scenic lift rides and Warren Miller film star John Egan An endurance race for backcountry Three-day food and wine festival hikes, harvest-inspired dining, live and members of the award-winning skiers and split boarders, featuring a including opening chef’s reception music, kids’ camps, and mountain Champlain College Emergent Media new course spanning Mt. Ellen, Slide and wine dinner, educational activities. Family Oktoberfest on Sunday program coach teens in bridging their Brook Basin, and Lincoln Peak. seminars, Artisan Taste, featured features cabbage bowling, Bavarian- passion for filming and snow sports in wine dinners around the Valley, Easter Celebration inspired food, drink, and live music. a three-day adventure camp. Finished 3/27 “Late Night on the Mountain” after- Celebrate Easter Sunday with a films will be displayed at a reception hours party, charitable walk, and Mad Dash morning service at Allyn’s Lodge, 10/11 on the final Saturday evening. champagne brunch. A 5K or 10K run, 5K walk, and kids’ followed by an Easter egg hunt and race, supporting the Mad River Path 2/6 Junior Castlerock Extreme an elegant brunch at Timbers. Association. Registration and start Talented young skiers (ages fourteen RECURRING EVENTS Pond Skimming details at madriverpath.com. and under) compete in a challenging 4/2 Tour De Moon Take the plunge across a 120-foot and technical run down Castlerock’s The Big Kicker pond at the base of Lincoln Peak. 12/26, 12/29, 1/17, 1/23, 2/14, 11/21 infamous Lift Line. A qualifying race Kick off the 2015–16 winter season Whether you get wet or spectate from 2/20, 3/5, and 3/19 for March’s Castlerock Extreme and Learn the essentials of skinning with Mad River Glen and Sugarbush the crowd, be sure to participate in part of the Ski the East Freeride on an after-hours guided skin up at American Flatbread in Waitsfield. this annual rite of spring. Awards for Tour. Registration for 110 spots to the Glen House, with dinner, This unmatched ski-mountain duo costume, style, and splash. traditionally sells out in advance. throws a freestyle party with rail beverages, and a moonlit ski to the Stein’s Challenge bottom. Special equipment available. jams, ski movies, local food and President’s Week 4/9 2/12–21 Get ready for a head-to-head showdown Reservations required. drink, and words of wisdom from the A nonstop week of fun with a kids’ on one of Sugarbush’s most legendary High Fives Foundation, the Flyin Ryan cooking class, family buffets, late- Kids’ Pizza & Movie Night trails, named after the Norwegian Hawks Foundation, and more. night music, Meet the Brewer night, Olympian and former Sugarbush Ski 12/28, 1/17, 2/14, 2/17, and 3/19 Tour De Moon, and a torchlight A Taste of Timbers School director Stein Eriksen. Cash Send the kids off for a night of fun 12/7 parade and fireworks. Sample items from the new Timbers purse and prizes for top finishers. with pizza and a movie while you enjoy winter menu, inspired by our best Mt. Ellen’s Birthday an evening on your own. 2/20–21 Sugarbush Brew-Grass local and national food purveyors. Celebration 6/11 Festival Castlerock Music Series Commemorate Mt. Ellen’s birthday 12/12 SugarBash Kick off the summer with 12/31, 1/16, 1/30, 2/13, and 2/27 with the classic Cowbell Champagne It’s time to get down and get funky at Sugarbush’s sixth annual brewfest, Soak in the sounds of great local Party, and ease into Sunday with the Sugarbush’s annual birthday celebra- featuring craft beers from more than musicians at Castlerock Pub and traditional Elliott Family Brunch. tion. Rock your finest retro gear and twenty breweries, tasty local eats, choose from more than twenty beers on tap. dance your heart out to live music from 2/28 High Fives Fat Ski-A-Thon and jammin’ bluegrass bands. the Grift. Costume contest at 8 p.m. Lap the Summit Quad on your widest Independence Day Kids’ Cooking Classes planks and give out high fives all day 7/4 12/14–18 Valley Ski & Ride Week Celebration 12/30, 1/16, 2/6, 2/20, and 3/12 for a great cause. Each lap completed A fifty-year tradition at Sugarbush Start the day with the wacky Warren Kids learn basic kitchen safety, food raises money to support the High returns: five consecutive days of Parade, followed by a classic American handling, cooking techniques, and how Fives Non-Profit Foundation. ski and ride lessons led by some of BBQ and fireworks at Lincoln Peak. to set a table, all while they prepare and Sugarbush’s finest coaches. On-snow 3/5 Castlerock Extreme feast on a three-course meal. Mad Marathon sessions are Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. Expert skiers charge the cliffs and dips 7/10 This scenic course sends runners Sugarbush Food & Wine Sampler to 12:00 p.m. of Sugarbush’s toughest terrain in the along beautiful country roads in the 12/28 and 3/12 nineteenth annual Castlerock Extreme. 12/24–1/3 Holiday Week Mad River Valley, through covered A food and wine sampling event with Spend your holiday week at 3/11–13 Nantucket Weekend bridges, past farms, and over educational seminars, followed by an Sugarbush. Send the kids to Pizza and Island fever takes over Sugarbush streams. Participants can run a relay, evening dining experience featuring Movie Night or a kids’ cooking class, with beach music, Nantucket culinary half, or whole marathon. guest vintners and wine merchants. decorate holiday cookies, and enjoy and drink specials, an Allyn’s Lodge In collaboration with the Nantucket Festival of the Arts après live music all week. Bring your dinner with a featured guest chef, a 8/1–31 Wine Festival. A month-long celebration in the Mad furry friend to the sixth annual Dog food and wine sampler, and fun-in- River Valley featuring the “Taste of the Castlerock Music Series Parade and Canine Couture contest. the-sun beach activities. And ring in the New Year at the Family Valley” culinary feast at Lincoln Peak, Buffet in Gate House Lodge or at an 3/19–20 Sugaring Time Festival the Big Red Barn Art Show, theatrical elegant dinner at Timbers, followed Celebrate the start of spring and performances at the Skinner Barn by a torchlight parade and fireworks. sugaring season with a variety of and the Phantom Theater, and more. maple-themed activities. Search for

Green Mtn. Stage Race ALEXANDRA MORSE 1/15–18 MLK Jr. Weekend maple nips in a resort-wide scavenger 9/2–5 Largest Pro-Am road stage race east An action-packed weekend with the hunt, play maple-inspired games, of the Mississippi. Close to 1,000 American Melting Pot Buffet, a kids’ indulge in maple dining specials, cyclists travel to compete in some of cooking class, late-night music, a Tour and take part in Mt. Ellen’s annual the Northeast’s most challenging and De Moon skin and ski at Mt. Ellen, and Geländesprung Championship. a torchlight parade and fireworks. scenic terrain.

72 SUGARBUSH MAGAZINE A le x an d ra M orse

The Waitsfield Village Covered Bridge (the Great Eddy Covered Bridge) is the oldest operating covered bridge in Vermont. Originally built in 1833 using a kingpost truss and Burr arch framing, the bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge underwent significant structural repairs in 2015 to address deteriorating abutments and to replace the bridge sidewalk. sugarbush.com 800.53.SUGAR #SBCOMMUNITY

Community is Better at Sugarbush There’s something more to the Sugarbush experience than the legendary terrain variety, the meticulous snowmaking and grooming, the fabled history, and the authentic Vermont mountain setting.

Come discover what makes Sugarbush different.