Stowe, Vermont – This week, various skiers earned their turns at Stowe Mountain Resort as various skiers and riders ventured up to shred through the snowliage. As that snow melts, another group of skiers plans to use Stowe’s slopes soon, albeit for a different purpose.
Last month, The Stowe Reporter detailed that Stowe Mountain Resort plans to blow snow as soon as November 1st to help ski racers from Mount Mansfield Academy get some early season training in. The partnership between Mount Mansfield Academy and Stowe Mountain Resort, which was announced to Ski Racing Media in July, includes a new additional snowmaking pump that will allow them to produce snow quicker and open earlier. They’ll be making snow on the Main Street trails on Spruce Peak, which is serviced by the Sensation Quad. However, this won’t impact Stowe’s snowmaking schedule, in which they tend to blow snow around the Forerunner Quad.
Igor Vanovac, the Executive Director of the Academy, described why this investment is so vital for their program:
“Normally, we end up being [open] in the middle of January up on Main Street, and this is the goal to give us that four or five, six weeks of extra season back home. Because our competitors are ahead of us with that.”
Ski academies in New England are continuously improving their facilities. Some schools have their own ski hills, while others have invested in new lifts and trails to help create isolated training environments. I saw this when I went to school at Proctor Academy and worked at the Proctor Ski Area. Proctor’s ski hill has become a venue for various ski competitions and training opportunities. Other recent investments include the revitalization of Mittersill for ski racers from Holderness Academy and the Franconia Ski Club, Burke Mountain Academy adding a new t-bar, Gould Academy putting in a new t-bar at Sunday River, and a new t-bar being added at Sugarloaf for Carrabassett Valley Academy.
Stowe’s opening date to the public has yet to be announced.
Image Credits: Mount Mansfield Academy, Stowe Mountain Resort
