Want to know what an early-season weekend ski getaway can be like? Read on!
9:02 am, December 8, 2012
Okemo Mountain Resort, in Ludlow, Vermont has been one of my early season favorites for many, many years now. Their next neighbor north, Killington traditionally opens sooner, but Okemo typically takes a little longer and offers a greater variety of terrain (and a much lower-key atmosphere) when they do open. Okemo is noted, of course, for doing a great job of snowmaking and grooming. Their November 8 opening this year was their fourth-earliest ever, and by this second weekend in December they had 28 trails open and well-covered in snow.
Of course early season skiing and riding is a gamble; Mother Nature always has the final say.
I’m writing with my feet up, sipping hot tea in front of the fireplace in a comfy studio at Okemo’s Jackson Gore Inn, shortly after 9:00 in the morning. Normally, Marilyn and I would have been out on the slopes an hour ago (Okemo’s lifts turn at 8 on weekends). In fact, I even started out earlier with all my gear, ready to go. (Marilyn, smarter than me, had decided to wait.) But then I hit a wall of rain and fog that misted up my goggles before I could even walk the 10 steps to the shuttle that was supposed to take me to the lifts . . .
So, back inside i went. The weather forecast is calling for things to improve in an hour or so. More later . . . I have to tell you, if you have to wait to ski, this is a very comfortable place to do it.
3:28 pm, December 8, 2012
Well, it never got “partly sunny” like the weatherman said it would, but the rain stopped and we jumped on the lifts at 11 o’clock. It was a little foggier than we would have liked, but the snow was perfect—butter soft, smooth, consistent and a delight to ski. We hammered the slopes for a good hour and a half until hunger forced us to stop for lunch (try the new Vermont Pizza Company location in the base lodge—great soups and salads, even if you don’t do pizza). Then we hammered some more (Defiance and Upper World Cup were exceptional!) until our legs said it was time to quit and hit the sauna and hot tub at the hotel. Wonderful day of skiing!
5:40 pm, December 8, 2012
Another real advantage of early-season skiing in less than perfect weather. There was NO ONE else in the hot tubs, sauna and seam room. We got to warm ourselves back up to 98.6 as we watched the sky fade to dark in a quiet, totally relaxed setting. You won’t normally get that luxury on a Saturday night.
9:56 pm December 8, 2012
We had originally made reservations for a five-course “snowcat dinner” in the Epic restaurant, which Okemo offers on Saturday nights throughout the season. This is fine dining with a different twist. They pick you up at the Jackson Gore Inn in a comfortable snowcat and give you a tour of the mountain by night as they chauffeur you the Solitude baselodge sipping your favorite beverage on the way. This is long after the lifts have closed and it’s a different world. At the restaurant, they feed you spectacularly, ply you with excellent wines, and then bring you back to reality.
The ride in the snowcat under starlight is supposedly a wonderful bracket to an elegant, romantic dinner with perfect food and excellent service. Unfortunately, there wasn’t quite enough snow for the snowcat ride so we took a shuttle van instead. Not as much fun, but who needs a snowcat ride when the food is this good? This was definitely in our lifetime Top 10 of dining experiences. They change the menu often, but if the superb porcini-dusted beef tenderloin or wild halibut are offered as entrees, you can’t go wrong. They pair each of the five courses with a special wine. And, if you give them advanced notice, they’ll work with any dietary restrictions you might have and still produce a gourmet feast. This just ain’t a typical ski-area dining experience, and if you are looking for an ultra-romantic gourmet splurge, I’d highly recommend it. Wonderful evening .
7:10 am December 9, 2012
Gotta hustle. Just watched a spectacular sunrise and we’re headed for breakfast and, if possible, first chair. The sky cleared overnight, the temps dropped and we’re hoping for a corduroy morning.
12:30 pm December 9, 2012
Well, we didn’t quite make first chair, but we were close. We did manage to get up the mountain ahead of almost everyone else. By weekend standards, the slopes were empty.
Yesterday was warm. The overnight temps dropped below freezing and the Okemo grooming crew was out making conditions as good as they possibly could be considering the tricks Mother Nature was playing on us. This was classic New England early-season skiing—either smooth and firm or soft and a little chunky. In any case it was fast, fast, fast . . .
We’re hardy New Englanders with sharp ski edges and like going fast, so we had no problems. In fact, we had a ball, skiing hard until our legs gave out.
1:45 pm December 9, 2012
Just because your legs won’t let you ski any more doesn’t mean the adrenaline flow has to stop. At least not at Okemo. After our skiing was done we took three runs on their “Timber Ripper” Mountain Coaster. What a hoot! This is a little cart that rides securely on a seamless steel track, kind of like a long, fast roller coaster. It plunges 375 feet in just over six-tenths of a mile. The carts have brakes so you can slow them down if you want to—but why would you want to? My advice: push the brake levers all the way forward and let it fly as fast as you can go. Big grins guaranteed.
If you don’t think you can get an adrenaline rush sitting on your butt after a morning of skiing, think again. Or better yet, take a look at this video clip: it was shot completely by accidents as I tried to hold on for dear life while my adrenaline-junkie wife took control of the brake lever. Brakes? What brakes?
Okemo also has the new “Sawyer’s Sweep” zipline course that runs all winter. We a-l-m-o-s-t signed on for the two-hour adventure with seven different ziplines, two suspension bridges and three rappels. But we’d run out of time and had to get on the road. Next visit . . .