It’s officially snowboarding season and ya girl is through the roof! Opening weekend for Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont was Friday, November 25th. So you better believe, we took off early Black Friday morning and headed right up to the condo at the mountain. Is it too early to say it will be my second home this winter? Probably not.
It was my first time at Stratton Mountain and I loved it. For an east coast mountain it had the cutest little town that really reminded me of the mountains out west that I visited. Obviously, no where near the size of Vail Village or Beaver Creek but still as adorable and enjoyable to walk through.
The Good
- Parking was not bad
Being that it is early season, this is no surprise. From the condo, we would typically take a shuttle to the homeowner’s lodge but with the little traffic we were able to score parking in the garage so no need for a shuttle. - The food is next level
We ate a few different places in the village – The deli has incredible sandwiches and an awesome craft beer selection. The main cafeteria at the Base Lodge has quite possibly the biggest salads you could image. It also has delicious soups and noodle bowls, which is the absolute perfect winter day meal. I was shocked for how great the food was given the typical quality you expect from mass food service venues – but Stratton Mountain Resort proved that wrong! The sushi place also looked amazing and will be a stop next trip. - Sunday was empty
If you could imagine a private mountain, that’s what Sunday was. Everyone had left with looming rain, but it held off. We had an amazing day riding with spring-skiing like conditions and little to no crowds anywhere on the resort.
The Bad
- Ice Everywhere
This is expected, but it still needs to be mentioned. Conditions on Saturday were awful, but it was still incredible to be out of the mountain so in reality it wasn’t that bad. - Minimal Trails Open
There were only a handful of trails open. Again, totally standard with early season but still doesn’t mean it would have been better if there was more snow! It was imperative to get out there early to get runs on the trails before all the snow was inevitably skiied off. They did have 2 park features available, which I wasn’t expecting. (This is the year I’m tackling more of the park). - We had to Leave Sunday Night
We would of loved to stay another day or two, but my dumb self left my computer on Long Island so I could truly disconnect from work and Ian had a busy day with clients on Monday. With snow on the forecast for this week, I’m thinking another trip up will be in our future real soon.
The Trip – Long Island to Stratton Mountain Resort
I wasn’t only counting down the days to this trip for almost a month, but I was geeking out the entire time. I started snowboarding two years ago and there was a point where I never wanted to step on a snowboard again very shortly after I started. With my friends and family I was able to get over the hurdle and continue this sport that I picked up quickly and fell in love with even quicker. To sum it up, snowboarding has a special place in my heart and I genuinely enjoy getting out to the mountains and getting batter whenever I can.
We left Sunday, later then we anticipated, which is pretty on brand. We packed up the cats and heading up to Vermont. There was not much traffic for Black Friday, even by the malls, so the drive up was pretty pleasant. We found this really silly question generator for couples that kept us laughing and entertained when the trip got a little boring. I think the cats had more fun on the road trip than we did. They were climbing around the truck and cuddling with us, then going back and hanging with each other in the backseat. It was adorable and they were incredible in the car, it makes sense because Ians been traveling with them since they were little kittens.
We made it to the mountain and had a little family dinner before getting to bed to try and get first chair! …We naturally didn’t get first chair but we tried our best. When we got to the mountain on Saturday it was pretty packed, but we have the blessing of using the home owners lodge and it was great to be able to escape the crowds and relax when needed.
We mainly took the gondola up but occasionally hit the 6er chairlift that only went halfway up the mountain. After 4 or 5 runs we grabbed lunch at the deli and hung out in the village before returning to the mountain for the afternoon. The food was incredible highly recommend. We were on the mountain until about 3pm, which was when we took a run that was like sliding down a hockey rink on a mountain – so we called it a day. It seemed that everyone else was on the same page. We grabbed a drink at the base camp lodge bar, which was clearly a hot spot, and watching the people still out on the mountain coming back to the base after their final runs for the day.
Ian and I met up with my friend Frank on the mountain and after the drinks at the lodge, we headed over to the village for some shopping and browsing. If anyone has a connect for a grey fuzzy bucket hat let a girl know! Check it out on the shelf in the second picture!! I fell in love with this hat, but didn’t end up getting it and I immediately regretted the decision. We ended up at Mulligan’s for some beers and snacks before heading home for the night.
Sunday was a slow start for sure, but we made it to the mountain and the conditions were drastically better than the day before. We were ripping! I don’t even know how many runs we got in, but it was non stop until it started raining and we called it a day. It was super slushy and very reminiscent of spring riding which I loved. At the end of the day, it was an incredible trip and one awesome way to kick start the 2022/2023 season! I’m exciting for putting this Stratton season pass to use, but I will be at Stowe before I’ll be back at Stratton this year, so expect another trip update from further north in Vermont in the next week or so!
Teena Fey 