I am at Smuggs this week in VT. It snowed all day!! They have a top to bottom set of trails on sterling mt. but not much else. Its not bad takes about 10-15 mi.s to get down. Has a couple of nice dropoffs that can be fun. My son had a first this week. He made some friends in Snowbooard camp and they have been going off after lessons to rip the mountain on their own. Normally, I don't let him hit the bigger stuff without me or an instructor. He had the instructor convince me he was ready so I gave him the ok and had only gotten the O out before he was gone He's well on his way to being part of a regular snow rat pack. Oh well got to kick his butt in burnout.

OK..I got kicked in burnout . Here are a few pics from yesterday and today. First time I used a picture hosting site, so it may or may not work.

This is a shot riding up the lift.



This one is at the top about 200 ft down the one top to bottom run.



This is looking over what is probably the steepest/iciest dropoff. I sat at the bottom of the dropoff yesterday and watched several yardsales open up.

Thanks for posting the photos Bumps. What are the air temps like up there? Are they making snow at night?

Bumps - shouldn't you be out on the slopes? i did want to ask about how old is your son? the wife and I always get into this little debate about how much we should let them roam the mountain on thier own. i tend to let them go since keeping the two of them in synch is rather challenging. they'll be 13 and 11 and when we finally hit slopes this year.
-Dave

Its been cold at night, but they have not been making as much snow as you would think.One of the folks working at the lodge was saying the humidity hasn't been good for snowmaking. The temps go back up to high 30's and 40's during the day. They did open a run from top to bottom on madonna mt today. Another nice long run. It is a very pretty run but the snow was crud. lots of ice balls. They were making snow all day on morse mt as well. I think their objective is to have top to bottom on all three mt.s by saturday. It started to rain tonight aand is supposed to rain all day tomorrow. I guess there is a chance it will be snow here at elevation, but I doubt it. We are leaving in AM to get home in time for XMAS.

Dave,
My son is 11, will be twelve in march. This has been a growing experience for all, my kid, my wife and I. My son has had more independence this week both on and off the slopes than ever before. He is at the teen center as I'm typing. They allow 11 and 12 year olds between 5 and 8pm. We are picking him up at 7 to go to dinner. My son is a very conservative in his snowboarding. He always stays in control and tends to go a little slower than then his buddys. His instructor reaffirmed this in our discussion during his pitch to let my kid go with the other kids in the snowboarding class after lessons. . We've had a couple mishaps. He did not wait at the right place to be picked up after the first day with his friends. When he and his instructor was convincing me to let him go, the bus to go to the other mt. was waiting and when I said ok He was gone. We didn't get clear on where we would meet. My wife and I was waiting at the bus area in the main village expecting him to meet us their. Apparently we missed and he walked up to the condo. Our condo is slope side, but the lifts had closed and he walked up the slope. We didn't wait long before we thought one of us should head back up to the condo to make sure he didn't go back. When we all hooked up he was the one most upset. All of this was within 20 mins of lifts closing so we had not started panicking yet because we thought he may still be on mt if he made the last run. I take the blame on this one because I should have told him where to meet. Needless to say we have now established a meeting plan. The other thing about smuggs is that lessons are big thing here and there are a lot of instructors on the mt all day long. They act as a psuedo ski patrol as well keeping folks in check and checking on folks who may have taken a tumble. All in all, I think your good if you can trust your kids to stay within their limits, stay on the slopes where they say they are going and know enough to be polite, but not to trust strangers. Got to run or I will be late picking up my kid.

yeah, that sounds about right. last year, when they were 12 and 10, it usually took me about twenty mintues to find one or the other on the slopes - always that indecision about waiting few more mintues at the bottom of the lift or going back up, and sometimes they had gotten tired and went back to the condo. smuggs sounds like a good destination. thanks & cheers.

My kids are grown and on their own now, but when they were little I used to make sure they had $5 in their pocket and I'd instruct them to go to the nearest lodge, have a hot chocolate, and wait for me if they got lost.

I took my son to Killington when he was 7 and after most of a day skiing blues with him, I wanted to ski Mouse Trap, a short bump run that starts and ends from a blue run on Snowdon. I told John to meet me where the trails rejoined. It was 5 deg. and snowing hard. When I got to the meeting place he was nowhere to be seen. I waited a good 30 min. in growing panic. Nobody who came down had seen a little boy in a brown jacket. Finally I went to the Snowdon Lodge and found him having his 3rd hot chocolate. (You can tell this was a while ago when $5 would get you 3 hot chocolates in a ski lodge.) He had waited on the far side of the cossing point while I had waited at the near side. In the heavy snow we couldn't see each other. The strategy for what to do when lost was vindicated and I didn't have to go home and tell my wife I had lost him. The roles are reversed now; he is the one who watches over me.

Quote:

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The roles are reversed now; he is the one who watches over me.

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I thought that was the only reason to have kids, to watch over you when you get older