Just a phenomenal day at Stowe. Nosedive was smooth and buttery, fantastic conditions to open up the throttle and dig into high speed GS turns at the top of the main pitch as the trail widens. Goat was excellent between the Liftline entry and Midway, as was the entirety of Starr. Woods were also good, I encountered some thin spots that necessitated creative route finding in the tight softwood lines at the top of Tres Amigos as one normally does in that area, but overall coverage was solid. Southwest winds were howling and Forerunner went on hold around 1pm, but still managed to grab 12 hot laps there before heading to Gondi. Chin Clip was very interesting, with aspects that were more exposed to the wind being stripped down to blue ice, but right around the corner would be powdery bumps. Kept me on my toes.
The Lookout Double opened in relief of the Forerunner. I had never seen that chair running before, let alone ride it, so it was a nice to experience the leisurely 15 minute jaunt up the mountain. Love those old school lifts, hope they don't touch it anytime soon.
In all, Stowe definitely delivered. I always walk away impressed with the vertical feet one can accumulate there over the course of a day. 2k per run off both Forerunner and the Gondola is nothing to sneeze at. As discussed earlier in this thread, its pretty difficult to find lappable lifts with vertical as significant as that. Once word gets out that conditions are as good as they are right now, I expect this weekend to be a zoo pretty much everywhere.