SeniorsSkiing Guide: Smuggs Not Just For Kids
Smuggler’s Notch Feels Like Way-Back-When But With Up-To-Date Conveniences.
There are lots of blues at Smuggler’s for cruising seniors. That’s Stowe in the distance.
Credit: Tamsin Venn
Smugglers’ Notch is the well-known kid-friendly ski area in northern Vermont. That same dedication to fun also makes it a good area for seniors.
Start with the intermediate trails winding off the two upper Mountains—Madonna, 3,640 feet, and Sterling, 3,040 feet. They urge your skis to turn as they follow the mountain’s contours in delightful turns and drops.
Smuggs has the only triple black trail in the East—Black Hole— with a 53 degree slope angle. But there are also many ego-boost blues like Madonna’s Upper Chilcoot and Drifter, where you turn where the trail turns, and Sterling’s Thomke’s, Rumrunner, Hangman’s, Treasure, FIS, and Black Snake.
Doable glades include Red Fox, Three Mtn., and several “variations” of the trail you are on. The goal here is to always let you have access to the woods should you so desire. Bring them on!
Glade skiing is well known here. When you ride up Sterling, you see Madonna’s wooded flank dropping into the ravine below. All those glades are skiable or snowboardable, says Public Relations Director Mike Chait enthusiastically.
Furthermore, all trails are well defined from top to bottom so no worry about ending up on a black diamond trail by accident and all trails funnel to their respective base areas for pro-choice group skiing.
Meanwhile, The Village Center at Morse Mountain is served by four lifts and 99 percent beginner terrain where you can ski at a peaceful pace.
Views? From the Catwalk, you can look across the Notch to Mt. Mansfield’s trails at Stowe. Remember when these two resorts were connected?
The experiences kindle feelings of New England skiing way back when, but with all the up-to-date conveniences. By not being overdeveloped, Smuggs maintains a nostalgic feel.
Somewhat remote (although only 30 miles from Burlington), midweek is quiet, and the powder stashes linger.
Seniors are looked after. The Smugglers’ Notch 55+ Club is a 26-year-old club that meets every Wednesday for skiing and camaraderie. It has more than 100 members, and about 30 to 35 skiers show up each week. Coffee at 9 a.m., followed by Alpine or Nordic skiing and snowshoeing, then a 1 p.m. program. Membership is $30 for the season, which includes continental breakfast, 50 percent discount off lift tickets, and other discounts.
Most members are Vermonters who live within an hour radius of Smuggs with a wide range of skiing ability, including ex ski patrollers and instructors. Guests and new members are warmly welcomed, says Deborah Pomeroy, club president.
New this winter is FunZone 2.0, a 26,000 square foot indoor playground, a $4.2 million investment reflecting the area’s decades-long focus on family fun. Laser tag anyone?
The Facts
Vertical Drop: 2,620 feet.
Total Trails: 78. 300 acres of marked and patrolled terrain. Plus 700 acres of unmarked and unpatrolled terrain. 19% easier, 56% intermediate, 20% expert, and 5% extreme.
Snowmaking: 62 percent
Total lifts: 8.
Longest run: 3 miles, from the Madonna summit to the Village.
Places to eat: Village Center, Morse Mountain Grille & Pub for salads, soups and burgers. Music: The Friendly Pirate
Lift tickets: Senior 65 and older, $58 day, $64 holiday. Season Pass: (ages 70+) $70
Click here for Smuggler’s Notch website
Learning From Injury
Correspondent Ends Her Season In “Routine” Fall, Provides Us With Lessons Learned.
[Editor Note: We’ve heard correspondent Yvette Cardozo’s story numerous times, especially the part about immediate post-incident denial. Perhaps there is some biological reaction, perhaps a form of shock, that masks the pain of more serious injury. In any case, her advice is well worth heeding.]
Igor, the medical boot, keeps the broken ankle stable.
Credit: Yvette Cardozo
I don’t remember exactly how it happened. It was the bottom of the last run. I was tired. The snow had devolved into slick slush, and it was snowing and foggy. I caught an edge and before I knew it, I was on my back, one ski released, the other leg bent awkwardly. A few more turns on the trail, and I would have been within sight of the lodge.
A ski cliche if there ever was one.
My ski buddy came up and got my left ski off. I was sure that was an injury down there and knew enough not to try and stand. So we called the patrol. They came, strapped me into a toboggan and down we went.
Me, head first, on my back. If I could have gotten to my cell phone, I would have videoed the trip down. The view was like being in a soupy blender.
At the lodge, we got my boots off and decided the injury was to my right ankle—probably a bad sprain. I went home, actually driving myself. And went to a business event in downtown Seattle that night. Driving. In the rain. I still thought it was just a sprain.
Two days later, I gave up and went to a doctor. Indeed, it was not a sprain. It was a break. He called it a distal fracture. All these years skiing, all these crashes and I had never broken anything before. And this was an ankle. I didn’t know that was even possible with modern ski boot tech. Ankle breaks are the stuff of 1950’s ski lodge pictures —a guy in front of the fireplace with his leg in a cast, resting on a pillow.
But, I had just left a message for my boot fitter days before, saying my boots were getting loose. He came back into town and said, “Yup”. And also, yup, you certainly can break an ankle today skiing. He’s got three pins and a plate in his ankle to prove it.
The good news is I’m not in a cast, not on crutches, didn’t need surgery. I’m just wearing a medical boot (I’ve named it Igor) for six weeks. The bad news— my ski season was over three days after it began.
Yeah, at age 73 I don’t bounce like I used to. And yeah, I’m grateful it wasn’t a knee. Ankles heal. Knees are another matter.
I canceled one ski trip but am doing another where I will be writing about all kinds of non-ski activities as a non-skier and trying out something called a “snow limo” that gets non-skiers up on the hill, and also down, via a run at Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, Canada.
So there are a few lessons learned:
1. Don’t get sloppy about your gear. If you think your boots need re-fitting or your bindings need a check or your skis need tuning, do it NOW.
2. If you just want to do “one more run” and you are tired, DON’T.
3. Don’t assume you know what the injury is. If it’s swollen and getting black and blue, it may very well be a break. SEE A DOCTOR.
4. And don’t grind your teeth too much or overthink this. Get back into the gym or on your bike or walking or whatever when you can and get back into shape.
Snow Limo: Non skiers get up the mountain and down a ski trail.
Credit: Sun Peaks Snow Limo Tours.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Feb. 23)
Losing The Mind Game: Confidence Versus Competence, Mystery Device, SLC As Ground Zero, Buying Mountain Home Advice, History Ski Poster Explainer.
Thanks to those who have offered financial support to SeniorsSkiing.com. We very much appreciate it.
White Mountains, Franconia Notch, Cannon Mountain?
Artist unknown
Like you, we’ve been checking into the Pyeong Chang Olympics, watching the Alpine, Nordic and various snowboarding events with considerable admiration. Some performances were nothing short of heroic, and, in the case of US Womens’ Cross Country and Hockey medals, historic. We were in awe of the skill and grit these competitors showed the world.
We remember in the “old days” when we used to sit on our couch watching those Olympic events, the slalom, the giant slalom, and others, thinking to ourselves, “With a little practice, I could do this.” Well, maybe not the downhill. Admit it, you thought so, too, didn’t you?
In those days, we had confidence in our competence. Of course, it was a bit of hubris, but we felt we could handle it. That was then.
We got into a discussion last week at the base lodge of a classic New Hampshire ski hill with an 80 year old gent who was skiing his first day of the season. To many of us in New England, the late start was not unusual; the weather has been saw-toothed, up and down in temperature and mixed luck with precipitation. Regardless, this man was a good skier, but he had some doubt about going out and that doubt cracked his confidence. He stuck to the Learning Zone, tight, apprehensive, reluctant to head up to the most gentle of greens that started at the top of the mountain.
Losing the mind game may be one of the biggest reasons seniors drop out of winter sports. Fear of injury, susceptible to cold, fed up with lousy conditions all contribute to wondering if you still had the chops to “do it”, leading to perhaps sitting out a season and then dropping out.
But this doesn’t have to be so. Perhaps the answer is to recognize that doubt is changing your attitude about snow sports, then return to the basics by taking a lesson, focusing on technique by practicing a lot on simple trails, and then practicing again. Performance research going back to psychologists Skinner and Thorndike show that good performance adds to confidence. Starting small, practicing skills over and over and then over again, builds confidence.
There are some implications here about how well ski instructors are prepared to deal with seniors who are tentative about their competence. We wonder if anyone has really designed a lesson in confidence and taught it throughout the PSIA.
Have you ever had doubt about your competence? Perhaps at the beginning of the season, perhaps after an injury, perhaps after a particularly bad set of days on the snow? How did you deal with getting back? Or did you? We have an intuitive feeling this is a phenomenon many seniors experience but don’t talk about.
Share your story with us, please.
This Week
Co-Publisher Jon Weisberg looks at Salt Lake City as base camp for exploring the Wasatch, rich with diverse snow sports opportunities. He also has a really interesting interview with Nicholas Lowry, president and principal auctioneer of Swann Auction Galleries, about vintage ski posters. Contributor Joan Wallen, a veteran real estate broker, offers advice on buying a mountain home. Finally our Mystery Glimpse reveals whose medals were at the New England Ski Museum and challenges you to identify a strange device.
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