Trail Name Series: Doc Dempsey’s
A Wonderful Cartoon From Mike Roth, Ski Journalist From Albany.
Mike writes and draws cartoons for the Albany Times-Union Ski Blog. This one is about Smuggler’s Notch’s Doc Dempsey’s run.
Credit: Mike Roth
Tag Archive for: Smuggler’s Notch
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
Vermont Ski Hill Morphs Into Summer Water Park
Grandkids Would Love A Summer Day At Smugglers.
[Ski resorts are being creative about developing off-snow season attractions. Smugglers Notch in Northern Vermont has gone the extra mile in creating three separate water parks. There’s still time to get up there if you’re looking for a getaway for Labor Day. Special thanks to Janet Franz, a feature story writer covering health, fitness, business, recreation and community affairs and a member of the North America Snowsports Journalists Association for this story. She’s also chair of Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.]
View from top of slide at Mountainside Water Park.
Credit: Janet Franz
If you are entertaining your grandchildren in the Northeast this summer, consider how many bodies of water they can splash into on one day? About a dozen, if you’re spending the day at Smugglers’ Notch in northern Vermont. In summer, the ski resort transforms into a water park village, with three diverse wet “playgrounds” and two reservoirs spread across the resort’s three interconnected mountains. Consider a daytrip to Smugglers’ Notch with your little ones—a “Daycation” ticket and free, on-call shuttle give all-day access to every location.
My family of four visited Smuggs last month on a mission to plunge into every pool, slide and spray zone. Here’s how we made a splash:
We parked in the Village Center near Mountainside Water Playground, where four separate watery spaces cater to all ages. In the ankle-deep Little Smugglers’ Lagoon, tiny tots sloshed under a gentle waterfall, explored a faux cave decorated with happy bears and floated on colorful rafts. Nearby, kids up to 48 inches tall rode the Turtle Slide into a shallow pool.
My boys, ages 8 and 12, could hardly wait to try the 30-foot tall, 300-foot long Great River Rapid Ride, a slide restricted to people at least 48 inches tall, or 42 with a lifejacket. We grabbed tubes and carried them 55 steps up the tower where an attendant helped riders settle in and launch toward a pool below. On multiple rides we slid forward, backward, spinning, and — everyone in my family’s favorite — the slingshot: The staffer holds your ankles, pulls you forward, then thrusts you down banking off the sides.
After breaking for a home-packed picnic, we waded in the 75-foot long Mountainside pool. We found plenty of chairs, a snack bar and clean bathhouse with showers and changing rooms.
Using the poolside phone, I called the shuttle and we took a five-minute ride to Notchville Park, a tiered area with three pools. My kids tested Ninja skills on the Lily Pad Walk, jumping between floating mats toward the Twister Waterslide. I tried it, but disliked the sensation of lying on my back inside the enclosed tube that dumped me plunging underwater.
We sat together under a waterfall in the large pool. The boys swam and I wet my feet in Splashville, where tiny tots romped through gentle fountains and glided down a colorful slide onto a soft pad.
Again, I called the shuttle and this time a golf cart arrived. The kids sat facing backward while we zipped along a wooded trail as though on a forest safari.
At Courtside we dipped our toes in the nine-foot deep lap pool and checked out the 120-foot Flume waterslide. We felt too sweaty for hot tubbing, but I appreciated that there was an adults-only whirlpool and another, cooler one for families.
We drove our own car five minutes to Morse Mountain and hiked 10 minutes to Rum Runner’s Hideaway, a six-acre reservoir in a scenic mountain setting. The boys waded in marshy water and inspected a floating, inflated trampoline. We contemplated renting a paddleboat, but instead hiked down to our car and drove to Bootleggers’ Basin, another reservoir surrounded by fields and mountains. The inflated Zoom Flume slide was closed, so we explored the sandy beach and scenic view before heading home, exhausted, wet and happy.
Details
Smuggs’ Water Parks are open through September 5. Daycation tickets cost $69 per day for adults, $49 per day for youth 3-18 years, under 3 free with a paying adult. Vermont residents receive a 50 percent discount with valid ID. Bring your own towels. Lifejackets, noodles and inner tubes are provided at pools and slides. Shop for supplies and food in the village (including Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop).
Overnight accommodations available here.
For plenty of fun activities to do in the region click here.
Managing Fear, Building Confidence
Ski Instructor: “Encouragement Is The First Lesson For Returning Skiers”
It makes no difference whether a skier has just recovered from joint replacement, traumatic accident, ski injury or is returning to skiing from a long hiatus. There is going to be some level of anxiety.
Walt Lattrell, ski instructor at Smugglers Notch (VT), teaches a clinic on managing fear for other instructors. “We see people coming back to skiing who are harboring apprehension, negative thoughts and low expectations for performance. The good news is that they take a class from a professional instructor. That’s an indicator they want and need help.”
Thinkin’ about it. Revelstoke, BC, cornice has some folks wondering.
Credit: Walter Latterell
The goal of ski instructors is to help their students to acknowledge their fears. “Our first challenge is to help returning students believe they are capable of higher performance. Self-limiting beliefs lead to self-defeating behavior. The instructor has to inspire their students, provide a vision of success and lots and lots of positive reinforcement,” says Lattrell.
Lattrell tells students not to expect perfection, to pay attention to their thoughts, and to visualize success. He provides clear goals for each lesson, and explains how the student is going to get there through a series of small steps.
There are some stages that Mermer Blakeslee, in her book ,“In The Yike! Zone” sees some students going through as they gain confidence. It seems it is key for the instructor to positively reinforce the student at each step:
- At first, the student doesn’t want to try. Small attempts are guided and reinforced by the instructor.
- Then, the student will try a skill, but only on “safe” terrain. Success will bring the student confidence to try again at a higher level.
- Next, the student will try a more ambitious skill, but bails out. Now, the instructor demonstrates, guides, and encourages again.
- Finally the student tries again and follows through with sense of relief, joy and accomplishment. The instructor points out what the student did right and acknowledges the progress.
“The goal of any lesson needs to be a progression from simple skills to more challenging ones. Each step is built upon with growing confidence,” says Lattrell, a PSIA Level 2 instructor.
As we have learned from Harriet Wallis’ series on Knee Rehabilitation, some returning skiers need a run or two by themselves to adjust to the slopes after illness, injury or rehab. Others could benefit from a supportive lesson or two. Lattrell, himself, had bilateral knee replacements.
To paraphrase the great Yankee Hall of Famer Yogi Berra: “Half this game is 90 percent mental.”