New Luxury Hotel Located Slopeside at Stowe
The Stowe Mountain Lodge (tel. 802/253-3560; www.stowemountainlodge.com) is a new luxury lodge at the base of Spruce Peak and adjacent to the Over Easy Transfer Gondola that ferries people to Mt. Mansfield and back. The new lodge offers 139 guestrooms, 34 fractional units, a 21,000-square-foot spa and wellness center, and several dining options. The main restaurant, called Solstice, serves sustainable cuisine, with food sourced from local farmers, cheesemakers and other artisans (when possible). Additionally, the new Spruce Base Camp day lodge restaurants, a bar, indoor and outdoor fireplaces, rental shops, retail, tickets, event space, and public lounge areas.
Alpine Meadows Expands Kids' Learning Opportunities
California's Alpine Meadows (tel. 530/581-8200; www.skialpine.com) expands its children's ski/ride school to include ski lessons for ages three and above and snowboard instruction starting at age five. The resort's Tiegel Terrain Park's features are scaled down for little snow-sliders. A bonus for parents reserving a spot for their child or children in any of these programs is the ability to reserve a preferred parking space.
Kitzbühel Upgrades Several Key Lifts
Kitzbühel, Austria (tel. +43 5356-777; https://en.winter.kitzbuehel.com), upgrades the Ganslern double chairlift with a high-speed quad. This lift services the fabled run where the Hahnenkamm World Cup downhill race is run. Also, a new eight-passenger gondola is planned for the Bichlalm area that hopefully will be operational sometime during the 2009-10 season, finally replacing an ancient single chairlift that was taken out of service in 2005. Also, a new loading conveyor at the bottom of the Hochsaukaser lift makes boarding this quad chairlift faster.
Lift Modifications at Alaska's Largest Resort
Alyeska (tel. 907/754-2108; www.alyeskaresort.com) is upgrading Lift #3 to a quad and realigning it for more convenient loading and unloading and has added and a conveyor loading system at the bottom station and a midway unloading station of Chairlift #7 to help beginners get on and off more easily.
French Resort Expands Multi-Function Snow Park
Val Thorens (tel. +33-479 00 08 08; www.valthorens.com), the highest of France's Trois Vallées resorts, is expanding its popular Snowpark (www.snowparkvalthorens.com) after just one season. This larger terrain park now features a new 1,600-foot rail, an enlarged beginner area, a second surface lift and additional terrain features in its expert section. Also new is Jump'Air, a training facility for snowboarders and freestylers with an unusual landing on a shock-absorbing "mattress."
More Off-Piste Terrain in the East
Stratton, Vermont (tel. 800/STRATTON; www.stratton.com), adds two new trails and four new glades in the Sun Bowl area. The entrance to Test Pilot, formerly a locals' secret trail, has been expanded so that it is a secret no more. This twisting, tree-lined trail has been truly old-school for years, but it now boasts new-school terrain features created from trees cut in the process. Up north in Canada, Le Massif (tel. 877/536-2774; www.lemassif.com) , 45 miles from Quebec City, has four intermediate/expert glades and one easier glade run suitable for youngsters, adding 26 acres of off-piste skiing. In addition, the resort expands, improves and relocates its terrain park.
Six-Place Chairlift at Booming Bulgarian Resort
North Americans might not have discovered Bulgaria as a ski destination, but Europeans and Brits certainly have. Pamporovo Ski Resort (tel. +359 35 9302 1236; www.pamporovo.net) is growing, with the ski terrain now spilling over into the village of Stoikite with the construction of a six-pack chairlift and two new runs. The plan is for Pamporovo's lift and trail system to connect with that at neighboring Chapelare.