Sports

Snow Business: Okemo Serves Up an Epic Weekend

The season is off to a stellar start at the Vermont mountain.

By Chris Dehnel

Last weekend, Okemo Mountain Resort owners Tim and Diane Mueller were like coaches coming off a huge win. 

They weren't gloating, but they were certainly happy. 

And Diane was ready with a colorful quote to describe a weekend that was, to steal the name of an Okemo restaurant, epic. 

"It's like a marriage," she said of the staff. "You can give that look and the other person just knows what to do. Then, the person just does it."

It's been quite the early season at the Vermont resort. With Mother Nature paying a few very cordial visits and some of those married people just blasting snow from South Face to Jackson Gore and them grooming it, the scenario was a ball right over the plate. 

And Okemo has hit it out of the park. 

Here is how a weekend to remember unfolded:

Friday, Dec. 13 

The ride to the Jackson Gore Inn was anything but unlucky. There was no traffic leaving North Central Connecticut after dinner and, slightly more than two-and-a-quarter hours later, it was clear the white carpet had been laid out. 

Getting Jackson Gore ready for this particular weekend is always a challenge because snowmakers are relegated to starting the first week in December because of the bears' hibernation patterns. 

But after the bears tucked themselves in, the snowmakers went crazy. Going to bed was the priority knowing what would be on the hill in the morning. 

Saturday, Dec. 14

It was cold — 1 degree (yes one degree) — but one look out the window showed a lot of one thing — snow. And the wind was minimal so there was motivation to get out after breakfast at the Coleman Brook Tavern. 

With an 8-year-old in tow, the days of riding the lift and not worrying about a black diamond on the first run are suspended until further notice, so one must be selective — especially on the first weekend of the season. A quick ride up the high-speed Coleman Brook Express Quad and a cruise down green Fast Track showed it was going to be a good day. 

That was repeated twice before it was off to the Jackson Gore summit and a long run from Sunset Strip to Blue Moon to Lower Limelight, a green and two blues.

How good was the surface? It was already time for the first black trail of the season — Upper Limelight. 

After a few runs off the Solitude summit, it was off to Epic, the base restaurant at that section of the mountain, where Chef Jason Tostrup was waiting. 

"Want to be the guinea pig?" he asked from a cooking station set up inside the dining room. He then handed over a black bass and Nantucket Bay scallop dish with a butternut squash foam and red wine parsnips. 

It was a tasty offering included at Okemo's evening snow cat dinners and a frequent fish special selection at Epic. Tostrup recently came over from the Inn at Weathersfield in Vermont and said he was relishing the chance to cook at Okemo. 

The Muellers took the stage for an early-season news conference at Epic and praised the resort's Operation Snowburst, a $1 million investment in snowmaking upgrades that work better in moderate temperatures and crank out about 7,600 gallons a minute when temperatures cooperate like they did in late November and early December. 

A few more runs led to the Timber Ripper mountain coaster and a swim at the kid-friendly pool at the Spring House athletic center. 

The cap on the day was a baked cod entree and a large dish of ice cream at Coleman Brook and the telling of tales by the lobby fireplace. 

Oh and it was snowing. 

Sunday, Dec. 15
 
A foot. 

That's what fell, making the second day of the season a powder day. People were woofing down breakfast and practically running to the lifts. 

The surface was stellar and a smooth ride all over the mountain. 

The bottom line? 

Okemo went from 62 to 97 trails open overnight, setting itself up for not only an epic weekend, but a solid season heading into 2014. 

On a run down Blue Moon, thoughts turned to that whole marriage concept. 
Well, one thing was obvious. Skiing in that snow was pure love. 

Yes … nothing but bliss. 

Chris Dehnel is a local editor for Patch. He has been writing about snow sports for about a dozen years and is a past president of the Eastern Ski Writers Association.


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