Every  mountain gives you a feeling, a first impression. Stowe's is genteel and laid back, without going to the lengths of playing a Brahms symphony as background music in the cafeteria and restrooms. But, Stowe is expensive...perhaps too  expensive. Are they trying to keep some folks away?

One  pays for a ticket at Stowe with a credit card. "That's what everyone  does," a smiling clerk told me as he swiped my card and pressed a $54.00 symbol on his computer screen.

But, Buyer Beware! That $54.00 "height of the season" ticket (tax included)  would normally entitle you to to ski 100% of the mountain. Unfortunately, for Christmas period skiers this was not to be. Stowe didn't have any natural  snow except the man made stuff, which by noon was turning into icy patches, ready to send the unwary slithering down the slope, skis and poles in disarray. Only about half the mountain was open, mostly for carpet skiing on intermediate runs.

All Photos by Tim Palmer-Benson
PB Publishing/Scenes of Vermont

Of course, this ticket price is not all you'll pay. Here's a sample of the the  lunch menu at the Octagon Web Cafe, the preferred place to eat, at the top  of the Four Runner Quad. The food you see on this tray costs $17.00! It's a brockwurst, two chilis and two soft drinks. I opted for the smoked turkey  sandwich for $6.75 and a small coffee for $1.50. The bread in my sandwich was stale. If you are fussy, bring your own food in a knapsack.

Still, the mystique of Stowe lives on, thanks to carefully crafted marketing hype as well as excellent customer treatment.

One really could not wish for a more friendly, polite and helpful staff which this year consists of several dozen young Australians and New Zealanders, plus a smattering of South Americans, all with four month work visas. They load and unload your skis when you take the gondola and they berate you if you dare to quit early.  They are even laid back about ticket inspections. You don't get a lecture  if your ticket isn't fully displayed.

Most of all, these employees don't produce phony smiles on cue, followed by inane "how are  you's" and they don't practice that disreputable North American habit of pointedly placing a cup for tips at every cash register.