Author: Stacy Maynard

Fall has begun with bright signs of early foliage all over the Resort. Foliage color generally starts to change in the higher, cooler areas, spreading down into the valleys, and moving from north to south across the state. ‘Peak’ colors can be found at many different times and places as the season progresses, and the timing varies from year to year, based on the weather.

Need to know what the foliage looks like? Check out the foliage forecaster here

Fall also means final preparations for the start of the winter ski and snowboard season. Yesterday, our legendary mower Albert gave Practice Slope a nice haircut using his tractor. Who’s excited about fall in the heart of Vermont?

We will open on December 10 with 4 trails on Sterling. Operating hours are 8:00 am – 4:00 pm with a midday break for grooming from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm. Skiing and riding will be available for Season Pass, Hybrid, and Bash Badge Plus holders only from December 10 – 13, 2020. Tickets will be available at  my.smuggs.com/tickets/ beginning December 14th.

As the mountains are turning white and we prepare to open for skiing, Uphill Access will remain closed until we get enough natural snow to safely travel and ski/ride on it.  Currently, we have a total of 4” of natural on top of Sterling and about the same on Madonna.  Snowmaking and grooming operations are running constantly on the limited terrain we have covered. Uphill users on the snowmaking terrain are not allowed at this time.  Thank you for your patience and we’ll keep you posted!

Opening Day

Greetings from Morse, Madonna, and Sterling. The question on everyone’s mind up here is when are we going to open? Mother Nature continues to provide lots of ups and downs and it looks like she’s not done yet. We’re going to get some decent snowmaking temperatures this week and snowmaking will be underway. However, it will be a short window, providing only about 36 – 40 hours of good production temps. After that, we may get another opportunity on Monday the 23^rd and then there’s nothing on the horizon until possibly the 29^th and 30^th. The bottom line is that we will most likely have to delay our Thanksgiving weekend opening. Sometime in the week following appears to be the best we can hope for at the moment, barring any unforeseen weather changes.

When we do open, what will it look like?

We expect early season on-mountain capacity will be limited. Simply put, we can only have so many people here at one time to safely operate. Therefore, only the pass products that allow direct-to-lift access will be accepted on opening day (Season Pass, Bash Badge Plus, Hybrid Pass if midweek). Due to limited available terrain, we have to adjust our comfortable carrying capacity on the hill. 

**Please keep in mind that EVERYONE riding the lift must commit to being in compliance with Vermont’s travel and quarantine policies before they will be allowed through the RFID gate. Pass Holders will receive an email in the coming days with this information to validate your pass. Look for subject: Important message to Pass Holders. We will continue to communicate about this through social media channels.

We’re still working out specifically how we’re going to manage capacity as the season moves along without requiring reservations, and you can expect to hear more about that soon. In the meantime, consider changing up your ski/ride time (that goes for your lift partner, too). The hours of 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and weekends are when we usually have the highest number of skiers. See if you can adjust your schedule to get your runs in earlier or later in the day and/or spend more midweek time on the hill. Embrace change.

We’re striving to open with as much terrain as possible in order to help spread people out. Here are some things we do know that skiers and riders need to be aware of:

• Masks or face coverings will be required around the base area, while in the lift corral, loading and unloading areas; pretty much everywhere except for when skiing down the hill. Keep your distance from the staff; they’re essential and we need to keep them healthy if we’re going to be able to operate.
• Dress warmly at all times. On-mountain warming huts will have to be severely limited in capacity or closed to the public entirely. 
• Think of your vehicle as your personal home base. The Base Lodge capacity is very limited and open only to skiers and riders, however, this season, it is not intended as a place to boot up or get changed. The cafeteria will offer grab-and-go items with table seating available. Green Peppers and the Black Bear will require reservations. One way traffic through the lodge will be in effect, so please follow signs, as this will be different from the past. State requirements dictate that you can only be in the lodge for up to 30 minutes. We ask that everyone remains respectful to these requirements. There will be no gear storage in the lodge. 
• Lift corrals will be spread out to allow for social distancing. 
• Partner up. Only people from the same traveling group or families should ride the lift together. Plan to ski/ride with someone you trust that you can ride the lift with.
• Auxiliary bathrooms will be available at the Base Lodge, Parking Lot 1, and the Village lifts starting in mid-December.
• Parking Lot 1 access will be gated this year, opening at 7:30 am and closing at 5:00 pm. No reservations required. Tailgate parties are not allowed this season. Sorry, all. 
• Attestation required. Ski and Ride will be reaching out to all existing season pass and bash badge holders to execute their attestation documents. All other ticket purchasers will be prompted to execute an attestation when purchasing tickets online. The purpose of this is to collect contact tracing information. Smugglers’ will be able to identify when and where folks used the lifts with the RFID data collected at the lift gates. From the State of Vermont: “Resorts must require guests to attest that the guest will be in compliance with the state’s travel and quarantine policies when they use the resort either at the point of sale of a ticket or season pass OR when collecting contact tracing information. Resorts must be able to demonstrate to state authorities that each guest completed an attestation. Attestations must include a warning that failure to comply with the state’s travel and quarantine policy may result in the loss of future skiing and riding privileges.” 
• Stay in-the-know with mountain updates. Opt-in to our Smuggs text messaging service by texting SNOW to (855) 421-2279 for up to the minute information. Check the Snow Report and Hugh’s Views on the Smuggs website regularly before you come to the mountain. Sign up for the daily snow report at smuggs.com/email-subscribe.

Our Uphill Policy has undergone some changes in light of the many new norms we are experiencing in our daily lives. Our updated policies can be viewed here bit.ly/smuggsuphill

Thank you for your cooperation and let’s all have a great winter!

Smugglers’ Mountain Operations Team

Our plan for this upcoming winter will be to manage your Ski & Ride experience with these simple safety measures in place; mask-wearing in corrals including loading and unloading lifts, social distancing, using your vehicle for changing into gear instead of our base lodge, staying home if you are experiencing symptoms of illness, and joining friends or family who can ride with you on double chairlifts. The management of Smuggs is also very concerned with the health and safety of our employees and our expectations are to work towards establishing a comfortable carrying capacity on the mountain. This is a variable calculated by the overall number of people on the hill compared to trail count and lift operations. Exceeding this capacity or safety protocols leaves our staff and guests in potentially unsafe areas of exposure. Based on past historical data there are peak days during holidays and weekends where we could be exceeding our comfortable capacity and will need to limit the amount of ticket sales to the general public. For instance, restrictions may be tighter during the early season when trails and or lifts are limited.

At this time we are not planning any reservation process for our loyal local day market. The Bash Badge, Bash Badge Plus, and Hybrid product owners who need to purchase tickets will be required to purchase tickets online to minimize any in-person contact. We expect to operate on a first come first served basis for mountain access with robust real-time communication system in place to promote in advance if our comfortable capacity is being maximized. Smuggs is planning to communicate through multiple channels to provide every skier and rider with updated mountain status reporting to better plan your day on the slopes (e.g. FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Snow Report email, Smuggs Snow Report, and text alerts*).

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for a cold and snowy season so we are planning on you having a great time on the slopes of Smuggs this winter with health and safety foremost.

* Text the word SNOW to 855-421-2279 to receive the most up-to-date mountain information.

With a fresh dusting up high and brush cutters doing their thing around the trails, we are grateful and thankful winter is in the air.⁠⁠

: 10.8.20

Excited as we are? We’re hiring for a variety of fun, flexible, and rewarding positions at the Resort. We have both full-time and part-time positions available across a variety of departments.⁠ bit.ly/SmuggsJobs