Bumping this thread up, because we just made a reservation for our annual x country ski trip we do in February! We are going back to Stowe, staying in a new place, and I am hoping, this time, there will be snow. Last 2 times, we ended up snow shoeing, with one day being about 45 degrees, drizzle, and huge amounts of melting snow. The mud at our inn was so bad (it was around March 1st), that even DH's 4 wheel drive, with a special heavy duty thing for getting out of places, needed some extra coaxing to work.
We had originally planned on going back to the Northeast Kingdom, but about 2 weeks ago, we got an email from the inn saying, "good news," the out the door trails are now all for fat tire bikes . Not good for us, though. We snow shoed there, and the only reason we didn't ski was the snow cover was a bit sketchy. There is a dedicated x country center, but it's not that big and not worth going there for a few days. I know that Burke is promoting fat bikes/mountain biking to make the area more desireable to people, but that is one sport I will never do. Since most of the clientele at the inn looked like families with kids, I am wondering how this will play out.
There's still lots of riding time left, but I am getting excited.