Despite its monster-mountain reputation, Stowe actually has some pretty good novice skiing. The Meadows at Spruce Peak is the main teaching slope, and it is as the name implies, an open, gentle, snow-covered sward. And once you've got the hang of controlling turns, you might check out Sterling from the summit of Spruce Peak. Sterling is, for most of its length, a wide, winding run that gets relatively little skier traffic.

Over at Mansfield, novices and lower intermediates get a pretty fair shake from the old monster by skiing the trail network from the Mountain Triple chair. The chair is under-utilized, and I've found myself skiing over here when the lines at the other lifts back up. You can get an extra 600 vertical feet by riding the Lookout Double, but for lower-intermediate skiers, not much is gained. You'll probably find yourself skiing Toll Road the rather uneventful, wrap-around route that winds from the summit to the Toll House base leading to the top of the triple before finding good skiing anyway. And the knot of skiers that forms at the top of the double many skiers pass this way coming down from the summit can intimidate and/or aggravate even advanced skiers.

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From the triple, work your way right for the easiest skiing. The combination of Lullaby Lane and Lower Tyro is the most easily negotiated route, although you might find yourself poling along the pitch-less lower flats. A bit steeper, though hardly any threat to life and limb, is Standard, with one short, challenging drop before the flat run-out. If you like almost total privacy, you might want to stick to the Toll House double chair. On weekdays and even on some weekends the area is virtually deserted. You can be assured that with trail names like Easy Mile and Home Run, you won't be in over your head, here.