I am a current season pass holder at Stratton, and a recent college graduate. First of all, thank you for having the $299 20-29 pass, it is the reason I got my pass at Stratton this year, very affordable.
When driving up to Stratton on route 30, about a half hour before you get to Stratton, you pass on your left a small abandoned mountain called "Maple Valley." While coming home today I decided to finally google exactly what the story was with the mountain and I found out some interesting things. The long and short of it is after some financial difficulties, the ski resort was auctioned off. The current owner, Frank Mercede of Frank Mercede and Sons (http://www.frankmercede.com/) filed a permit in 2010 in attempts to reopen the resort. He tried to get a permit to have a year round resort, hosting concerts, mountain biking and of course skiing. Apparently he was turned down as neighbors were worried about noise making from the snow machines, concerts and lights from night skiing.
So there it sits.
Now, as you may know, THE mountain in my age group is mount snow: specifically Carinthia. I am a park skier and have skied there a few times and yes, if you want to ski park in the east, that is the place to be (if you are willing to pay for it). I have to assume Stratton, Okemo and probably even Killington are taking a bit of a hit from this mecca of park, because nothing truly compares.
And that is where maple valley comes into play. Even if Mr. Mercede was granted a permit, I don't really see the viability of a 19 trail mountain with a listen 1,000 foot vertical serviced by 2 double chair lifts a half hour from a premier ski resort. However, replace those chairlifts with one high speed quad, and make the entire mountain into a giant terrain park, built by some of the top groomers and park crew you have across all your resorts, and there may be a new mecca of park in the east.
