NEW PERSPECTIVE

Chairlifts offer spectacular view for leaf-peepers

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL

Associated Press

WEST DOVER, Vt. — The birds up here have it made.

From the 3,600-foot-tall summit at Mount Snow in Vermont, they can see all the beauty of a quaint New England community that loves to ski, hike and mountain bike, among other clean-air, sporty pursuits.

The view can be had by those without wings, too, thanks to the chairlift rides offered three seasons a year. From this height, you can hardly see the traffic that clogs Route 100, delivering eager weekend outdoorsmen from the New York and Boston areas.

During the winter, the purpose of the 10-minute lift ride is singular, bringing you to the mountaintop so you can ski down. Huddled with up to three other passengers, you might check out whether the mountain has a good base of snow, if the snow- making machines are roaring, and whether the skiers in the ski school crowd below are better than you are. Either way, the chairlift ride will likely be the least eventful part of your day.

But in the months before the cold hits, a chairlift ride is an outing worth doing for its own sake, popular with summer visitors as well as autumn leaf-peepers. Tickets are $10 per adult, $5 for a child.

A recent ride with my family on the Grand Summit Express, one of two lifts on the mountain, lifted our spirits and was a highlight of our day. With two kids, we played “I Spy” in the sky, looking for leaves, critters and clouds.

On the way up, you notice lush green all around. The trails are carved into the mountain between rows of evergreens, all part of the Green Mountain National Forest (Mount Snow operates with permission from the federal Forest Service).

You can also spot the edges of the 1,600-acre Somerset Reservoir, which sits to the north of the black diamond-heavy North Face of the mountain. Depending on the season, the reservoir hosts canoers, kayakers and fisherman looking for trout and panfish, or snowmobilers who probably go just as fast as all those cars on Route 100.

Directly ahead are fields of wildflowers and the critters they attract, from gentle ladybugs and butterflies to coyotes and even black bears, which are not uncommon in the Deerfield Valley area. Earlier this summer, the local Deerfield Valley News even reported sightings of catamount nearby, though the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department didn’t confirm it.

Once at the top, other cloud-tipped mountains from the range come into view. The clusters of condominiums that crowd the bases of these mountains appear small and inconsequential when you see just how much forest and farmland there are in comparison.

The real game of “I Spy,” however, comes on the trip down as you look out over the valley. Even in August, it starts to get a backdrop of spectacularly colored red, gold and orange leaves — many of them handprint-size maples.

XInfo: www.mountsnow.com or (802) 464-4040. Variety of local lodging options. Chairlift rides ($10 for adults, $5 for children) available now through Oct. 12, daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can also hike and mountain bike. Autumn events include Oktoberfest, Oct. 10-11.