Vermont's highest peak rises to 1339 metres above a postcard New England town, and the two have been having a quiet conversation since the 1930s. Skiing here predates most of the country's resorts. The Bruce Trail was cut in 1933, the original single chair went up in 1940, and the granite slopes still carry that pre-war restraint, narrow lines threading through hardwood, mogul fields built by paying customers rather than groomers. The 84 trails on the FIS, National, Goat and Liftline are an East Coast education. When the cold sets in hard, the waterfalls beside the FIS run freeze solid enough to climb. Off the mountain, the village runs on white steeples, covered bridges and the Trapp Family Lodge, founded by that Trapp family from The Sound of Music, who chose Stowe because the hills reminded them of Salzburg. Order Vermont maple, drink a Heady Topper, and remember that elegance here means understatement.