In the fall of 1936, a rope tow went in at the Toll House on Mount Mansfield. It ran on a 1927 Cadillac engine. Then the snow failed to come. The Stowe Reporter reported that the tow sat idle until February because of a bad snow year. It finally ran on February 7, 1937. A ride cost 10 cents and a season cost $5.
That February date is where the "90 years" comes from. It also explains why this winter has two starting points. Vail Resorts is selling the 2026/27 season around a November opening. Stowe Mountain Resort has put its own birthday party on the calendar for early February, the night before the tow's 90th anniversary. If you ski Mansfield all winter, the gap between those two dates shapes your season more than the press release lets on.
Counting From the Cadillac Engine
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum's Stowe timeline shows that the lift came late in a decade of groundwork. In order:
- 1932. Craig O. Burt fixed up his Ranch Camp lumber camp for the first overnight skiers. The Stowe Ski Club formed there and was later renamed the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club.
- November 1933. The Civilian Conservation Corps cut the Bruce Trail, the first trail on the mountain built specifically for skiing.
- February 25, 1934. The first official race ran on the Bruce Trail.
- 1934–1935. The first ski patrol formed, and Nose Dive was cut.
- January 1936. The Stone Hut was finished, the first permanent warming shelter on Mansfield.
- December 1936. Sepp Ruschp arrived from Austria. The Mt. Mansfield Ski Club had hired him to teach skiing at the Toll House.
- February 7, 1937. The Toll House rope tow began operating.
- February 21, 1937. The U.S. Eastern Amateur Association Downhill championships ran on Nose Dive. The museum credits that race with putting Stowe on the national ski racing map.
So the trails, the patrol and the instructor were all in place before the lift turned. The anniversary marks the day skiers stopped having to climb. Stowe's earlier milestone used the same count: the resort called the 2021–22 season its 85th season of lift service "since 1937."
What November 21 Actually Starts
Vail Resorts announced on October 26, 2026 that Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow are targeting Saturday, November 21 to open the 2026/27 season. The announcement marks the date with an asterisk because weather and conditions can move it. The same release frames this as Stowe's season of "90 years of skiing and riding on Vermont's highest peak." It names the Ski & Ride School, the Ski Patrol tradition and the Front Four as the heritage being celebrated.
Opening day is when the anniversary season begins. The anniversary itself is still twelve weeks away.
The deadline that matters this week comes before either date. Vail says Epic Pass prices go up after November 15. This post goes up on Thursday, November 12, which leaves three days to buy at the current price. Opening day is still nine days off from there, so you have to choose a pass before you've ridden a lift this season.
One practical change arrives with opening day. Group lessons at Stowe now run through the My Epic app, with digital check-in, real-time updates and photos during the day, and a running record of skill progression that carries across participating resorts. If your kids are in a group program, that's where you'll see how their day is going.
The Calendar the Passes Draw
The three regional passes, priced as listed on epicpass.com this fall:
- Epic Local Pass: $869 for adults 31 and older and $689 for ages 18 to 30. Unlimited Stowe skiing except on restricted peak dates.
- Northeast Value Pass: $704 for adults, with 10 Stowe days that can't be used on restricted dates.
- Northeast Midweek Pass: $529 for adults 18 to 64, with five Stowe weekdays and peak dates excluded.
The two passes that work on weekends block slightly different Stowe dates:
| Stowe restricted dates, 2026/27 | Epic Local | Northeast Value |
|---|---|---|
| Fri.–Sat., Nov. 27–28 | Restricted | Restricted |
| Sat.–Thu., Dec. 26–31 | Restricted | Restricted |
| Sat., Jan. 16 | Restricted | Restricted |
| Sun., Jan. 17 | Open | Restricted |
| Sat.–Sun., Feb. 13–14 | Restricted | Restricted |
| Sat., Feb. 6 | Open | Open |
The first restricted weekend arrives one week after the target opening, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. The second comes over the holiday break between Christmas and New Year's Eve. The January block falls on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, where Epic Local gives up only the Saturday and the Value Pass gives up Saturday and Sunday both. The February block covers the Saturday and Sunday of Presidents' Day weekend.
The last row in the table is the night of the party.
February 6 Is an Open Date
Stowe Mountain Resort has posted a 90th Anniversary Celebration for Saturday, February 6, 2027, from 5 to 8 p.m. The listing promises "an evening full of music, food, fun, and memories," with "more details to come."
Line that date up with the history and with the pass calendar. Saturday, February 6 is the night before the 90th anniversary of the Toll House tow's first run on February 7. It's a weekend date that neither the Epic Local nor the Northeast Value Pass restricts at Stowe. So a local on either pass can ski that Saturday and stay for the evening event without buying a ticket for the day.
The next weekend, February 13–14, is blocked on both passes. The Midweek Pass doesn't work on Saturdays, so a Midweek holder planning to ski the anniversary weekend would need another way onto the lifts. Vail's release says Epic Day Passes start at $79 per day for adults at its Vermont and New York resorts when bought before the season.
The anniversary also lands two weeks before the 90th anniversary of the 1937 Eastern downhill on Nose Dive, run on February 21, 1937. Within one February, 1937 brought both the first lift and the race that made Stowe a name in national ski racing. The 2027 calendar puts the celebration in the open stretch between the January and Presidents' Day blackouts.
Ten Cents a Ride
The 1937 prices give the anniversary a useful baseline. A season on the Toll House rope tow cost $5. The Mt. Mansfield single chairlift opened on December 9, 1940, as the longest and highest chairlift in the country at the time, at 6,330 feet long with a 2,030-foot vertical rise. It cost 60 cents a ride.
Ninety years on, the Stowe 90th Anniversary T-Shirt costs $36 at the Epic Shop. That's seven 1937 season passes with a dollar left over. The adult Epic Local Pass, at $869, works out to 8,690 rides on the original rope tow at 10 cents each.
Pass holders do get a discount the 1937 skiers never had. Epic Mountain Rewards, included with eligible passes, takes 20% off eligible food and beverage, lodging, group lessons and rentals. Some benefits vary by resort or product.
The rope tow ran out of the Toll House, and the Toll House area is still part of the mountain. A Toll House T-bar replaced the original tow in 1956. In 1982 the Toll House chairlift replaced the T-bar, linked the Toll House area to the rest of Mansfield and created the Easy Mile trail. If you want to ride where lift-served skiing on Mansfield started, that lift line is the place. February 6 is an open date on both weekend-capable passes, and the party starts at 5 p.m.
If you're picking your Stowe dates for this winter, or deciding how near the Toll House you'd like to live for the next 90 years of it, Grant Wieler knows this mountain by its trail names and by its history. Start Your Stowe Search.
