In the days before lifts, there were two trails on Mount Mansfield. The Bruce and The Teardrop. When the east side of Mount Mansfield eventually developed into Stowe Mountain Resort, the Teardrop fell out of fashion. While The Bruce can be skied at the end of the day with a quick car spot, the Teardrop is about an hour and 45 minutes away, meaning skinning up from the Underhill side is probably the move. You could also ski in from the Stowe side and skin back up. The Teardrop ends abruptly below the forehead, so if coming from the Mount Mansfield auto road, you have to ski a short and tight section of the Long Trail to access it. The Teardrop meanders through a series of twists and turns, with a few steeper rolls that make for an exciting ski. It’s very classic New England style. As you rip this narrow, meandering strip of snow, just imagine how it felt on long wooden skis! About half way down you’ll pass a split for the CCC road to skiers right. Stay to skiers left for the Teardrop. Finish with a short low angle section back to the parking lot in Underhill State Park. A note on history. According to part 1 of Kim Brown’s 6 part series on the history of glade skiing in Stowe, The Teardrop was maintained by a crew of Burlington and Underhill locals, but overtime the connection from the Stowe side was lost to overgrowth. In 1982, Kim, alongside friends John and Skip, bushwhacked to find The Teardrop from the Stowe Side. The zigzagged until ultimately locating a sign that only showed the letters EA and RO. They quickly realized it must’ve once read “TEARDROP”. Just a few feet off the bypass trail beneath the Forehead, they were able to re-establish the connection to this historic trail.