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They called it the Big Pig: a chairlift so slow that you were almost guaranteed a numb face by the time you skied off and had to choose between the Sterling trail to the right or Main Street to the left.

Both runs, on the far eastern perimeter of Big Spruce Mountain at Vermont's Stowe Mountain Resort, are favoured by locals, especially in late afternoon, when you can still bathe in sunshine while whisking through a tapestry of balsams and birches.

Thankfully, the Big Pig has been laid to rest, replaced by a high-speed detachable quad called Sensation. The ride to the 1,033-metre peak of Spruce that used to take 20 minutes has been reduced to six. It's one of many changes coming to Spruce as Stowe embarks on a massive overhaul that will include a new hotel, ski-in-ski-out townhouses, a new base lodge, spa, retail shops, a 250-seat performing arts centre, and an 18-hole golf course.

“We've always attracted the core skier, lured by the challenging terrain,” says Mike Colburn, Stowe's vice-president of sales and marketing. “Now, we want to open up the area to families, with beginner and easier intermediate runs.”

The challenging terrain Colburn is referring to comprises the legendary Front Four: Goat, Lift Line, National and Starr. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Inspiration, a trail created last year on Spruce. This easy green run has only a 10-per-cent grade, designed for the first-time skier.

Lining Inspiration are new townhouses and, in front of the base lodge, a huge pit will soon be the site of a 108-room hotel called the Stowe Mountain Lodge, scheduled to open next summer. It's all part of a major real-estate initiative to transform Stowe into one of the leading ski-in-ski-out resorts (or golf-in-golf-out resorts in the warm weather months) in the Eastern United States.

It took more than a decade of negotiating with every conservation organization in Vermont to acquire the 13 hectares Stowe needed to enhance Spruce Peak. They had to donate the surrounding 810 hectares to the state and allay the fears of townspeople that this new community would not be entirely self-sufficient but continue to rely on the town of Stowe for most of its dining and shopping needs.

In return, Spruce Peak would get to build the resort's new amenities. Improvements also include heated roads to and from Route 108 so skiers won't have to deal with any slippery ice in the winter, and a shuttle service that will run folks into town.

Construction began last summer and could last 10 years and cost upward of $285-million. The money is coming from American International Group, the insurance company that owns the ski area. Maurice Greenberg, the company's former CEO, is an avid skier who has been firmly behind the expansion from the get-go.

Opening this winter is a new chairlift that will cross Route 108 and connect the base lodge of Spruce Peak with the gondola at Stowe's Mansfield, eliminating the need for shuttle buses between the two mountains.

High on a ridge, the golf course is already finished. The view from the fifth-hole green is one of the most glorious vistas in all of New England. Smack dab in a valley you gaze at Mansfield, with its ribbon of trails flowing down the ski area. On either side of the peak is uninterrupted forest, a carpet of maples and pines billowing from ridge to ridge as far as the eye can see.

The village of Stowe, about 13 kilometres from the resort, has also experienced many changes in the past year. Just down the hill from Trapp Family Lodge, for example, the new owners at Ten Acres Lodge have added a small theatre and a sauna. They reopened the inn's restaurant for dinner and hired Steve Super, former chef at Little Nell, the Relais & Chateau property in Aspen, Colo., to run the kitchen. Ten Acres offers parents the chance to dine alone, while kids are shown a movie at the inn theatre.

Children are also provided for at Flavor, the latest restaurant to open on Mountain Road. While parents sample chef Gary Jacobson's Middle Eastern fare, junior can order from a kids' menu and use the crayons on each table to play hangman on the paper tablecloth. Also new in the village this winter is an expanded and renovated spa at Topnotch Resort and a Fondue Dinner Snowshoe Tour being offered by Umiak Outfitters. On the tour, guests will hike to the Golden Eagle Resort, where they will be served large doses of melted cheese and chocolate.

If this sounds a bit too rich, you can always stop in town to snag a truffle at the new home of Laughing Moon Chocolates. Thankfully, there are some things in life that don't need to change.

Special to The Globe and Mail