We headed up to Bolton this afternoon for a bit if skiing, unsure if the conditions were going to warrant much of a stay. Weather wise, there was neither fresh powder nor bright sun, so it was looking like our first lackluster sort of day up there in a while. We hit the Timberline area at around 1:30 P.M., where the temperature at the 1,500’ elevation was probably in the low 40s F. Fortunately, the snow was nicely softened into spring corn and the skiing was fantastic. As soon as we’d started our first run down Twice as Nice we knew we were going to stick around. A quick check in the trees revealed that the off piste hadn’t really softened to the perfection that we’d found on the trails, whether due to the shelter of the trees or lack of traffic. Basically though, it was a great day of on piste spring skiing, just without the sunshine. As of the end of the day, coverage was wall to wall all the way down to the lowest elevations of Timberline (~1,500’) so that was nice to see. We didn’t venture to the main mountain, but with its additional elevation, coverage should only be enhanced over Timberline. I could tell that a couple of the more sensitive spots on Timberline were close to opening up to ground, so without any new snow over the next few days I’m sure there will be a few areas to watch out for unless the groomers did some patch work. It sounds like the big coastal storm was bringing some precipitation to parts of southern New England, but it was simply dry and overcast while we were up at Bolton.
With neither off piste nor major bump skiing in mind for the day, E and Ty decided to ride their Telemark skis. For Ty, it was his first day on his Teles in quite a while, probably over a month, so he was excited to get back on them. A few weeks back I’d picked up a couple of binding wedges at OGE, and this was his first chance to try his skis with them. I guess it can be common to have too much forward lean in kids’ Telemark setups, with “rocker launch” being a potential issue, and although it didn’t seem to be a major problem with Ty’s rig when I checked the resting height of his boot’s heel, it seemed like it was worth picking some up wedges for a few bucks since they’ve been recommended and he might benefit. Ty didn’t indicate that he could feel any major differences in his skiing with the wedges in place, but they certainly weren’t a problem. I’ll have to check the heel of his boots and see where they rest now. Even though Ty couldn’t discern any major changes with the wedges installed, potentially through progression alone, E and I agreed that he had his best day yet on his Telemark gear. He’s still working on being able to hold a lower stance through turns, and I can see that that’s going to challenge him for a while. He’s able to hold his lower Telemark stances longer and longer however. Ty noted that he’s got a weaker side with regard to his Telemark stance/turn, and like E, he worked on that during the afternoon. The most obvious advancement for Ty was his ability to come into airs in one Telemark stance, switch it up in the air, and land in the opposite Telemark stance. I enjoy playing around with that a lot, and whether because Ty had reached that stage of progression, or he had enjoyed seeing the ski jumpers doing their Telemark landings in the Olympics a couple of weeks back, he really got into it today. Finding that he was able to land his jumps in a Telemark stance kept Ty pretty invigorated all afternoon, so he may go with his Telemark skis again tomorrow at Stowe.
Since it was pretty gray and overcast, I didn’t get anything in the way of scenery shots, but I did grab a few shots of the boys in action in the corn snow:
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