Bolton Valley, VT 18NOV2017

An image of snowy chairs on the deck in front of the Deli in the Bolton Valley Village at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of a skin track on the Cougar trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Ski touring up at Bolton Valley this morning, I found some great turns and more snow than I’d expected.

I was attending the BJAMS Thanksgiving lunch with Dylan on Thursday, and that gave me a chance to check out how the snow was doing in some of the local mountains.  From what I saw at both Stowe and Bolton Valley, the natural snow was just a bit too thin for skiing, but it was getting close.  As of Friday morning though, the mountains had picked up a few more inches, and today I had a chance to head back up to Bolton Valley to see if the slopes were ready for some turns.

“…with the snowpack I found, I just kept going right on up to 3,000’.”

I headed up for a ski tour at the mountain this morning because it seemed the best part of the day to catch some winter snow before warming temperatures affected it.  At the base of the Bolton Valley Access Road (340’) the snow depth is similar to what we’ve got here at the house – generally 1 to 2 inches.  As the recent snow reports from the local ski resorts suggested, there wasn’t a massive increase in snowfall amounts with elevation from our storm earlier this week.  Snow depths increased slowly as I headed up the access road, with about 2” at the Bolton Valley Welcome Sign (1,000’), 2-3” at the Timberline Base (1,500’), and then 3-4” around 2,000’ in the Bolton Valley Village.

An image of a Bolton Valley shuttle bus with a coating of snow in the Bolton Valley Village

There were a few other skiers in the Village who were coming and going on tours, so that seemed like a good sign that the snow was decent.  Indeed, as I headed up Lower Turnpike, the snow depth increased to a half foot at the 2,500’ level.  I had actually planned for a quick tour up to ~2,500’ if the snow wasn’t that good, but with the snowpack I found, I just kept going right on up to 3,000’. 

Below I’ve got a summary of what I saw for snow depths today with respect to elevation:

340’: 1-2”
1,000’: 2”
1,500’: 2-3”
2,000’: 3-4”
2,500’: 6-7”
3,000’: 7”

An image of the snow depth at 2,500' elevation at Bolton ValleyThere was a crust on the snow in places, and I couldn’t figure out the trend in its distribution for a while, but I eventually figured out that areas with the most northwest exposure has the most crust.  The crust wasn’t actually too thick, so it was still fairly easy to ski the snow there, but there’s no doubt that the very best turns were in the crust-free zones – the snow was smooth, mid-weight powder in those areas.  I had some really nice turns on parts of Sherman’s Pass, and probably the day’s best on Work Road, but Lower Turnpike offered the longest consistent lines.

Bolton Valley, VT 08APR2017

An image of Jay taking photos of Ty skiing powder at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
An image of Jay Telemark skiing in powder at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
We were treated to another winter storm and more powder today at Bolton Valley.

Just like last Saturday, another storm came through the area over the past couple of days and dropped a round of fresh snow to give us some great April powder.  For the first time in quite a while, the whole family was available to ski, so we headed up to Bolton Valley this morning for some turns.

Down at the house, snowfall was fairly intense at 6:00 A.M. observations time this morning, but it started to taper off after that, and it was pretty much done down here when we headed up to the mountain.  There was some snow falling up at Bolton Valley, but accumulations were pretty much done there as well.

An image of Erica Telemark skiing in powder at Bolton Valley Resort in VermontIn terms of the snow we found, I’d say they were actually a bit conservative with the 9” value at the top of their accumulation range.  More typically I was able to find about 11” as a general depth of the surface snow at most elevations, although I did find up to two feet in spots.  The powder from this storm was even drier than what we found from last weekend’s storm – most folks would be hard pressed to complain about the snow even in midwinter, because it was midwinter dry.  It wasn’t Champlain Powder™ fluffy, but that was probably more a function of flake structure than any above-freezing temperatures – it was well below freezing at all elevations of the resort this morning.  It was actually downright chilly, and folks were often getting cold when we’d pause for setting up a photo session.

An image o Dylan Telemark skiing in powder at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont

I mentioned all the underutilized powder we encounter last Saturday, and this Saturday was even more extreme.  For much of the morning you could literally ride the Timberline Quad, count the number of tracks on a trail, and then on the next lap you’d be able to see exactly how many (if any) additional riders had been down it.  It was hard to pull ourselves away.  While we were finishing up back at the main base area and getting ready to hit the Village Deli to grab some lunch, we were able to watch some of the snowmobilers in the Rock The Hills Snowmobile Hill Climb.  The Village parking lots were full of snowmobile trailers, so the resort got a great additional influx of visitors.

Bolton Valley, VT 01APR2017

An image of Dylan skiing fresh powder on the Tattle Tale trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of Jay Telemark skiing in powder snow at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Today we got out in the powder at Bolton Valley thanks to Winter Storm Theseus.

The latest weather system to come into the area has been named Winter Storm Theseus.  Snow associated with the storm started up on Friday and left nearly a foot of at some of the local ski resorts, so Dylan and I headed up to Bolton Valley this morning for what we hoped would be some great powder skiing, and we weren’t disappointed.

An image of skiers on the Timberline Chairlift at Bolton Valley ski resort on Vermont
Everyone who as at the mountain today got treated to one of those low-key late-season powder days.

Temperatures edged above freezing down in the valley, but the freezing line really stayed below 1,500’ this morning from what we saw, so that kept surfaces wintry at all elevations of the resort.  The snow was certainly less dense the higher you went, but it wasn’t until probably below 1,800’ that the quality of the powder skiing started to fall off a bit – it was just getting a bit too dense for optimal turns.  Really though, that’s just last few hundred feet of vertical at Timberline, and everything at the main mountain was well above that.  It snowed all morning to keep the wintry appeal going and keep things fresh.  The flakes were small so additional accumulations weren’t too hefty, but it was definitely coming down at times – we had to pull out the lens hoods for some photography sessions because of the intensity of the snow.

An image of Dylan skiing powder on the Tattle Tale trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan having fun after catching the rope drop for Upper Tattle Tale

We started off on the morning on the main mountain with a trip up the Vista Quad, but we knew that by the time we’d worked our way down the trails we’d be able to catch the opening of the Timberline Quad.  We had a good time down there, catching the rope drop on Upper Tattle Tale, just after we’d skied the lower half from the crossover.  We did some exploring and found the entrance to House Line, a shot I’ve been looking to ski for a while.     Dylan decided to go Telemark again today, and he was definitely ripping up that powder.  We eventually made our way back to the main base and finished off the ski day on Wilderness, then grabbed some food at the main cafeteria and the Bolton Valley Deli & Grocery.

An image of the central circle in the Bolton Valley Village at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
In the Bolton Valley Village today

Bolton’s got their 48-hour total at 9 inches for the higher elevations, and I’d say 9 to 10 was where we found things topping out with the addition of this morning’s snow.  Anyway, it was a great way to start off this month’s skiing, and of course another perk of the day was the fact that we’re in April, and visitation at the resorts really starts to fall off.  There were certainly visitors, but there were still a number of trails with just a few tracks on them when we were leaving around midday, so folks who were out really got treated to one of those kind of powder days. 

Dylan was anxious to do some photography with one of the DSLRs today, so I had the Canon EOS 7D Mark II with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, and he had the Canon EOS 30D with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM  lens.  Toward the end of the morning, we swapped lenses to mix things up a bit.  Dylan got some great images, so enjoy the gallery!

Bolton Valley, VT 25MAR2017

An image of Dylan Telemark skiing in powder snow in the Villager Trees area of Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
An image of Jay skiing in the Villager Trees area at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Friday’s new snow was still yielding some great turns this afternoon at Bolton Valley.

Temperatures edged up into the mid-30s F down in the mountain valleys today, and that had me curious about how much warmth there was in the higher elevations.  Ty and I had some great turns in the fresh snow last night at Bolton Valley, and if that snow was holding its consistency it would definitely be worth getting out for more skiing.  We were attending a bridge-breaking competition at Lyndon Institute in support of some of the BJAMS students in the morning, but while I was there, I checked on the Village temperatures at Bolton Valley and saw that they were holding below freezing even down at 2,000’.  That meant the powder would probably be staying in great shape.

“We found that the condition of the snow did deteriorate a bit as we got down toward the freezing line, but with the density of this snow it actually holds up quite well even at those temperatures.”

Ty had some work to do at home with E, but Dylan and I headed up to the mountain in the afternoon for a few runs.  Temperatures were just above freezing at the Timberline Base (~1,500’), but we hit the freezing line somewhere between 1,500’ and 2,000’.  Up at the Vista Summit (3,150’) it was actually pretty chilly, and it was amazing how much of difference there was in air temperature between the base and summit elevations.

An image of Dylan skiing powder snow in the Villager Trees area at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan starting in on another line in the Villager Trees

We found that the dense powder from yesterday had indeed held up quite well, especially in the elevations above the freezing level, so Dylan and I had a great time exploring lines in the Villager Trees.  I’d been thinking that my fat skis would have been great in that type of snow, so I brought them today and they really did the trick.  We found that the condition of the snow did deteriorate a bit as we got down toward the freezing line, but with the density of this snow it actually holds up quite well even at those temperatures.   This latest snow should be a nice addition to the snowpack as we head into April.

Bolton Valley, VT 18MAR2017

An image of Dylan Telemark skiing in chopped up snow on the Tattle Tale trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
An image of Erica Telemark skiing chopped up snow on the Tattle Tale trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Back out on the slopes of Bolton Valley for another beautiful day

We finally had the chance to get the whole family together today for some turns, so we headed up to Bolton Valley around midday.  We’d planned to head to Timberline, but as it turned out the resort was asking people to park there anyway because the upper lots had filled up.  The weather was much like yesterday, with clear skies and temperatures in the upper 20s F, so lots of people were interested in getting out to ski.  It’s actually pretty impressive to have such a large number of people visiting the slopes this late in the season, so that should be good news for the resort.

We made our way to the Vista Summit and then took a run down Cobrass and ventured into the Villager Trees.  The condition of the snow remained excellent thanks to temperatures staying consistently below freezing.  There was still plenty of powder skiing off piste, and the boys spent some time jumping into the powder from some of their favorite ledges.

Heading back to Timberline we found lots of partially cut up powder still left on the lower half of Tattle Tale – Dylan had decided to use his Telemark skis today, and he really ripped it up on that snow.  The lower reaches of Timberline were getting a bit affected by the sun, and we found this to be the case on Twice as Nice.  It hadn’t been groomed, so it was skier packed, but there was lots of terrain contour still present.  Dylan struggled with his Telemark turns on that surface, so for the bottom half of the run he and I switched over to the groomed surface of Showtime and he fared much better.

An image of Dylan having skied backwards into a bunch of chairs outside the Timberline Base Lodge at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan… of course!

Around 2:30 P.M. or so we stopped in at South of Solitude for some food, but they’d clearly had a lot of patrons today because they were just about out of everything.  They put together some plates of burrito and taco ingredients along with tortilla chips for us for a reduced price of $6 and that worked out really well.  The mountain was definitely humming with business today.

Bolton Valley, VT 16MAR2017

An image of a car with drifted snow at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of the Adam's Solitude trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A visit to the Adam’s Solitude trail at Bolton Valley to check out the 58 inches left by Winter Storm Stella

Snow totals from Winter Storm Stella were in excess of four feet at the resorts of the Northern Green Mountains, and Bolton Valley topped the list with an impressive 58 inches.  It wasn’t just the mountains that made out well from this storm cycle though, it left 41 inches of snow at our house, which trumped the 2007 Valentine’s Day Storm to become the largest storm we’ve recorded since we moved here.

Not wanting to miss the chance to check out all that new snow up at the mountain, I headed up to catch a few runs this morning.  The potency of the storm was immediately evident as I saw some of the vehicles that had been parked in the Village parking lots over the past couple of days – they were buried in deep drifts, and some were barely visible.

An image of a car, barely visible under drifted snow at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
There is a car in there somewhere.

“ I stuck my measurement pole into the powder up top there and it went all the way up to the handle – that’s a depth somewhere north of 40 inches.”

I got in line for the opening of the Vista Quad, but the lift operator felt that it was going to be on wind hold for a bit, so I headed up Snowflake and was happy to find that Timberline was already open.  On the way over I cut the traverse over to Tattle Tale, and with two to three feet of snow in the way it took a good deal of effort.  I found Tattle Tale untracked, and the powder very deep.  There were also pockets of super light powder scattered among slightly denser snow, and when you hit one of those pockets, any support you found in the powder would simply disappear as if the floor was dropping out on you.  I had on the fattest skis I own, with 115 mm width at that waist, and even that couldn’t stop the free fall in that snow.  On my first encounter with one of those pockets, I quickly went over the handle bars on my Tele skis and had to extract myself from the deep powder.  The snow was so deep that even with my fat skis combined with the steepest pitches, I had to straight-line it.  I didn’t get to make many turns there, but it was definitely a neat experience.

An image of the handle of a ski pole showing powder more than 40 inches deep at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont after Winter Storm StellaI stayed at Timberline the entire morning, and found great turns on Twice as Nice.  It was actually nice as the powder started to get chopped up a bit, because you could keep plenty of momentum going to hop in and out of the untracked areas.  The turns were simply fantastic all around though; Winter Storm Stella definitely provided one of the more thorough resurfacings I’ve witnessed around here.  Since the storm dropped over 2 inches of liquid equivalent down at our house, you know the mountains were well above that.  I did a run on Adam’s Solitude, and it was my first visit there in quite a long time.  I opted for the Secret Solitude option, and got first tracks down one of the lines with a number of small cliffs.  At the top of that section I contoured across the hill, and with the pitch of the slope, the powder was up to my shoulder.  Adam’s Solitude is famous for catching some well-protected powder, and the depth was very impressive.  I stuck my measurement pole into the powder up top there and it went all the way up to the handle – that’s a depth somewhere north of 40 inches.  After seeing that, I knew I could just straight line my way right down through the ledges, and that was indeed one of those lines where the snow is just up and over your shoulders.

By the time the morning was over, the Tele turns had cooked my legs and my body was craving some food, so I stopped in for a burrito at South of Solitude.  I kicked back and did some browsing on my phone while I ate, which seemed to be a popular option for the handful of folks populating the lodge. The Vista Quad was running by the time I got back to the main base, but my legs had definitely had their workout, so I skied down to the car and headed out.

An image of Telemark ski boots in the back of a car at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Packing up the gear and away we go… until next time.

In general, most areas I found offered up powder in the 24 to 30-inch range, similar to what we found at Stowe Yesterday.  There are no major warm-ups in the near future, so we should have some excellent conditions going into the weekend.

Bolton Valley, VT 17FEB2017

An image showing heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Pluto at the Timberline Lodge at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image showing the depth of snow on the Spell Binder Trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Diving into some deep snow at Bolton Valley this morning

Between Winter Storm Orson and Winter Storm Pluto, the past two cycles to hit our area, we’ve picked up almost three feet of snow at our house in the Winooski Valley.  I actually haven’t even been able to consistently check on how much snow has fallen in the local resorts, but it’s been a lotThe Mt. Mansfield Stake has passed the 100-inch mark though, which says a lot about how much snow we’ve been getting recently, and is fantastic for mid-February.

I managed to get out for some turns on Monday morning for Winter Storm Orson, but I’ve been busy this week and haven’t even tried to work more turns into my weekday schedule despite the awesome conditions.  Last night though, some of the backside snow of Winter Storm Pluto was falling, and it got me intrigued to hit the hill again.  Between 6:00 P.M. and midnight we picked up 5 inches of sub-2% H2O at the house.  That’s really rarified fluff that’s way too good to pass up, and I knew that I’d just have to check out how it skied in the morning.

“I dove in and encountered the kind of snow that makes you feel like the bottom of the world is falling out, and you’re dropping down an elevator shaft into infinitely deep feathers.”

Snow from Winter Storm Pluto was still pounding away when I arrived up at Bolton Valley’s Timberline area this morning.  It was quiet, with just a couple other cars in the lot.  The skin track up Twice as Nice wasn’t even in place yet, and I feared that I’d have to break trail, but fortunately Showtime had recently been groomed.  It held about an inch of new snow over the packed base, and I was really thankful for the efforts of the groomers on that one.

I had time for a quick run down Spell Binder, and a probe on the skier’s right of the headwall revealed close to two feet of ridiculously fluffy Champlain Powder™.  I dove in and encountered the kind of snow that makes you feel like the bottom of the world is falling out, and you’re dropping down an elevator shaft into infinitely deep feathers.  So, yeah, last night’s snow analysis told the story, and the snow out there today was indeed incredibly dry.

Bolton Valley, VT 13FEB2017

An image of ski tracks in powder on the Twice as Nice trail at Bolton Valey Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of a traffic sign in the Timberline parking lot at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Snows of Winter Storm Orson at Bolton Valley today

Today’s ski session was great, but it really wasn’t the one I was expecting.  Since E and the boys were off from school for a snow day, and I had some time in the morning, it seemed like a great chance to all get in some skiing together.  My first inclination was to visit Bolton Valley, which is right on my way into Burlington and very convenient, but lifts weren’t opening until 10:00 A.M., which on the late side based on the time I had.  So, we decided on Stowe, which opened at 8:00 A.M.  However, what we found on the Mountain Road was traffic backed up all the way to Harvest Market.  That’s miles away from the resort.  I figured it had to be because of an accident, but people in touch with E indicated that it was just bumper to bumper all the way down from the resort.  I’m not sure how long it would have taken to travel all those miles, but we didn’t really have the time to find out.  We switched our plans to Bolton Valley, figuring we’d take at least a few runs, but winds were keeping the Vista Quad on hold, so the available terrain would be quite minimal.  It was just one of those crazy days where getting us all together to ski was going to be a challenge.

So in the end, I wound up stopping at Bolton for some earned turns on my way into Burlington, just like I often do.  It simply took me a lot longer than usual to get to that point.  Fortunately, just as one would expect thanks to the recent visit from Winter Storm Orson, the snow is simply spectacular.  I skinned up the usual Timberline route, and while there were some tracks on Twice as Nice from skiers who had visited earlier, it was still snowing big, fat, fluffy flakes, and their tracks were rapidly disappearing.  Today seemed like a great day to make a run on Twice as Nice, and it delivered bottomless turns all the way.  The depth of the powder I found there today was generally 8 to 10 inches at the Timberline Base elevation, with nearly a foot in may spots higher up.  The density gradient of the powder was fantastic, since we’ve been getting some really light fluff on the back side of the storm.  It was funny to come full circle back to what I probably would have done if E and the boys hadn’t had the day off, and while it was a crazy path getting me there, the quality of the turns was definitely worth it.

Bolton Valley, VT 11FEB2017

An image of the KP Glades are at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image showing the "South of Solitude" sign on the Timberline Base Lodge at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Checking out the new signage on a visit to Timberline today

Last weekend featured some excellent ski conditions both on and off piste, and while we did get hit with a fairly substantial winter storm this week that further substantiated the snowpack, it ended with some sleet that put a dense layer atop the powder.  We’ve seen a few inches since then from Winter Storm Niko and a weak Alberta Clipper yesterday, but it hadn’t seemed like quite enough to really cover up that dense layer and get the powder skiing back to where it was.

In any event, I decided to head up to the mountain for a couple of runs to see just where conditions sit ahead of our next potential large winter storm (Winter Storm Orson) that is expected to start up tomorrow.  Temperatures were down in the single digits F in the morning, so I waited until later in the afternoon to head up to Bolton Valley’s Timberline area.  By then, the temperature was around the 20 F mark and it felt quite comfortable outside.

Watching the skiers below me as I rode the Timberline Quad, the groomed terrain seemed pretty nice, although I could certainly hear their turns, so that wasn’t a great sign.  I dropped into Showtime myself and found some decent groomed snow along the skier’s left.  My mid-fat Tele skis don’t have much for edges at this point, and I noticed it when I’d get to the occasional firmer spot.  I could see that there was some nice powder in the Twice as Nice Woods, so I dropped off the edge of the trail and into the trees.  Even though that terrain is roughly intermediate pitch, it was still a bit too steep for the amount of powder available.  I was touching down on the dense layer below, and occasionally slipping out on it or breaking through.  It was just too inconsistent to make for good skiing so I headed back to the groomed terrain of Showtime to finish my run.

On my next run I took Sure Shot and made my way to the lower angle slopes of the KP Glades.  I was able to get some decent powder turns at times, but even there it was possible to bust through the dense layer and the skiing was still just too inconsistent.  I finished out my run, and Timberline was closing anyway, but a couple of runs were enough to reveal that there really wasn’t much going on today with regard to off piste skiing.  It’s good that we’ve got Winter Storm Orson coming into the area tomorrow because it should be able to get the off piste conditions back to something more consistent and typical for midwinter around here.

Bolton Valley, VT 04FEB2017

An image from behind of Ty skiing powder on the Tattle Tale trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
An image of Ty skiing powder on the Spell Binder trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Ty out enjoying some of the recent upslope powder bounty at Bolton Valley today

There weren’t actually any major winter storms in the forecast for the Northern Greens this week.  As it turns out, that forecast was actually 100% correct.  We didn’t get a major winter storm… we just got a major winter storm’s worth of snow in short order.  What the forecast for the end of the workweek indicated was a general westerly flow, with extra moisture supplied from the Great Lakes to give periods of snow showers in the area.  Of course “snow showers” around here in the mountains can often mean several inches of snow, and this time around it certainly did.

“…it was so good that after two runs I ran to the rack on the car and swapped out my mid fats for my full fats”

Things really started to ramp up on Thursday night.  My phone alerted me to the fact that the National Weather Service in Burlington had put out a Special Weather Statement for snow squalls.  It wasn’t long before eyewall sent along some pictures of the heavy snow falling in the Burlington area, and eventually, light snow at our house in Waterbury farther east turned into a 1 to 2-inch per hour maelstrom of flakes.  In the morning, Powderfreak started reporting in from the Stowe area, and initial thoughts of at least 6” on Mt. Mansfield turned into 8”, and quickly 9-10” at his 3,000’ snow plot on the mountain.  When adk sent along some of the shots taken during his usual morning wanderings on Mansfield, they revealed that however much snow had fallen, it was skiing deepsome awesome “over the shoulder Champlain powder” shenanigans were already taking place.

“By 2:00 P.M. he reported in with close to 17” of new snow…”

By midday, Powderfreak was reporting a foot of snow at Stowe, and Mother Nature was still pouring out the flakes over the spine at 1 to 2-inches per hour.  By 2:00 P.M. he reported in with close to 17” of new snow, and followed up with his own collection of powdery pictures a bit later in the afternoon.  At times, during the afternoon there were just huge snowflakes pouring from the sky, and Powderfreak sent along a bit of slow-motion video that he caught at Stowe’s base area showing some of the huge aggregates.  Folks quickly started talking about the day as “Big Friday”, no doubt because it was likely the biggest powder Friday of the season thus far.  When you start off with almost a foot of powder, and then tack on another half foot through the morning while you ski, you can’t help but have a “Big Friday”.  I was too busy yesterday to get out for any skiing, but when I posted the Vermont snow reports yesterday evening, all the resorts in the Northern Greens along the spine were coming in with 15-17” of new snow, so a trip to Bolton Valley would definitely be in order.

An image of Ty skiing powder on the Tattle Tail trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Ty, feeling the powder groove on his Soul 7s today

From what I’d seen on Bolton’s snow report, Timberline may not have been running yesterday, so Ty and I headed up to catch the planned 10:00 A.M. opening this morning.  E planned to pick up Dylan from his overnight at Ivan’s, then catch up with us later.  From what we could tell, Timberline must have been closed or something, because aside from the strips of trails that had been groomed, there was a foot of untracked powder everywhere.  Ty and I caught some great powder runs down Brandywine and Spell Binder.  I figured the powder would be fine, albeit somewhat flat after a night of settling, but it was much more substantial and impressive than I’d expected – it was so good that after two runs I ran to the rack on the car and swapped out my mid fats for my full fats.  For Ty, it was his first chance to try out the Rossignol Soul 7 skis he’d gotten at the beginning of the season, and they were the perfect tool for the day.  It was a classic Timberline morning, with walk-on powder laps in great snow.  We really haven’t hit the threshold of snowpack required to get Timberline in gear until now, so it was a welcomed return.

An image of the "South of Solitude" Mexican restaurant logo at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont Ty and I hit a couple more runs with a mix of on and off piste powder, then headed in for lunch at the Timberline Lodge to catch up with E.  We also took the opportunity to try out the new “South of Solitude” (no doubt a nod to the “Adam’s Solitude” trail) Mexican food offering that’s been set up at the Timberline Base Lodge this season.  Ty is nuts for burritos, so I knew it would be on our hit list when I saw it announced way back in the off season.  The Mexican-themed food is really the only main option now down at Timberline, so you’ll want to plan on that if you’re dining down at that lodge.  I got the chimichanga (always one of my favorites), and Ty got a burrito.  They’re made to order with your choice of various ingredients, and we found them good and filling!

An image showing the Chimichanga on the blackboard menu at the "South of Solitude" restaurant at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont

After lunch we headed back out to get Mom some powder, and found her plenty of untracked lines in the Tattle Tale area.  We took her into the Corner Pocket Glades, but discovered they’re quite brushy with the current snowpack down at that elevation.  A couple more feet of snow will take care of the issue, but they’re probably going to need a trim in the off season.  Ty and I headed back down to the house by around 1:00 P.M. and E stayed for another solo run on Twice as Nice where she had a good time making Tele turns in the mix of loose and packed snow.

An image of Erica on the Timberline Quad at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont

It’s been a slow start down in the lower elevations like Timberline, but I’d say the resort is running at just about full tilt now, so get out and enjoy it.  We’ve got another Alberta Clipper coming into the area tomorrow, and then a larger storm in the midweek period, so the weather pattern is staying active.