Bolton Valley, VT 15MAR2023

An image of Dylan skiing deep powder on the steep headwall of the Wilderness Liftline during Winter Storm Sage at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
An image of Dylan and Colin blasting through deep powder while skiing on the Wilderness Liftline during Winter Storm Sage at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan and Colin blast their way down the Wilderness Liftline today amidst continued heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Sage

Continuing on overnight, Winter Storm Sage brought an additional resurgence of heavy snowfall into the area this morning.  So, combined with somewhat limited lift service at Bolton Valley on Tuesday due to power outages, today was an obvious day to get out for turns.  Dylan was off from school for his second snow day in a row, and since it initially didn’t look like Colin would be able to join him for skiing, he and I headed up to the hill to catch the opening of the Vista Quad.  Snowfall was probably in the inch per hour range at that point, so the Bolton Valley Access Road was a bit slick, and we encountered a couple of vehicles having trouble on the ascent.

An image of Coline sending up a wall fo powder snow as he skis down the steep headwall of the Wilderness Liftline at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Colin sends up a wall of white as he slashes his was down the steep headwall of the Wilderness Liftline today

Areas up around the ridgeline of the resort were getting hit pretty hard by the wind, so the new snow was heavily wind packed up there, but once you were down a couple hundred feet, most areas were fine.  Surface snow depths I measured were generally around 20 inches on the low end, up toward 30 inches on the high end, and that seemed to fit pretty well with the resort’s reported 32” storm total.  While the initial forecasts for Winter Storm Sage looked fairly lean in the Northern Greens, accumulations ultimately approached 3 feet, and the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake took a healthy jump up to 90 inches.  Winter Storm Sage wound up being a solid storm cycle up and down the spine of the Green Mountains, with roughly 3 to 4 feet of accumulation.  The north to south listing of available storm totals from the Vermont ski areas tells the tale:

Jay Peak: 28”
Smuggler’s Notch: 34”
Stowe: 33”
Bolton Valley: 32”
Mad River Glen: 32”
Sugarbush: 29”
Middlebury: 24”
Pico: 22”
Killington: 22”
Okemo: 35”
Bromley: 36”
Magic Mountain: 36”
Stratton: 40”
Mount Snow: 48”

An image of Parker blasting through deep powder from Winter Storm Sage while skiing in the trees at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in VermontAt times on the mountain today, especially late morning, we were getting hit with larger flakes for increased loft in accumulations, but there was still plenty of dense snow present as well.  When you’re nearing 3 feet of dense snow like that, the name of the game was still to hit steepest terrain for the best turns, so Dylan and I started off with a run of Vermont 200.  After only that one run, we ran into Colin at the base of the Vista Quad, and our posse just continued to grow as the morning went on to include Parker, Parker’s dad, and Jesuin.  We found excellent conditions on Cobrass, and Maria’s was outstanding – most specifically the initial steep section due to the pitch being a great fit for the substantial depth of the moderately dense snow.

An image of Dylan skiing the trees in deep snow from Winter Storm Sage at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
With almost three feet of snow from Winter Storm Sage, the steepest terrain was the place to be today, as Dylan demonstrates on a steep pitch of Maria’s glades.

While the Wilderness Double Chair was schedule for a midmorning opening, it wasn’t until midday or so that it actually opened.  Wilderness offered up the clear highlight of the day in the form of the headwall of the Wilderness Liftline.  That terrain isn’t usually open, because it’s very steep.  It’s so steep, ledgy, and exposed to the wind that it rarely holds snow.  I don’t believe it’s even officially a trail.  Although the very top is usually roped off by patrol, you can access lower parts of it by traversing in from the surrounding trees.  As we passed over it on the lift, it was clear that coverage below the first several yards was excellent, so we traversed in below that point to check it out.  It delivered some classic steep and deep, and more than once I heard some of the boys proclaim that was the steepest powder they’d ever skied.  Ski patrol clearly felt that the entire slope was safely skiable, and by our next run, the rope was opened and everyone was diving in from the very top.  The energy and excitement of the folks on the slope, and those right above you on the lift (the snowpack is high enough that you needed appropriate timing to stay clear of people on the lift at the entry) was quite palpable.

An image of deep snow from recent winter storms hiding the Mountain Market in the Village area at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
With storm after storm affecting the area, the mountain snowpack is getting deep and buildings like the Mountain Market in the Village are starting to disappear as the snow on the roofs begins to merge with the snow on the ground.

Although the lower slopes of Wilderness are too shallow in pitch to support skiing in 2 plus feet of dense powder, they did offer another highlight of the day.  The parts of the Wilderness Liftline that had been groomed were substantially lower than the surrounding areas of the trail that had not been groomed, so it provided a kicker to use if you wanted to jump into the powder.  The boys started launching powder bombs as they threw themselves off the side of the trail, and eventually everyone got into it and was burying themselves silly.  It was great fun all around and made for lots of hilarious GoPro footage.  Action photography was definitely tough yesterday with the heavy snowfall, but we still our best to document the great outing in one of the top winter storms of the season thus far.

Bolton Valley, VT 14MAR2023

An image of a snowcat covered in snow from the first part of Winter Storm Sage near the Timberline Base Lodge at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of the Timberline Base Lodge after 18 inches of snow had already fallen from Winter Storm Sage at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A view of the Timberline Base Lodge this morning with 18 inches of snow having already fallen from Winter Storm Sage

In Bolton’s early morning report they were indicating 3 to 4 inches of new snow from Winter Storm Sage, but little did they know, by the afternoon the storm would already have dropped several times that amount.  The Winter Storm Warnings from the National Weather Service in Burlington started including counties farther and farther into the northern parts of Vermont as the storm drew closer, and that was definitely a sign that there was going to be a bit more impact in the Northern Greens than the weather models had initially suggested.  Here at our house in Waterbury, the snowfall really started to pick up today in the midmorning period.  We began to get very large snowflakes with diameters in the 3 to 4-inch range, and those flakes were accompanied by very heavy snowfall rates; over the course about 30 minutes, we picked up roughly half a foot of new snow.

An image of snow accumulations from Winter Storm Sage on picnic tables and ski racks outside the Timberline Lodge at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Some of the morning accumulations from Winter Storm Sage down at the Timberline Base Lodge.

It looked like Bolton had been hit with similar intense snowfall rates, and it was obvious that there was far more than the initial few inches when I headed up to Timberline for a ski tour this afternoon.  My depth checks from the Timberline Base at 1,500 feet were indicating 12 to 16 inches of new snow.  I wasn’t sure if there was going to be much additional accumulation with elevation, but by the time I hit 2,500 feet, my measurements were in the 15 to 18-inch range.  Bolton’s snow report update from later in the day had their accumulations topping out at 18 inches, so that fit well with my observations.

An image of ski tracks in powder snow during Winter Storm Sage from people ski touring in the Timberline area of Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
A little ski traffic from folks who were out touring at Timberline today

The actual skiing itself was rather interesting.  On my ascent it was already obvious that the snow wasn’t at all wet at elevation.  It was fairly dense though, with small flakes falling during my tour.  With those small flakes falling atop the accumulation of the larger ones that would have fallen during that midmorning, the powder wasn’t perfectly right-side-up.  It wasn’t exactly upside-down either, but there was an element of that in the powder, and combined with a foot and a half of new depth, it added some extra challenge.  When you’re on 115 mm boards and you’re feeling like they might not be wide enough, that’s saying something.  While I didn’t personally see anything slide or even slough when I was out on my tour today, I did feel tinges of spookiness of steeper slopes, with part of that coming from the slightly imperfect density profile.  It didn’t come as a complete surprise when I saw the following in Bolton’s updated snow report:

Urgent Message From Patrol: Avalanche hazard present at this time. If travelling on terrain (especially uphill routes and backcountry) follow appropriate avalanche precautions and gear up accordingly.

So, be careful if you are riding in potentially hazardous spots in the near future with this current snowpack.  And unfortunately, the best skiing really is on the steepest terrain right now.  I could tell on my ascent that I was going to need some serious pitch to get a quality descent, so I dropped in on the Tattle Tale Headwall, and it certainly delivered.  We’ll see what the back side of this storm cycle does for the snow profile, but for now, you’re going to want at least black diamond pitches for the best turns in undisturbed snow.  Indeed, if you’re planning to head out for turns tomorrow on anything that hasn’t been tracked, bring your fattest boards and hit the steepest terrain you can find. Conditions should be great though, because we’re in the process of getting another massive resurfacing of the slopes, and its already atop a surface that didn’t really even need it.