Last night’s storm marked the fourth bout of snow we’ve had since our warm system leading up to the weekend. Although none of these recent snowfall events have been very large, the rounds and rounds of snow from these smaller systems have piled up, and today seemed like a great opportunity to check on how the holiday week powder has been building.
With Bolton Valley reporting 7 inches of new snow during the period, I decided that a backcountry day was in order. Knowing the way snow accumulates on their Nordic and Backcountry Network, I figured there were be plenty of fresh powder for the low to moderate-angle terrain. Today was actually the first day this season that I’ve headed out onto the Backcountry Network. With all the snow we’ve had, the backcountry terrain has been ready for skiing since well back in November, but there’s been so much good skiing in bounds that I’ve just been touring there.
“Once I got on trail, I made some depth checks around the 2,000’ elevation and found 5 to 6 inches of settled powder atop the old base.”
I arrived at the resort around noontime and parked in the lower Nordic Center lot – it was just about filling up while I put on my gear, and the parking attendants were getting ready to start the shuttle bus for Timberline parking. That’s good news for the resort in terms of holiday visitors. Once I got on trail, I made some depth checks around the 2,000’ elevation and found 5 to 6 inches of settled powder atop the old base. The depth of the powder didn’t really increase substantially with elevation, and I found roughly 6 inches at 2,700’ by the Bryant Cabin.
“The snow had been quite nice, with probably 70-80% bottomless turns on my 115 mm skis, so I strapped the skins back on and headed up for another descent.”
From what I’d seen, there was plenty of snow for the tour I’d planned, which involved some new terrain and some area I’d not visited in quite a while. I started my descent in the trees below the Bryant Cabin (Bryant Woods) and worked my way though there until I reached JJ’s. Then I crossed the Bryant Trail and hung close to it for a few hundred feet until I got into the lines on the west side (Possum Woods). None of that terrain has much in the way of actual manicured glades, but the natural tree spacing is just fine for its pitch, and today’s conditions, featuring about a half foot of delicate Champlain Powder™ fluff, were exactly what you needed for it. Lower down, I merged onto Cup Runneth Over and various trees in that area until I got to the lower loops of World Cup.
The snow had been quite nice, with probably 70-80% bottomless turns on my 115 mm skis, so I strapped the skins back on and headed up for another descent. This time I went for a run in the Coyote area and made my way back toward the Village to hit the deli. At the Village Deli I discovered something excellent – they are back to making custom made sandwiches! I immediately texted E and the boys and Stephen the good news, and got myself a maple latte and some sandwiches to take home.
We’ve got a more substantial system coming into the area tonight. It’s supposed to pass to our west, so we’re expecting some warmth, but this one’s expected to have more snow and much less rain than the last one, so we could get some bolstering of the snowpack out of it.
