Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry, VT 13JAN2019

An image of Erica skiing the Cup Runneth Over glade on the backcountry network at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Erica enjoying some beautiful powder on Cup Runneth Over today at Bolton Valley

Today’s temperatures were a few degrees warmer than yesterday’s, but earning turns in the backcountry still seemed like good way to fight off the chill.  E and the boys were up for some skiing today, so with yesterday’s trip to Holden’s Hollow serving as reconnaissance, I set up what I hoped would be a fun ski tour for them.

The temperature was right around 10 F in the Village when we arrived in the midafternoon, and with afternoon sun and no wind it was actually quite comfortable as we headed up the Bryant Trail to begin the tour.  It wasn’t long before we came to the top of Cup Runneth Over, and everyone was surprised that I had them taking off their skins for our first descent.  The descent there was excellent, with about a foot of powder over a soft base.  I was very impressed to find that even the steep final section of the glade was in excellent shape.  E was really enjoying the quality of the snow, but also the peace and quiet of the trees and all the unique formations that the fluffy snow had built upon the vegetation.

An image showing a formation in the powder snow that looks like a snail on the backcountry network at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
One of the snow formations Erica saw out in the backcountry today that looked like a snail coming up out of the snow.

“I was worried that they would be a bit steep for E and the boys on their Telemark gear, but the powder was deep and soft enough that they had no problems with the turns.”

Once we finished our descent down to the pump house, we put out skins back on and began our ascent on Telemark.  This was a slightly different route than what I’d taken yesterday, but Telemark looked like a nice option to ascend to the top of the Holden’s Hollow Glades and I was interested in exploring that route.  It turns out that Telemark takes a nice mellow grade as it wraps around the ridge with Holden’s Hollow.  On the trip around we discovered that there are also more glades on the back side of Holden’s Hollow.  They looked quite inviting, but we didn’t quite have time to incorporate those into our tour this time.

An image of Erica and Ty ski touring on the Telemark trail on the backcountry network at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Erica and Ty make their way up the Telemark trail under the cover of beautiful snowy branches.

“E said that overall she had a really great time because the quality of the snow was just so good.”

We stopped on the ridge at the top our ascent for some hot chocolate, then headed down through the Holden’s Hollow Glades.  I was worried that they would be a bit steep for E and the boys on their Telemark gear, but the powder was deep and soft enough that they had no problems with the turns.  In the lower sections of the glade, Dylan said he wished it was even steeper to accommodate the amount of powder that was there.  E said that overall she had a really great time because the quality of the snow was just so good.  We’re often out on the backcountry network when the powder is more marginal and not quite enough to hold up on the lift served terrain, but this time everyone was getting top notch midwinter powder and loving it.

An image showing a Google Earth map with GPS tracking data of a ski tour on the Nordic and Backcountry Network at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
A map including GPS Tracking data from today’s ski tour on the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network overlayed onto Google Earth