Ty diving through the powder on today’s tour as we descend in Bolton’s Snow Hole area
Based on the quality of yesterday’s skiing, I was leaning heavily toward heading out for another tour today. The backcountry conditions around Bolton are already quite good, and they were reporting another 2 to 4 inches of new snow this morning, so that was a nice bonus. Temperatures were expected to be about the same as yesterday, which meant single digits F.
Ty was able to join me today, so it was great to have company, and we were able to get some actions shots in the powder. We did a tour somewhat similar to what I did yesterday, but we lengthened it out a bit more. Instead of heading up to Heavenly Highway and working our way down to North Slope, we went all the way up to Moose Glen and then wrapped around on a descent toward the glades around Snow Hole, which was roughly a four-mile tour. I chose that route to get us some relatively high altitude turns after observing the notable improvements in the overall snowpack above 2,500’ yesterday.
The number of visitors at the resort seemed a bit less today – there was no sign posted about the Village lots being full, and we easily grabbed a parking spot in the upper lot by the entry to the Backcountry Network. With cold temperatures preserving the snow, conditions were similar to yesterday with 1 to 2 feet of powder available wherever wind hadn’t scoured it to lower depths. Touring some of the higher elevation trails allowed us to see the various areas that had been hit by wind, and you just had to be cognizant of where winds had affected the snowpack to pick the lines with the best undisturbed powder. The middle elevations were much less disturbed by the wind, and you could pick just about line and get some great powder turns.
The Google Earth map with GPS tracking data for today’s ski tour on the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network
The models suggest we might have another long-duration system like this past one starting up tomorrow night and running right through the week, and I see that Winter Weather Advisories are already up for the Northern Greens in anticipation of some of that snowfall.
Ty slipping his way down through trees in the Cup Runneth Over glade as twilight approaches and we near the end of today’s ski tour on the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network
After the relatively warm midweek storm moved across the area, we picked up an inch or two of snow in the valley between the back side of that system and the lake-effect snow that followed it. While the storm wasn’t quite a net gain for the snowpack here at our site, we only lost a couple tenths of an inch of snow water equivalent in the snow on the ground, so it was fairly inconsequential in that regard. It did mean a thaw-freeze cycle for the snowpack though, so once temperatures came down, the snowpack was solid with just a bit of fresh snow on top. This was the first notable consolidation event of the season at our site, so we finally transitioned to a much more robust snowpack down at the house now vs. what was there before. It had slowly been settling and consolidating on its own, but it was still somewhat dry, and you could dig down to the ground fairly easily.
That midweek storm was likely a net gain for liquid in the mountain snowpack, but I assumed off piste surfaces would be quite hard after the thaw-freeze, similar to what we experience down in the valley. I’d been hearing some good reports out of the mountains with regard to the backside accumulations from the storm, but it was hard to image it would be enough to really get the off piste and backcountry conditions back to where there were earlier in the week.
With that in mind, E and I headed up to Bolton Valley for some snowshoeing yesterday. We always find that snowshoeing is a nice change of pace if the snowpack is likely to be punchy, crusty, or icy, since even Nordic skiing with those conditions can be unpleasant if the snow is too firm. We figured we’d mostly be using the crampons on our snowshoes during the tour as we expected something in the range of a dust-on-crust snowpack, but that wasn’t the case at all. I was amazed to find that at around the 2,000’-2,200’ elevations where we toured, there were 6 to 10 inches of powder above the base layers. And, the base wasn’t even rock hard, it was a crumbly interface with the powder above it that made for excellent touring. We couldn’t believe that we were actually having to use the floatation of our snowshoes because of the depth of the powder, and the crampons were needed only occasionally in packed areas. The resort was reporting 8 inches of new snow in the previous 48 hours, and it really wasn’t just eye candy; all that new snow set up some very pleasant snow surfaces.
The only major issues we noted yesterday were that some of the water bars had been blow out by the rain. Those areas required some extra navigation, and we could see that people had established routes around them on popular ascents like the Bryant Trail. I’d say our observations were right in line with the big washout on Gondolier at Stowe that Powderfreak talked about – the snowpack itself wasn’t damaged all the much by the rain, the more notable effects were on drainage/water bars.
Ty dropping through some powder in the Big Blue area on today’s backcountry ski tour at Bolton Valley
Experiencing the quality of the snow yesterday, it was obvious that the powder skiing would be great on low to moderate angle terrain, so Ty and I headed out for a ski tour on Bolton’s Nordic & Backcountry Network today. We toured up the Bryant Trail to about the base of the Big Blue area. We wanted to stick to more moderate and low-angle terrain that was a best fit for the depth and density of the powder, so we began our descent in the lower reaches of Big Blue, then worked our way through the relatively low-angle terrain between the Bryant and Coyote trails. Later on the descent we crossed to the west side of Bryant, skied the upper sections of the Cup Runneth Over glade, and finished out with turns on the untracked areas of World Cup. The resort hadn’t set formal Nordic grooming tracks up in those areas of World Cup, but there was a track line that had been made by skiers, and the rest of the trail was untracked powder. Those areas of World Cup were very open and provided some of the most consistent powder turns of the day. The pitch was also perfect for the depth and consistency of the powder, and Ty said those sections were actually his favorite turns of the tour.
The Google Earth map with GPS tracking data for today’s ski tour on Bolton Valley’s Nordic & Backcountry Terrain
Carving some tracks in glades on the Nordic & Backcountry Network during this afternoon’s ski tour
The system that’s been affecting our area over the past day or so really started to crank up yesterday evening, delivering some periods of heavy snowfall up in the 1”/hr. range with large flakes. By this morning we’d picked up about a half foot of snow from the system here at our site in the valley, so that obviously called for a check on the Bolton Valley snow report, and I wasn’t surprised to learn that they were reporting 10 inches of accumulation.
I was busy in the morning, but I was able to head up to the resort in the afternoon for some turns. The precipitation was snow all the way down to the valley floors, but afternoon temperatures were in the 30s F, so it wasn’t really accumulating until up in the resort elevations where the temperatures were below freezing. Being a Tuesday, the Wilderness Chair wasn’t running, so I was torn between touring on Wilderness or in the Bryant Trail area. When I arrived up in the Village to find that people were parking even in the lower tiers of the main lot, it was obvious that a lot of folks were interested in getting out for afternoon and evening turns on the lift-served terrain, so I figured the Backcountry Network was the best bet.
A copy of Bolton Valley’s Nordic & Backcountry trail map which lists the trails and many of the official glades
Just as I was heading out toward the Bryant Trail on my tour, I saw a group of 6 to 8 skiers returning from a tour of their own, and one of the guys spoke to me as he passed. He said, “Have fun, it’s amazing out there!” That’s probably a good omen at the start of a tour, and of course, his words were 100% on point.
The scene off Heavenly Highway as I get ready to start my descent on this afternoon’s ski tour
Ascending the Bryant Trail, it was immediately obvious that the powder was in fantastic shape. The only blemishes I could really detect were a couple of areas with a bit of sun crust that must have been in very exposed spots. Other than that, it was hard to find any fault with the quality of the powder or its ability to cover the subsurface. The snow is midwinter dry, but indeed as Powderfreak mentioned in the Northern New England thread at the American Weather Forums, there’s enough substance to it to provide a nice resurfacing. I toured up to about 2,800’ on Heavenly Highway, and here are the depths of new, settled powder that I measured above the old base:
2,000’: 7-9”
2,400’: 8-10”
2,800’: 10-12”
Fresh snow adorning the evergreens created fantastic views during this afternoon’s backcountry ski tour. The Bolton Valley area picked up more than a foot of snow from our most recent winter storm.
The powder skiing was fantastic, with a very good right-side-up deposition, and bottomless turns aside from the occasional touch of the subsurface in a few spots. Temperatures were probably in the upper 20s F, so it was very comfortable. I’d describe the powder as “fast”, because it just was. I hadn’t waxed my skis or anything, but either the structure of the crystals, or the temperature close to freezing, just seemed to produce less resistance than usual. This was great for turns, but it was a little frustrating in any rolling terrain where I’d be traversing slightly uphill to another line. I would have loved a bit of stickiness in the snow for those section, but it was super slick, and you had to earn every step you took without skins. Most glades had only a couple of tracks in them, even Big Blue, which is very popular, so I took a run through that area and had 100% untracked powder turns throughout the descent.
A Google Earth map with GPS tracking date from today’s ski tour on the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network
I see that with today’s additional snowfall, the resort is now reporting 13 inches in the past 48 hours. The next system in the queue is right on our doorstep this evening though, so we’ll see if this one can bring us anything like what the last one did.
Ty launches into some fresh powder off a jump in the Moose Glen area.
With the off piste conditions being so much better than what’s available on the trails right now, Ty and I had plans to take a ski tour up to Stowe View today and hit some of the Moose Glen terrain at Bolton Valley. I was just up there a couple of weeks ago, and there are many acres of high elevation glades that I’d expect to have fantastic snow with the way the spine has recently been getting round after round of heavy snowfall.
It was dumping huge flakes at the house when we left this morning, and 1”/hr. snows in the valley turned to 1-2”/hr. snows as we ascended the Bolton Valley Access Road. The snow was falling so hard and fast that the access road was absolutely covered. Even down by the Catamount Trail parking area before the big S-curve below Timberline, vehicles were already lined up due to some cars not being able to get enough traction on the grade. I’m not sure where they were in the plowing cycle for the road because there wasn’t a plow around that we saw, but with the rate the snow was falling, it almost wouldn’t have mattered. Cars were turning around to descend, and some were evening having to back down in the downhill lane because they couldn’t turn around. Descending cars were moving at an absolute crawl to avoid sliding, and some still struggled with sliding just due to the crown of the road. After about 15 minutes we made it up to the base of the S-curve and started the ascent there, and I saw that a line of cars were stopped about halfway down from the top of the grade. That’s one of the steepest parts of the access road, and you don’t want to have to restart there from a dead stop if you can help it.
Traffic was at a total standstill on the steep parts of the Bolton Valley Access Road this morning due to heavy snowfall that made the road too slick for most vehicles.
I could see that the whole situation was going to be trouble, and there was no immediate sign of the next plow, so we made the split second decision to turn around and simply park at the Catamount Trail parking area about 100 yards below us. We were going to be ski touring anyway, so we figured we’d just start our tour from there instead. It does add a couple of extra miles to the route, but we had the time, and it was far better than sitting in traffic and risking an accident on the road. And as bad as the driving was at that point, the snow simply continued to pound down and make the road worse. While gearing up for our tour at the car, we met another couple of guys who had decided on the same plan. They weren’t too familiar with the resort, but I assured them that the Nordic and Backcountry Trail Network connected right up to the Nordic Center and Village, and from that point they could head wherever they wanted on the network.
Heavy snowfall envelopes us near the start of today’s ski tour as we pass a cabin near the parking area for the Catamount Trail.
The ascent to the Village was beautiful along the Nordic trails, and the very heavy snowfall was with us for the first mile or so before it tapered down at least a bit. I’d actually never skied that full connection before, so it was great to be able to experience the route. We didn’t need to stop in at the Nordic Center, so we simply cut right up to the Bryant Trail along with a couple of women who were out on a similar tour. From there, it was just the usual route on up to Stowe View with some water and snack breaks. Ty hadn’t had any breakfast, so with the extra distance, he quickly made use of the snack he’d brought, and I dove heavily into the reserves in my pack to get him additional calories. It was about 4.5 miles and over 2,000’ vertical up to Stowe View by that route, so that’s roughly double the vertical and triple the distance relative to a typical tour to that area starting in the Village. That increase definitely required more calories.
Ty slices through another powder turn as we make our way through the Branches glade area of Bolton’s Nordic and Backcountry Network during part of today’s ski tour.
We skied various parts of the Moose Glen glade areas as planned, and the powder was simply fantastic. Even down at 1,200’ there was a solid 12” of settled powder, and up around 3,000’ it was typically in the 17-18” range. It was champagne light, so it actually worked well on a variety of different slope angles. As long as you had first tracks, even steeper terrain was in play for bottomless turns. We had a long, long run, with glade after glade of powder, down through areas like White Rabbit and Branches, and eventually we reached the Village where we could take a quick break and plan our next move.
We were on contact with Dylan, who had parked at Timberline and we decided that instead of heading back to the car via the Nordic and Backcountry Network, we’d complete our tour using the alpine trails. We got a lift assist off the Vista Quad, and made our way from Cobrass to Maria’s where there were still plenty of untracked lines to ski. Lower Tattle Tale was also still really good along the edges where we found untracked snow.
Another round of very heavy snowfall was pounding the resort today as we were finishing up our ski tour near the Timberline Base area – Mother Nature has really been on a roll with the snowfall in the Northern Greens over the past couple of days.
We found Dylan at the Timberline Base Lodge and caught up over some El Gato burritos. We’d planned to ski down to our car at the Catamount Trail parking area if necessary, but we just caught a ride with Dylan and it made for pleasant finish to a tour that was almost 10 miles in total and brought us literally from one end of the resort to the other using the Nordic, backcountry, and alpine trail networks. It was a great way to make use of all the recent snows and great powder conditions that have developed.
The map of today’s ski tour on the Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry Network with GPS tracking data on a Google Earth map
Ty cranks a turn in some of the plentiful Winter Storm Iggy powder out there today at Bolton Valley as the Wilderness Chair made its season debut.
In a discussion with my colleague Stephen at work yesterday, I learned that plans were in place to open the Wilderness Chair for the first time this season on Saturday, so Ty and I headed up this morning for a session. We didn’t really rush out to the mountain, arriving at about 9:30 A.M. for the scheduled 10:00 A.M. opening of the Wilderness Chair, but it turns out that was a bit too late with respect to optimal parking. People were already having to park down at Timberline because the upper parking lots were full, and since the Timberline Quad isn’t running yet, you had to take the shuttle bus up to the main mountain. Being the first notable weekend day with fresh snow in at least a couple of weeks, it seemed like everyone in the state was excited to get out for some skiing.
We spent a lot of our time today in areas between Snow Hole and the Backcountry Network, and the tree skiing was quite ready to go thanks to all the recent snow.
I learned that the Wilderness Chair had actually halted operations for a bit this morning due to a mechanical issue, but that timing worked out pretty well for us – by the time we took one run on Vista to get us over toward Wilderness, the lift was running. We spent much of our time today on Wilderness, exploring various off piste lines between Snow Hole and the Nordic/backcountry network, and the powder skiing was great. We could still use a couple more feet of base to cover up some of the usual obstacles and really get the off piste skiing into prime time, but everywhere we went it was pretty much good to go.
While we could still use a couple more feet of snow to really get the tree skiing into midwinter form, the recent snows have been more than adequate to put down a decent base and powder on top for some great off piste turns just about everywhere at the resort.
We wrapped up today’s session in the midafternoon with a run back to our car at the base of Timberline, and while having to shuttle up to the main mountain at the start of the day wasn’t our first choice, the run back to the car through endless powder was more than worth it. It doesn’t look like the Timberline Uphill Route is officially open yet, but we’d seen a number of skiers ascending there when we were waiting for the shuttle. Practically speaking, the snow at Timberline is ready with respect to ski touring, so it will be interesting to see if the resort officially opens that uphill route soon. The resort is making snow down at Timberline to presumably open it up for lift-served skiing before long, and if these next couple of winter storms deliver like Winter Storm Iggy did, they’ll probably be able to open it up even before all the snowmaking is done. The next system coming into the area has earned the name Winter Storm Jimenez due to its anticipated impacts, so we’ll see what it delivers over the next couple of days.
Although we did have to park down at Timberline today due to the lots filling up in the Village, we did get some great turns when we had to ski back to the car.
The number of visitors at the resort seemed a bit less today – there was no sign posted about the Village lots being full, and we easily grabbed a parking spot in the upper lot by the entry to the Backcountry Network. With cold temperatures preserving the snow, conditions were similar to yesterday with 1 to 2 feet of powder available wherever wind hadn’t scoured it to lower depths. Touring some of the higher elevation trails allowed us to see the various areas that had been hit by wind, and you just had to be cognizant of where winds had affected the snowpack to pick the lines with the best undisturbed powder. The middle elevations were much less disturbed by the wind, and you could pick just about line and get some great powder turns.
