After today’s photo shoot at Bolton Valley, we farmed some of the powder that is hanging around thanks to the consistently cold temperatures.
Thursday night’s storm did a nice job of coating the mountains with some picturesque snow, and that seemed to be on Josh’s mind when he contacted us about a potential photo shoot today up at Bolton Valley. I hadn’t gotten the details on the timing via the phone message he left with me, but I knew the biggest hurdle with respect to our participation was whether or not it would interfere with BJAMS ski program in the afternoon at Stowe. I wasn’t optimistic about fitting everything in today, but when I checked in with E about the possibilities on Friday evening, she said the scheduled session at Bolton Valley actually looked like it would fit into the day. Josh wanted us in the 8:30 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. timeframe, and that would be easy to fit in prior to our afternoon session. The photo shoot plan would likely be for groomed slopes, so when I got back from skiing yesterday, I packed the ski rack with carving skis for the morning, and fatter boards for the afternoon at Stowe. From actual experiences on my solo trip to Bolton yesterday, and recent Stowe snow reports from Powderfreak, I knew we’d be able to get into plenty of powder on the slopes of Mansfield. The weather continued its cool trend today, with lows at our place somewhere down in the single digits F, so I expected snow surfaces both on and off piste to be preserved in the wintry state I’d seen yesterday.
We got together with Josh in his office, and as we geared up, we met our photographer Mike. I hadn’t met Mike before, but I’d seen him a number of times in some of the great Bolton Valley promotional videos that he’s put out this season. He started us off with an Alta Vista run, and shot stills of us skiing at various angles as he made use of the morning sunlight. Then it was on to some Spillway shots that he had planned, and it was great to see that Spillway was actually in nice shape with respect to a carving surface. Sometimes it can really get stripped of its snow by the winds, but with recent snow and a fresh grooming, our skis were able to bite in quite well. The photos went smoothly and Mike was pleased, so for the bottom half of that run we just had a free ski. That gave us a chance to head off into the powder, so Ty, Dylan, E, and I all jumped off to the untracked snow sitting off to the left along the junction with Sherman’s Pass. I was in the lead and heard a lot of commotion behind me, and when we finally got back onto the groomed snow I found out what it was all about. It turned out that Ty was near the back of the group, and as he looked ahead he found me taking every little powder line that he’d spied. Finally, just as we were about to return to the trail, I opted for something different and a line was going to be his… except Dylan took that one. It was all in good fun of course, but apparently we’ve got some seriously similar thoughts on line choice. I wonder how that could have evolved.
Bolton Valley Resort photographer/videographer Mike takes in the scene on the lower mountain during today’s photo shoot.
Mike had to be done around 10:00 A.M. for other duties, so we decided to make that the last photo run. He’d already set up Josh for capturing the time lapse of the pond filling for the pond skimming taking place later in the day, so things were definitely hopping at the resort as they set up for that event.
E with some tracks in the Snowflake area
E and the boys and I decided to take one final run, since I’d told them about all the untracked powder that was available from the top of the Snowflake area. We accessed it easily from the Mid Mountain Chair and Deer Run, and found Snowflake Bentley pretty much as I’d left it: with my two tracks from yesterday. The powder was still in perfect shape, and we coupled that upper section with a totally untracked run through the trees between Lower Foxy and Lower Bentley – the terrain was very reminiscent of back on the 15th at Stowe when we were skiing all those lines off the Mountain Triple Chair.
From the bottom of Snowflake it was a quick trip across the Village Circle to Josh’s office, where we got out of ski boots and prepared for the trip over to Stowe for the next phase of the day. One great bonus from today was that Josh gave us a huge promotional Bolton Valley poster that features an image of E and the boys skiing. They’d used it for ski shows and other events, but now they’re done with it. It’s made of fabric and seems quite durable, so it should make a great addition to the walls of the recreational area downstairs.
Taking in one of the wintry views from the top of Timberline today at Bolton Valley
The Northern Greens picked up about a half foot of snow on Thursday night, and it made for some fun powder skiing on Friday. I couldn’t get out Friday myself, but temperatures stayed nice and wintry to preserve the powder in the mountains, so I headed up to the mountain for a little skiing this afternoon. I knew that Bolton Valley had done well with the storm, and although there would have been plenty of visitors hitting the new snow between Friday and this morning, trips to the usual spots off the beaten path were likely to yield some of that classic Bolton powder.
Temperatures were around 30 F down in the valley, and upper 20s F when I pulled into the Timberline lot at ~1,500’. I was happy to see that the resort is letting folks park in the upper Timberline parking lot near some of the winter driving center terrain, so I parked up there planning to ski right back to the car. Driving through both the lower- and higher-elevation valleys today, one could see that the freezing level must have risen up to around the 2,000’ mark yesterday, because while below that point there’s no notable snow accumulation on the trees, above that point, the trees were remarkably white and wintry. The fresh snow was also especially bright with the late-March sunshine that was out there.
Cam out monitoring the Timberline Mid Station in the sun
I hopped on the Timberline Quad and I could see that the fresh snow in the 1,500’ – 2,000’ elevation range was just an inch or two, and subsurfaces there were a bit scratchy, but above that, things generally got deeper and softer. I saw that Cam was manning the mid station, and seemed to be having a good time in the sun while he monitored his post. I headed over toward the main mountain, and as I hit Five Corners, I remembered that the Snowflake Lift wasn’t running, so I skated up to the Snowflake Summit to see what the potential was for fresh tracks in the powder. Indeed Snowflake Bentley had just a couple of tracks on it, probably from patrol, so I had almost the entirety of the trail to choose from with 4 to 5 inches of untracked snow on it. That was a treat, and after that I put the Snowflake terrain on the hit list if I found myself in the area again.
Getting ready for another run in the powder on Snowflake Bentley
I headed up the Vista Quad and took a run through the Villager Trees, finding some nice powder in there. Despite the relatively cold temperatures, it’s till important to pay attention to aspect, because terrain facing the south and exposed to sun has certainly seen more melting underneath than more protected aspects. I found myself near Snowflake again, so I farmed another run of powder next to my tracks from the previous pass.
I thought that White Rabbit might be a good bet for today, so I set a course for Wilderness. On the ride up, I could see lots of people having a great time in the Wilderness Woods – with the soft snow and sunshine it was simply looking great in there. Peggy Dow’s was in nice shape, especially with that high elevation, and White Rabbit had a few tracks, but plenty of untracked powder. Snow Hole was actually skiing really well, and just the way the contours of the snow have evolved in there let me know that indeed our snowpack is currently quite deep.
Powder and sun today in the White Rabbit area at Bolton Valley
I decided to head up the Vista Quad again and take a big, varied run all the way back to the car to finish off the session. I skied a nice long full vertical run of Vista à Cobrass à Five Corners à Sixth Corner à Timberline Lane à Tattle Tale Woods à Split Rock Traverse à KP Glades à Spur à Corner Pocket Glades à Timberline Run à Car. That definitely got the Telemark burn going, and left me with a very satisfying feeling with respect to exercise by the time I’d hit the car. Just about as good though was being able to change boots and put my gear away in that warm sunshine. It’s fun this time of year to get midwinter snow surfaces and a taste of spring warmth at the same time.
The boys having a little fun on the lift during our evening session of Telemark skiing up at Bolton Valley
We had some snow earlier in the week, but there hasn’t been much in the past few days and we weren’t in any rush to head off to the mountain early today. Temperatures were pretty nice though, approaching the freezing mark in the valley, so we did want to get out for a few runs. We also thought that it would be nice to get Ty and Dylan out for some Telemark skiing since they haven’t been out on the groomed slopes for Tele practice in a while. As we took care of everything else during the day, we eventually decided to make in an evening session up at the mountain under the lights.
We headed out around 6:00 P.M. and found temperatures in the 20s F up in the Bolton Valley Village. We’re expecting a bit of snow tonight with a weak system passing through, and while there wasn’t any sign of incoming snows when we first arrived, as soon as we made our initial trip up the Vista Quad we started seeing flakes. The intensity of the snowfall increased as we headed up toward the Vista Summit until it was a steadier light snow up there. Winds were light, so it was pretty comfortable overall even up in the higher elevations.
As soon as we hit the first pitch on Sherman’s Pass, everyone started remarking about the strange snow surface underfoot. We actually didn’t know what we were going to get this evening; it had warmed up above freezing earlier this week for the first time in a long time, and we didn’t have a feel for what had really gone on in the mountains. If it did going above freezing, it must have been very slight, because there was no sign of any effect on the snow surfaces. The groomed surface was very much midwinter, and when I headed off trail, everything was dry and powdery. So, we couldn’t figure out what was up with the snow on the trail. We all felt it had a strange consistency, but couldn’t put our fingers on what it was. I think it might have been the way that the loose snow on top that had been kicked up by skiers wasn’t bonding to the groomed snow underneath, and it felt like it made you slide out a bit as if you were on ball bearings. Everyone felt it, and indeed it’s been a while since we’ve been out on groomed slopes with our Telemark skis, but it was a surprising experience. For me personally it was my first time back on my RT-86 skis in a couple of months since I was having a warranty repair being done on one of the toe pieces. I’d forgotten how light those skis are relative to my other pairs. Also, with the way the snow has been and the type of skiing we’ve been doing, it was my first time on skis much under the ~100 mm waist range in a while, so that took a bit of adjustment. As I gradually got used to the snow I was reminded of how snappy the RT-86 is on turns.
We just did a few runs, and it was a nice evening for turns. E’s toe that she’d injured was feeling pretty good, and she had definitely been worried about putting stress on it via toe-bending Telemark turns. Ty was feeling good, but Dylan was struggling somewhat with his turns and it was evident that it had been a while since he’d been on his Telemark skis. He definitely improved with each run though, so he was starting to get back in the groove. Both boys had a lot of fun doing 360 spins on the trail, and the snow conditions really lent themselves to it. We’ll be watching for some additional evening opportunities not that the weather is warmer, because it was definitely good for the boys to get out for some groomed skiing on the Teles.
This afternoon we were up at Bolton Valley for a photo session focusing on mostly groomed terrain.
E and the boys are on winter break this week, so as he’s done in the past, Josh asked if we’d be interested in doing some photography up at Bolton Valley. The challenge this week has been choosing between the days that were forecast to be sunny but cold, or warmer but snowy. Unfortunately, the snowier days don’t make for the best photos, so with today’s forecast of relatively benign weather, it seemed like one of the better options. The main issue today was the temperatures; morning lows in the area were in the -20 to -30 F range, without even any wind, so Josh decided that an afternoon session would be the way to go. The forecast called for temperatures getting up into the teens F in the afternoon, at least in the valley elevations, and although it would be a bit colder in the mountains, winds were minimal so it seemed like it wasn’t going to be outrageously cold.
The others were able to head up around noon and start working with Josh on some shots around the Village, and I was able to get up to the resort around 1:00 P.M. for some on-slope work. The sky did have a covering of high, thin clouds, so it wasn’t especially blue in the afternoon, but there was indeed plenty of light. We started off with some classic Cobrass shots, and then moved on down to Timberline and did some shooting on Brandywine. There was also another family along for the session with their kids Fox, Summer, and Trevor, and I didn’t get to meet Fox because he was the youngest and didn’t head up the mountain, but the others were there with their dad they were all helpful as ski models. Josh and I did the photography, generally focusing on groomed shots without a lot of sky since it wasn’t especially blue. The groomed snow is in excellent condition as has been typical for many weeks now, and there’s powder everywhere off piste if you just jump off the sides of the trails. It was a fun time as usual, with the noticeable quiet of a midweek day at the resort. Temperatures were certainly in the single digits F up high, so that made things a little uncomfortable and Summer headed in a bit early with her dad.
Airing it out for the camera today on Brandywine
It wasn’t an especially long session anyway, since Josh had to head off to do the afternoon snow report by 3:00 P.M., and the rest of us were happy to head into the lodge for snacks by that point. It looks like there’s another photo session in the works later in the week that might take advantage of some skies with a bit more blue, so hopefully they’ll be able to get some scenic shots that weren’t available today.
The boys made some especially good use of Bolton Valley’s deep powder today, bombing their way off some of cliffs.
We’re getting another reprieve from the arctic air this weekend, but last night was still quite cold with temperatures well down into the negative Fahrenheit numbers. We gave the day some time to warm up, and then headed up to Bolton Valley’sTimberline area in the afternoon. The snow from our next system, Winter Storm Pandora, was slated to start up at some point in the afternoon today, and indeed the flakes began to fly right around 2:00 P.M. There’s nothing like riding the lift into the higher elevations just as a storm is ramping up, because it can really make the snowfall intensity jump up quite rapidly.
“You could still tell that the powder wasn’t absolutely pristine fresh stuff, since it had that settled look and didn’t explode like fresh champagne, but it was quite excellent in general. The boys checked the surface snow depth in the KP Glades and were getting back numbers in the 30″ range.”
Temperatures were in the middle teens F in the lower elevations of Timberline, but it definitely got colder as we headed up in elevation. For a warm up we hit Tattle Tale from the Timberline Summit, and the center of the headwall is still quite wind scoured as usual, but the sides held some great snow. You know the weather pattern has been good when even a steep, windswept slope like the top of Tattle Tale has that good snow that you can sink and edge into. It was actually nice to see Bolton Valley top all the Vermont ski areas and pull off a rogue foot of snow on Thursday, but there had definitely been a bit of wind since then that packed it down in exposed areas. Noticing that, we headed for the trees, and the settling and wind effects were notably less. You could still tell that the powder wasn’t absolutely pristine fresh stuff, since it had that settled look and didn’t explode like fresh champagne, but it was quite excellent in general. The boys checked the surface snow depth in the KP Glades and were getting back numbers in the 30″ range.
Ty spraying up some good snow in the KP Glades.
The four of us made our way over to the main mountain and headed up Vista. It got colder and colder as we headed up, and it had to be down in the single digits F up there with wind from the incoming storm to boot. Looking for something that would get the blood pumping and keep us out of the wind, we linked Buena Vista to Dynamite. The snow was excellent, but by the time we’d finished Dynamite, E was thinking of heading back to Timberline. She’s got a big toe that she tweaked a couple of weeks back when Tina’s family came up for skiing, and then she stressed it more when she was snowboarding on Sunday at BJAMS ski program. Between that and the cold, she said she just wasn’t grooving enough to ski the steep trees, and was thinking of warming up at the Timberline Base Lodge and then maybe doing some groomed skiing. Using the Deer Run route, we delivered her over to the top of Snowflake, where she headed down toward Timberline and the boys and I headed to the main base lodge to warm up for a bit before another Vista run. On the way we caught some nice powder in the Bonus Woods, fortunately finding that any issues from wind had been minimal.
The boys and I stopped up at Fireside Flatbread for some slices, and Dylan really had fun watching the cooks as they worked with dozens of balls of dough to turn them into those thin crusts. As we watched their slick routine, we made some mental notes for our next homemade pizza night. They let us know that $2 slices were starting at 4:00 P.M., which definitely got us thinking about grabbing some takeout on the way home.
Snow clings to a spruce tree off piste at Bolton Valley
The boys and I headed back out into the storm, and Pandora’s snowfall was definitely intensifying. Visibility had certainly been down to ¼ mile at times earlier on in the afternoon, but now it was pretty consistently in that range and we were dealing with some heavy snow. We headed up Vista and worked our way into the Villager Trees for some powder. The boys took a break during the run and bombed off one of the cliffs into the deep fluff below. It was a pretty good height of probably ten feet or so, and I was surprised that they both wanted to go jumping. But when the powder’s deep like it is now, it doesn’t really matter; any hard snow is way down there out of reach. They’d typically land and end up with just their head sticking out of the snow.
“We’ve had inch per hour snows much of the night since then, and if the mountains are getting hit even harder than we are down here, then it should be a good day of skiing tomorrow.”
We skied some nice powder lines back toward Timberline, and by the time we caught back up with E it was after 4:00 P.M. The staff was cleaning up the Timberline Base Lodge, so she’d headed to the car and was all set to meet us. It turns out that she just relaxed in the lodge and stayed warm instead of putting any additional stress on her toe. We’ll see how she’s doing tomorrow for skiing at Stowe.
While we were loading up the car it was really dumping. We ordered a couple of pizzas from Fireside Flatbread, and it was good that the plows were out because the road needed the attention. The intensity of the snowfall certainly lightened up as we headed back down into the valley, but there was two inches on the snowboards at the house when I did an analysis at 5:00 P.M. We’ve had inch per hour snows much of the night since then, and if the mountains are getting hit even harder than we are down here, then it should be a good day of skiing tomorrow.
Making some turns out in the Bolton Valley backcountry today
The forecast for today had always been a cold one; earlier in the week it looked like high temperatures were going to be below zero F, even in the valleys. There’s no doubt about it, when the high temperatures don’t reach zero, that’s cold, even by Northern New England standards. When coupled with the vigorous winds from departing Winter Storm Neptune, wind chill values were going to be pushing into the -50 F range in the evening, and that’s just brutal. Fortunately, as the forecast was refined, the anticipated temperatures came up a bit, and the actual temperatures today turned out to reach around 10 F down at the house around midday before they really began to fall in the afternoon. With the forecast, my ski plans for today had always been to head into the protection of the backcountry instead of riding the lifts, and with the combination of temperatures and wind, it looked like there were going to be some “cold holds” for the lifts at the resorts anyway.
“It was easy to see that one could use the trail just like a road with switchbacks on a mountain pass and lap some great lines in that area.”
During my ski tour a couple of weeks ago at the northern end of Bolton Notch, I spoke with a woman who lives in the area, and she said to check out some of the ski terrain above the VAST trail farther south. When I thought about a good access point to the area, the VAST parking area along the Bolton Valley Access Road came to mind. The VAST trail from that point actually goes up and over the pass just north of Stimson Mountain, then drops down and contours along the east wall of the Bolton Notch area. The last time I’d done a ski tour originating from that VAST parking area, I’d quickly left the VAST trail and headed straight up to the ridge, so this would give me the chance to tour the terrain more proximal to the trail itself in Bolton Valley, and then connect right onto the VAST trail on the other side of the ridge to explore the ski options there. I’d also had this ski tour on the list for today because I knew that with the very low temperatures, I’d want something fairly quick and close to home, and this fit the bill.
Checking out one of the lines below the VAST trail as it switchbacks it way up toward the pass
Temperatures had already dropped a few degrees at the house by the time I got on my way up to the Bolton Valley area, and the thermometer was right around the 0 F mark when I pulled into the VAST parking lot. The wind there in the somewhat open surroundings exacerbated the cold temperature, so I got my gear on quickly and headed right onto the VAST trail and into the protection of the trees. After a few minutes I hit the first big turn southward, and since this is where I’d broken off the VAST trail the last time I was there, it was new to me from that point on. I actually wish I’d headed that way sooner than this tour, because there are some nice ski options all around there on the slopes surrounding the VAST trail. It was easy to see that one could use the trail just like a road with switchbacks on a mountain pass and lap some great lines in that area. I noted a number of great areas to drop in as I wound my way up the ascent, and I eventually hit the pass over the ridge line at an elevation of ~1,750′.
Sights on the VAST trail heading from Bolton Valley toward Bolton Notch
As I broke out of the shelter of the leeward side of the ridgeline, the winds picked right up, probably hitting 20-25 MPH at times. Fortunately that was short lived because I was quickly back down the other side into the shelter of trees. At the pass there’s an obvious height of land just to the south in the direction of Stimson Mountain, and to the north the terrain rises more gradually as the ridgeline gains elevation. I continued on the VAST trail, heading northward, just checking out the potential ski terrain in the surrounding trees and planning to go as far as time would allow. All told I probably covered about a mile or so of distance as I headed northward on that side of the ridgeline. I generally focused on the potential ski terrain above the trail, since that would make for the most convenient setup in terms of finishing at the trail, but I did look at the terrain below as well. The makeup of the forest varied quite a bit along the route, and I assume that depended on the tree composition, and probably more importantly, how old the trees were with respect to the last time the land was logged. There were some nice open areas of trees in the first few minutes north of the pass, although those lines down to the VAST trail itself were relatively short since the trail was just leaving the ridgeline. Beyond that, the next five to ten minutes along the route revealed denser foliage that didn’t seem to offer too many great lines. After that point though, there was another extended section where tree spacing and underbrush looked quite good, and I did see a couple of ski tracks here and there from people that had skied some of the lines. Those lines were definitely longer that those up near the pass, since the VAST trial was a bit lower and the ridgeline had risen. The trees with decent potential went on for a while, but gradually gave way again to denser undergrowth at the stage where I finally turned around to make my way back up to the pass. Throughout my out and back on the west side of the ridge, I hadn’t taken any breaks aside from snapping an occasional photo or GPS tagging a promising line, and the constant movement was definitely a benefit. I was shooting pictures with the 7D2, and definitely appreciating the fact that it’s got the integrated GPS and automatically tags the images locations for future reference. Simply snapping an image and knowing it’s got the exact coordinate embedded is much faster than dealing with the full GPS unit all the time, and that’s appreciated on days like these when you don’t want to stop moving for long. My left toes were just on the verge of getting cold when I was on the generally easier, more downhill travel northward, so it was obvious that I needed to keep the blood pumping.
I retraced my way back southward on the VAST trail, and regaining the pass, I continued just a bit down on the leeward side to get out of the wind and then switched over for the final descent back down to the car. I checked the depth of the surface snow and it was over two feet up there, so that bode well for the descent. The air definitely felt like it was getting colder as darkness approached and that northwest wind continued to transport more arctic air into the region, so I stuck with the theme of moving quickly. I’d kept in mind some of the best looking ski lines when I’d made my initial ascent up that east side of the ridge, so I went with turns along the VAST trail itself at first, before finally diving into some open hardwoods off to the skier’s left. The powder was great, with my only complaint being that the skiing was slower than it could have been simply due to the very cold temperatures. I caught back up to the VAST trail at the next switchback, and the mixed up turns on and off the trail from that point downward. I actually saw a group of skiers coming down through one of the very open areas above the final descent to the parking area. It was interesting that I saw them out there, because in all the miles I covered, I didn’t see a single snowmachine. I’m not sure if folks were staying in because of the cold weather, but they definitely weren’t out there on their sleds on that part of the VAST network this afternoon. I had seen one snowmobile trailer in the parking lot when I’d arrived, but it was gone by the time I got back to the car.
The GPS tracking data from today’s backcountry ski tour in the Bolton Valley and Bolton Notch areas plotted in Google Earth
The wind was picking up and it felt especially cold back at the car; I’m sure the wind chill was well below zero. I started the engine warming while I put away my gear, and got rolling as soon as possible. As much as this cold air has been awesome for powder and general snow preservation, one of these days we’ll be back into some reasonably warm air (like yesterday), and that’s going to be nice. One of these days I’d like to explore terrain in the Bolton Notch area farther to the north near the Long Trail, so that’s on the list for a future trip, but there were definitely some nice ski lines at this southern end as well, and the access is very quick thanks to their proximity to the parking area.
Today when it was suggested that Dylan charge the powder… he did.
On Wednesday I sent out a ski alert message to the regional members of the 311 crew concerning the upcoming weekend. Although there wasn’t a massive winter storm cycle brewing, it didn’t matter; conditions on the slopes have been so consistently excellent that when combined with temperatures rising to near 20 F in the valleys, it was prime time for getting some turns. I learned that E’s sister Tina was planning to come up with her family for some skiing this weekend as well, so their timing was excellent. Chris pretty quickly answered my alert and said that he’d be able to catch up with us for skiing on Saturday, so it looked like we’d have a fun group for the slopes.
“Up around the 2,700′ elevation level I measured 36 inches of powder above the base, so you can image how that run went.”
The Friday night forecast called for about an inch of snow due to a weak disturbance approaching from the Great Lakes, so I expected that we’d at least have a little something to top off the slopes in the morning. I began to get a little suspicious though when we’d picked up nearly an inch down in the valley as of 11:00 P.M., and by midnight the snow was coming down at an inch per hour. I knew that up at the mountain they’d be getting at least as much as we got down here, but would they be getting one of those Green Mountain surprises where you find a foot of snow on the ground the next morning?
“My CoCoRaHS analyses here at the house were consistently showing snow densities in the 2% H2O range, so we were going to be able to get Tina’s family a taste of some real Champlain Powder™.”
It seems like we just went through this routine a couple of days ago, but when I checked the morning snow report, indeed the Northern and Central Greens had worked some of that magic to produce accumulations of up to a foot. Up at Bolton Valley they were reporting 9″ new, and that would certainly change the dynamics of the day a bit and give it a more “powder day” atmosphere instead of just a good day out on the slopes. My CoCoRaHS analyses here at the house were consistently showing snow densities in the 2% H2O range, so we were going to be able to get Tina’s family a taste of some real Champlain Powder™.
We made it up to Timberline just as lift service was getting going, and there were only a few cars in the lot. The resort was actually trying a new parking method in which people were directed to enter at the far entrance and come back toward the main parking areas, but it was a bit confusing and we ended up going in the usual route by accident. It worked out fine though, and the attendant said that he suspected the switch would be tough when we’re so used to the usual entrance. Temperatures were decent, somewhere in the teens F, and wind was nonexistent, so prospects for a reasonably comfortable ski day were looking good.
Our first tracks of the morning on Tattle Tale revealed some very high quality powder
We could see that there had been some grooming on the lower slopes of Timberline during the overnight snow, so we visited Tattle Tale and Spell Binder to start off. Their headwalls don’t typically get groomed, so they offered a good combination of pitch and powder. Both headwalls had some scoured snow in the middle, right near the top, but all around they offered up some great snow. It wasn’t completely bottomless since the powder was just so dry, but you were still doing a lot of floating. Riley and Nikki were sending up some huge sprays of snow with their snowboards. Everyone was pretty jazzed by those runs, as the quality of the powder was simply top notch. At one point Riley was blasting through the powder and shouted out “I love this real snow!”, since it was a bit of a change from what he is often riding on in New Jersey. It took some getting used to taking on those face shots though, and he found out that riding without your goggles down is a good way to get a brain or face freeze from the powder billowing up there. Riley got the photo of the morning though, with an image of him snowboarding with his goggles up and eyes closed as the powder blasted into his face.
We headed to the main mountain next, and the kids were ready for a bit of warming in the lodge. We were upstairs when I got a call from Chris that he had arrived, and we let him know where to meet us. My goal was to get Tim and the kids over to Wilderness Woods for some mellow tree skiing, so we used the Vista Quad to connect over that way. There had been some traffic in there by that point, but the surface and subsurface snow were excellent and the kids really enjoyed poking around in there.
People were starting to think about lunch, so we went back up Vista and did a long run down to Timberline. The trails were more tracked of course, but fresher snow could be found along the edges. The Timberline Lodge was really hoppin’, and it was one of the busiest days I’ve ever seen in there. The length of the line for the cafeteria suggested that it was a great day for the resort in that department.
For the afternoon it was into the trees, with a couple of runs through various glades in the Wood’s Hole complex. There was lots of deep snow, and Riley struggled at times if he got bogged down because he was on a snowboard. He got pretty frustrated and probably worn out from extracting himself from the powder, so he took a break in the lodge before he and Tim eventually decided to head back to the main mountain with the goal of letting him get some time in the terrain park. Dylan was just about done for the day after a couple of woods runs, but he joined Chris and me for one more in the KP Glades and he’s glad he did. We found him a great line that produced some really deep turns and great photos. I checked the depth of the powder in there at around 2,000′ and found it at 29 inches. That’s bottomless. Dylan was even noticing how exceptionally deep the powder was, and he commented on how he could feel the way his fat skis were keeping him afloat.
“I checked the depth of the powder in there at around 2,000′ and found it at 29 inches. That’s bottomless.”
Dylan called it a day, but Chris and I went off for one more run in the Villager Trees. Up around the 2,700′ elevation level I measured 36 inches of powder above the base, so you can image how that run went. I’d definitely say that was the run of the day; it was very much fat ski city. Floating through three feet of Vermont’s finest fluff was a great way to finish off the day, but Mother Nature apparently isn’t done with piling it on yet. A Winter Storm Warning begins at 1:00 A.M. tonight and there’s potentially another 12-18″ on the way thanks to Winter Storm Marcus, which is supposed to last for 3 or 4 days.
There’s noting like an impromptu dump of Champlain Powder.
The overnight forecast called for the passage of an arctic cold front, with snowfall projections of 2-4″ for the mountain valleys and a bit more in the mountains themselves. That’s actually a decent accumulation for one of these arctic fronts, and with the way this winter season has gone, we should probably have a good feel for these things. This has felt like the season of arctic air; these fronts seem to come through every few days, and they just keep driving that midwinter cold into the area. It actually hasn’t been brutally oppressive, “high temperatures in the negative Fahrenheit numbers” type of cold, but it’s definitely been a sustained period of below normal temperatures with plenty of days hanging in the single digits. You know that’s been common when days with highs in the teens or even 20s F feel surprisingly warm. One huge upside of this cold has been the snow preservation – with the temperature never creeping above the freezing mark, each round of snow simply piles on another layer of fluff that works into the snow base. And as usual, each one of these fronts brings with it the chance for the Northern Greens to do their thing, i.e., pull a miraculous foot of Champlain Powder™ out of the sky, so it’s good to be at the ready each time these things approach. And, true to form, the mountains and cold air got together to work some of their magic overnight.
“Well, my morning analysis of the snow for CoCoRaHS revealed a density of 4.3% H2O, which is indeed some “break out the bubbly” type of stuff.”
I woke up this morning to find that close to four inches of delicate, fluffy snow had fallen at our house in the valley. Just how dry was that snow? Well, my morning analysis of the snow for CoCoRaHS revealed a density of 4.3% H2O, which is indeed some “break out the bubbly” type of stuff. The snowfall must have really cranked up overnight, because when I looked outside around midnight there was just a dusting down. It seemed like such a short duration that I wondered how much snow could actually have fallen in the mountains during that time. It was early and I wasn’t sure if the snow report at Bolton Valley was even out yet, but four inches down here in the valley was definitely enough to get me interested in checking out what had fallen up on the hill.
“I made depth checks throughout my climb, and got a surprising range of 6 to 12 inches of surface powder over a soft base below.”
We actually had a bit of a respite from the more typical arctic air yesterday, and it was holding over into today with morning temperatures of mid teens F down at the house, and low teens when I arrived at the base of the Timberline area at Bolton Valley. There were three cars parked in the usual spot off to the right, and another car that had just followed me up the access road was parking as well. The skin track up Twice as Nice was in excellent shape, and it was consistently along the climbers left where it’s typically found. The resort had made one pass with the groomer on that side of the trail, which helped to make for a very easy ascent. I made depth checks throughout my climb, and got a surprising range of 6 to 12 inches of surface powder over a soft base below. I was really surprised that I was getting measurements of a foot of snow, and even a bit more at times, because I didn’t think the mountain could have gotten that much in the previous few hours. But, the potential for skiing looked really good – there hadn’t been much in the way of wind, which is just the way you’d want it for maintenance of loft in champagne-style snow.
“I finally began the descent, and whoa, indeed that snow was great – it was serious cold smoke.”
As I approached the top of Twice as Nice, I watched a couple of skiers cut the first tracks down through it, and that definitely got me intrigued. The powder skiing looked exceptionally sweet based on what I saw there. I took a quick look down Showtime from the Timberline Mid Station, but it appeared to have seen more grooming and I was soon headed back toward Twice as Nice; it sometimes gets hit by the wind, and this looked like one of those days where it seemed to have avoided that issue. I finally began the descent, and whoa, indeed that snow was great – it was serious cold smoke. Being roughly in that ~4% H2O range as my analyses from the house indicated, the powder was actually so dry that even on 115 mm fat skis with close to a foot of it, the turns weren’t completely bottomless all the time. But, the quality of the subsurface was so good that even if you did touch down you’d be interacting with something that was still very soft. I made some additional depth measurements on my descent, and if I had to pin the overnight accumulation down to something tighter it would be 8-9″ at around 2,300′. This was clearly one of those storms where the mountains got an elevation boost with respect to snow accumulations.
When I finally did get a chance to check the snow report today, I found that Bolton, as well as the other resorts along the spine of the Northern Greens were reporting close to a foot of fresh snow, with lower numbers in the Central and Southern Greens. So although the air has been on the cold side over the past few weeks, I don’t think you’ll hear too many skiers complaining about any of these arctic fronts that come with a foot of fresh.
The western slopes of the Northern Greens are chock full of powder right now.
Relative to yesterday, today’s forecast called for temperatures to be a couple of degrees warmer, but the reality was that the cold arctic air would still be in place, and temperatures would likely be in the single digits F in the mountains. Add some breezes, and the wind chills would be well below zero, so it was an easy call for E and Claire to once again cancel our BJAMS ski program at Stowe. E and the boys were happy to stay inside out of the cold, but I figured I’d take the opportunity to get out for a workout and make some turns. It’s still weather that’s better suited for self-powered ascents vs. riding lifts as far as I’m concerned, so I made plans for another backcountry ski tour.
“…it was easier than breaking trail through the powder, which was already in the 12-15″ range.”
I figured I’d go with a fairly quick tour today, something a bit closer to home and with modest vertical. I was impressed with the snow I found yesterday on my Dewey Mountain ski tour, so I figured I could stick with some west side skiing, and the Bolton Notch area came to mind. I know there’s plenty of skiing on the eastern slopes of Bolton Notch, as I’ve heard about if from friends and colleagues that live there. Many people who live on the east side of Bolton Notch Road simply hike up from their back yards and ski back down. The ridgeline up above stretches from the Oxbow Ridge area and Bolton Notch Peak in the north, to Stimson Mountain in the south, and just as it marks the eastern wall of Bolton Notch, it represents the western wall of the Bolton Valley area. I’ve skied down from the ridge on the Bolton Valley side, and when I’ve been up there on the ridge, I’ve even heard people just down below me on the Bolton Notch side. I suspected the people I heard were backcountry skiers, and figured that at some point I’d pick a day to check out that side of the ridge.
Although my preference was to explore the skiing options down below the ridge at the point where I’d heard people in the past, for my first exploration of the notch I planned to start a tour from wherever I found convenient parking. That turned out to be a couple miles north of where I was initially thinking, at the parking area for the Preston Pond Trails. The lot is at an elevation of ~1,200′ on the west side of the road, and although it’s fairly small and already had another car in it, there was plenty of room for another. So I’d found decent parking, but in reality, I wasn’t all that optimistic about the potential for skiing in that area. The terrain directly to my east featured the huge cliffs of Bolton Notch Peak looming over everything, and they were cliffs that were essentially sheer and unskiable. And as if that wasn’t enough, the terrain below the cliffs was fairly steep and littered with car to house size boulders, presumably large chunks of rock that had fallen from the cliffs above. The prospects for skiing looked much better about a quarter mile to the south, where the terrain was a bit mellower and not so full of boulders. For my first visit to the area though, my plan was to just look for a skin track and see where it led me.
“The depth of the surface powder snow was actually getting pretty close to yesterday’s depths at times, up into the range of 18″ or more, but these elevations just didn’t have as substantial a base.”
As has been the case as of late, temperatures were in the single digits, so I quickly geared up and set out. Right across the road, I saw ski tracks heading up into the trees, so I figured that must be the standard skin track for the parking area and hopped on. Well, it didn’t turn out to be a well-established skin track, it was just a skin track made by one or two previous skiers, and it left a lot to be desired. I’m not sure what they person who made it was thinking, but they set it with some steep pitches and cruxes that required scrambling or holding onto trees to get up and through. It seemed to be heading up toward the unskiable terrain of the cliffs, and since it was rather poorly placed, I thought more than once about simply breaking off on my own to the south and contouring up in elevation more slowly. But, I stuck with the skin track because even though it was poorly done, it was easier than breaking trail through the powder, which was already in the 12-15″ range.
“The ski terrain wasn’t looking more promising in any direction – to the north it was cliffs and boulders, and to the south it was getting too flat.”
Finally, at around 1,700′, the skin track intersected with the VAST trail that runs through the notch area, and the prospects for getting to some decent skiing were looking a little better. The person who’d made the track appeared to have headed off to the south on the VAST trail, and this was good because this was the direction toward what looked like much better ski terrain. I headed up a rise on the VAST trail, and kept my eyes peeled for signs of the skin track heading back into the trees. Indeed after a few hundred feet, I saw the skin track head off to the left on what looked like an old logging road. The ski touring potential there were looking good, but after about five to ten minutes of additional skinning, it was becoming obvious that the skin track wasn’t really heading toward any primo ski terrain. It followed the logging roads in the area and was generally quite nice in terms of pitch, but it soon looked like whoever had made the track had descended right back down it. I gave it a few more minutes until I saw that the track’s creator clearly didn’t know where they were going. There were small side loops in the track and signs of doubling back where the person seemed to be surveilling the area. After some of these small loops, I could see that the person did eventually continue onward, but at an elevation of a bit below 2,000′ I decided to call it. The ski terrain wasn’t looking more promising in any direction – to the north it was cliffs and boulders, and to the south it was getting too flat. I’d already seen some options for turns near where I was, which actually might be the local sweet spot for ski potential in that immediate area.
“There were some nice open hardwoods in there, and I got some great powder turns.”
I had some soup, switched over for the descent, and began my way back down in the area of the skin track. I was able to veer off the track and get into some nice terrain for powder turns that would eventually return me safely to the track. It was my first chance to actually check out how the snow was skiing, and I was a little leery because the snow down at these elevations wasn’t as deep as what I’d been in yesterday up on Dewey Mountain. The depth of the surface powder snow was actually getting pretty close to yesterday’s depths at times, up into the range of 18″ or more, but these elevations just didn’t have as substantial a base. When I actually got turning though, I found that the overall combination of powder and base was more than sufficient, especially floating on 115 mm fat skis. And I have to say that the fluff there in the notch was of really high quality – definitely up to the standards of Champlain Powder™.
When I got back down to the VAST trail I decided that for the rest of the descent, I wasn’t going to go near the boulder-infested area in which I’d skinned up if I could help it. I opted to drop right from the VAST trail to Notch Road, or at least as straight down as the terrain and private property boundaries would let me. There were some nice open hardwoods in there, and I got some great powder turns. I had to navigate some ledges, but a shuffle to the left or right would usually get me to a mellower line around them. Unfortunately my direct descent was stopped when I ran into a “POSTED – PRIVATE PROPERTY” sign that belonged to one of the property owners below. I had to traverse above it, so I chose to go northward in the direction of the parking area. After a few minutes of traversing and skiing some lines, I saw that I’d soon be getting onto the property of a couple of additional houses, and fortunately, I found a nice area in between that seemed to be out of sight and off anyone’s property. That shot brought me right down to the road, where I strapped my skis on my pack and made the short walk back to my car.
The GPS tracking data from today’s backcountry ski tour in the Bolton Notch area
While I was packing up at the car, the owner of the other vehicle arrived with her dog. She actually lives right on the road, and we began to talk skiing. She asked how it was, and I said that the snow was great, but the ski terrain, as I’d expected, was somewhat limited. Between the cliffs up above, areas of terrain that were too flat, areas of terrain that were of inconsistent slope and alternated between ledges and run outs, and the private property boundaries, it just wasn’t a prime backcountry ski spot. There were some very nice lines with open trees, but overall it wasn’t a lot of bang for your buck. I inquired about other parking areas on the road, and she couldn’t think of any immediately, but suggested to go to the Long Trail area. She said that once you got up above the VAST trail in that area, there were some nice lines. That is indeed back where I’d initially thought I’d find some good terrain, so I’ll likely try to find my way over there at some point in the future.
Bolton Valley now has an official uphill travel policy in place for all those skiers and riders who enjoy making the uphill trek under their own power.
As with most ski areas in Northern Vermont, I’ve always found Bolton Valley to be very accommodating of skiers and riders hiking, skinning, or snowshoeing up their slopes under their own power in order to ski down. Although there wasn’t necessary a formal policy in place, the practice was at least tolerated as long as the individuals were respectful of operating hours, mountain operations, and other factors involving skier safety. So, as a Bolton Valley season’s pass holder who frequently visits the resort for both lift-served and self-powered ascents, I was very intrigued last month when I found out that they had initiated an official uphill travel policy. There are two designated uphill routes: one on Wilderness, and one on Timberline, and although I haven’t seen them yet, Stephen and one of my students told me the resort even has signs marking the uphill route on Wilderness.
“In general my depth checks of the powder revealed 4 to 6 inches, with some spots up to 8 inches.”
I’ve visited the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network over the past couple of weeks, but today was the first time I’ve made an ascent on the alpine trail network since the announcement of the uphill travel policy. The impetus for my ski tour in this case was that Winter Storm Juno just hit the area yesterday, and it meant that this morning would be a good time to check out the new snow. While the Green Mountains certainly didn’t get the storm totals of up the three feet that were seen down in the Boston area, the Vermont ski areas did pick up general accumulations of 3 to 8 inches throughout the state. Even without a huge snowfall in the area, it seemed like it would be worth getting out for some turns; the ski conditions have just been so darned good over the past few weeks that even a modest dump makes for some excellent skiing.
I headed out the door early this morning, and decided to go with an efficient Timberline outing to leave me plenty of time to get to work. Temperatures were in the middle single digits F at the house, and low single digits at the Timberline Base. So indeed it was cold, no doubt about that, but the air was fairly calm and that helped keep it manageable. There were about a half dozen cars parked in the usual spot off to the right in the main lot, and I could see a couple people either prepping their skins for a run, or packing up their gear as they got ready to depart. There were just a few flurries in the air, but there was a healthy coating of snow all around, and I was able to start my skinning ascent right from the car.
There were a few folks out early this morning to enjoy the new snow at Bolton Valley.
I was a little surprised that the skin track started on the hiker’s right of Twice as Nice, since it’s typically on the left in line with the uphill travel policy, but I wasn’t going to eschew a track that was already there. I was measuring surface snow depths in the 4″ range, and it was medium-weight powder. As is often the case with big storms, there had been some wind, so some of the powder was pushed around in spots. But, it really hadn’t been hammered or packed too hard, and it looked like turns would be nice. Up ahead of me on the skin track I saw a snowboarder, and behind him a skier. After a few minutes I noticed that the skier was struggling to get up one of those short steep pitches that roll over – he finally managed to get past it with a little herring boning and/or side-stepping. When a similar pitch came up a little while later, he was struggling again and eventually let me pass. He said that it was actually his first time ever trying out skins, and he’d come to Bolton Valley after reading online about the uphill travel policy. As I seemed to have no trouble with those slick spots, he said that wanted to watch how I managed them. After we were both past that spot, I first asked if he had full-width skins, since I know that not having full width has given me trouble in those types of areas in the past, and he said he did. We then chatted about the balance between getting up on your ski edges or staying the skins, and finding out what worked best when you began to slip. He said that what I seemed to do was just keep my momentum really going through those tough spots. I hadn’t thought about it, but I guess I do. I also let him know that I keep a lot of pressure on my poles, and ensure that I’ve got a very good plant so that if I do slip, my arms can help pull me through. After a couple of pitches, the skin track switched to the more typical left side, and there were actually a couple of skin tracks there, so we were able to skin alongside each other and chat for a bit. Eventually I stopped to get a few pictures, and he headed on ahead. Like me, he said his goal was the Timberline Mid Station, and he thought that he might like to do that instead of the Timberline Summit and do a couple of laps.
“As I got down into the more moderate angles below, I was getting a lot more bottomless turns…”
When I reached the Timberline Mid Station, the skier I’d ascended with was just taking off his skins. We chatted for a few moments, I wished him well on his first descent, and then I headed across toward the top of Spell Binder. I switched over for the descent, did a quick survey of the snow on the headwall, and opted for the skier’s right. There were a couple of old tracks in there that looked like they’d been made yesterday, and the snow had been pushed around a bit by the wind, but the overall conditions were quite good. I worked my way toward the middle of the headwall and found even smoother snow, although the powder was perhaps a bit shallower there. On the steep pitch of the headwall, the new powder certainly wasn’t bottomless, even on my 115 mm AMPerages; I was touching down to the base at least a bit on most turns, but I’d say the snow delivered a pretty smooth ride. As I got down into the more moderate angles below, I was getting a lot more bottomless turns, and if the wind had played with the snow a little up on the headwall, it definitely hadn’t done much to the powder lower down. In general my depth checks of the powder revealed 4 to 6 inches, with some spots up to 8 inches. The skiing did feel a bit slow with temperatures around zero F, but I didn’t find any issues with movement, even on the shallowest pitches. When I got to the bottom of Spell Binder, I made a few turns on the corduroy, and boy, that was some sweet groomed snow. The snow from this storm is really just topping off what are already fantastic conditions, so folks who were coming out for a day at the resort were really going to be in for a treat.
Thank you Juno!
On the way into Burlington, I stopped off at the Williston rest area, and one of my former students was there. He said he thought he’d seen me up at the mountain, and now he was sure of it. After hearing about the uphill travel policy, he’d actually been up skinning on the main mountain using the Wilderness route this morning, and he’d had a great time. He said that he and a friend often went out ice climbing in the early morning, but they think they’ll be mixing in some ski touring as well. I had first heard about Bolton’suphill travel policy in a post on the Vermont Backcountry Alliance Facebook Page, and it wasn’t too surprising based on Bolton’s history in that area. What was surprising though was finding out that Sugarbush now has a hiking/skinning policy in place. That’s exciting news, because they have not generally allowed uphill travel in recent years. I also just saw that Bolton Valley will be having an uphill ski demo day on February 7th, where people can try out alpine touring, Telemark, and split boarding equipment. Hopefully that will serve for a great introduction for people that have been curious about trying ascents on their own power on that type of equipment.
It looks like our next winter storm could be coming into the area tomorrow night; it’s expected to be an Alberta Clipper type of system with the potential for 6 to 8 inches in the local mountains.
