Early Season Archives - J&E Productions

November 6, 2025November 11, 2025

Bolton Valley, VT 06NOV2025

An image of ski tracks in powder snow after a November snowstorm below the Wilderness Double Chairlift at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont

An image of ski tracks in powder snow after a November snowstorm in the Wilderness area at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Our most recent winter storm dropped notably drier powder on top of the existing base of snowpack, so it made for great turns and the best powder skiing of the season so far!

The clipper system affecting the area yesterday into today dropped another round of snow in the mountains and we even saw snow transiently accumulating in some of the lower valleys. This system was similar to the last one that affected the area on Friday into Saturday, but temperatures seemed to be a bit colder on the back side this time around. This morning when I checked the view on Bolton Valley’s Base Lodge Webcam, the accumulations appeared to be a bit more robust than last time around. Seeing that, I knew there would be plenty of snow for using skins right from the base, so I geared up for a ski tour and headed to the mountain.

While the snow line was still fairly high with this system, the local ~2,000’ peaks around us in the Winooski Valley were coated with white for their top ~300’ of vertical, so that suggested that the snow level had dipped just a bit lower than what we’d seen over the weekend. Heading up the Bolton Valley Access Road, I saw the first traces of snow around 1,200’ just like Saturday, but Timberline showed a decent covering down to its 1,500’ base, and up in the Village at 2,000’ I found 3-6” of snow, which was more than what had accumulated Saturday morning.

An image showing a wintry November view of the base area Village at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Today featured very wintry scenes in the Bolton Valley Village

Temperatures were cooler today than they were on Saturday, and even at 2,000’ the temperatures were easily below freezing. The cooler temperatures meant that the powder was of much higher quality than what we had over the weekend, and with some base snow already in place, the quality of the powder skiing took a big leap forward from where it had been. Compared to what was available on Saturday, today was simply easy breezy midwinter-style powder skiing. All you had to do was lean in and carve.

When checking snow depths today, I couldn’t really differentiate the new snow from the old snow that was already present from the last system, but the updated elevation-based snow profile is below. In the list, the first depth values are what I found on Saturday, and the second depth values are what I observed today.

Nov 1 –> Nov 6
1,000’: 0” –> 0”
1,200: T” –> T
1,500’: T-1” –> 1”
2,000’: 1-4” –> 3-6”
2,500’: 4-6” –> 5-9”
2,800’: 7-11” –> 9-12”
3,150’: 7-11” –> 10-16”

With every one of these storms that passes through and drops snow, the potential increases for this to be the start of the winter snowpack. If we continue with typical November temperatures, I wouldn’t expect the higher elevation snow to melt too quickly, so we’ll just have to see if there are any warm spells or big rainy systems in the future that might be able to put a dent in the snowpack.

An image snowing fresh November snow adorning a car protected by a car cover in one of the Village parking lots at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Fresh November snow adorns a car protected by a car cover in one of the Bolton Valley Village parking lots.

October 24, 2025October 31, 2025

First Vermont Snows for the 2025-2026 Winter Season!

A Photo of October snow on Mt. Mansfield taken by Scott Braaten

An image of the first official snow at the Mt. Mansfield Stake in Vermont for the 2025-2026 winter season — The first touches of snow recorded at the Mt. Mansfield stake for the 2025-2026 season

It’s been a reasonably warm fall season with many beautifully dry days featuring blue skies to enjoy the foliage, but the change in seasons is becoming evident now as we approach the end of October and move into a much wetter pattern. It’s interesting to note that over in New Hampshire, Mt. Washington had multiple episodes of snow in August, but they didn’t record any snow in September. This new influx of systems into the area has seen a return of their snow however, with multiple accumulations over the past few days.

I haven’t seen any reports of snow here in Vermont prior to yesterday, but now they’re coming in, so this stretch likely marks the kickoff to the 2025-2026 Vermont snow season. Yesterday morning at 9:40 A.M. Powderfreak reported that the precipitation was snow above 3,500’ on Mt. Mansfield, and later in the evening there was some video posted of the snow falling up at Jay Peak. There was also a post showing what was probably the first snowman of the season on Whiteface. As of this morning, Powderfreak posted images of snow falling on Mt. Mansfield and then the initial accumulations up at the Cliff House. The first accumulation of the season was recorded at the Mt. Mansfield stake, and by the afternoon, accumulations had made it down to the middle elevations of Mt. Mansfield, so there we go – the Vermont snow season is on!

November 3, 2020November 7, 2020

Bolton Valley, VT 03NOV2020

An image of snow on a Jack-o'-lantern from an early November snowstorm in Waterbury, Vermont

An image of a bike trail sign at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont while out on a ski tour at the mountain during an early November snowstorm — Views of autumn clashing with winter while I was out on a ski tour at Bolton Valley today

Last week we had an early season storm that dropped some snow up here in Northern New England, and some notable amounts down in Southern New England. Looking beyond that event, there was a signal for some snow in the Northern Greens developing by Thursday, that signal continued to grow on Friday, and by Saturday, the National Weather Service in Burlington was calling for a foot of snow in the local peaks.

It was hard to tell if we were going to see one extended storm during the Sunday through Tuesday, or a couple of discrete systems, but by Sunday afternoon, snow had started in the mountains. The precipitation started as rain down here in the valley, with fairly high snow levels, but we had changed to snow at our house by yesterday morning. E told me that the snow had started around 5:10 A.M., and the snowfall at our house continued at roughly an inch per hour all morning.

The snow tapered off in the afternoon, and then in the evening, the second system came into the area. That storm delivered another several inches overnight, and in the morning, I head up to Bolton for a ski tour.

In terms of the ski conditions it was certainly a fairly typical early season affair, and I’d say waiting for that second storm to put down the extra snow was the way to go. I opted to tour up at the main base, and there were clearly at least a couple more inches of settled depth up there (~2,000’) vs. what I found at the Timberline Base (~1,500’).

I could tell from the get go as I was ascending the Lower turnpike skin track and watching other skiers descend there, that the density of the snow was going to call for more moderate angle terrain vs. low angle terrain. The snow was fairly medium weight powder, which was of course good with respect to providing some base for skiing. There was obviously no existing snowpack below these storms, so if these recent snow had been 2-4% H2O champagne, there would have been a lot of dicey contact with the ground. But, this medium weight snow was dense enough that there was just too much resistance for low angle terrain – skiers and riders had to straight line their way down and/or use old tracks to keep moving on those angles.

An image of a snow shower down in the Champlain Valley taken from the top of Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Viewing a snow squall in the Champlain Valley from the top of Bolton Valley.

Here’s the settled snow depth profile I observed during my tour:

340’: 4”

1,000’: 4-6”

1,500’: 6-8”

2,000’: 8-10”

2,500’: 10-12”

3,000’: 12”+

Terrain in the medium to low-angle range was required for solid turns, and that meant that it was a balancing act between choosing terrain that had enough pitch for turns, but not too much pitch that you were going to be outskiing the available snow depth. There was also the factor of finding relatively protected terrain – that first storm especially, had some ridiculous winds, and scouring of the exposed slopes was rampant.

An image of snow accumulations in the Village area of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont after an early November snowstorm — Down in the Bolton Valley Village today

So, good knowledge of the local terrain was important, but once you found the appropriate setup there were some nice midwinter powder turns to be had. There was as always that exercise of not going too steep, aggressive, or rocky to outperform the available snow, so of course having knowledge of those grassier options was important in providing the best ski experience.

It was a solid first day out at the mountain, and it looks like we’ve got some warmth coming in the next week or so before we have any additional chances for snow.

October 17, 2020October 18, 2020

Accumulating snow for the mountains of Vermont

An image of the Mt. Mansfield Chin in Vermont with some early season October snow

An image of foliage in the Newport, VT area along Lake Memphremagog with the mountain Owl's Head visible off in Canada. — Foliage in the Newport, VT area along Lake Memphremagog with the mountain Owl’s Head visible off in Canada.

A low pressure system moving along the coast of New England brought a chance for some accumulating snow to Vermont starting last night, and white could be seen in the peaks this morning. The snow line over here in Vermont seemed to be around 2,500’, with a very sharp elevation cutoff. Accumulations were 3-4” up around 4,000’ on Mt Mansfield, and similar atop Jay Peak. I heard reports of some frozen precipitation up high earlier this season, but this was the first notable accumulation around here. Off to the east over in New Hampshire and Maine, the snow line was much lower, and accumulations were even more substantial. Some accumulations in northern New Hampshire were over a foot.

While in many areas around the state, the leaves have mostly fallen and it’s looking like stick season, there are still a lot of beautiful scenes with fall foliage. We were up in Newport today for a soccer game, and the views of foliage along Lake Memphremagog were beautiful.

November 9, 2019November 10, 2019

Bolton Valley, VT 09NOV2019

An image of the Vista Peak area of Bolton Valley taken from near the Wilderness midstation after an early November snowstorm at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont

An image showing some snowmaking taking place in early November at the main base of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — A bit of early season snowmaking going on at the main base area today

The end of the week brought our first significant snowfall to lower elevations here in Northern Vermont, with a couple inches accumulating in most valleys by Friday morning from the initial passing of the cold front. Friday continued to bring additional snow however, with another 5 inches coming down at our house during the morning in the span of just a few hours. By the time the system had wrapped up on Saturday morning, we’d accumulated over 7 inches at the house and the yard had been transformed from stick season into winter.

The local ski resorts hadn’t picked up too much more than we had, but totals in the 6 to 10” range seemed typical, and that was certainly enough to entice me out for some early season turns. With that in mind, this morning I decided to head up to Bolton Valley to get in a ski tour and check out the new snow. With the fairly fluffy nature of the snow and based on what we’ve seen at the house over the past couple of days, I’m sure there had been some settling since it fell, but here’s the snow depth/elevation profile of what I found from the base of the Bolton Valley Access Road up to the local summit areas:

340’: 1-2”
1,000’: 2-3”
1,500’: 3-4”
2,000’: 4-6”
2,500’: 6-7”
3,000’: 7-9”

I started my ski tour around midday, when temperatures were just edging a bit above freezing at our house down in the valley, but above 1,500’, and certainly above 2,000’, temperatures never got above freezing so the snow was all winter consistency.

In terms of the skiing, it was undoubtedly early season, and rock skis would be your best bet if you’re going on anything with substantial pitch. I actually found the skiing better on the lower half of the mountain because there was a bit of a base there – I think more of the snow down in those elevations was melting on contact with the ground to create that dense layer. Up higher, the consistency of the snow was more straight fluff from top to bottom. As is often the case, most water bars had reasonable crossings at least at one point, but a few were dicey and took some extra navigation. There’s still running water in plenty of spots, and ponding in some flat areas. On my descent it was obvious that my skis got in contact with at least traces of that moisture, because about halfway down I had to pull out a credit card and spend probably 10 minutes doing a scrape down on the ski bases to really get things back in shape for gliding.

That effort was worth it though, because for the bottom half of my run I was on Lower Turnpike, and that offered what was unquestionably the best skiing of the tour. The combination of that bit of dense snow that accumulated as some base down in those elevations, plus some skier traffic packing down areas of the new snow as well, clearly created the best subsurfaces I encountered. On top of that you’ve got the fact that Lower Turnpike is essentially all grassy terrain, and it has a pitch that isn’t really overbearing for the amount of snowpack we’ve got, and it comes together for real winning combination. Even with some skier traffic, there was still plenty of powder to play around in throughout the trail, so that was a great way to finish off my run.

An image of drifted snow atop some of the condominiums near the base of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont after an early November snowstorm — Enjoying the wintry views at the end of my tour as drifted snow adorns some of the condos by the base of the Wilderness Lift

For anyone heading up, you may still want to hit the summit areas to check things out and get the exercise from a more substantial tour, but if you’re just looking to get out from some quality turns, Lower Turnpike is probably going to get you the most bang for your buck. It’s one of the designated ascent routes anyway, so there’s a nice skin track and it’s an efficient way to in some nice turns on the new snow.

I just got an alert on my phone this morning that we’re under a Winter Storm Watch in association with the next system. This one looks more substantial than this past one, but we’re still a day or two out so we’ll need to watch for any final refinements to the forecast.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: