Kids Archives - Page 26 of 35

February 16, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley and Backcountry, VT 16FEB2013

An image of Erica skiing powder in one of the glades in the Nordic and Backcountry network at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — E enjoying the powder in one of the glades today

Although the recent midweek storm gave a decent shot of snow to the Northern Greens, with Stowe picking up a foot of snow, and Jay Peak picking up a foot and a half, it’s still been fairly dry in general. Because of the rather high Froude Numbers for that storm, the more west-side locations of Smuggler’s Notch and Bolton Valley saw them picking up just a half foot of snow during that event, and that’s what Bolton was reporting for their seven-day total as of today. The dearth of snow and a holiday weekend had me thinking a tour on the Nordic/backcountry network was in order, because there’s some excellent snow out there, but there’s been enough time since if fell for lift-served traffic to pack it down pretty well by this point.

“Depths of powder above whatever
firmer subsurface lay below were in
the 8-12″ range, with a bit of that melt
layer in there in the lower elevations
or on south facing terrain.”

I devised a somewhat ambitious tour for today, at least with respect to what the boys might be willing to accommodate. It would be an opportunity to show E and the boys the two glades that I discovered last month on the 19^th and the 27^th. The plan was to skin up Bryant to the Bryant Cabin, descend through the first glade, then connect over to the alpine trail network, catch an assist from the Wilderness Lift to the Wilderness Summit, traverse out on Heavenly Highway, ski the second glade, and return to the car via the Nordic/backcountry network. If we couldn’t complete the whole tour we’d have some opportunities to truncate it as needed. The forecast called for some sun and temperatures in the 20s F today, so it looked like we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone getting cold too quickly.

An image of our car parked along the edge of the Broadway trail in Bolton Valley's Nordic skiing area with Erica unloading backcountry ski gear in preparation for a ski tour — Unloading and preparing the gear along Broadway

We arrived up in the Bolton Valley Village in the late morning period, and the main parking lots were getting pretty full, but we were able to get a trailside spot right on World Cup in the lower tennis court lot. There were plenty of people about as we began our ascent, including a number participating in the “Bolton to the Barns” event. We ran into Alex, one of my former students on his descent with the event group, and learned that he is now at Tufts Medical School, although he seemed very happy to be back in Vermont visiting Bolton Valley. Dylan asked for just one break on the ascent, and we pulled over into the sunshine along the top section of World Cup and had a snack.

An image of the World Cup Nordic Trail at the Bolton Valley Cross Country Ski Center in Vermont — Admiring the beautiful conditions in the World Cup Nordic trail as we pause for a snack on our way up to Bryant Cabin

Near the start of our tour when we’d passed by the Courtside 1 Condos on Broadway, we ran into a Nordic skier who was pausing there. She inquired about the substantial width of E’s fat skis, and E indicated that they were for powder skiing. The woman seemed puzzled because as far as she could tell there was no powder around. She wished us luck on finding powder, but you could tell she figured it was a lost cause. It was very interesting to hear her speak that way when just a few feet away from her off the side of the trail, you could see the powder sitting there. People certainly have some unique perspectives on snow conditions. As a Nordic skier, perhaps she’s got a totally different idea of what powder snow actually is, or she may have just been oblivious to what conditions were like off the groomed runs of the Nordic trails. Anyway, in terms of the actual snow conditions, out near the car a bit above the 2,000′ mark there were 2 to 3 inches of fluffy snow above a bit of a melt/sun crust, but I suspected that crust would disappear as we got out of exposed areas and headed up in elevation. Indeed, pretty quickly in shaded areas I found that the powder was deeper and the melt crust underneath was disappearing, and after a few hundred feet of ascent it was essentially gone. Depths of powder above whatever firmer subsurface lay below were in the 8-12″ range, with a bit of that melt layer in there in the lower elevations or on south facing terrain.

An image of Bryant Cabin in the Bolton Valley backcountry showing the snow depth outside reaching halfway up the windows — Snowy Bryant Cabin

We found the Bryant Cabin in use with the woodstove pushing a fragrant plume of smoke out the chimney. When we talked to one of the guys using the cabin, he said that the resort is no longer renting it or regulating the usage; you can just use it on a first come, first serve basis. I’m guessing that also means that they aren’t supplying wood, which is why we frequently saw him browsing around for dead stuff to throw on the fire. Some people may have loved the idea of this, and have wondered if they should get a prefab log cabin of their own. For us, it was a place to rest for a bit. We sat down and had lunch off to the side of the cabin clearing, and enjoyed hot soup, cocoa, and other items we’d brought. Various groups of skiers made their way past while we were there; it was probably one of the busier days I’ve seen out there on the backcountry network, and it was nice that all the people were out supporting the use of the trail system. Hopefully the initiative to buy the land with the help of Vermont Land Trust will go through and people will be able to continue enjoying it as public land.

An image of Black Diamond AMPerage, Black Diamond Element, and two pairs of Volkl Gotama Junior skis mounted with Telemark bindings and sitting in the snow near the Bryant Cabin on the Bolton Valley Backcountry Network in Vermont — The Tele powder boards hanging out at lunch

“We found the Bryant Cabin
in use with the woodstove
pushing a fragrant plume
of smoke out the chimney.”

Our first descent was in the North Slope and Gardiner’s Lane areas, and the powder was very good in the upper elevations. On our first pitch dropping from North Slope, conditions were just right so that both Ty and Dylan made some nice Telemark turns. Later, Ty dropped a nice Telemark-style jump turn launching off one of the steeper pitches, and he was very proud of that. The boys threw in a good amount of alpine turns, especially when they wanted to go faster, but it was all around great practice for them. Like I’d noticed on our ascent, the last couple hundred vertical of the descent featured some of that melt crust below the powder. We were on a south-facing slope, so that certainly wasn’t surprising. I found my fat AMPerages to be really helpful in that terrain, and E had some nice turns on her Elements, but she’s still finding them hard to get up on edge in packed snow due to their width. We’re wondering if the play in her boots is just too much and it’s ruining the ability to convey the necessary pressure into the ski.

We connected over to the Wilderness Double Chair and took it to the Wilderness Summit as planned, but Ty was pretty insistent on a quick descent without additional skinning. So instead of heading across on Heavenly Highway to drop through the second glade I’d chosen for the day, we opted to descend on Peggy Dow’s to quickly get to Snow Hole. There was decent powder in Snow Hole, although it was certainly more tracked and packed than what we’d seen in the backcountry glades. I got off to the sides of the main route a good deal though and got a number of fresh lines, and at times the boys would follow me. We did make a good connection back onto the Nordic network and caught a few final turns on the Telemark Practice Slope and other lower mountain glade areas before heading back to the car. We’ll be planning another tour at some point to catch that second glade; I still want to show it to E and the boys.

An image of a Google Earth map showing the GPS track of a ski tour on the alpine, Nordic, and backcountry areas at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont on February 16th, 2013 — A map of today’s combined alpine, Nordic, and backcountry tour at Bolton Valley – click for full-size image

Our next shot at snow appears to be coming into the area in the Tuesday timeframe. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty standard frontal passage at face value without much fanfare in terms of snowfall, but there is definitely the potential for some upslope snow. The crew at the National Weather Service Office in Burlington has had their eyes on the potential, and Powderfreak has been watching as well. We’re hoping for that snowfall boost from the upslope snow, because there isn’t much forecast in terms of synoptic snowstorms in the immediate future.

February 10, 2013January 20, 2018

Stowe, VT 10FEB2013

An image of Ty skiing in soft snow in the Meadows area at Stowe Mountain Resort in vermont — Ripping it up on Spruce Peak today

Today was a continuation of riding Nemo’s bounty, and we got to check out how things went down at Stowe. Like most of the Vermont ski areas, Stowe fell in that 1 to 1 ½ foot range for storm accumulation, reporting 14 inches from the event. Yesterday’s cold had also cleared out today, with the forecast calling for sunshine and temperatures in the 20s F.

We kicked things off before program started, with a warm up run off the Sunny Spruce Quad. Conditions last Sunday were certainly decent, but it was easy to see that they’d taken a significant step upward today. On piste, the snow from Nemo had been worked into the groomed surfaces to make them quite soft, and off piste there was a good foot of fairly fresh powder everywhere. The boys requested a descent along the Sunny Spruce lift line on Lower Smuggler’s and it was some fine cruising. We had time for a second quick run since people were still assembling, so we checked out Nastar Hill and the open terrain above Meadows. When we’d initially arrived at the resort today I hadn’t seen many tracks up in that area, so I figured it might be crusty or tough to ski, but it was anything but tough. It was partially skier-packed snow that was gloriously soft. After ripping his way down that face Ty proclaimed, presumably with some hyperbole, that it was his “best run ever”. I get where he was going with that though, in that it was almost effortless. That’s low elevation, south-facing terrain, and the conditions were extremely impressive. After experiencing that, and having skied west-facing terrain at similar elevations at Bolton Valley yesterday, I’d say that Stowe currently has the edge in terms of conditions.

An image of Ty sitting in the powder in the Nosedive Glades at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont — Kickin’ back in the Nosedive Glades

We finally met up with Ken and Jack and made our way over to Mt. Mansfield. With the new snow that has fallen thanks to Nemo, I decided that a Kitchen Wall run was in order, and the boys were fired up for that. The snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake has jumped to 55 inches with the addition of the recent snow, so that’s getting it up not too far below average. The Kitchen Wall traverse is in decent shape, although certainly not as soft and filled in as it could be. The snow in there was nice, with plenty of areas of untracked powder remaining if you were willing to poke around. Down below we found Nosedive a bit firm in the middle at times due to the manmade snow, but the edges were great and we worked those all the way back down to the Gondola.

“It was partially
skier-packed snow
that was gloriously
soft.”

Another big plan for the day was to bring the boys out to the Bench Woods, since only Dylan has been in there with me. The first chutes bypassing Upper Gondolier were simply heinous – they’re cut overly tight for their very steep pitch to begin with, and with the traffic that has been in there, the coverage is worn down way too low. Another couple feet of base are needed in there to make them respectable. Even before we went in, I told the boys that I usually skip those chutes because they hardly ever ski well, but I wanted them to at least experience what they were like. Well, one trip was enough for them to realize why those chutes just aren’t that great. Down in the Bench Woods the powder was actually quite plentiful. Ken and I had a blast gliding our way down the center of a small streambed that just kept going and going. Luke and Jack definitely struggled in there though, since there are a lot of saplings that make many lines feel tight, and they don’t have a ton of experience in that terrain. Ty and Dylan handled it well, although they did get a bit bored waiting for the other boys if they were getting stuck in the powder or having trouble navigating. It’s a long run as it is, but between the struggles and boredom, Ken and I were probably the only ones really having an all out blast. However, we had a lot of good teaching moments dealing with the nuances of skiing that sort of terrain. The past couple of times I’ve been in there, it’s seemed like there’s a lot more underbrush compared to what I remember back in the 90s – I just think the whole place needs a good pruning and it will ski many, many times better.

Coming back out of the Bench Woods felt like a never ending saga for the boys, so when we finally arrived, I decided that they’d earned a good snack break in the Midway Lodge, just like Dylan and I had done that last time we’d skied in there. And, just like Dylan and I had done, we kicked back near the Fireplace in the near solitude of Midway in the late afternoon. For a snack I grabbed what looked like some maple granola made by Mitzi’s, a local Stowe company also known as Fresh Mountain Foods. That granola is fantastic, and when I shared it around among the group everyone was impressed. I suspect they carry it in other parts of the resort, but it’s going to be an excuse to get me back to the Midway Lodge.

“Ken and I had a blast
gliding our way down
the center of a small
streambed that just
kept going and going.”

After the extended break to recover from our Bench Woods adventure, we had time for one more run. We decided to keep it simple due to the late hour, so we just did a Perry Merrill to Gondolier run. The snow was again quite good, and excellent along the edges. About halfway down I heard the boys yelling about something they could see off in the distance, and the best we could tell, since it was way down in the base area, it looked like a car was on fire. Black smoke was billowing hundreds of feet in the air, but it was hard to imagine that it could actually be a car on fire. We rushed down to the base, and low and behold there was indeed an SUV on fire. It was the weirdest thing, and not something you’d expect to see at the base of a ski resort (or I guess most places for that matter). I’m not sure what caused it, but perhaps we’ll hear about it in the paper.

An image of a burning SUV in the Midway parking lot at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Strange sight in the Midway parking lot

The boys wanted to hang around for some food, so we had a mellow meal by one of the south windows in the mostly deserted Great Room Grill. Claire is off to Africa for a couple of weeks, so she and Luke weren’t there, and Jack and his family were with some other folks over by the Spruce Camp Bar. Jack and the boys played some sort of hide and go seek around the lodge though, and kept themselves amused until we finally had to reel them in. At least E got them to eat most of their food – they often forget to eat and then they want more food when we get home.

We’ve got another winter storm coming into the area tomorrow. It’s a low pressure system that will be working in nearly overhead out of the Midwest, and in The Weather Channel naming scheme this one is called “Orko”. Down here in the valley it sounds like we’ll have a bit of rain with snow on the front and back ends of the storm, but it sounds like the higher elevations are going to be mostly snow with perhaps a little sleet. You folks better get your space heaters in order, no one wants frozen toes. The current forecast calls for 5 to 9 inches in the Mt. Mansfield area, although the models are showing some good potential for upslope snow on the back side lingering into Tuesday night, so totals could ultimately be higher than that if the upslope really kicks in.

February 9, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 09FEB2013

An image of Ty skiing waist deeppowder in the KP Glades at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont thanks to winter storm Nemo — Ty, finding Nemo quite rewarding today.

Winter storm “Nemo” dropped up to 40 inches of snow on parts of Southern New England, and the effects were much less dramatic up here in Northern Vermont, but we did pick up over a foot of snow at the house, and Bolton Valley’s snow report came in at 14 inches this morning. Being far enough away from the core of the storm, winds weren’t a big problem, but the forecast called for fairly cold temperatures with a high of around 10 F in the mountains. Today’s skiing held a little too much potential to let a bit of cold get in the way though, so we brought along some hand and foot warmers for the boys, and headed up to Timberline.

“As for the skiing, it was
a decent day with plenty
of powder, but certainly
nothing epic.”

Today was actually the first time this season that we had a chance to get in a Timberline-based day, and there was a surprising amount of activity at the base area when we arrived. There was even a couple minute lift queue present at the Timberline Quad not too long after lift opening. Ty commented that he’d seen a sign indicating that the Vista Quad was down, and it turned out that it was down all day due to electrical issues. That made for some substantial queues of several minutes at the Timberline Quad in the late morning period, but they dissipated in the afternoon.

As for the skiing, it was a decent day with plenty of powder, but certainly nothing epic. We checked out Spell Binder, which had some coverage issues on the headwall outside the center strip where they’d made some snow. There were also some massive death chunks, some that were the size of basketballs, which were left over from the snowmaking in the transition zone between the natural and manmade snow. They had groomed most of the lower part of the run, so powder really wasn’t as plentiful there as it usually is. We did find some very nice powder turns in the Corner Pocket Glades though, with first tracks through a good part of that area. We also found some great fresh snow in the KP Glades and the Sure Shot Trees. Twice as Nice really needs one more round of base building, and that’s the case with a lot of natural snow terrain down in the lower Timberline elevations. The turns are generally fine, but you need to be on your guard to avoid any spots where coverage is a little low. The off piste is skiing well because it gets more minimal traffic, but it would be nice to have another couple feet of base there to better cover up underlying objects. We’d occasionally bump something under the snow today where we typically wouldn’t expect to find anything. We never ventured over to the main mountain with the Vista Quad not operating, but the base depths there generally seem sufficient to avoid those types of issues.

An image of Erica Telemark skiing in powder in the Corner Pocket Glades at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — E glides through some of today’s fluff deposited by Nemo.

It was definitely fun being back in the Timberline groove today, we had an early lunch and the lodge was moderately busy, but there was still ample space. Some of us did a little rating of the overall skiing when we were discussing things at the end of the day – Dad gave it a 5 out of 10, and Ty gave it a 6 out of 10. A couple more decent storms will get those lower elevation Timberline trails fixed up, and it looks like the next one could be coming in Monday. February is becoming a lot more active in terms of winter storms, which is a nice change from the relatively dry January period that we went through. We’re looking forward to the upcoming stretch of skiing at Bolton Valley.

February 3, 2013October 16, 2013

Stowe, VT 03FEB2013

An image of a ski track in powder in the Tombo Woods area at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Mt. Mansfield somehow still delivering that good snow

Since the roughly half foot of snow that the mountains picked up at the start of the midweek period, there really hasn’t been much in the way of additional snow. Temperatures aren’t nearly as cold as they were when that arctic air was here a week or so back, but we’re in a similar dry, zonal flow weather pattern. We’ve had just an inch of new snow at the house this past week, and the mountains haven’t had much more. There certainly hasn’t been enough moisture for a full resurfacing of the slopes since the warm temperatures that came through midweek, so there wasn’t a lot of incentive to head out yesterday for turns. I did get a lot of stuff done around the house though, and that’s a typical benefit of these snowfall lulls. Today was a different story though – we had our BJAMS ski program at Stowe in the afternoon, and with temperatures predicted to be near 20 F at the base elevations with minimal winds, there was no reason to cancel like we had to do last weekend. I wasn’t too optimistic about the snow conditions though – I actually pulled out my diamond stone and ran it along the edges of my Salomon Scream Hots just to make sure they were ready to hold an edge on firm surfaces. I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to do a mid season sharpening of my edges, but today definitely had me worried.

“To my amazement, it was
far more than just good, it
was great. It was again that
2-3 inches of powder over a
fairly spongy base.”

It was partly cloudy and looked quite pleasant as we arrived at the mountain around midday. The Spruce Peak parking lot was rather full as usual, and there was a race going on, but it certainly didn’t seem too busy. We were able to grab one of those parking spots just a stone’s throw from the old Day Lodge, as there seemed to be a lot of people leaving midday. I suspect anyone from Southern New England that wanted to get home to catch the Super Bowl would probably want to leave around that time. I know that the resort has been making snow this week, so I figured trails that had seen some snowmaking might be the best bets for some reasonably soft ski surfaces. I inquired about snowmaking at the guest services desk, and they knew that Perry Merrill had seen some, but they gave me the number for the snow phone and suggested that I call it to get the rest of the snowmaking information. I can’t remember the last time I called the snow phone, but I dialed it up and I got to hear all the details. It was a noontime update, and snowmaking had most recently been done on Upper Perry Merrill, Gondolier, and Centerline last night. I think it may have even been Powderfreak on the other end that was giving the message. Anyway, that was just the information I was looking for, so I put those trails on our hit list for the day.

“…it marked a big change
in our ski plans. I’d been
thinking it was going to
be an on piste day prior
to that, but clearly the
off piste was in play.”

Our ski group was large today, with the addition of Sam, Ethan, Luke, Julia, Joanna, Ken, and Joe, we had eight students and four coaches. With the snowmaking information in hand, we headed right over to the Gondola for a run on Perry Merrill. Conditions turned out to be far better than I’d imagined. Up at the top of the Gondola I did a quick check on the depth of the unconsolidated powder snow, and found roughly three inches over the old base. On top of that, the subsurface wasn’t even that firm; it had that spongy character that I’ve been finding at times lately, possibly due to assistance from the dry air. The top steep pitch of Perry Merrill did have some good snow, but there was certainly a lot of ice as well. Down below it was much better though, there was plenty of packed powder, although certainly some granular snow in areas as well. That seemed to be most prevalent in the center of the trail where traffic was high. However, the minimal natural snow that has come down in the past few days, plus whatever snowmaking had been done, plus the snow that people had pushed to the sides of the trails after a morning of traffic, made for some really nice turns overall. Short radius turns along the skier’s right tree line of Perry Merrill were generally excellent – far, far better than I’d expected.

For our next run we did the same start and then moved over to Gondolier. The skier’s right there was even better than Perry Merrill, with lots of loose snow and shots holding a couple inches of powder when one would dive in and out of the trees along the edge. About halfway down the trail, Ken’s son Luke inquired about heading into some of the Gondolier Trees at an obvious line he noticed. I was definitely leery of going in there; I couldn’t imagine that it would be that good with a fairly steep pitch and not much new snow. I agreed that I’d check it out though, we could pop in briefly and any students that wanted to go could go with me. Well, almost everyone came in because they wanted to see what it would be like. To my amazement, it was far more than just good, it was great. It was again that 2-3 inches of powder over a fairly spongy base. Based on the weather we had during the middle of the week it’s hard to say how it was so well preserved, but as is often the case, Mansfield delivered again. Dylan took his own line high along the skier’s left wall and got into some great powder. All the boys twisted and turned their way down through the gulley, until I finally called for an exit back onto Gondolier. The gulley did continue on, but I knew it got narrower down there and the exit more difficult, and I didn’t want to push our luck. Everyone was excited by that run though – Sam commented how he loved going up and down the steep walls of the gully, and I told him it was one of nature’s half pipes.

“Based on the weather we had
during the middle of the week
it’s hard to say how it was
so well preserved, but as is
often the case, Mansfield
delivered again.”

I have to credit that snow discovery to Luke, and it marked a big change in our ski plans. I’d been thinking it was going to be an on piste day prior to that, but clearly the off piste was in play. The goal was to next head over to the Fourrunner Quad from the top of the Gondola, and I said that we could check out the north part of the Nosedive Glades (a.k.a “The Middle of Nowhere”) en route. The snow wasn’t quite as good in there as it had been over by Gondolier, but it was certainly decent and easily held an edge. There was the occasional icy patch in there, presumably where skiers had pushed away the new snow in higher traffic areas, but some of those lines were pretty steep, so the fact that they weren’t simply hard park was impressive. Connecting onto Lower Nosedive we found the snow in the middle of the trail horribly hard packed, but fortunately the skier’s left held a good amount of soft snow that had been pushed there by the day’s skiers.

After flying down to the base of the Fourrunner Quad, Dylan said that he was just too cold for a ride there, so Ken headed up with the rest of the group, and I took Dylan back toward the Gondola base. We warmed up by poling our way over, and he was in good spirits at that point and wanted to take a run on the tow to hit the Midway Terrain Park. He was still feeling good after that, and was keen to do a Gondola run, where the ride would be warmer than sitting out on the quad. I also asked if he’d show me all that powder he’d found in the Gondolier Trees, and he was excited to get back to that. On our way down Perry Merrill, we stuck to the skier’s left and explored a lot of off piste shots at the bottom of the Tombo Woods area. There was certainly some nice snow in there – just those 2-3 inches over the base, but that base was quite soft. Back down in the gulley along Gondolier Dylan took me though his powder stash, and indeed we had some good turns. We both stuck our poles into the snow and beyond the powder, you could push right through the spongy subsurface and get to softer snow below. There really is a lot of good snow down there that doesn’t seem like it was affected by the recent warm temperatures, so that’s probably helping keep the quality of the off piste skiing reasonably good if people do get down and start busting up the subsurface. Another nice aspect of the current conditions is that the snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake, while certainly below average, is still right around that 40-inch mark. That means that coverage is quite good in most off piste areas. I’m sure some areas that are more exposed to the elements could have an icier subsurface that what we experienced, but with the off piste in decent, skiable shape already, it’s primed to be really good as soon as we get a decent storm in here.

An image of Dylan skiing a steep line in the Gondolier Woods at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Dylan drops in on his stash.

An image of Apres Ski time in front of the fire at the Spruce Camp Bar at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Spruce Camp Bar

Dylan and I called it a day after that, and headed back to Spruce Peak for s’mores and hot chocolate at the fire pit. Dylan loved the late day atmosphere and the fact that he and I were getting gondolas to ourselves. I think those rides in the cabins really helped him to ward off the chill that he’d been building. We caught up with Ken and the other boys outside the Spruce Camp Base Lodge, and I found out that Ken had been working with Ty and the others on tip stands. Ken has done some freestyle/ballet in the past, and he said Ty was quite taken with working on the tip stand. That sort of stuff is indeed right up his alley, so we’ll have to work on that some more with Ken. We had a good Après session by the fire at the Spruce Camp Bar with Claire and Sue, as E and Claire debriefed each other on the logistics of the day. We actually had the entire place to ourselves today; I bet it was because most folks were heading home to check out the Super Bowl. I’m more optimistic for snow this coming week, it seems like we’ve got a shot at snow tonight into tomorrow, another one midweek, and then a potentially larger one at the end of the week. With conditions as decent as they already are, even a half foot of snow this week will elevate the off piste a lot. It would be great if that system at the end of the week could do a bit of magic in the Greens and produce something a bit more substantial as some models are hinting at, but we’ll just have to watch and see how the models develop it throughout the week.

January 13, 2013April 26, 2013

Stowe, VT 13JAN2013

An image of interesting clouds from Mt. Mansfield and Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont — The clouds put on quite a show today throughout the mountains.

With a generally cloudy forecast, I wasn’t sure if today’s skiing at Stowe was going to match up to the quality we experienced yesterday at Bolton, but boy did Mt. Mansfield deliver. Temperatures did get down to the freezing point overnight, but the morning clouds in the valley were an undercast that meant sunny skies in the mountains. Any snow that might have cooled down and tightened up was certainly soft by the time we arrived around midday. There was some exciting weather out there as well. Higher clouds had built in from the south, and screaming winds in the higher elevations of the atmosphere had them cruising along at impressive speeds not to far above the summits. Temperatures were schizophrenic too, with hot and cold pockets all over the place. On my first run of the day on the Sunny Spruce Quad, after we’d risen about 1,000’ vertical or so, we suddenly got to a warm layer of the atmosphere – the temperature felt like it changed 10 F instantaneously.

“You could attack anything,
as steep as you wanted, and
that snow would just peel
away beautifully and let
you hold those turns.”

We kicked off the day on Spruce Peak, and Luke had a little trouble with the RFID on his season’s pass that required the lift operator to call in some technical help. That gave us time to meet up with Claire though, once she’d taken care of her duties and gotten the program coordinators their passes. Conditions on Spruce Peak were generally nice, but there were certainly some bare spots opening up on natural snow terrain since it’s generally south-facing. Everything was soft, with the best surfaces being those that had seen various combinations grooming, skier traffic, or manmade snow. Natural snow terrain that hadn’t seen any packing was skiable, but typically mushy or sticky. I found turns down West Slope this afternoon particularly invigorating, as you could lay your skis over as far as you wanted on that steep pitch and have that snow just peel away as you carved it up.

An image of Ty with a handkerchief mask outside the Octagon at the top of the Fourrunner Quad at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont — “Hanky style”

After a few runs on Spruce, we took a quick pit stop at Spruce Camp where Claire and Luke gabbed some bagels that they hadn’t had a chance to eat earlier, folks got drinks if they needed them, and then we shifted over to Mt. Mansfield. With back to back gondola rides to get up to the Cliff House, there was plenty of time to take in snacks, but since not everyone had food, we decided that we’d also go for some food at the Octagon. From the top of the Gondola we headed down toward the Fourrunner Quad via Cliff Trail, and with all natural snow, there were some sticky spots, especially where traffic was lowest. You could really feel the difference in the snow surfaces when we arrived at Nosedive though, since it has a good amount of manmade snow and sees a lot more traffic; there were no issues with sticky snow there. At the Octagon we got some food, hung out for while, and everyone had a good recharge. As it turned out, we were all going to need that recharge, because we were going to work ourselves hard for the rest of the afternoon.

An image of Dylan skiing the Hayride trail at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Working on those poles today on Hayride

Luke had originally requested a trip to Nosedive Bypass, since it’s one of the mountain’s areas that he’d yet to ski, but we were unsure of how much traffic it had seen, and how easy the skiing would be. Instead, Claire and I decided that it would be a perfect time for the boys to work on their bump skiing. The snow was just so good on that type of terrain that we didn’t want to pass up the chance, so we headed to the top of Hayride and Centerline. We could see that both were loaded with tons of soft, fantastic looking bump lines, so it was a difficult decision, but we ultimately went with Hayride. It turned out to be a good choice because there were also those extra steep pitches that let the boys work on steep skiing technique. The bumps were excellent, and the snow quality was fantastic even on the steepest pitches. You could attack anything, as steep as you wanted, and that snow would just peel away beautifully and let you hold those turns.

Although the boys were all ripping up the terrain, and it was hard to nitpick on instruction, I could see that they needed some pole work. The combination of bumps and steeps was perfect ground for demonstrating how proper pole technique can really bring you to that next level of skiing in that terrain. Reaching for those pole plants on steep terrain can really keep that upper body facing downhill, so we kept pushing that upper/lower body disconnect because I could see that some of the boys couldn’t manage turns in the tighter lines like they’d want to. It’s really difficult to make rapid transitions back and forth and perform those especially tight turns if you upper body is constantly turning out of the fall line. I’d say Ty has got that down the smoothest of all the boys, and for some reason it’s just something he picked up when he was very young, but as a group I think it’s a process that will really reap rewards for the boys this season. They’ve all definitely reached a level of skiing where they can handle whatever terrain you throw at them, and it’s time to work on the finer points of body positioning.

An image of Claire skiing the Hayride trial at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Claire showing the boys how it’s done

After a couple of trips on Hayride, we finally mixed it up and visited Centerline, which of course yielded more fantastic bump lines. That let us head south to pick up the rail park, since Dylan was really looking to get into some park terrain. They had some long rails and boxes in there, and the funniest moment by far was when Dylan was skiing along a double box, and near the end of the second one, which was probably a couple feet wide, he ended up with a ski on the ground on each side. He continued to ride it, in classic “crotch grind” fashion, and held on right through. It was as impressive as it was funny, and the “crotch grind” definitely hung with us for the rest of the day. We met up with Connor’s group right at the end of the park, and we had a good collective run down Tyro. We didn’t want to do it, but the boys convinced us to drop below the Crossover back to the Gondola to catch a trip through the Half Pipe. It was a heck of a lot of fun though, and those massive vertical walls felt bigger than ever, so it was worth the extra work to get back to the Over Easy. We had really cooked ourselves pretty good with all those bumps, and I know that most everyone was enjoying that well earned tiredness at the end of the day.

South winds were screaming along at the top of the Fourrunner Quad at the end of the day, and we’re rapidly approaching the end of the warm weather as a cold front nears the area. Snow is expected by overnight tonight in the higher elevations, and by midday tomorrow in the valleys. The biggest question going forward is about how much snow Mother Nature will put down by the upcoming MLK weekend. It doesn’t look like there’s a big enough storm coming this week to put down a real resurfacing to support lift-served skiing, so it may be time to hit the sidecountry/backcountry. But, there are a number of snow chances in the upcoming pattern, and you never know when the Northern Greens will pull 6 to 12 inches out of small passing systems. I was talking with E on the ride home about how, even though we had tons of good powder skiing days in the previous couple of weeks, it’s hard to think back to it when you’re out there on spring snow. It was a good break, but it will be nice to get the fat skis back out soon.

January 12, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 12JAN2013

An image of Ty Telemark skiing on a warm January day in soft snow at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Soft turns in the sun today at Bolton

Repairs on the Timberline Quad at Bolton Valley are complete, and although I heard that it actually started running yesterday, today was our first chance to check out the Timberline area and make some turns. Forecast temperatures in the 40s F are more like March or April than January this weekend, and with no need to head out early for powder, we opted for a warm, afternoon session. When we headed up to the mountain around 1:30 P.M. or so, temperatures both at the house (495’) and up at the Timberline Base (1,500’) were in the low 40s F, and although I thought we’d have generally cloudy conditions, it was actually mostly sunny. It’s great to have Timberline and that Timberline vibe back though, we pulled in and found probably a couple dozen cars present, and I was able to drop off E and the boys and park right below the lodge. With the sun shining and mild temperatures, it was easy to think it was one of those spring Timberline outings.

An image showing ski tracks on the Showtime trail at the Timberline area of Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Leftover tracks at Timberline

The Timberline trails were looking really sweet in the sunshine, and you could see that areas that hadn’t been groomed hadn’t even been tracked out. There were a couple of spots here and there where snow coverage was low, but they were pretty minor (aside from where a snow cat seemed to dig some holes on Showtime). I think the resort has got to be pretty happy that even the low elevation areas of Timberline are looking good with mostly natural snow. I know some snow was blown on parts of Timberline Run, but I’m sure that money has been saved on snowmaking for some runs like Showtime. I guess they could make snow in some areas going forward if they want to beef up the base for the spring. In the snow report they mentioned that there were a couple of trails closed for various reasons, but with Timberline in operation, the mountain is running at just shy of 100% open.

As they’ve often done in the spring, the boys went with their Telemark skis today to get in some practice, and the soft conditions were perfect for working on their turns. We did a couple laps on the Villager/Timberline Run route, with Sure Shot thrown in as well. Both boys went without the cables on their bindings, and while it worked well for Ty, perhaps because his new Telemark boots are stiff and supportive enough, it seemed a little sloppy for Dylan. I think his boots are worn in enough that he might need that extra tension from the cables. We ran into Luke and Claire and we were able get in some fun turns with them – Claire was definitely enjoying the ease of the Timberline logistics today as well. Everyone made plenty of soft carves in the snow today, and it looks like we’ll continue with these conditions tomorrow until things start to cool down at some point Monday. After that we’ll be looking for new snow to hopefully get back to powder conditions; it’s going to be fun to get back into some powder with Timberline in operation.

January 6, 2013April 26, 2013

Stowe, VT 06JAN2013

An image of Dylan skiing some powder at the Bottom of the Upper Smugglers trail at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Dylan swishes through some of that Spruce Peak powder today.

Ski program started up today at Stowe, and it was our first time back since our training day on December 15^th. With all the snowfall over the past three weeks, and about a foot and a half in the past seven days, we were expecting great conditions. I found a couple inches of new snow on the snowboard at the house this morning, and light snow was continuing, so that was going to add an extra freshening to the surfaces. With temperatures in the 20s F, the mountain was set up for an excellent day for the kids. As we approached the mountain we got a special view as among the clouds we saw the slopes of Spruce Peak lit up with sunshine.

Dylan initially forgot his ski jacket, so after dropping E off to take care of her coordinator duties, we popped back to the house to get it. On the drive we could see that there were all sorts of folks coming and going throughout the Stowe area, and it had the feel of a busy ski weekend. Our timing on the return was good though, as I grabbed a parking spot right near the drop off area. I think there’s something about arriving closer to that 1:00 P.M. period where you can catch those earliest skiers leaving, because another car was leaving from a great spot just a few spots down. From the parking lot I could see lots of fresh tracks in the area above Meadows, a classic sign of good snow at the resort.

“…the fact that the snowpack depth
at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is at
50 inches, and the way the Chin
Clip Streambed is skiing well, can
attest to the sufficient base depths.”

I had our usual group of boys today, and it was great to be back together for the season. Also helping out as a second coach was Ken, another BJAMS benefactor – it turns out that he enjoys bumps and trees and powder and all that, so we knew he’d fit right in with our young advanced group. We let the boys take turns choosing the runs, and Luke was fine taking ownership of the first warm up run off Sunny Spruce. For the rest of the Spruce Side, Jack took Whirlaway, and Ty took Green Acres and Spruce Line. There are still areas on the Green Acres headwall that should be avoided due to coverage, but down below in the glades and on Spruce Line there are no issues. Few people seemed to want to negotiate that headwall, so we essentially had all the terrain below to ourselves and there was plenty of fantastic untracked snow for us to ski. Over on Mansfield, Ty somehow got another one in the form of the Chin Clip Streambed, and then Dylan finished things off with some Nosedive Glades, or as the boys like to call it, “the middle of nowhere”. We started working on steep turns with the boys as we dropped into Green Acres, and I let them know that they could vary their turns anywhere from a continuous carve to a full blown jump turn. On the jump turn theme, we also worked on airs as we navigated the various icefalls in the Chin Clip Streambed. We talked about how one can take the airs straight if they feel that there is enough room to bleed that speed, or vary their landing angle with jump turns to the point where they have cut down the speed to where it’s reasonable. In line with the jump turns, pole work and timing were also a focus since we had a chance to get into plenty of mogul terrain – Dylan still needs to get his timing down on steeper terrain, but he was working on poles on lower angle terrain to get there. We had a really good group for après ski at the Spruce Camp Bar, and it was a really busy après session there because it actually wasn’t easy to find tables to get everyone together.

An image taken while skiing the Chin Clip Streambed at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Enjoying the good coverage in the Chin Clip Streambed today

An image of children and adults enjoying some apres ski time at the Spruce Camp Bar at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont — Après today at the Spruce Camp Bar

Conditions on the slopes are very good overall; the fact that the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is at 50 inches (roughly a foot above average), and the way the Chin Clip Streambed is skiing well, can attest to the sufficient base depths. There are still a few spots on most steep trails we visited that could use a bit more cover, whether due to the fact that they need a slightly deeper base, or traffic has worn them down. A notable spot would be the Green Acres Headwall, where some of those nasty, jagged rocks are almost covered, but not quite there. Also, those tough to cover spots such as the south-facing terrain on the steep, lower spots of Spruce Line could use more snow. Another foot or two of base would take care of those issues, but the mountain must be close to 100% open from what we saw. Likewise we found some slick spots, typically in areas where snow was made, but the surfaces were almost exclusively packed powder and powder – we cut over to the area above Meadows whenever we could on our runs on Spruce Peak and there were still plenty of lines with powder in them for the boys to enjoy. It looks like temperatures are going to be a bit warmer over the next week, but we seem to be staying in the storm track so the snowpack in the mountains should continue to build.

January 5, 2013June 14, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 05JAN2013

An image of Erica skiing in some powder on the Show Off trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — E playing around on Show Off in some of today’s great snow

The Vermont ski areas received up to a foot of new snow in the past 24 hours, with the highest totals in the northern half of the state, and a lot of variability up and down the spine. Morning snow showers began to clear out to blue skies, as temperatures sat in the mid 20s F in the valleys and upper teens in the higher elevations. Winds were strong in the morning, and the Bolton Valley snow report indicated that the Vista Quad was on wind hold, but all the other lifts slated to open looked like they would be on time. We got a call from Stephen indicating that he was up at the mountain with Helena, and that things were a little crazy since all the weekly ski programs were back in action this weekend.

Upon dropping in and seeing
what lay before them, both
boys were off like a shot,
with Dylan proclaiming “This
is our winter wonderland!”

We eventually got the boys motivated to head up to the mountain in the late morning, and while the parking lots were filling up, after I dropped E and the boys off at the village circle I got a rather neat parking spot. The main tiers were full and the attendants were starting to fill those other nooks and crannies, and they parked me and another vehicle right along the entrance road near the Courtside 1 Condos. The spots were sort of created due to the way the plowing was done, and I can definitely say it was the first time I’ve every parked in such a unique spot. In any event, it meant that from the car it was a pretty quick shot right up to the lodge.

E and the boys had stopped in the ski shop to purchase a couple of gifts for upcoming birthdays, and then I met them out near the Vista Quad. Any congestion from the weekly ski programs was gone, because there were no queues and we headed right to the Vista Summit. Winds had been rather insignificant at the base, but they picked up a little in the higher elevations. We could see that the summit areas looked rather wind scoured, but for our descent we checked out Hard Luck Lane and hung to the left to see if we could catch some soft snow. There was a little soft stuff, but between the blowing wind and the hard scoured snow it was still “loud skiing”, as E put it. We shot down onto Hard Luck, and the snow was still wind scoured and firm for another couple hundred feet before we started getting into protected terrain. Then things started to get nice; we began finding soft snow and powder along the edges of the trail, and once we descended a bit more we cut through the trees to get over to Show Off to even more protected terrain that I expected to yield some excellent turns. The trees were just choked with bottomless powder, and in terms of snow quality it was really night and day from up in the exposed on piste areas. The bottom half of Show Off held excellent snow that featured anywhere from a few to several inches of powder over a soft base. Ty had fun jumping off the side of Little Rock, one of his favorite spots. We slid into the powder along the Sherman’s Pass/Show Off intersection, and then caught the Vista Quad Lift Line and terrain park below Mid Mountain. There were just a couple of spots where coverage was bit thin on the lift line, but it’s really progressed in the past week or two to a point that you don’t have to worry about avoiding anything. Ty and Dylan discovered that the Jungle Jib was open with features (including the new “Oil Can” oil tank jump) so they couldn’t get enough of that.

An image of Dylan leaning into a turn in soft snow on the Show Off trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Dylan leans into a turn on Show Off today.

Dylan called for the Mid Mountain Chair on the next run, and we got to check out the Enchanted Forest where we found top notch packed powder and powder off to the edges. A quick measurement of the powder depth there on the lower mountain revealed 14” above the previous packed layer. The Enchanted Forest was definitely a good choice below Mid Mountain.

I convinced the boys to head to Snowflake next, thinking that we’d either the Butterscotch Terrain Park, which was still without terrain features and open for powder skiing, or perhaps the Bonus Woods. Finding just one track in the Bonus Woods, we headed right through there and caught some great snow. Upon dropping in and seeing what lay before them, both boys were off like a shot, with Dylan proclaiming “This is our winter wonderland!”

An image of Ty with his hands up as he blasts through some trees at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Blasting through

We had time for one more run before Ty needed to head off to a birthday party, but Dylan’s hands and feet were getting a bit cold, so he headed inside with E while Ty and I took the last run together. Ty wanted a Vista run, specifically to hit Alta Vista, which is one of his favorite trails. Unlike many of the high elevation spots, Alta Vista was well protected from the westerly winds, and the skier’s left offered up great soft turns on packed snow as well as some powder. I was amazed that people hadn’t been in there yet – Ty had definitely made a good call. We dropped in and out of the powder on that left side, all the way down to Sherman’s. I showed Ty Schuss, and a nice untracked line through the trees that he could hit. He had to get through a branch in there, and like a true tree skier her put those hands up to protect his head and face while he blasted through. Schuss had a few slick spots at the top where it was more exposed, but it had filled in nicely in the bottom half. We traversed our way off Sherman’s Pass over to Show Off, right at the level of Big Rock/Little Rock, and Ty was very impressed with how I’d managed to get us over there. We finished off that run with another pass through The Enchanted Forest/Jungle Jib.

We were totally out of synch with Stephen and Helena today, since they were just going into the lodge for a break when we first spotted them, but at least E and Dylan got to see them when they headed to the lodge. Although we felt as though we’d arrived somewhat late, the unloading area in the Village Circle was absolutely mobbed with people arriving around 12:45 P.M. as we were leaving. Those folks may have been coming for an afternoon or twilight session, but either way, it looked like the mountain was getting a full slate of visitors. Parking spots were at a premium and we had someone waiting for ours as we packed up the car. We even saw that they were parking cars down at Timberline and the shuttle was running.

From what I’ve read on the Bolton Valley Facebook Page, it sounds like the mountain is shooting for having the mechanical issues addressed to enable opening of the Timberline Quad next Saturday, January 12^th. A lot of people are going to enjoy having lift access to that terrain, although it does mean it won’t be quite the perpetual powder playground it has been the past couple of weeks. On that note, our next storm is on the way and snow is supposed to be building in tomorrow with some potentially nice accumulations for the local mountains.

December 30, 2012June 13, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 30DEC2012

An image of Ty Telemark skiing in powder on the headwall of the Showtime trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Ty going steep and deep on the Teles

Last night the back end of the storm cycle brought a change to much fluffier, upslope-style snowfall comprised of larger flakes that settled down in the 2-3% H2O range here in the valley. Unless there was excessive wind, the combination of that snow atop the denser, synoptic snow that we received yesterday, was likely to make for some fantastic skiing. With the upslope snow came colder temperatures; morning temperatures at Bolton were around 10 F, so we decided it was a good day to stay off the lifts and earn some turns instead. We contemplated heading out onto the backcountry network at Bolton Valley, but with Timberline lift service still on hold, it was better to take advantage of the terrain there while we still had the chance.

“The skiing was just turn
after turn of bottomless
powdery bliss, so I’ll
just defer to the pictures
and let them talk about it.”

E picked up Ty from his overnight visit at a friend’s house, and it turned out that he was really eager to come home and do some skiing. Dylan was also surprisingly excited to get on his Telemark skis and earn some turns, so we had to ride that wave of enthusiasm. I still had to trim the skins for E’s Black Diamond Elements, but by mid afternoon the skis were all skinned, the rest of the gear was ready, they boys had chilled out enough, and we headed up to Timberline. The snow from the end of the storm had tapered off in the morning, but not before Bolton had picked up another 10 inches of December goodness. It was a bit brisk at the Timberline Base, with temperatures in the lower teens F, and even a bit of wind, but we knew we’d be in good shape once we got on the ascent.

An image of Ty drinking hot cocoa at the Timberline Mid Station at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont, with late day light peeking through the clouds in the background — Break time after today’s ascent

There were just a few cars in the Timberline lot, so it didn’t seem like the resort needed to use it for overflow parking today. The lots had been plowed, but there’s still tons of snow everywhere and we were able to skin right from the car. Ty and E were leading the ascent, and when they inquired with me about which way to go, I just suggested that they follow the most established skin track to make things easy. An ascent of either Twice as Nice or Showtime would work out fine. Twice as Nice wound up being the most travelled option, with one, and at times even two, well established skin tracks up the climber’s left. One had a few dog prints in it, but there were not footprints, post-holes, or even snowshoe tracks. The full-width skins on the AMPerages and Elements were working great, and E and Ty just blazed up the skin track at what felt like breakneck speed. I hung back with Dylan, who was feeling tired, and although I didn’t have any GU to get him going, once I pointed out that he had Grandma’s ginger snap cookies in his pack, and he ate one, he really perked up. Beyond that point he just shot to the top of our ascent and that was that. E and Ty were already waiting for us, camped out of the wind beneath the Timberline Mid Station. We pulled out the hot soup, and hot cocoa, and everyone had their fill while we prepared the gear for the descent.

An image of Dylan Telemark skiing in powder on the Showtime trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Tele Dylan on the descent

Since I’d had such a good run on Showtime yesterday, we opted to descend there. Of course now it had yet another round of snow on it – in this case a nice shot of Champlain Powder™ to hopefully hit that skiing powder pinnacle of the right-side-up density gradient. I dropped in off the headwall and found that snow that was just as good as yesterday, but with that little extra bubbly champagne on top to make it even more fun. One exciting aspect of the outing was that the boys actually worked on Telemark turns in deep powder. They haven’t even mastered the on groomed terrain yet, but they were game to work them into their powder skiing, and they actually had a good degree of success. E got yet another chance to test out her Elements on their preferred surface, and she looked quite good on the challenging step and deep conditions of the Showtime Headwall. We had late day sun illuminating our descent at times, or lighting up the tracks with an afternoon orange glow (enhanced all that much more by our amber goggle lenses). The skiing was just turn after turn of bottomless powdery bliss, so I’ll just defer to the pictures and let them talk about it.

An image of Jay Telemark skiing in powder on the Showtime trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Powder with fluff on top was the call today up at Bolton Valley.

December 29, 2012June 13, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 29DEC2012 (Night)

An image of Erica night skiing in a bit of powder in the Progression Terrain Park at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Lights, Telemark skiing, and fresh powder tonight at Bolton Valley

Earlier today when I was heading up for some afternoon skiing, E suggested that we should go night skiing because it looked like the snow and weather conditions would be good. We’re always on the lookout for that convergence of fresh snow, moderate temperatures, and low wind for time under the lights. So, as soon as I was done with my afternoon session, I picked up E and Dylan at the house and we headed to the main base area at Bolton Valley for some turns. Indeed E was right on with the conditions; the trails were chock full of new snow, temperatures were in the mid 20s F, snow was falling, and there was no wind. Those are just the sort of conditions that we’ve found to make night skiing at Bolton Valley especially enjoyable. The Snowflake Chair was running, so I dropped E and Dylan off there for some runs while I parked the car and got ready. There were good parking spots right in the top tier lot, and while I was getting ready I heard a familiar voice helping someone get their car out of the snow. It was Will, one of our BJAMS benefactors who lives up in the Village. We chatted for a while about the snow, the wonderful conditions, and various other skiing-related things.

Eventually I made my way to the slopes, and met up with E and Dylan after they had finished their third Snowflake run. Dylan was working on his Telemark skiing and doing a nice job – this was his first session on the 118 cm Völkl Gotama Juniors that he inherited from Ty, so it was a step up in size for him. E was excited to be back on some skinnier skis after being on her fat Black Diamond Elements for a couple of days. We took a run on Sprig O’ Pine, and the snow surface was indeed fantastic – packed powder and powder everywhere, and there were only a few people out on the slopes. Dylan insisted on riding the lift alone… because he could, but it meant that E and I got to ride together. We made a trip up the Vista Quad and were able to take the upper part of the Vista lift line at the start of our run. I think they’ve removed some stumps and other debris to make it more skiable, and boy was it nice. It’s only partially lit, so it was a bit of an adventure making turns, but the powder was great. The whole trip down Sherman’s Pass was just one soft turn after another, and Mother Nature continued to pile it on from the sky as well.

We went back to Snowflake for a run in the Progression Park, and those were some of my favorite turns of the night. I’d pulled out my RT-86s for the evening session, and after several days on the AMPerages I’d forgotten just how lively a narrower, midfat-waisted ski (86 mm) could be compared to skis with a relatively fat profile (115 mm waist) on snow that wasn’t bottomless. Being back on the RT-86s made for some really fun carving in the powder and chowder. One way to describe the conditions from tonight were that they were the sort that made you never want to leave.

When Dylan’s hunger overcame his desire for turns, we headed into the lodge and got some pizza at Fireside Flatbread. Gone were the crowds of yesterday, although there was one large group of 15-20 people at a large table. That’s our third time at Fireside Flatbread in three days, and Dylan seems to be enjoying it – it’s really convenient to pop in there and get a slice, and it’s really good flatbread. Dylan was in rare form, chatting about everything and carrying around some comical cocky persona that was just too funny. He was indeed having a lot of fun out on the slopes, and the saying he adopted to describe the evening was “Lights, Powder, Action!”

We finished off the evening with one more run in the Progression Park, where Dylan invented an interesting technique in which he turned both directions in the same Telemark stance – it was quite original, although I’m sure it’s a drill of some sort that folks have used. Right as the lifts were closing, the small snowflakes that had been with us all evening changed over to larger, upslope-style flakes, and they were beautiful under the lights. I stopped for a few pictures before we headed to the car, one of which was a tree that was entirely encrusted with rime. I shot upwards to get the tree and some of the big snowflakes against the black of the sky, and it was an interesting image. It was a fantastic evening on the slopes, and I wish we could get conditions like that all the time at night; I’m sure we’d be out there much more often.

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