Tag: Spillway

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Bolton Valley, VT 31MAR2023

An image of ski tracks in powder snow from Winter Storm Uriel while night skiing under the lights at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of snow from Winter Storm Uriel lit up by evening lights while night skiing at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Winter Storm Uriel brought significant snows into the area right into the evening to set up for some great skiing under the lights tonight at Bolton Valley.

The system currently working its way through the area has been named Winter Storm Uriel, and it’s actually provided a nice addition to the snowpack so far.  There hadn’t been too much coverage of its snow potential in the forecasts, presumably because it was one of those systems passing well to our northwest with anticipated front end and back end snow, but mixed precipitation and rain in the middle.  I was in Burlington yesterday afternoon when the storm started up, and the snowfall came in with some decent intensity right away.  Temperatures were marginal in the Champlain Valley, so the snow didn’t accumulate very rapidly, but there was probably about a half inch of new snow on the UVM campus when I was heading home to Waterbury.

I arrived at the house to find that Parker was with Ty and Dylan, and they had just loaded their ski gear into their car to head up to Bolton for some runs.  Ty son was on his alpine gear, but asked me to bring his Telemark equipment to switch over if I came up to the mountain later.  In my mind, I was certainly not planning to go for a ski session.  It didn’t seem worth it to head up to the hill for what I thought was probably an inch or so of new snow atop the spring base that had probably gone through some freeze-thaw cycles over the past couple of days.

But apparently, Mother Nature was going to convince me otherwise.  It just kept dumping snow at our house, and of course, Bolton’s Webcam at their main base showed the exact same thing as we watched it on the TV.  I couldn’t quite get a feel for the amount of new snow from the webcam, but my snow analyses from the house revealed that we’d already picked up a few tenths of an inch of liquid equivalent in the snow we’d had.  Before long, I texted the boys and let them know that I was on my way up.

I was really curious about the new accumulations up at the Village elevations, so as soon as I parked and got out of the car, I headed to an undisturbed location to check out the depth of the snow.  I was surprised to get a new snow depth of 6 to 7 inches, and I figured there could have been some drifting around the parking lot area as there often is, but the measurement was quite encouraging.

An image of cars in the Village parking lot during Winter Storm Uriel at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
It was clearly a wintry evening with plenty of fresh snow as I arrived up in the Bolton valley Village for some night skiing.

The timing of my arrival was great, and I caught the boys right at the base of the Vista Quad, so we all hopped on together for a run.  It continued to snow steadily, and the conditions were looking really good – folks below us on the trails were making virtually silent turns aside from the usual steep and heavily used spots like the middle of Spillway.  Up at the Vista Summit, I checked the new snow depth in the clearing right below the wind turbine and measured 7 inches.

The snow wasn’t enough for a full resurfacing of all pitches of course, certainly not the center of very steep, high-traffic trails like Spillway, but the periphery of the steep terrain was skiing really well, and mid-level pitches were great.  Based on my snow analyses back at home, I bet the mountain had picked up a half in of liquid equivalent by that point.  I’d say the quality of the skiing was just a touch below the conditions we had back on Sunday with the 6 to 7 inches of new snow that we found then; that round of snow may have had just a bit more liquid equivalent in it.

The boys were mixing things up with a bunch of runs through the terrain park on Valley Road, but fresh tracks were easy to get just about anywhere off Snowflake with the continued snowfall.  While riding the Snowflake Chair, we saw a couple of guys skiing some of the unlit Snowflake trails by headlamp, and those were probably some sweet turns because all those trails were essentially untracked.

An image of a snowbank with night skiing lights in the background during Winter Storm Uriel at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
The snowbanks from a long winter season dominating the Bolton Valley parking lots, with the slopes lit up for night skiing in the background
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Bolton Valley, VT 08MAY2022

An image from the Winooski Valley in the Waterbury/Bolton are of Vermont in May, as spring leaves on trees begin to work their way up the mountainsides.
An image looking down the Spillway trail on a ski tour in May at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
The snow on Spillway today as I get in some turns on steep spring corn at Bolton Valley

Today I headed to Bolton for turns, since it might be the last weekend for practical/productive touring there.  Based on what I saw on my last Bolton outing a couple weeks ago, I figured the lower mountain would be discontinuous at this point, but the amount of snow on Spillway was obviously going to last a while.  I decided to hike today vs. skinning, and I think that was the right call.  The bottom half of the mountain has some decent areas of snow, but it’s discontinuous enough with plenty of dry ground for walking, such that hiking is the more practical option.  Above Mid Mountain, one could skin up Spillway, but that’s really steep, and they’ve plowed Sherman’s Pass most of the way to the Vista Summit, so I used that for a lot of my ascent today.

An image of a high-elevation view out toward Lake Champlain and the Champlain Valley on a May ski tour at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A high-elevation view out toward Lake Champlain and the Champlain Valley on today’s tour at Bolton Valley

The snow on Spillway is still continuous, and it was skiing great.  There must have been some productive freeze/thaw cycles recently, because it was the best corn snow I’ve skied during this April/May period.  Spillway is quite steep, so you get some of those nice fall-way turns, which are so much fun in good snow.  At Mid Mountain on my way up I met a couple that was on their way down.  They said that “Spillway was about as frosty as it’s been in a while”, and they weren’t kidding.

It’s fun traveling around the area right now and taking in the views as spring begins to make its presence known.  You can see that greenery is appearing in the lower mountain valleys, and it’s just starting to make its slow creep up the mountainsides.

An image from the Winooski Valley in the Waterbury/Bolton are of Vermont in May, as spring leaves on trees begin to work their way up the mountainsides.
You can see that greenery is appearing in the lower mountain valleys, and it’s just starting to make its slow creep up the mountainsides.
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Bolton Valley, VT 20MAR2022

An image from the top station of the Mid Mountain Double Chairlift with snow piled up on a March day at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of the Spillway trail rising into the clouds while riding the Vista Quad Chairlift at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A view of Spillway today from the Vista Quad. Clouds were raising and lowering on the upper half of the mountain this afternoon before snow started falling at the ridgeline elevations.

The forecast this weekend seemed generally on the dreary side, but I did want to get out for some turns and exercise, and early this afternoon seemed like a decent window.  The colder air and snow were expected to move into the area later in the afternoon, so midday offered the chance at spring snow that wouldn’t have tightened up, and it would be ahead of any rain that might fall on the lower elevations of the mountain.

Indeed I found some nice spring conditions today at Bolton Valley, all the way up above 3,000’.  There’s a lot of good corn snow out there, but some trails have those still slick areas of denser snow and ice underneath that you have to watch out for.  It wasn’t warm enough (generally in the 30s to near 40 F at 2,000’+ where I skied on the main mountain today) to really soften those densest spots, so the best skiing involved working your way around those areas and using the available corn snow.  Some trails (like Alta Vista and Hard Luck) had more corn snow available and fewer slick spots, while others (like Spillway and Beech Seal) had more of those icy/dense spots to work around.

The good news is that all that dense snow is going to last quite a while as we head into the spring.  Most natural snow trails had some coverage issues, so skiing was generally on routes with manmade snow today.  There’s still a lot of natural snow in the elevation range of the main mountain though (the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is around 40 inches), so a lot of terrain would be in play with natural base for any large storm cycles that come through in the next few weeks.

An image of a resort employee on a snowmobile in the Mid Mountain area of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A Bolton Valley employee on his snowmobile today at Mid Mountain in front of a closed Glades trail

When I first got to the mountain this afternoon, the cloud ceiling was up and down in the 2,500’ – 3,000’ range and there wasn’t any precipitation.  On my last run though, it was snowing up at ridgeline level, and by the time I was leaving, the frozen precipitation was just starting to make it down to the Village elevations.  The snow level must be well below 2,000 now though, because I can see that the precipitation is all snow on Bolton’s main base area webcam.

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Bolton Valley, VT 17JAN2022

An image of Colin getting covered in snow while riding the Vista Quad Chair at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont as Winter Storm Izzy produced snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour
An image of Dylan skiing powder during Winter Storm Izzy at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan out surfing some powder today on the slopes of Bolton Valley. Winter Storm Izzy kept refreshing the surfaces all day with impressive 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates.

Up at Bolton Valley today, wind holds were in effect at the resort’s normal opening time.  By mid-morning though, the winds had died down, the lifts started running, and we headed up for what was hopefully going to be a great day of skiing.  We were right in the midst of Winter Storm Izzy, the resort had already picked up several inches of snow, and more snow continued to pour down.  Right from our house it was obvious that snowfall rates were pretty impressive with the system.  Snow was falling at about an inch per hour down in the valley, and they ramped up as we headed into the higher elevations.  With the snowfall rates, it was hard to keep pace with plowing the Bolton Valley Access Road, so it was snow covered and giving some vehicles trouble making the ascent.  We had to head around stopped vehicles in a couple of different spots on the access road; one car was actually working on turning around to head back down and presumably wait for the plow/sander to make a pass.

“By the time we arrive in mid-morning, those winds from earlier had settled down to almost nothing across many areas of the mountain, temperatures were very comfortable in the upper 20s to around 30 F, and it was pounding snow somewhere in the 1 to 2 inch per hour range much of the time. ”

As far as ski days go, you had a number of factors that made today an amazing one.  By the time we arrive in mid-morning, those winds from earlier had settled down to almost nothing across many areas of the mountain, temperatures were very comfortable in the upper 20s to around 30 F, and it was pounding snow somewhere in the 1 to 2 inch per hour range much of the time.  The snowfall meant that surfaces were getting constantly refreshed, atop of what had already been a solid resurfacing of the slopes with probably 0.50 to 0.75 inches of liquid equivalent in the form of medium-weight powder.

An image of Erica Telemark skiing in powder at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont during Winter Storm IzzyWith the overnight shot of snow and the continued heavy snowfall, patrol was opening up trails all over the main mountain that had not been available yet this season.  It was hard to know which ropes had been dropped before opening time, and which ones were done on the fly, but just about everything on Vista was open.  Even Cobrass was open, offering options all over that side of the mountain.  The resort had completed their snowmaking and preparation of Spillway, which is certainly a steep, signature trail on Vista, but it takes a lot of snow to cover its width, notable pitch and plentiful amounts of obstacles.  Getting Spillway open definitely marks a big point of the winter’s progression at Bolton.  With Spillway getting all the new snow atop the base they’d made, it offered up some excellent steep skiing today.  You could still contact the harder manmade snow below at times, but it was snowing so hard that the manmade stuff was quickly getting buried.

An image of Dylan skiing powder on the Wilderness Lift Line at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont during Winter Storm Izzy
Dylan getting some powder turns on Wilderness today

E and I headed up by ourselves to start the day, but we were planning to ski with Dylan and his friend Colin, who came up the road just behind us.  We saw them in the parking lot, and quickly caught up to spend the day with them after our first run.  Only the Vista Quad and Mid Mountain Chair were running today, but we touched on just about every main area that was available as we toured Colin around the mountain and introduced him to numerous trails that he’d yet to ski.  Up to this point he’s really only been night skiing with Dylan, so with the typical daytime options and all the new trails opening, it was quite a whirlwind tour for him.  Some highlights were definitely the steep turns on Spillway, lots of fresh snow and great conditions on Cobrass and Cobrass Run, and heading over toward Wilderness where there was lot of fresh powder as usual.  We even brought Colin into the Wilderness Woods to that he could get a taste of what tree skiing was like.

An image of the Ski Patrol Headquarters area at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont with fresh snow from Winter Storm Izzy
Accumulations from Winter Storm Izzy down at Ski Patrol HQ in the Village

The heavy snowfall rates were certainly one of the most impressive parts of today’s outing.  The pace of accumulations was very evident while riding the lifts because of how fast you would get coated with snow.  On one of our rides on the Vista Quad, Colin stayed still to catch the accumulation, so that was a lot of fun to see, and of course we had to get a picture.  By the time we left around mid-afternoon, the resort must have picked up in the range of a foot of fresh snow, so the skiing just kept getting better.  This is our first big, synoptic winter storm in a while, and it was just what the local resorts needed to really get the base depths up to snuff, and they should now be able to open up most of their terrain.

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Bolton Valley, VT 09MAY2019

An image of the Bear Run/Sprig O' Pine area of trails showing the remaining snow in mid May at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image showing snow coverage on the Spillway trail in mid May at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
At Bolton Valley today I was able to ski almost continuous snow from near the top of Spillway down to the main base.

I looked out my office window at some point earlier this week and saw that there was quite a bit of white still visible on the slopes of Bolton Valley.  So, when I had a bit of time with decent weather this afternoon, I decided to head up for a ski tour to see just how much skiing was still available.

On the drive up the Bolton Valley Access Road, the first signs of snow didn’t appear until about 1,500’ elevation near the base of the Timberline area.  I was surprised to see that there were even skiable lines farther up on Timberline.  Up at the main mountain, snowpack starts right at the base.

“I’m not sure if it was the hearty snowpack we had this winter, the amount of snow the resort made, the lack of any hot spells this spring, or a combination of these factors, but Bolton definitely has a solid amount of snow on the ground for this far into May.”

I was expecting to make some turns up on Spillway today, since that’s the area that tends to melt out last with respect to fairly lengthy ski lines, but there’s far more snow available than just the typical late season Spillway stuff.  Multiple trails on the upper mountain have skiable snow, and the Bear Run/Sprig O’ Pine area on the lower mountain has quite solid coverage.  Starting from up near 3,000’ on Spillway, I was able to ski almost continuous snow to the main base.  There were a few small breaks in the snowpack, but nothing that required taking off my skis.  That wouldn’t be too surprising on the eastern slopes of the Greens this time of year, but that’s quite impressive for the western slopes.  I’m not sure if it was the hearty snowpack we had this winter, the amount of snow the resort made, the lack of any hot spells this spring, or a combination of these factors, but Bolton definitely has a solid amount of snow on the ground for this far into May.

An image showing a collapsed snow bridge in May in the mid mountain area of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
I skied quickly across this snow bridge anticipating that it might collapse… and it did!

In terms of the snow quality, it’s now has gone through numerous spring temperature cycles and is well consolidated into corn.  The texture of the snow is excellent, with a couple to a few inches of loose snow peeling away from the surface.  The only issue is that melting has creating an inconsistent surface in many areas that results in bumpy snow.  The surfaces would actually benefit from a bit of skier traffic to smooth things out, so hopefully a few folks will get out there to enjoy it before it’s gone.

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Bolton Valley, VT 30APR2018

an image of the Spillway trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont with ski tracks in fresh snow from a late April snowstorm
An image of Telemark powder skis at the start of a ski tour in late April at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Getting ready to set out on my tour from the Bolton Valley Village in today’s fresh snow

Our latest storm moved into the area yesterday, and it held the potential for some decent mountain snows.  Yesterday afternoon, I could see that a few inches of snow had already accumulated at the summit elevations at Sugarbush, but there was really just a trace in the mid mountain elevations, so it was unclear how low significant accumulations were going to go.  When reports started coming in from the west side of the Northern Greens, it turned out that snow levels were much lower there, with accumulations visible down to 800 feet in the Nashville area.  In line with those low snow levels, we were even getting snow here at the house, which is down at 500 feet.

I had initially contemplated heading to Stowe for some turns in the morning, thinking the terrain above 3,000’ would really be needed to get into some good snow, but those low snow levels on the western slopes definitely had me thinking about Bolton Valley as good option.  The overnight didn’t seem to bring about any substantial changes, so I stuck with that plan and headed to Bolton for a ski tour this morning. 

“I could tell right away as I began my descent that the density and consistency of the snow called for steep terrain, so I dove right down Spillway and that really hit the spot.”

Low clouds were obscuring the mountains by our house, but it seemed like the snow line this morning was down around 1,000’.  On my drive, the first signs of fresh snow accumulations were indeed right around the 1,000’ elevation on the Bolton Valley Access Road, and then the world just got whiter and whiter as I headed up. 

I started my ski tour at the Bolton Valley Village, which is a bit above 2,000’, so with the way this storm accumulated that meant decent coverage from there on up to the summits.  At the base elevations this morning the temperature was just edging above freezing in the 7:30 -8:00 A.M. timeframe, and the snow was definitely dense.  The fresh snow was wet, but not slushy or sopping at that point.  It was gradually falling of the trees on my ascent as the temperatures rose.  I headed up into cooler temperatures, but it was still warming all the way to the summit and I bet temperatures in the mid-30s F tracked with me as I ascended.

An image of cars covered in fresh snow from a late April snowstorm at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Bolton Valley Village today

Here’s a summary of the accumulations I found this morning for various elevations:

500’: 0”
1,000’: Trace
1,500’: 1-2”
2,000’:  3-7”
2,500’: 8-9”
3,000’: ~9”

An image of snow on evergreens during a ski tour in fresh April snow at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A snowy view from today’s ski tour

The larger range I’m reporting at the 2,000’ level was simply because I had time to get a sense for accumulations atop the different surfaces, with the low end being on paved or gravel surfaces, and the high end being on the existing snowpack, elevated surfaces, etc. 

In terms of what was out there on the trails for new snow, the numbers above show that there really wasn’t a huge bump in accumulations above 2,000’, so I’d say those elevations did fairly well in terms of maximizing whatever snow they were going to get out of the available moisture.  We had ~¾” of liquid in the rain gauge at the house this morning, so presumably the mountains are somewhere north of that.

“Even with 115 mm fat skis I was still touching the subsurface at times, but this snow was definitely dense enough to hold up pretty well on steep, aggressive turns.”

Although it can’t compare to the drier snow we had with last weekend’s storm, the turns were actually pretty sweet today.  I could tell right away as I began my descent that the density and consistency of the snow called for steep terrain, so I dove right down Spillway and that really hit the spot.  Even with 115 mm fat skis I was still touching the subsurface at times, but this snow was definitely dense enough to hold up pretty well on steep, aggressive turns.  I stuck with Beech Seal on the lower half of the mountain, and the pitch there was also quite sufficient for a lot of good turns.

An image of ski tracks in fresh snow on the Spillway Lane trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont after a late April snowstorm
Starting off the descent with some powder turns on Spillway Lane

Today was the last day of April, but it’s certainly been a decent one for snow.  It’s time to move on to May and see what it delivers for turns!

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Bolton Valley, VT 29APR2017

An image looking down the Spillway trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont at the end of April
An image of the Spillway trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Northern Vermont at the end of April
Spillway at Bolton Valley still has a decent amount of snow for getting in some late-season turns.

I was in Montreal yesterday, generally doing more eating that exercising, so I definitely wanted to fit a ski tour into the day today if possible.  The weather was good much of the day, with some sun, but plenty of clouds to keep it cool as well, and I made my way up to the mountain in the midafternoon timeframe.

My initial views from the Bolton Valley Village area didn’t reveal much snow, but one I got moving up the mountainside I could see that there were some good areas of snow around.  The Butterscotch Terrain Park has probably the most snow on the lower mountain, but I found Bear Run actually has some decent areas with snow as well.  The biggest surprise on the upper mountain was actually Spillway, which had initially looked like it only had a strip of snow left along the skier’s right.  Once I got above mid mountain I could see that there was substantial coverage on a lot of the trail.

I hiked up Spillway to where the continuous snow ran out, which was just a bit below the 3,000’ mark, and started my descent from there.  Spillway held some of the best areas of corn I found today.  There were some sun-cupped areas and a few spots where the snow remained coalesced like ice, but in general the turns were nice in the corn snow.  I was actually able to continue all the way down to mid-mountain on snow, and then even a bit farther on Beech Seal before I had to throw the skis back on my pack and hike down.

Based on my initial sights, I was thinking this was likely the last weekend for reasonably plentiful skiing at Bolton Valley, but based on what I saw, I think there might be some snow around next weekend depending on how the temperatures run this week.

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Bolton Valley, VT 24MAR2017

An image showing snowly slopes with fresh powder as night skiing gets going at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of Ty night skiing in a snowstorm at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Fresh snow under the lights tonight at Bolton Valley

There’s a frontal boundary spread across New England right now, and up here in Northern Vermont we’re on the cold side.  That’s given us a decent amount of fresh snow today, especially in the mountains where more than a half foot has fallen in some cases.  Bolton Valley was already reporting 4 to 6 inches of new snow as of mid-afternoon, so Ty and I decided to head up to check it out and grab some dinner for the family.

“…the snow surface was dense, buttery powder with a really good shot of resurfacing liquid equivalent in it.”

It was surprisingly quiet for such a spectacular night skiing evening, but I suspect concerns about the roads kept a lot of people home.  There’s definitely been some mixed precipitation around, but the precipitation was mostly snow while we were up at the mountain.  Flakes varied from granular types all the way up to massive 1” aggregates, and the snow surface was dense, buttery powder with a really good shot of resurfacing liquid equivalent in it.  Tonight looked like it was one of those evenings where weather conditions were coming together to make for some great turns under the lights, and indeed that was the case – the temperature was right around 32, there was no wind, and there was lots of fresh snow.

An image of snowfall at the Vista Summit at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
At times we had some huge flakes tonight at Bolton Valley

Ty and I focused on Spillway, and it was great letting those steep turns fall away in the dense powder.  I brought my Tele midfats, but I definitely could have gone with the full fats and had a blast.  It’s no wonder the skiing felt like there had been such a solid resurfacing; we’re already past ¾” of liquid equivalent with today’s snow down in the valley at our house, and up high they’ve certainly had more.

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Bolton Valley, VT 25FEB2017

An image of skis on spring snow at the base of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of Ty skiing in spring snow on the Spillway trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Ty our ripping it up on Spillway enjoying some of today’s warm weather at Bolton Valley

It was quite a gorgeous day out there today, with valley temperatures up around 60 F.  That’s certainly well above average for February, but with such nice weather on a Saturday, Ty and I decided to head up to Bolton Valley to catch a few runs in the warm sun.  We got up to the mountain in the mid-afternoon timeframe, and our timing was perfect, because just as we were about to load the Vista Quad, Jack caught us and we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon together.

An image of Jack skiing on the Spillway trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Catching up with Jack today to join him for some soft turns

We started off with a couple of runs on Spillway, which is always one of my favorites when we get soft spring snow like today.  It’s got that nice steep pitch, and as usual there was that ridge of snow along the skier’s right that provides some especially nice turns.  We rode the Snowflake Chair to go for a run in the Butterscotch Terrain Park, but for some reason the rope was up and the park was closed.  We still got in some nice cruising on Sprig O’ Pine, and then headed back up for some steep turns on Hard Luck.  Turns were also great there, very similar to what we found on Spillway.

An image of bumper stickers on a car in the parking lot at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in VermontThe wind was really picking up at the end of the day when we headed back to the car, and we’ve had a storm come through with some rain that changed to snow this evening.  Temperatures are going to drop back to more seasonable levels tomorrow, so it will probably be a day for the groomed terrain unless the mountains pick up substantial snow tonight.

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Bolton Valley, VT 25JAN2014

An image of Erica Telemark skiing on the Wilderness Lift Line at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Another Alberta Clipper meant another round of fresh powder at Bolton Valley today.

While we’ve still yet to get hit by a big synoptic snowstorm in Northern Vermont this season, another Alberta Clipper system came through the area today, and it began delivering a reasonable shot of fresh snow, just like the one last weekend.  With the snow just starting up this morning, we waited until mid afternoon to head up to the mountain for skiing.  By that point we’d picked up a couple of inches down at the house, and the snow was continuing at a good clip.  Today also offered to bonus of being a somewhat warm reprieve from the arctic air, with temperatures around 20 F in the valley and up on the mountain at Bolton Valley.

I dropped E and the boys off at Snowflake, parked the car, and got my gear together fast enough to catch them on their second run.  Ty was raving about the snow on Butterscotch in general, but E didn’t quite find the overall setup quite as nice as what we found on Monday.  She said that the middle of the trail was good with the new snow, but the powder on the skier’s right didn’t cover and even out the subsurface in quite the same way that it had last time.  Those subtleties aside, you could tell that there been another nice addition to the snowpack, and the snow from this storm was definitely denser than what we received on Monday.  In fact, although it was still fairly dry at ~7% H2O according to my analyses from down our house, that’s still roughly twice as dense as the last storm.  The snow certainly had some heft that helped cover up the old surfaces, but it wasn’t going to be flying in your face the way the snow from the last storm did.

“…the snow from this
storm was definitely
denser than what we
received on Monday.”

Heading next to the Vista Quad, we took Spillway, finding some good turns, but again a notch below what we’d found on Monday.  Ty worked the terrain with fresh snow off to the skier’s right, but wasn’t interested in setting up any photos; clearly the snow couldn’t quite inspire him the way the last storm did.  E wasn’t feeling comfortable enough on her Teles today to stick tight to the soft snow on the edge of Spillway, so spending more time toward the middle of the trail, she had to deal with some icy, high-traffic spots.  As we descended toward Mid Mountain, the boys toured us through some nooks and crannies of access roads in order to ski under a big bent over tree.  That was a bit of a slow route, but you could get a feel for just how much snow was starting to build on the natural terrain.  We checked out Beech Seal on the lower mountain – I hit the usual soft snow on the skier’s right and found it performing right in line with the other terrain we’d skied.  The skiing was great, just a notch below the last storm.  I hadn’t seen where Ty had gone on Beech Seal, but it turns out he’d snuck over into the little lane of terrain on the right beyond the racing fence.  He gets a kick out of being over there, and of course he’s probably one of the only people who can comfortably fit in there and loves the fact that the powder is untouched.

An image of Dylan skiing powder on the Wilderness Lift Line at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont
Dylan, picking up where things left off last weekend

With Swing finally open, we next headed over toward Wilderness to sample some of the powder over there.  Checking on the powder depth at 2,775’ on Lower Crossover like I’d done on Monday, I got a reading of 9 inches.  That’s actually an inch lower than what I recorded on Monday, but that’s not surprising after several days of settling and now some denser snow on top.  Most importantly, the net content of liquid in the snowpack has increased again with this storm. Every storm continues to bolster the snowpack over there, and we definitely had our best run of the year on Turnpike.  It’s really been our go-to trail this season when snow has been lean, and it was just a heck of a lot of fun with all the new powder.

An image of Ty jumping over a clump of brush on the Wilderness Lift Line trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Ty later told me that he was working on his body positioning in the air with this jump – nice!

Although we still had daylight, the night skiing lights continued to come on as the resort shifted into night skiing mode.  It was 4:15 PM, and I had to be in Burlington for dinner, but we decided to catch a final run off the Mid Mountain Chair – Ty really wanted another chance to ski his line behind the racing fence on Beech Seal.  The snow continued to pour down, now with some larger flakes more reminiscent of upslope, and as we skied along I commented to E on how conditions were almost of the type we like for night skiing – fresh snow, no wind, and relatively warm.  For those that went out last night to the slopes, I’d say they chose a good one.  Ty got to ski his line, and Dylan followed along as well, continuing on to the second fence where the line ends in a bunch of brush.  Dylan extricated himself easily though, and came out smiling.

We skied right back down to the access road through the trees near the Wentworth Condos, which is always a nice way to end the day.  I’d say the mountain had picked up at least 2 to 4 inches by the time we’d left, and a half foot would be a reasonable way to expect the event to finish off.  We’ve got a chance for another Alberta Clipper on Monday, and a steady diet of these is certainly a nice way to go until a bigger storm comes through to really give us a big jump in base depths.