Back out for an afternoon powder session up at Bolton Valley
Seeing that the Timberline Quad had recently started running as we were heading down the access road after our morning ski session, really got me thinking about heading back up to take advantage of the opportunity. So, after a quick bit to eat, I decided to head back out for a few more runs. It was actually pretty convenient, since I was still wearing my ski clothes, and hadn’t even unloaded the gear from the car.
I pulled into the Timberline lot to find just a handful of cars there – with the lift opening so late, it was only people who arrived in the afternoon that would even have the opportunity to park there. I hopped on the lift and found that the snowfall was picking up again after a bit of a lull around midday. The winds weren’t too bad at that point, but they seemed as though they were picking back up in concert with the increasing snowfall. Unlike this morning, the winds were more from the west, vs. the south or southeast, and this meant that they were at your back while riding the lift.
I started off with a run through Wood’s Hole and the Corner Pocket Glades, and I actually had first tracks through the main entry line into the Wood’s Hole Glades. There were just a couple of people ahead of me on the logging road, and it was skiing really well. I eventually diverted off into the Corner Pocket Glades, and as I descended I could tell that while decent, the snow down below the 2,000’ level really wasn’t up to the quality of what was higher up on the mountain. The powder was still good, but combination of less new snow and denser layers of powder below it was obvious. Although I had planned to focus on Timberline since I’d skied the main mountain in the morning, the call of the premium snow quality just a bit higher up had me thinking about heading back to the main mountain for a little more fun.
I made my way to the main base, and headed up to the Vista Summit via the Vista Quad. After about halfway up, the snow and wind really started to pick up, and they hit a level that was higher than anything we’d seen in the morning. When I got off the lift, I headed down past the patrol hut, and before heading to Cobrass I had to just stop and watch the spectacle. At one point, visibility was down to around 100 feet, and even though I was only 100-200 feet away from the hut, it was entirely invisible at times. Unfortunately there’s not much point in getting an image of the building when it’s totally invisible, because all you see is white, so I grabbed a shot of one of the periods when it was on the verge of disappearing and that at least gives a sense of just how intense that snowfall was.
Down in the Villager Trees, I decided to make the hike up the crack, since E and the boys hadn’t wanted to do it this morning. While down in the protection of the trees, the heavy snow and wind from up near the summit became just fluffy flakes filling the quiet air. It was such a difference from the windswept summit. The powder off the knob was fantastic, and I was happy to see that the wind hadn’t affected it at all. Once I got back to the trail network and my way toward Timberline, I didn’t see another soul. It was as if everyone had left, and I quickly surmised that the most recent bout of heavy wind had shut down the lifts. I didn’t check on the others, but indeed Timberline was on wind hold. I was heading to the car at that point, but it didn’t seem like I would have had much choice anyway – Mother Nature has really been hitting Bolton Valley with the winds over the past couple of days, but I’m glad I was able to get in those afternoon turns during the window of Timberline’s opening.
Wind holds at Bolton Valley yesterday meant lots of untracked powder today.
We had a winter storm at the end of the week that brought over a foot to some of the local ski resorts, and it created quite a powder day by Friday morning. Fortunately (for some of us that didn’t get out Friday) most of the lifts at Bolton Valley were on wind hold all day, so much of the powder was still sitting there as of this morning. With that in mind, we got a relatively early start up at the mountain today, getting there by roughly 9:00 A.M. One great aspect of the day was that Dylan has been given a clean bill of health after his recent viral illness, so he was ready to jump back on the skis and go wild with the rest of the family.
The wind was already somewhat vigorous ahead of today’s incoming storm as the four us loaded onto the Vista Quad, and although temperatures were in the 20s F and fairly comfortable, the east wind blowing in our faces on the wasn’t pleasant. We started off on Alta Vista, and while there seemed to be less powder off to the sides than usual due to extensive grooming, the actual groomed trail had some of the best snow we’ve encountered on it. Oftentimes, traffic and wind make it pretty scratchy at the start, but not today. Down lower on the trail, we got into some powder toward the Vista Glades, and it was quite good. We worked our way over toward Wilderness and caught some of the first tracks in Wilderness Woods. The powder wasn’t overly deep, but it had such a beautiful density gradient associated with it that it was bottomless everywhere. Indeed there’s a ton of soft snow out there now, essentially everywhere I tested the depth of snow with my measurement ski pole off piste, I was able to push it down to around 40 inches before hitting any hard surfaces. There’s really been a good amount of snow in the mountains this month. We eventually made our way out onto Lower Turnpike, and although it had seen a thorough grooming, even that was super soft and there was untracked powder available on the sides.
When we arrived down at the base of Wilderness there were about 15 minutes to go before they loaded it, so E went in for a bathroom break, while the boys and I went for a Mid Mountain run. It turned out that Mid Mountain was on wind hold, so we made a Snowflake run instead. We caught some lines in the Bonus Woods and then met up with E for the loading of the Wilderness Chair. From the Wilderness Summit we decided on Bolton Outlaw, and from what we could see even before we got there, the good powder was in protected areas. The Outlaw Woods yielded some excellent snow. We worked our way down via Cougar for another run in the Wilderness Woods like our first one, and the snow was still excellent, even if we weren’t in the realm of first tracks the way we’d been earlier in the morning.
Finding some beautiful snow in the Outlaw Woods
E and the boys were ready for a break from the wind, so they headed in for some snacks while I took another run on Super Snow Hole. Being by myself, it was the perfect opportunity to dial in the traverse there, and avoid having to drag the family around looking for it like last time. This time I found one of the main traverse tracks leading to the area and hit it from the top. The snow was beautiful in there, and so well protected from the wind. The snow had started to pick up with the approaching storm, and in the trees I got to experience some of those big fat flakes floating straight down in the dead calm. It was a world of difference in those protected areas. It was a great run in which I got to hit some nice lines that I’d explored in the off season.
I met up with E and the boys back in the lodge, and found out that they’d actually had a good bit to eat during their break. I eventually convinced them to come for a run with me on Super Snow Hole, especially since I had a track in place and could guarantee that the traverse would be simple and productive. They actually loved the run, especially with the really high quality powder, so I don’t think I’ll have quite as hard a time convincing them to go with me next time.
Everyone was game for one more run, so we took a trip up Vista and headed to Maria’s Woods. We didn’t take the hike up the crack, but the snow was really good on the main lines anyway. Sometimes you can get in there and find powder that just doesn’t seem to work, but not today. In fact, I was really pleased in general at the high quality of the snow today. I’d brought my Amperages, hoping that the snow was going to be of enough quality that they would be a good fit, and indeed they were. They had that “no width” feeling, and everything was quick and effortless. There’s something about the consistency of the snow that just seemed to work with them, and I’m still figuring out just what days allow them to shine. A great example of when they weren’t a great fit was last Saturday, when the powder was dense in general, and the lower mountain having bit of wetter snow. One would think that fat skis would be great in that dense stuff, but I found that it was just too stiff in most places for their width. Perhaps I’m getting used to how quickly they move around in high quality, fluffy snow, but definitely found myself wanting my mid fats that day. In any event, I’m definitely starting to dial in the type of days that work best, or at least “feel best” with the fats, and it’s not simply the deep days. The quality of the powder seems to be the biggest factor.
I checked on the interest in any additional runs, but everyone was ready to leave, so we skied to the car, packed up, and headed down the access road. As we passed by Timberline, we saw that it had finally gotten off wind hold, and people were loading. It was very tempting to stop in and check out all the snow that had been sitting there for the past couple of days, but I couldn’t convince anyone to make the stop, they were happy to call it a day. It did plant in my mind the possibility of heading back out after lunch though…
The snow was quite settled today, but boy is coverage good now in Northern Vermont as we hit mid March.
It was already obvious from my outing on Thursday at Bolton Valley that the snow from Winter Storm Vulcan had fallen in a fairly dense state in this area. It hadn’t been warm during the storm, but snow growth just hadn’t been all that great around here, and the small flakes packed together to produce snow in the 10-11% H2O range. When combined with some wind, the snow had definitely been settled, and that was already evident even though I was skiing while the storm was still finishing up. And of course, snow generally just gets denser over time, so with temperatures predicted to be in the 30s F today, we weren’t expecting light and dry powder everywhere.
“…Vulcan dropped what was likely close to two inches of liquid equivalent in the mountains in the form of snow, so we knew that the mountain had received a full resurfacing.”
Although we weren’t expecting feathery, “Champagne Powder®” on the slopes today, Vulcan dropped what was likely close to two inches of liquid equivalent in the mountains in the form of snow, so we knew that the mountain had received a full resurfacing. That meant it was a perfect time to hit all the steep terrain that just hasn’t been well covered yet this season. Because we’re still waiting on Dylan’s physician to give him the go ahead for doing the most vigorous activities, such as skiing, Dylan and E planned to go swimming in the Bolton Valley Sports Center, while Ty and I planned to ski.
E dropped Ty and I off over at the base of Wilderness, and for me, it was quite a treat to get the chauffeur service that the rest of the family usually has. We found out that the Wilderness Double Chair was still on wind hold though, so we headed up to the Vista Quad for a run. Our first stop on the steep terrain tour was the Preacher Woods. The coverage there is definitely sufficient now, even up in the big open areas with multiple ledges. There are still some aspects of the ledges that one needs to dodge here and there, but when the terrain is small cliffs, that’s often the way it’s going to be. The snow was packed, and the untracked powder was sort of thick and dense, but the skiing up there was really pretty decent. There just wasn’t any fluff factor to speak of, so things felt very “settled”. It was really just fun to take virtually any line and not worry about coverage around the next corner; we’ve been waiting for a while to get to that stage this season. Our run brought us down through the Cobrass Woods, and then Deer Path, and finally the Bear Run Woods. The lower half of the mountain had warmer temperatures and snow that was somewhat wet, so that made it a bit more challenging. I’d brought my fat skis, and while I liked them a lot in the dense powder and chowder up high, I was less than thrilled with them on the more packed snow in the lower elevations.
Throwing around some dense snow out in the Deer Run area today
When we arrived back at the base, we found a big lift queue at the Vista Quad, and a similar queue at the Snowflake Chair. The Wilderness Chair was still on wind hold, so we decided to go for a run off the Mid Mountain Lift to get ourselves over to Timberline. We used Deer Run to get there, and Ty had an excellent crash in some of the powder that appeared to be to the amusement of some of the little kids in one of the ski programs. As we headed lower and lower in elevation over toward Timberline, the snow got wetter and wetter, and we could tell that it was really getting warm down in those lowest elevations. We encountered a huge queue at Timberline, probably because of other people that had left the main mountain to find shorter lift queues, but after seeing the drop in snow quality down low, I bet many of them headed back to the relative cool of the main mountain. I took Ty down the steep terrain of Lost Girlz, followed by Thundergoat Pass. We generally skipped the untracked powder down at Timberline, as it was just getting too dense and challenging. The partially tracked up snow was much easier to ski.
A deli lunch break for the boards
We made our way back to the main mountain after that, and finding that Wilderness still wasn’t open and there were substantial queues at the other lifts, we decided it was time for lunch. I called down to E and Dylan, and we met them for lunch at the Deli. I suspected that with all the patrons the resort had today, the lodge would be quite packed, and even the usually very quiet deli was hopping, so it was definitely a busy one out there. I actually think it’s interesting that so many people would come out after President’s Day, but Vulcan was a big storm and it caught a lot of people’s attention. After lunch, Ty headed down for some swimming with E and Dylan, and I contemplated another run or two. Finding the lift queues still fairly substantial, I decided to just call it a day. The skiing certainly wasn’t phenomenal enough that it warranted waiting in lift queues, especially since the snowfall was picking up and the possibilities for tomorrow were looking decent with cooler temperatures. I toured around the Village a bit and got some pictures, returned the pizza pans that Fireside Flatbread had lent us when we ordered pizza last Saturday, and finally worked my way down to the Sports Center. I worked on a jigsaw puzzle that was out in the recreation room while I waited for the others to finish swimming, and when they arrived, the battle was joined in a game of foosball. I forget how much fun stuff there is to do down at the Sports Center – we don’t visit to often because we’re usually headed home after skiing, but we’ll have to remember that there’s a lot more than just swimming.
It was over a week ago that Typhoon Tip of the American Weather Forum spotted a potential winter storm of the Northeastern U.S. based on the overall large-scale weather patterns. He started a thread that ran for dozens and dozens of pages, and as the time period in question approached, it looked more and more like Northern New England was going to be in the sweet spot for snow. Folks up here were understandably cautious, as most storms have seemed to trend southward this season, but winter storm “Vulcan” formed, and walked right through Northern Vermont with up to 24 inches of snow at some of the local ski resorts as of this morning. Although the snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is running less than a foot below average depth, it’s actually been a pretty lean snow year for the Northern Greens, with places like Bolton Valley and Stowe not yet even reaching 200 inches of snowfall. The on piste snow had definitely been a bit stale last weekend, so Vulcan was very welcomed with respect to both freshening surfaces and building the snowpack going into the spring skiing season.
“…this stuff put down a ton of liquid equivalent.”
I got the word in the morning that UVM wasn’t resuming classes until noontime because of the challenges of clearing all the snow, so after thoroughly clearing the driveway with the snow thrower, I headed up to Bolton Valley on my way in to Burlington. I knew from the snow report that all the lifts were on hold due to the winds, so I brought my skins and planned on a quick ascent of Timberline. Temperatures were in the single digits at the Timberline Base even as midday approached, but it actually turned out to be a very comfortable temperature for skinning with what I had on. I generally found 14-18” of settled snow down at the 1,500’ elevation, and was therefore happy to see that there was indeed a skin track in place up Twice as Nice. In actuality, it was a snowshoe track that had apparently been made by snow snowboarders, but it was well packed and accommodated my skins well.
I made quick time up to the top of Twice as Nice, ripped off my skins, and headed right back down. This was definitely one of those situations where you never quite know how the snow is going to ski until you ski it, but I could tell it was probably going to be dense, so I had chosen Twice as Nice because of its more consistent pitch. There was plenty of snow, but there wasn’t much of any fluff on top, so the powder skiing was fairly underwhelming, certainly by NVT standards. Combined with the cold temperatures, the skiing was definitely “slow” this morning. I’m glad I had my fattest skis at 115 mm underfoot, but even they didn’t keep me planing high enough on some of the shallower pitches. After skiing it, I’m actually looking forward to trying the snow from this storm chopped up a bit in chowder form – the trails are going to be great at that stage because this stuff put down a ton of liquid equivalent. There were certainly some good turns to be had, but nothing spectacular like you can get with fluffy Champlain Powder™.
On my way to Burlington on Route 2, I found myself running right alongside a locomotive, the 2674 from New England Central Railroad, and I was impressed with the way the snow was flying as it cleared the tracks of fresh snow. I sped ahead to see if I could catch it at the Jonesville railroad crossing, and quickly parked the car along the side of the intersection there and go into position. I was able to catch the locomotive blasting through the berm left by the plow, and the snow was flying everywhere. Just moments after this, I saw a snow plow approach the intersection, and the driver was really excited to see if I’d gotten the shot. I gave him a big “thumbs up” to let him know that I’d managed to get it, and couldn’t wait to have a chance to see just what it looked like. I’d argue it looked like what a locomotive would do on a powder day.
Catching a locomotive hitting the snow at the Jonesville railroad crossing
Nikki, up for a visit and enjoying some powder at Bolton Valley today
As we enter March, the polar vortex continues to flood Northern Vermont with unseasonably cold air. It’s great for preserving the snow, but it’s also pushing synoptic storms southward, and it’s been two weeks since we’ve had a major storm cycle. Fortunately, smaller impulses have rotated their way around the base of the vortex to the tune of roughly one per day over the past week, and thanks to those events, the Northern Greens have picked up almost a foot of snow since Monday. I’d been curious about how the powder was building up off piste with all those little events, but when I saw Powderfreak’s deep pictures from Stowe yesterday, it was obvious that conditions were getting good.
“Conditions were good, with the only thing keeping them from being great was that crust looming below the powder.”
E’s sister Tina and her family arrived last night for a visit and some skiing. With Dylan under the weather, they decided to maximize his peace and quiet and stayed at the Best Western in town last night, but stopped in this morning to get together before we headed up to Bolton Valley. We didn’t rush too hard, since we were happy to let the temperatures warm. They’d actually picked the perfect day for skiing with respect to temperatures, because the single digits and teens that the polar vortex has thrown this way all week were finally giving way to temperatures in the 20s F thanks to southerly winds from an approaching storm.
Tim had to rent some equipment, so we started off at the main mountain with a trip down Deer Run from the Mid Mountain Chair. I wanted to make sure that Riley and Nikki were comfortable on the terrain, but they were ripping it up, so we moved right on to the Vista Quad. In the overall scheme of the mountain tour, my plan was to bring them down to the slopes of Timberline, which looked quite nice from what we saw on our drive by this morning, so we hit Cobrass and took the long run all the way to the base of the Timberline Quad. Along the way, we didn’t do a lot of exploring or traversing with Riley and Nikki being on snowboards, but I did bring Tim on one of the crossovers to Spell Binder to check out the snow. They resort had done one pass on Spell Binder with the groomer, but the rest of the trail was powder. The depth of the powder down at that elevation was enough to keep you off the subsurface for a good portion of the turns, but you would definitely touch down on a certain percentage as well. The turns were definitely nice though, and having my fat skis might have made it even better.
Riding the Timberline Quad, we could see plenty of untracked snow on Showtime, so we gave that a shot first. They had a strip of grooming, which was good, because the powder was nowhere near as consistent as what was on Spell Binder. There were areas with 4 to 5 inches of powder, and then areas that looked like powder but were actually just crust with a little snow on top. That made the skiing very tricky there, and it just didn’t seem like it was worth another run. Twice as Nice was a little more protected, so it had some better areas of loose snow among its bumps. I also brought everyone for a trip down Sure Shot to get them all to the powder on Tattle Tale and Spell Binder. It meant that the snowboards had to click out of their boards for the traversing, but the snow was definitely worth it. We had lunch at the Timberline Base Lodge, and it was a quiet scene with a few families at some of the tables. Nikki and Riley really enjoyed their food. I took everyone on an adventure through Wood’s Hole with more powder on Spell Binder after that, and then we headed back to the main mountain.
Cruising through the snow on Spell Binder
During the rest of the afternoon we finished the tour by catching the lifts we hadn’t, like Snowflake and Wilderness, with a good run that everyone enjoyed through the Wilderness Woods. We mixed things up near the end of the day with visits to see Tina in the lodge and some runs off Mid Mountain and the Vista Quad. Tim was amazed at how quiet the resort was for a Saturday, and it was quiet, but nothing too atypical. Conditions were good, with the only thing keeping them from being great was that crust looming below the powder. It wasn’t an issue where snow had been groomed, and there was indeed some nice packed powder in spots, but we’ll need a bit more snow to fully bury that crust. We’ve got yet another system coming in tonight, so that will aid in burying that crust deeper still.
There was some nice weather out there today at Bolton Valley
There’s no doubt that last Saturday was one of our best ski days of the season so far; it’s just hard to go wrong with a couple feet of fresh snow. Today wasn’t quite going to be able to hold up that level though. After a couple smaller storms earlier this week, a mixed precipitation event came though the area on Thursday and Friday. Although there wasn’t any dramatic warming or melting in the mountains, the temperatures did get high enough to affect the snow.
From the initial snow report I saw from Bolton Valley this morning, it didn’t seem like it was going to be worth heading up to the mountain for skiing – it sounded like groomed runs were going to be the call since they’d seen some freezing rain that glazed up the terrain. As the afternoon wore on though, it was sunny and warm enough that it seemed like the slopes might soften, especially the lower-elevation, west-facing terrain at Timberline. Also, the non-groomed terrain must have been acceptable, because virtually everything was open. We decided to head up for a couple of runs and check it out.
Although initial reports had indicated that the Timberline mid station was not going to be open, but the time we got up to the mountain, it was. We took a run off Twice as Nice, and found that the conditions up top were somewhere between winter and spring. I’m not sure if the freezing level was higher earlier, but it was only on the lowest quarter of the trail where we found soft, spring-like snow. The high elevations were cold and windy, but we decided to take one more run from the top of Timberline to see what other options presented themselves. We skied Sure Shot, and in general the snow was hard up there, not softening until we got down toward the bottom of Timberline Run into the more directly south-facing terrain.
The base looked fine when we were at Timberline today, and in fact the most recent storm probably substantiated it more with at least a half inch of liquid equivalent. We’ll just need to get some new snow on it to get the skiing back to soft conditions, but whatever storm comes next could make for some really good skiing atop the current base.
Dylan bounding down through some of the powder from our recent big storm cycle at Bolton Valley today
Winter storm “Pax” affected Northern Vermont on Thursday and Friday this week, dropping up to 29 inches of snow on the ski resorts along the spine of the Green Mountains. We haven’t had much in the way of large storm cycles up in the Northern Greens this season, so this was our largest to date, and it showed some interesting distributions with respect to snowfall density. Some areas received extensive periods of large, fluffy flakes, and other locales had some very fine flakes that fell as very dense snow. For instance, the first round of the storm at our location on Thursday night delivered some very dense, 13% H2O snow. That’s actually just what the snowpack needed for building. Whether the snow was dense or not, in the end, the mountains received well over an inch of liquid, and that liquid equivalent was really what was necessary to bolster the natural snowpack. It was enough snow that Bolton Valley had finally opened all the terrain at Timberline, and we were psyched because that had been an inordinately long time coming this season.
“Winter storm “Pax” affected Northern Vermont on Thursday and Friday this week, dropping up to 29 inches of snow on the ski resorts along the spine of the Green Mountains.”
We decided to get a relatively early start on the mountain today, and even though we weren’t expecting the Timberline Quad to open until 10:00 A.M., when we drove by at 9:30 A.M. it was already running, so we pulled right in and parked. There were a couple of dozen cars in the lot, but it was still fairly quiet. That was good, because being a holiday weekend, having the biggest storm of the season just hit, and then having great weather to enjoy it, we were worried about how many people were going to be out. It was business as usual though at Timberline, with no lift queue and just a small group of people out to hit the terrain.
During our first lift ride we could see that the snow looked quite good, and there had definitely been a major resurfacing of the slopes. People had skied the area yesterday, so it wasn’t entirely fresh snow, but there were plenty of untracked areas, and a few more inches had fallen last night to cover even areas that had seen traffic. With almost two feet of new snow having fallen at Bolton Valley, we planned on hitting a lot of the steep off piste terrain that we’d yet to ski this season, so E decided to go with her fat alpine skis instead of Telemark skis. The boys had their powder skis, and I had my fat Teles, so we were ready to tackle whatever Pax had delivered. We had really great weather to enjoy the snow too – the temperatures were in the upper 20s F, there was no wind, and a little snow associated with our next storm system was floating through the air and adding a fresh coating to the slopes.
“The only complaint I’d add about the snow is that it was bit upside down, with some dry stuff underneath a layer of denser snow on top.”
Everyone took turns choosing trails, and E kicked things off with Twice as Nice. That turned out be a great idea for a warm up. The trail was generally tracked, with some untracked snow off to the sides, but there had been such a thorough resurfacing with all the dense snow that it hardly mattered where you went. I was really feeling my AMPerages bust through the heavy snow with gusto, yet at the same time they were light and quick – I was really happy with the combination of skis and snow because everything just seemed to flow. On our next ride up the quad, E commented on how we’d had the entire trail to ourselves for the whole run, except for a ski patroller who seemed to enjoy watching us from the side and generally surveilling the lay of the land in a very casual way. Next up was Dylan’s choice, which was Adam’s Solitude. I’m glad Dylan chose that early, because while the snow was quite good, a few bare spots were already starting to make their presence known. It was easy to see that once the trail received a bunch of traffic, the skiing wasn’t going to be quite as free and easy as what we were experiencing. With the rugged terrain present on Adam’s Solitude, it’s going to take another couple synoptic storms to really get it in shape for lots of skier traffic. The roller coaster section that the boys love at the bottom is already in great shape though, and they had a blast. I really enjoyed mixing in Telemark and alpine turns as the terrain dictated, and today was one of those days where mixing both techniques on the fly just came rather easily.
It was off to the main mountain next, where in order to add some fun in getting over to the base of Wilderness, we did a run off the Mid Mountain Chair. I treated E and the boys to a run through Glades Right and Nixon’s; both areas had great snow and coverage, and the boys were impressed. Wilderness was finally running today, and I led E and the boys on an attempted run through Super Snow Hole, but it was tough to find the entrance and we had to settle for regular Snow Hole. There had been very little traffic on Snow Hole, and it could actually use a bit more people venturing in to pack it down a bit with the generous depths of the recent snows. Ty called for a run on Turnpike, with an entry via Cougar, which the boys said they always seem to ski during the Olympics. They made sure to practice their Olympic victory “raising of the arms” at the bottom.
E and Dylan enjoying the great snow out in the glades today
Since the boys had really earned some lunch after the morning’s adventures, especially the off piste venturing around in the deep powder in the Snow Hole area, we got a pie from Fireside Flatbread and some appetizers from the downstairs cafeteria. The lodge was definitely packed, and that’s not surprising on a Saturday of a holiday weekend.
The fat skis were out today, doing their thing in the almost two feet of new snow at Bolton Valley.
The afternoon started with a run through the “trifecta” of Buena Vista, Dynamite, and Sleepy Hollow. The snow was excellent, and traffic had been fairly light. Dylan requested a run through the Progression Park, and then we headed back toward Timberline to finish off the day. I was amazed that we’d seen Upper Tattle Tale open, and from below it looked somewhat scoured, but Lower Tattle Tale was really good. The Twice as Nice Glades were OK, but still a bit bony, and I’d actually say that they are due for a round of brush clearing. I took everyone down Quintessential, but it definitely needs a couple more storms to really be ready.
You really couldn’t ask for a much better day today, with such great fresh snow and weather. The only complaint I’d add about the snow is that it was bit upside down, with some dry stuff underneath a layer of denser snow on top. At some point there was some dry fluff in there, and then some snow with smaller flake fell on top. You’d sometimes find areas of untracked powder where you could drop right through that middle layer. The fat skis were definitely the tools to help with that though, doing a great job of keeping you floating vs. sinking under the topmost layers of dense snow. In terms of base, essentially everything is skiable, but I’d like to see a couple more synoptic storms to get the base wall to wall on all the steepest and most rugged natural terrain. Being mid February, that should really be expected by this point, but when snowfall is somewhere south of 80% relative to average, and January has multiple warm storms, that steep, natural terrain in the lower elevations just isn’t going to be flawless yet. We’ve actually got some nice fluffy upslope snow falling tonight in association with the next winter storm called “Quintus”; we’ll have to see how much the mountains can pull of the sky to top off what’s out there.
Conditions are still below average for this time of year around here, but Wilderness delivered great snow today as it often does.
With over half an inch of liquid equivalent delivered, our midweek winter storm, “Nika”, was certainly a mini boon for the local slopes. I checked out the fresh snow on Wednesday and Thursday, but today was our chance to see how conditions fared now that things have settled a bit, and traffic and grooming have worked the new snow into the base. There’s no question that the recent shot of moisture from Nika provided a bump in snowpack for Bolton Valley – many additional trails have come on line, and as of this morning, the only areas that patrol haven’t opened are upper Wilderness and the natural snow trails of Timberline.
Of course the fact that we’re approaching mid February and even having to talk about those areas not being open speaks to just how poor a January the area had to endure. The snowfall data that I monitor at our house parallels the local mountains quite nicely, especially in mid winter, so my numbers provide a very good sense of how it went for the ski areas of the Northern Greens. With just 15.8 inches of snow, this past January was the lowest in my records by a notable margin. Granted, I only have eight seasons worth of data, but this past January wasn’t just lower than any January in my records, it was lower than any December, January, or February in my records. Looking at all those months puts a lot more into the data set, so for January to come in well below all of the other months is quite notable. And, the statistics back that up, with this January being a whopping 1.86 standard deviations below the midwinter monthly mean of 39.4 inches, putting this January in THE BOTTOM 3% OF ALL MIDWINTER MONTHS according to my data set. So if you felt that January was horrendously low with respect to snowfall in the Northern Greens, you were correct.
Fortunately we’re on to February now and the past week was at least somewhat average with respect to snowfall. E took a look at the Bolton Valley Web Cam and noted that there wasn’t much of a line at the Vista Quad, so after a quick lunch, we headed up to the mountain. Timberline had a good number of cars, and the Village lots were near capacity, so clearly the resort had a lot of visitors – I dropped E and the boys off at the Village Circle and had to park in the bottom tier of parking down near the recreation center.
After they’d taken a couple runs on Snowflake, in which Ty really seemed to be getting some nice air in the terrain park, I met up with E and the boys and we headed up the Vista Quad for a run on Spillway. That was Dylan’s choice, and I was optimistic that the ridge on the skier’s right would yield some good snow, but it was definitely underwhelming. I found soft snow in a few spots, but in general there wasn’t much of it and the hard, manmade snow predominated on the left side of the ridge and even made its presence known on the right side of the ridge. It wasn’t until we neared the connection onto Sherman’s Pass that we were able to get into some good powder on the edges, and then the Vista Quad Liftline below held soft natural snow as well. The snow we’d experienced up on Spillway had him calling for some trees, which was timely, because that was the plan.
Although the trees are still a bit lean for this time of year, there are lots of good areas to be found
The next run was my choice, and with the recent opening of the Cobrass suite of trails, I decided we should check out Cobrass and head to Maria’s for some soft snow in the trees. The snow on Cobrass was just horribly icy, and we couldn’t get down it fast enough. Even the skier’s right, where soft snow often holds, was meager like we’d found on Spillway. Either the trails with snowmaking have seen too many skiers or not enough natural snow, or perhaps a combination of both. Fortunately, the snow off piste was blissfully soft, with generally about a foot of powder on Maria’s. The only problem is that the base is still lean – we need another big synoptic storm, this time with an inch or two of liquid equivalent to really get the off piste terrain into prime, midwinter form. The snow depth at the Mt. Mansfield stake is just above that 40” mark, so as one might expect, the off piste skiing is in play, but you can’t rely on everything to be covered yet. You still need to take it cautiously in general. Maria’s did offer up some nice shots of powder, and we found some nice deep shots, but until we get another storm or two you just won’t be able to go top to bottom with full confidence.
With the snowmaking terrain generally too firm, and the off piste terrain passable but not ready for prime time in all areas, our next course of action was obvious. It was time for a run over at Wilderness. Before we could do that though, Dylan needed to warm up his toes, so we took a break for a bit in the lodge. The boys got some snacks, and everyone warmed up for what we planned to be our last run. From the top of the Vista Quad we took Alta Vista, and I was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot more soft snow available on the side there than what we’d experienced on Spillway or Cobrass. I’d say it was simply due to lower skier traffic, because it seemed like very few people had skied there. We connected over to Wilderness and got some nice powder on the Wilderness Lift Line, which was followed up with an excellent run down Turnpike. Boy that Turnpike just always seems to deliver.
So, there’s certainly some decent skiing out there thanks to the recent storm “Nika”, but overall things are certainly subpar for February in Northern Vermont. We’re definitely keeping our eyes peeled for that next big synoptic storm that could get things closer to average – based on the current depth at the stake we need about a foot to a foot and a half of base depth increase to get there.
Although I never made it up to the main mountain yesterday, the skiing I found at Timberline was quite good, and suggested that the snow would be even better at higher elevations. That snow, combined with the continued moderating temperatures expected to rise through the 20s F into the 30s was a recipe for some very nice skiing. The forecast has been predicting these conditions for a while, and E and the boys were on board for getting up to the mountain today as well. I’d told E about yesterday’s turns, so we had to decide if we wanted to go for some of that powder at Timberline, or ride the lifts and ski at the main mountain. We decided that it would be good for the boys to get in some lift-served skiing at Bolton Valley, since they’ve yet to do that at all this season. We also realized that we could still work in some Timberline powder if we spotted a car at the Timberline Base, and that would get the boys a little of everything.
“I have to admit, I could really tell the difference between being on my mid-fats today, and being on my fat skis yesterday.”
When I was checking out the Bolton Valley website yesterday evening, I noticed that they were having a special promotion today – it was the first of four Subaru/Hyundai days in which owners of those vehicle brands could get a free lift ticket for the afternoon. Also, additional guests could get tickets at 50% off. I wouldn’t have been more than a passing thought, except that E was thinking of getting out with Gabe, one of our BJAMS students, to let him practice snowboarding before our regular season program begins at Stowe next week. I told E about the promotion this morning, and although it turned out that she didn’t get together with Gabe, we had another potential student that could use a ticket. E was planning to get together with Claire to work out the ski groups for the ski program, and during their planning, they realized that Luc could come and ski with us using a free ticket.
Claire dropped of Luc with plans to meet with E again later, and we headed up to the mountain. Heading up the access road, it was right as we approached the Timberline area that we realized our day was going to be a bit different than we’d expected. The sign was already up indicating that the upper parking lots were full, and that meant that there were a lot of visitors at the mountain today. Although we could probably have found a spot up in the Village lots from people that were leaving, we decided to park the cars at the Timberline Base, since we’d already been planning to end up down there anyway. It was about three runs of the shuttle before we were able to get on, but once we did, the boys loved it since it was their first opportunity to ride the Bolton Valley shuttle bus.
“I guess when half the state owns Subarus, you’re going to get a response to such a promotion.”
As if the need to initiate parking down at Timberline hadn’t been enough of a signal, at the base area, it was immediately obvious that the Subaru/Hyundai promotion was a hit. I guess when half the state owns Subarus, you’re going to get a response to such a promotion. The lift queue at the Vista Quad was quite long, and had to be at least 10 minutes. We decided to take a run on Snowflake, since the queue wasn’t too long, and the snow on the Butterscotch slope looked quite good. Indeed the snow was quite good, with some powder off to the edges, but it was just too short a run to be waiting 5 to 10 minutes to ski it, so we decided to make the next run down to Timberline.
Dylan making quick work of the powder out there on Brandywine
From my Timberline explorations yesterday, I knew that there would be plenty of decent skiing even if we just followed out the Timberline Lane traverse to Brandywine, so that’s what we did. When we got there it was immediately obvious that there were more tracks than yesterday, so it was more challenging to find fresh snow. Also, folks were finding the skiing a bit tricky, due to the snow composition and coverage. I have to admit, I could really tell the difference between being on my mid-fats today, and being on my fat skis yesterday. Typically that difference in powder performance is more subtle, but not today – the fat skis had kept me that little bit higher in the snow yesterday, and that meant minimal interaction with the base or any crust that was sandwiched in between the layers of powder. Also, with the areas of untracked snow not as vast as yesterday, it limited line choice. Although the conditions were a bit challenging for E and the boys at times, there were still a lot of great sections of powder, so great turns were made.
Even without getting in on the biggest accumulations, the Northern Greens have been doing their thing to the best of their ability.
Back down at the cars, it was mid afternoon, and the combination of lift queues and conditions on Timberline that while OK, certainly didn’t have E and the boys raring to go for more, and that made it an easy decision to just call it a day. We headed back to the house where E and Claire spent some time working out all the groups for the ski program. I’m not sure how many extra tickets were sold today for the promotion, but it certainly brought people out. The fact that it was a nice mild day after the recent cold weather probably played into it as well. Hopefully they can have some of the other main lifts open for the next one of these promotional days, because that wouldn’t put so much pressure on the Vista Quad. With the base snow that is out there, all that’s needed is one good synoptic snowstorm to hit the area without going too far south or north and most terrain would be able to open.
Despite only modest storms over the past week, the snow has definitely built up for some nice powder skiing.
Our weather pattern in the Northeast has been fairly active over the past week, with four storms affecting our area since December 28th when I was last out on the slopes of Bolton Valley. For Northern Vermont, these storms really haven’t been big hits though. The first storm on the 29th was one that really hit Central Vermont and New Hampshire, and areas off to the east in Maine, while areas to the north and south of that saw little if any snow. In general, the ski resorts in the southern 2/3 of Vermont picked up the snow, with Okemo topping the list at 10 inches. The second event was just a little cold temperature diamond dust that fell from a weak short wave system through the midday hours on New Year’s Eve. Third in line was a weak Alberta Clipper system that brought a couple of inches to the northern valleys and mountains, and the fourth was the big kahuna… at least for some areas. It was a coastal storm that was pretty far off shore, so again it was southern areas that picked up the largest snow totals. For the Vermont ski resorts, Stratton topped the list with 18 inches, although there were places to the north of Boston that picked up two feet. In terms of Northern Vermont it was again a fairly minimal storm, but the few inches that fell were quite dense. Here at the house we picked up 3 inches of snow, but it contained almost a third of an inch of liquid. One notable aspect of that storm was how cold it was – it was snowing significantly with temperatures in the single digits and even below zero Fahrenheit. That was part of what made the snow up here so dense – it was actually too cold for optimal dendritic snowflake production.
“One of my favorite parts of the descent was playing in the dips and rolls along the skier’s left of the trail – there was some incredible flow, and the fats had that “no width” feeling much of the time.”
Despite the recent additions of snow, there hasn’t been too much incentive to ski over the past couple of days, basically because of the continuation of those cold temperatures. When the high temperatures are below zero Fahrenheit, as they have been in some locations this week, I’d much rather get other work done and save skiing for when the temperatures become more respectable. Fortunately, today was that day. Temperatures climbed into the low 20s F this afternoon, and since I was curious about how those rounds of snow over the past week had settled in up at the mountain, it was time to check it out. I really didn’t know what to expect up on the hill. New trails have been opening up on natural snow, including some black diamond runs like Schuss and Vermont 200, so that seemed like a good sign. I was also curious about the lower-elevations on Timberline though. If the recent snows had put down enough coverage there, I was excited to skin up for some powder turns. To cover my options, I put both the fats and mid fats on the ski rack, and threw their skins in the back of the car. I was ready for whatever was out there.
First on my list was to check out Timberline on my way up to the main base, but that’s as far as I got. There was still some tall grass sticking out of the snow on the slopes, but I could see a lot of ski tracks scattered about, and it was clearly game on for Timberline turns. I grabbed the fats, put on the skins, and headed up. There was a well-established skin track heading up the usual Twice as Nice route, so clearly a lot of people have been earning turns since the most recent storm. At the base elevations down at ~1,500’, the snowpack had a few different layers. Going from the top down there were 3 to 4 inches of powder, with what appeared to be a thin crust below it, then another inch of powder, and then some denser snow. All told it was only about 5 to 6 inches in deep, but there was enough substance to it that it seemed like it would provide some decent skiing. Up above 2,000’ it was notably deeper, with more base and a snowpack hitting the 7-10” range.
Based on what I’d seen in the lower elevations, I thought that Brandywine might be a nice option, so I headed to the top of Intro and switched over for the descent there. Looking down Brandywine, the signs were definitely positive. The trail had seen a few skiers, but there was plenty of untracked snow on the skier’s left, and based on the tracks it looked like there would be plenty of cover. The turns were even better than I’d expected, with 6 to 8 inches of powder over a hardened base up top. There was that thin layer of crust sandwiched in there somewhere, but it only occasionally made its presence felt, and the fat skis made quick work of it. One of my favorite parts of the descent was playing in the dips and rolls along the skier’s left of the trail – there was some incredible flow and the fats had that “no width” feeling much of the time. There has definitely been some good snow building up on the mountain while I wasn’t looking – it’s certainly not enough to support lift-served traffic yet, but we’re just one good synoptic storm away from that with the base that’s down there now.
Enjoying a run through the untracked snow on Brandywine today
When I reached the junction with Timberline Run I saw that it was rutted from snowcat traffic, so I took Spur, which was totally untracked. The powder wasn’t so deep that I couldn’t move on the modest pitches, but it was enough to keep you floating for turns. As I passed by Spell Binder I saw that there had been a lot of skier traffic there, so indeed people have been hitting it hard. It seems like there was a mini army out there skiing laps over the past couple of days. Just as I was reaching the end of Spur, I saw that the sky was exploding with color off to the west, and it quickly became dramatic enough that I had to stop and take it in. I was probably there for 10 minutes watching the color change as the sun sank lower, and I happily got some good photos of the light show. Even the lowest elevations about which I was most concerned offered up good turns, so it may be worth another visit tomorrow. Temperatures are staying mild ahead of the next storm heading this way, so I’d say it’s time get out in the snow in the northern mountains.
