Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry, VT 04JAN2025

An image of a snowdrift outside the condominiums near the base of the Wilderness Double Chairlift during a January snowstorm at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of ski tracks in powder snow in the Cup Runneth Over area of the Nordic and Backcountry Network of trails at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
The powder is great and the backcountry ski traffic has generally been light – as I passed by, I saw just one old set of tracks in the Cup Runneth Over area.

Our current storm cycle started up back on Wednesday, with low pressure deepening as it passed over southeast New England and up into Maine. It then headed on up into eastern Quebec, stalled there for a bit, and finally moved to northwest to James Bay, where it’s expected to sit until about Monday. While this isn’t a stacked low-pressure system sitting in the Canadian Maritimes feeding continuous 1+”/hr. snows into the Northern Greens, the broad cyclonic flow supported by the various positions of the low pressure has kept the area in a nice moist westerly/northwesterly flow that’s been feeding snow into the mountains. So, this isn’t a typical 24-, 48-, or 72-hour type of storm cycle; it’s a much more drawn-out sort of “cycle”. I wasn’t sure how the positions of this low would actually play out with respect to snowfall, but since well before the start of the storm the National Weather Service Office in Burlington has been on it – they felt that the potential was there for solid amounts of snow over the protracted period. And they certainly weren’t wrong. It’s been a little tough to total up the mountain accumulations for the full event because it’s already been going on for four days, and the resorts typically only report up to 48-hour accumulations, but it looks like anywhere from roughly 1.5 to 3 feet have fallen in the Northern Greens from the system as of today.

Bolton Valley was reporting 4 to 6 inches of new snow overnight on top of their previous accumulations from the system. I’d already been finding snow accumulations of 9 to 10 inches when I was out touring at Bolton on Thursday, so between whatever fell Thursday night into Friday, plus these additional Friday night accumulations, there seemed to be some good powder potential out there. Temperature forecasts for the mountains were in the single digits F today, so touring seemed to be the best option. E was initially going to join me for a ski tour, but after thinking about the temperatures for a bit, she ultimately decided to work out at home instead.

An image of icicles and snow hanging off the roof of the Bryant Cabin on the Nordic and Backcountry Network of trails at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in VermontI headed up to the mountain a bit after noontime, and people certainly didn’t seem to care about the temperatures – the signs were up for visitors to park at Timberline because the upper lots were full. Being after noon, I knew I’d be able to get a spot from someone who was leaving for the day, so I headed up to the main base anyway. I still ended up getting a spot in the lowest tennis court lot though, and that changed up my touring plans a bit. I had initially planned to ascend at the start of the Wilderness Uphill Route and then make my way toward Gardiner’s Lane, but since I was parked right down by the Pond Loop area with easy access to the Bryant Trail, I ascended there instead. I had just planned to loop around Bryant Cabin and then head out to start my descent on North Slope, but the temperatures felt great while touring, so I continued on up to Heavenly Highway, topped out around 2,800’, and started my descent via the “Not a Trail” glade. From there I continued down North Slope and then made a second ascent to ski some of the glades in the Snow Hole area.

An image of a ski pole with measurement of the powder in the snowpack showing a depth of 24 inches during a backcountry ski tour on the Nordic and Backcountry Network of trails at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Up above 2,500′ there were frequently areas with 24 inches of powder atop a substantial base for what must have been a snowpack depth in the range of 40 inches

It was clear that powder depths had increased at the resort since I was last there on Thursday. Winds have died down substantially now, so measuring the snow is much easier, and right at the car at ~2,000’ I was getting 8-12” depths for the surface snow above the base. By 2,500’ the typical depths were in the 12-16” range, and around 2,800’ I’d say they were 12-18”. I’d still think that’s somewhat conservative though, because I was often finding powder depths of 24” up around 2,700’-2,800’. Right now, getting up above 2,500’ makes a real difference in the snow though, because those areas must have done really well during our previous warmup – the interface between the surface snow and the base has mostly disappeared by that point (making it harder to measure just the new snow), and the skiing is really good. Dropping into my initial descent, I could tell that the overall snowpack was really deep.  Below that top 24” of powder there was substantial base, and I’d say the snowpack there has to be 40 inches. The snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake was at 39” as of a couple of days ago, and it hasn’t been updated since then, but based on what I found out there today a few miles to the south, it’s got to be over 40 inches by now.

Anyway, I’d recommend doing most of your touring up in that 2,500’ to 3,500’ elevation range if you can – it’s just a notable improvement in the overall snowpack below 2,500’. It’s still nice skiing down there, but it’s sort of mid-fat powder conditions below 2,500’, and full-fat conditions above 2,500’. I toured on mid-fats today, but I was wishing I had fat skis in that deep snowpack above 2,500’. The powder is of medium weight, so there’s plenty of liquid equivalent in there to really keep you off the base. As of this evening we’re approaching an inch of liquid equivalent from this system at our site in the valley, so you know the mountains have had at least an inch of two of liquid equivalent from this system so far, and it definitely felt like it based on what I experienced above 2,500’ today.

A Google Earth map with GPS tracking data from a ski tour out on the Nordic and Backcountry Network of trails at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A Google Earth/GPS map of today’s tour out on the Bolton Valley Nordic & Backcountry Network

With respect to the ongoing storm, there was generally light but consistent snow falling when I was out on the mountain today. The flakes were small, in the 1 to 2 mm range, so it was hard to gauge snowfall rates, but I had to clean a decent layer off my car when I got back to it after just an hour or two of touring. Toward the end of my tour, the flake size was picking up noticeably to roughly 2 to 8 mm flakes. Down here at the house, we’ve had light snow all day, but it’s picked up more this evening with larger flakes, especially when strong echoes come through as more pronounced shortwaves embedded in the overall cyclonic flow move through the area. Based on what we’ve been seeing here at the house this evening, there should be at least another few inches out there by tomorrow morning for the mountains.

Bolton Valley, VT 02JAN2025

An image of ski tracks on the Peggy Dow's trail in fresh snow from an early January storm at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of a ski pole buried in a snow drift during the windy upslope portion of an early January winter storm cycle at Bolton valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Snowdrifts were certainly on the menu during today’s ski tour. Howling winds from the upslope portion of our current storm cycle have pounded the Northern Greens and whipped up the snow into formations 5 to 6-feet deep as my buried ski pole can attest.

Our anticipated long-duration storm system began in the area yesterday with some light snow accumulations for the mountains and valleys, but snowfall really picked up overnight, so I decided to head up to Bolton today for some turns. As of this morning, Bolton Valley was reporting 7 inches of new snow from the storm, and snowfall has continued today. Their reported storm total seemed like a good amount for some ski touring, so that was my plan if I was heading up to the mountain alone. Dylan didn’t work until the afternoon, so he was planning to head up for a morning lift-served session with his fried Parker, and E had the day off due to school closures from the storm and she was thinking of going as well. Those plans fell through though – the winds were so strong that the Vista Quad Chair was on wind hold before it ever opened, and even the Mid Mountain Chair quickly went on wind hold in the morning. The only chairlift running by mid-morning was the Snowflake Chair, and with most of the Snowflake terrain not open, we generally felt that it wasn’t worth heading up for such minimal terrain. That brought me back to my original plan of ski touring on Wilderness.

An image of a car covered with drifted snow near parking signs during the windy upslope portion of an early January winter storm cycle in the Village area of Bolton Valley Resort in VermontDown at our place in the valley we’d picked up 4 to 5 inches of snow from the storm at that point, but the contrast in accumulations was stark as I dropped down into Bolton Flats on my way to the mountain – the snow accumulation there looked like an inch at most. Accumulations were the same at the base of the Bolton Valley Access Road at 340’, and I had to get above 1,000’ before I really started seeing accumulations of at least a few inches. Up in the Village parking areas, it was impossible to find a sheltered spot to get a reliable measurement of accumulations at 2,000’, so I had to wait until I got into the relative shelter of the Wilderness Uphill Route to really check the snow depth. Once one the ascent though, I checked the snow depth along the sheltered edge of Wilderness numerous times, and the measurements were all between 8 and 9 inches, with one measurement of 7 inches. At 2,500’ I was measuring 9 to 10 inches of accumulation, and I never got any reliable measurements higher than that, even up above 3,000’. I stress “reliable” because the winds had wreaked havoc on the snow in many areas. Some spots were scoured down to the old base, and some places had 5-foot drifts. Up at the Wilderness Summit at 3,150’ the winds were absolutely howling – they had to be in the 50 to 60 MPH range at times. Finding a sheltered spot to pack up my skins was a huge challenge. Thankfully, temperatures were in the 20s F, so there wasn’t frigid cold to go with those winds. Photographs of gentled-settled powder snow were difficult to come by today, but if you wanted to get images of drifts… they were everywhere.

An image showing snow drifted around vehicles during the windy upslope portion of a January winter storm cycle in the Village are of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Oh those drifts out there today! Even down at the Village elevations, the wind had sculpted the new snow into all kinds of formations and covered objects in many different ways.

Here’s the snow accumulations profile I saw as of midday in the Bolton Valley area for this ongoing storm:

340’: 0.5-1”
500’: 1-2”
1,000’: 3-4”
1,200’: 3-4”
1,500’: 4-5”
2,000’: 8-9”
2,500’: 9-10”
3,000’: 9-10”

The skiing turned out to be excellent though. As long as you avoid any wind-scoured areas, there’s been a really decent resurfacing from this storm so far. We’ve picked up ¾” if liquid equivalent from the storm at our site down in the valley, and the mountains should have had at least that much, so an inch of new liquid equivalent up there seems very reasonable based on what I experienced today. The new snow our there certainly wasn’t fluff; with all the wind, it was actually feeling like typical 10% H2O synoptic snow, and out of the wind, the new snow was substantial enough to even resurface black diamond pitches. So, while it wasn’t sublime champagne powder, it was decent medium-weight powder, and it was much more what the slopes needed with respect to resurfacing.

We didn’t get too much accumulation (about an additional half inch) during the day today here at our house along the spine because as forecast, the Froude Numbers went well above 1.0, but they may have come back down a bit because we’re getting some decent accumulation this evening with these more recent bands of moisture pushing through.

Bolton Valley, VT 03DEC2024

An image of evergreen branches, an old snowcat, and the Little Rock Rental Shop covered in powder from rounds and rounds of early December snow up at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of snow on tables and railings during early December in the Village area at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
The views of the snow were gorgeous in the Bolton Valley Village today; we’ve been getting hit with rounds and rounds of continued light snow as impulses come into the area and help push along moisture streaming over from the Great Lakes.

I hadn’t been up to the mountain since Saturday, so I was eager to get out for a ski tour when I had time today. There’s been no specific synoptic storms in the area, but the snow has been piling up the thanks to the continuous feed of moisture off the Great Lakes and the upper-level low pressure to our north. Seeing the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield stake quickly jump up to near 20 inches is a strong sign that it’s been snowing around here. Having that closed upper low over Hudson Bay with broad upper level troughing is a great setup when you have a 4,000’ wall of mountains sitting downwind of a moisture source like the Great Lakes.

A plot showing the snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Snow Stake in Vermont on December 3rd, 2024
The snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake has been shooting right up above average over the past few days thanks to the continuous parade of smaller weather impulses affecting the area as well as the moisture pushing into the area from the Great Lakes.
An image from the Wilderness Summit during a ski tour in early December at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Up at the snowy Wilderness Summit above 3,000′ on today’s ski tour

Even without data from the Mt. Mansfield stake to go on, I know it’s been snowing because we’ve recently had several inches of new snow down at our place in the valley, so the snow is hitting all elevations with the current temperature regime. Indeed, I found that snow depths were up substantially at all elevations during today’s ski tour. I toured again using the Wilderness Uphill Route, so I was able to check snowpack depths from the valley on up and compare them to what I’d last seen on Saturday. The updated snow depths are below, with Saturday’s depths listed first, then today’s depths following in bold. The depths I found up at 3,000’ and above are certainly consistent with what is being reported for the snowpack depths at the Mt. Mansfield stake.

340’: T-1: –> 1-2”
500’: 1” –> 2”
1,000’: 2” –> 3-4”
1,200’: 2-3” –> 4-5”
1,500’: 3” –> 6-8”
2,000’: 6-8” –> 8-12”
2,250’: 8-10” –> 10-14”
2,500’: 10-12” –> 12-16”
2,750’: 11-13” –> 14-17”
3,000’: 12-14” –> 16-18”

Concomitant with the increasing depths, the quality of the powder skiing even jumped another notch relative to the already great conditions we experienced on Saturday. In fact, even though the surface snowpack is excellent right-side-up powder that is beautifully dry, it’s getting deep enough that it’s starting to be a bit too much for the lowest angle slopes if you’re in fully untracked snow. I’d brought my 115 mm fat skis for today’s tour because they had already been a good choice on Saturday, but I was glad to have them for planing more efficiently on the lowest angle slopes today.

An image of a fence with fresh snow and a snow gun generating manmade snow in early December at the base of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Along with all the natural snow they are picking up, the resort in blowing lots of snow as well in anticipation of opening in a few days.

Indeed, it was snowing today during my tour akin to what’s been happening for the past several days, but today’s snowfall was lighter and less consistent than what I experience on Friday or Saturday. Our next Clipper system is now coming into the area though, so snowfall should pick up with that. We’re under a Winter Weather Advisory here along the spine of the Northern Greens, and the latest BTV NWS Event Total Snowfall map currently has some areas of 8-12” and 12-18” shading.

Bolton Valley, VT 30NOV2024

An image of Jay Telemark skiing in powder on the Cougar trail in the Wilderness area of terrain during a November lake-effect snow event at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image of Erica standing with her Telemark skis after a ski tour during a November lake-effect snow event at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Erica is done with her first ski tour of the season and is happy to have had great powder conditions for the outing.

I told E about how good the skiing was yesterday, so she was interested in getting out and the two of us headed up to Bolton Valley today for another tour. Thanks to the ongoing lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario, surfaces have been getting some nice freshening. Since my report detailing the snow conditions during yesterday’s tour, we’ve had another inch or two of additional snow down at the house in the valley, so I’m sure Bolton has had at least that much as well. It was really dumping when I left yesterday afternoon, so that period alone should have contributed some nice accumulations.

Between settling and the additional snow that’s been falling, snow depths seemed to be just about where they were yesterday, so just refer to the detailed snow depth profile I provided in that post for approximate snow depths that were out there today. Temperatures were in the mid-20s F out on the mountain early this afternoon, so it was just a bit cooler than yesterday, and consistent with that, the snow was a bit drier. Whereas yesterday I estimated the upper layers of powder in the snowpack to be in the 8% H2O range, today I’d say we were hitting powder that was more in the 6 to 8% H2O range. E is notorious for getting out on the snow one day too late when conditions aren’t as good as the day before, but that wasn’t the case this time. While there were a few more tracks out there today than what I found yesterday, the dry air and drier snow falling kicked the quality of the powder up a notch. The existing base snow, the continued settling of the lower layers of surface snow, and new rounds of dry snow coming in have set up some beautiful right-side-up powder. The drier nature of the powder was evident in the way it was even easier to ski lower-angle slopes; I’d brought fat skis to help in that regard, but my wife was on mid-fats, and she had no issues maintaining speed on even the mellowest pitches. So once again, essentially any mowed terrain from roughly single black diamond pitch down to gentle slopes was in play for great powder turns today.

An image of evergreen branches with fresh powder while ski touring snow during a November lake-effect snow event at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
A view along our ski tour in Bolton’s Wilderness area today – we had beautiful temperatures, no wind, and fantastic powder for Erica’s inaugural tour of the season.

In terms of the ongoing snowfall, today was much like yesterday with continued light snowfall of varying intensity throughout our tour, and it was steadier when we were finishing up our descent, but not nearly as heavy as when I was leaving yesterday. The direction of the more intense incoming moisture from Lake Ontario seemed to be a bit more to our north today, but it sounds like the Jay Peak area has been doing well from that setup.

Fourth round of early season Vermont snows brings accumulations to the Green Mountain valleys

An image showing a CoCoRaHS weather observations map with snow accumulations in Northern Vermont from an October snowstorm
An image showing residual accumulations of snow on Mount Mansfield on one of the webcams at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Northern Vermont after an October snowstorm
Residual accumulations visible on the Stowe Mountain Resort webcam thanks to our most recent round of early season snows

The first flakes of the season at our site in Waterbury were back on the 16th of the month with that last big snow event, but thanks to the system moving through yesterday into today, we accrued the first accumulations I’ve seen here. Temperatures were certainly above freezing here in the valley, but the intensity of the precipitation is what brought on the accumulation when one of the more active cells on the radar came through our area.

A radar animation image showing a cell of precipitation bringing the first accumulating snows to the Waterbury area of Vermont
Accumulations finally started to take hold down at our elevation of 500 feet in the Winooski Valley in Waterbury when one of the more potent cells of precipitation crossed the spine of the Green Mountains in our area.

Based on posts that were showing up in the Northern New England thread at the American Weather Forum yesterday, it was clear that many valley locations were starting to see accumulations as the temperatures came down. Temperatures dropped well into the 20s F overnight, so by morning, CoCoRaHS reports revealed valley accumulations of anything from a trace to as much as a few inches in a stripe across Northern Vermont.

An image showing a CoCoRaHS weather observations map with snow accumulations in Northern Vermont from an October snowstorm
As our latest fall snowstorm moved through the area yesterday and into the night, many sites in a stripe across Northern Vermont reported accumulations to CoCoRaHS this morning.

Stowe, VT 17OCT2024

A view of some of the snowy trails of Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont from the Mountain Road under brilliant sunshine with foliage after a mid-October snowstorm
Ski tracks in powder snow on the Perry Merrill trail at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont after a mid-October snowstorm brought more than a foot of snow to the higher elevations
A view of some of the powder turns on Perry Merrill. While yesterday was definitely the best day to get out in terms of fresh snow quality, today still delivered some very nice turns as long as you were high enough and early enough to avoid the warming temperatures.

With this latest round of autumn snow culminating in over a foot of accumulation on Mt. Mansfield, the setup was calling for some early season turns. With the way the temperatures were expected to rise today, I think yesterday was the way to go for potentially the best overall snow quality for powder turns, but I was too busy to get out to the slopes. I did get out this morning though, and while snow preservation was undoubtedly better yesterday, the clouds totally disappeared today to reveal incredible snowliage in the sunshine.

An image of Mount Mansfield in Vermont with the snowy ski trails of Stowe Mountain resort visible in bright sunshine after a mid-October snowstorm brought over a foot of snow to the higher elevations
A view of the beautiful snow and foliage from the Top Notch area on my approach to the mountain today.

I started my ascent from the Gondola base at 1,600’ and walked with my skis on my pack for a few minutes to get above the areas with the most melting, then I transitioned for touring and skinned up from there. The snow was already becoming spring-like down low in the sun, and areas in the shade featured refrozen snow. So even yesterday, the freezing level made it above the base elevations. I encountered my first real winter snow that had not seen a thaw-freeze cycle at about 2,800’ in the shade, and then at around 3,200’ I began finding some winter snow even in the sun. I made snow depth checks along the way, and here’s the depth profile I found in the late-morning to midday period:

1,600’: T-2”
2,000’: 4-5”
2,500’: 9-10”
3,000’: 12-13”
3,600’: 13-14”

Depths had consolidated a bit even up at 3,600’ based on Powderfreak’s pictures from yesterday, and the sun was really doing a number on the snow down low. The Gondola terrain gets hit by the sun, and the accumulations down near the Gondola base were just about gone by the time I finished my descent.

An image looking eastward from Mt. Mansfield in Vermont out toward the snow-capped White Mountains of New Hampshire while ski touring at Stowe Mountain resort after a mid-October snowstorm brought over a foot of snow to the local peaks
An eastward view out toward the snow-capped White Mountains of New Hampshire on today’s descent

In terms of the skiing, I encountered just about every sort of condition that Mother Nature can throw at you, from dense, silky powder, to refrozen areas with unbreakable melt crust, to spring snow, to sticky, freshly melted snow. Once you were down below the driest snow up top, the best approach was to fucus on the snow that was in that happy medium between seeing the most sun on the skier’s left, and that which had seen no sun on the far skiers right in the shade of the trees. The snow on the skier’s left that had seen some hours of sun was getting sticky, and snow that was shaded by the trees was still frozen with either an unbreakable or breakable melt crust, but in between there was an area of quality snow that had seen just enough sun to soften up but not get sticky. Once you were down below roughly 2,000’, everything was melting, so you just sort of kept going until you felt the snow was too thin. You could still make it all the way to the base with the help of shaded areas depending on what level of rock skis you might be on, but I took off my skis for the last few hundred vertical because I didn’t want to beat them up too much.

An image of the Gondola base are of Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont with melting snow after a mid-October snowstorm brought over a foot of accumulation to the higher elevations of Mount Mansfield
Snow cover was disappearing in sunny areas down at the base elevations of the resort as I approached the end of my descent

That was a solid dump for the middle of October though, and with the bonus snowliage it was a great way to kick off the season.

Third round of early season snows for Vermont’s Green Mountains have been the most impactful yet

An image showing a mid-October 2024 snowstorm with over a foot of snow in the upper elevations of Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont
An image showing mid-October snow accumulations in the mountains as viewed from the golf course webcam at Sugarbush Ski Resort in Vermont
The Sugarbush Golf Course Webcam was starting to reveal the mountain snows on Tuesday as our latest round of winter weather hit the Greens.

We’re wrapping up our third round of early season snows here in the Green Mountains of Vermont, and this cycle has certainly raised the bar with respect to accumulations. For several days, the weather modeling has shown the potential for a solid shot of snow at elevation, and as of Sunday’s runs, it was becoming more obvious that the event was coming together.

Personal observations related to this latest cycle of snow began for me on Sunday – I was up at Bolton Valley around 2,500’ and was getting into some frozen precipitation even down at that elevation. Right around that time, Powderfreak reported in from the upper elevations of Stowe Mountain Resort at the Gondola with a picture of big flakes coming down. As of later that afternoon, the snow level was around 3,200’, but it was expected to potentially mix all the way down to the valley floors by Monday. Late that evening, the 3,000’ Lookout plot on Mt. Mansfield was showing about a half inch of snow, so accumulations were clearly beginning.

By midday Monday, the Mt. Mansfield Lookout plot was at 2 inches of accumulation, and later that evening, snow was mixing in down to the valley floors as expected.

As of Tuesday, snow accumulations were pushing farther down the mountainsides, and the evening update from Powderfreak was that the 3,000’ Lookout plot had seen 7 inches of snow up to that point in the event. Snow was even mixing in with the rain down at our house at the 500’ elevation in the Winooski Valley, and our site recorded its first trace of snow on the season.

An image of mountain snows with fall foliage during a mid-October snowstorm at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont
By Tuesday, accumulations were starting to appear in the upper elevations of Mt. Mansfield, with snow levels continuing to drop and accumulations jumping as the event continued on into Wednesday.

Wednesday was the culmination of the event, with accumulations on Mt. Mansfield topping out around 15 inches. At Stowe Mountain Resort, the snowmobiles and snowcats were out trying to open the Gondola for summer/fall operations for the tourists. The snow depth at the famed Mt. Mansfield Stake came in at 12 inches, which is certainly solid for mid-October depths.  Powderfreak put together a great collection of photos from the upper elevations of Mt. Mansfield that nicely showed the accumulated results from this early season snowstorm.

This was a great early season event for the local mountains, and even at elevation, there were still enough leaves left on some of the trees to create excellent snowliage images.

Another round of Vermont snows: accumulations have begun

An image of early October snow from the North Ridge Webcam at Killington Resort in Vermont

We had our first reported snow of the season here in Vermont over a month ago when flakes were spotted atop Jay Peak, but this latest round of winter weather has now brought us the first actual accumulations of the season. Our initial images of the accumulations came out yesterday morning when Powderfreak sent out some shots from the higher elevations of Mt. Mansfield during his usual Stowe Mountain Resort duties. Later in the day he sent along a nice image of the cloud ceiling and flakes falling on Spruce Peak while he was out on an afternoon hike. The snow was down to at least the 3,100’ elevation as of the afternoon, and with more moisture pushing into the spine of the Greens according to the radar, the potential for some additional overnight accumulations was looking good. The moisture seemed to be drifting a bit south though, and I saw a comment from Powderfreak that he felt the Central and Southern Greens would have the better chances for accumulations during the overnight period.

His thoughts were right on track, and by morning we were alerted with pictures from the Killington North Ridge Webcam of some more substantial accumulations. Up here in the Northern Greens, where the mid-level lifting mechanisms for precipitation weren’t as strong, the higher elevations of Mt. Mansfield picked up some ice accumulations and another coating of snow.

An image of early October snow from the North Ridge Webcam at Killington Resort in Vermont
A shot from Killington’s North Ridge Webcam of today’s new snow during our period of first snow accumulations for the 2024-2025 winter season. Accumulations began in the area yesterday and the Central Green Mountain s picked up some of the best snows overnight.

Looking at the data for the average date of first accumulations on Mt. Mansfield, October 9th is right on track for first accumulating snow on Mt. Mansfield – the mean date is October 11th ± 14 days, and the median date is October 10th. Last year was a bit on the later side on October 22nd, but the year before was very similar to this one with snow coming on October 8th.

So, the 2024-2025 snowfall season has begun here in Vermont, and we may see more snow in the coming days. The snowfall maps from the weather models are starting to suggest accumulations next week, and the National Weather Service office in Burlington mentions that there is possibility for accumulations above 2,000’ in their most recent area forecast discussion.

First flakes of the season for Vermont’s Green Mountains

With our latest stretch of cool, early autumn weather, many valley locations have been seeing low temperatures in the 40s and even 30s F. Mount Washington in New Hampshire was even reporting freezing drizzle with a temperature of 30 F yesterday morning. Today there was some video of flakes at Jay Peak, which I believe are the first of the season I’ve seen reported here in Vermont. It looks like we have some nice warm fall days ahead, but Vermont’s 2024-2025 snow season is officially underway.

Bolton Valley, VT 06APR2024

A picture of Ty in the air as he gets set to fly underneath a leaning tree into the powder from Winter Storm Tormund in the Outlaw Woods area of Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
An image from behind of Ty diving into the Outlaw Woods as we ski the third day of Winter Storm Tormund in April 2024 at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Ty dives into the Outlaw woods during today’s Bolton ski outing as we take on the snow from the third day of Winter Storm Tormund

Today was the third day of our ongoing storm cycle, and Winter Storm Tormund has now brought Bolton’s storm total to 32 inches after another few overnight. E and I headed up for a morning session of turns with Ty, and it was a great chance to see how conditions were looking as the system began to wind down. Bolton wasn’t kicking off lift service from the Vista Quad until 10:00 A.M., so there was no need to rush up to the mountain first thing in the morning. As a bonus, the Wilderness Chair was opening at 10:30 A.M. for the first time since the storm cycle started, so that represented a nice opportunity to get into some fresher snow.

Snow was starting to mix with and change to rain in the valleys when we headed up to the mountain, but the snow line was still relatively low overall – certainly below 1,500’. More snow continued to fall all morning while we were out on the mountain, but it was of moderate to only occasionally heavy intensity. The clouds were also not as thick as they’d been earlier, and at times the weather was a mix of sun and snow, so the snowfall wasn’t accumulating as efficiently as it had over the previous couple of days. The upside of the thinner clouds was that the light intensity was much higher than it had been, so it made for some easier action photography. There was some wind when we first arrived up at the resort, and it really set up an overly wintry feel, but those winds dissipated before too long even up near the summits, and it started to feel more like a late-season ski day.

“Today was the third day of our ongoing storm cycle, and Winter Storm Tormund has now brought Bolton’s storm total to 32 inches after another few overnight.”

Since temperatures had come down overnight, the new accumulations of snow were once again drier than what had been falling yesterday afternoon, so like I’d experienced yesterday morning during my tour at Timberline, the quality of the powder this morning was better than it was in the afternoon. It does show the importance of typically getting out early for powder as we move through April, since the sunlight intensity is growing stronger, and it more easily affects the quality of the snow.

An image from behind of Ty skiing the Outlaw Woods during the third day of Winter Storm Tormund in April 2024 at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in VermontI brought E and Ty for a run through Vista Glades, since it had been so nice yesterday afternoon, and it delivered once again. Up at those elevations around 3,000’, the snowfall has been quite dry at any time of day, so you’re really getting some of the best conditions. We spent the rest of our session on Wilderness, taking advantage of all the new terrain it offered, and the lower traffic definitely helped supply a lot more fresh snow. Bolton Outlaw was skiing great, we had some nice turns in the Outlaw Woods, and a couple of great runs in the whole length of Wilderness Woods. We explored some of the tree skiing terrain to the skier’s left of Peggy Dow’s that was really nice, and that’s a place I don’t visit too often.

An image of Ty making a turn in powder snow in the trees during the third day of Winter Storm Tormund in April 2024 at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont
Ty surfing and slicing through our third day of Winter Storm Tormund powder

The freezing level seemed to be climbing as our session continued. Toward the end of the morning, on each run it seemed that the snow began to get wetter at a higher elevation. It did keep snowing all morning, but it was comfortable with the lack of wind and there was certainly an “April” feel to the storm today because it didn’t have as much bite as a midwinter one. It looks like we’ll be moving out of the wintry conditions into more spring-like conditions in the coming days based on the forecast, so it should be fun to see how the snow changes. The snowpack should have some extra staying power after all these substantial late-season storms though.