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February 10, 2013January 20, 2018

Stowe, VT 10FEB2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 9, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 09FEB2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 29, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 29JAN2013

An image of ski tracks in powder on the Spell Binder trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Finding good turns today in 8-10″ of powder

The Northern Greens picked up roughly a half foot of new snow thanks to the storm that came through yesterday. There was actually a general 3-6” of accumulation up and down the spine, with the southern resorts catching the lower end of that range. Although this was a rather modest storm, the past couple of weeks have been pretty lean on snowfall, so it was a nice way to put an end to the bout of dry, arctic air that had been hanging out in the area. We picked up 4.5 inches of snow at our place in the valley, and that actual turned out be our largest storm so far in 2013. The snow quality was certainly good; my analyses revealed water content of 5% H2O for the snow that fell through the afternoon, and then 4.3% H2O for the additional snow in the evening.

“Since there hasn’t been much
traffic in a while, the combination
of the most recent snow and lighter
events from last week provided
8-10 inches of beautiful powder
over a smooth base.”

With the conditions already quite good based on observations from my outing on Sunday, and Bolton Valley reporting 5” of new snow up top, it was definitely a morning to hit the slopes. I contemplated heading up to the main base to get the most snow, but as I drove past Timberline it looked pretty good so I decided to check it out. I went back and forth for a few moments about which base to visit, and eventually decided to stay where I was because it was generally quiet and I was hoping I could keep out of the way of any grooming equipment. There were a couple of other cars were parked below the center island below the lodge, which meant that there might be a skin track already in place. It was a nice morning – it was cloudy, but there was no wind and the temperature there at 1,500’ elevation was 22 F. That was very pleasant after the arctic temperatures we’ve recently seen.

An image looking down a long spine of man made snow atop the headwall of the Spell Binder trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont with trees visible in the background below — Snowmaking spine on Spell Binder

I began my ascent and followed the skin track that people had established on Twice as Nice. My depth checks on the powder consistently revealed 4” new, which is what Bolton reported for the base elevations. For the descent I headed over to Spell Binder, since a groomer was working on Showtime, and there were already a couple of tracks and a groomed strip on Twice as Nice. I’d forgotten that the mountain could make snow on Spell Binder, but they’d made some snow on the upper headwall area. There were some huge snow whales there, which they’ll have to spread around at some point. The approach to skiing the steep terrain on the headwall was a toss up. One option was to ski on some of the manmade snow, but there were some tricky snow formations made by the guns, and the 4-5 inches of snow wasn’t enough to keep you from touching down on that dense manmade surface. The other option was to ski the sides of the trial that had not seen snowmaking. The base snow was of higher quality, and there had been additional round of powder on top of it, but there were spots of poor coverage where snow had been swept away by winds. I ultimately made use of both options, going where my line took me.

I was a bit conservative in my skiing of the headwall since I didn’t want to hit any rocks that might be lurking under the snow, but once I was below that, the rest of the trail was in another league in terms of snow quality. Since there hasn’t been much traffic in a while, the combination of the most recent snow and lighter events from last week provided 8-10 inches of beautiful powder over a smooth base. Sunday’s turns were certainly good, but with the addition of this latest storm, these were the deepest turns I’d had in a couple of weeks. The top levels of the snow were in that 4-5% range of H2O content, and there was a nice gradient of more dense snow below. It was that combination that powder skiers seek for great turns.

The addition of this latest storm has certainly helped the meager snow totals that we’ve seen this January. We’ve now had almost 22” of snow at the house this month, however, that’s still only about half the average I have in my records. Tomorrow is supposed to be a warm day, so this latest round of powder is going to settle down, but the forecast says we’re back into the cold tomorrow night into Thursday, with some chances for snow. No large systems are expected, but some Clipper systems may come through in the next several days, and the Greens can usually do something nice with that moisture and often pull out totals just like we saw today.

January 27, 2013April 26, 2013

Bolton Valley Nordic/Backcountry, VT 27JAN2013

An image of ski tracks in powder on the backcountry network at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Making tracks in the Bolton Valley backcountry today

We’ve had arctic air in the Northeast all week, which has made it one of the coldest and driest periods of the season. With the lack of moisture there’s been only an inch of snow at the house in the past seven days, and although Bolton Valley was reporting a similar accumulation, they had picked up a few inches since I was last there for my backcountry outing on the 19^th. I also suspect they’ve picked up various small accumulations of dry arctic snow similar to what we’ve seen down here at the house, but they haven’t hit that one inch threshold for the snow report. Although still rather cold this weekend, temperatures have definitely moderated somewhat from the beginning of the week… when high temperatures actually remained below zero in many locations. Yesterday we topped out around 15 F down here at the house (495’), and the afternoon temperature was sitting around 4 F up in the Bolton Valley Village (2,100’). Today we actually got up around 20 F at the house, and when I arrived at the Village in the mid afternoon, the temperature was a reasonable 12 F. The arctic air is definitely waning. Although I wasn’t planning on doing too much skiing this weekend with the combination of air temperature and minimal new snow, I at least wanted to get out one day for a tour. I almost got one in yesterday, but ran out of time since we were having James and the kids over for the evening. However, E and Claire cancelled our BJAMS ski program at Stowe today due to the forecast temperatures, so it gave me the opportunity to get in an afternoon tour. I think today actually worked out to be the better ski day of the weekend, since it was almost 10 F warmer up on the mountain, and we had sunny skies in contrast to a bit of gray yesterday afternoon.

“It was surprising to think
that the snow was holding
pat after such a dry week,
let alone improving.”

Last weekend’s outing on the backcountry network was fun, since the powder was decent, but also fruitful in that I discovered a nice new glade in an area I hadn’t previously visited. That discovery really wasn’t planned, but since it worked out well I figured I’d go with a similar theme today; my goal was to check out a descent off Heavenly Highway in the Moose Glen area. It’s an area that E and the boys and I have wanted to explore for a while. Since the boys were a bit under the weather and they weren’t going to head out in the cold temperatures, it was another solo outing for me. I find these solo outings work well for reconnaissance though, because I can move quickly and efficiently and explore a lot of terrain relative to when we’ve got the boys along.

“As I slid through that last run in
the powder, my feet felt really quick.
I guess that’s the best way to describe
it; the pitch of the slope, the depth of
the powder, and the length and width of
my skis all just came together to make
everything work for Telemark turns.”

Once again, despite the chilly temperatures and dearth of fresh snow, the main parking lots up in the Village were pretty full, so the resort was getting a lot of visitors. On piste conditions are actually pretty good based on what I’ve seen though, as the arctic air appears to be preserving packed powder surfaces very nicely. I’ve been sort of down on the arctic air that’s been hanging around because it doesn’t bring fresh powder for skiing, but boy does it do a heck of a job on snow preservation. Even though new snow has been minimal in the past week, I could tell that the quality of the snow on the ground had improved as soon as I began my ascent today. I saw a bunch of Telemark skiers working on turns on the Telemark Practice Slope, and even though that was a tracked area and they were often on the subsurface below the powder, the turns were very quiet. As I probed around and checked depths during my trip up the Bryant Trail, I could tell first hand that the subsurface had improved since last weekend. Presumably that ultra dry arctic air has been working on it, because it was even more crumbly and Styrofoam-like than last weekend. The conditions also seemed to be bolstered by additional powder. Whereas last weekend I found 3 to 4 inches at the 2,100’ level and 6” up at 2,700 at the Bryant Cabin, today I found roughly 5 inches at the base elevations and 7 to 8 inches at the cabin. It was surprising to think that the snow was holding pat after such a dry week, let alone improving.

An image of drifted snow along the edge of the Bryant Trail on the Nordic/Backcountry network at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Along the Bryant Trail

My ascent went smoothly, and I saw a few other groups of skiers here and there having fun in the good snow. After reaching the Bryant Cabin, I continued on up to Heavenly Highway, and once I got up to around the 3,000’ elevation I could really see just how well preserved things were at those elevations. In protected areas, the evergreens were still coated in white like snow had just fallen. I finally switched to descent mode in the Moose Glen area, where below me sat a nice open, untracked line powder line. The pitch looked perfect for the 6 to 8 inches of medium-weight arctic fluff that it held, and I could see the exact line I wanted to take. As I sat there contemplating those first turns, there was an almost tangible excitement in seeing if the snow was going to deliver. As good as the snow can seem on the ascent, making those turns is really where the rubber meets the road.

I dropped in and the turns were smooth and effortless; there was still the occasional touch on the subsurface, but indeed the conditions had taken quite a leap since last weekend. There were a couple old tracks from previous skiers to give me an idea of where to go on the descent, but I also let the lay of the land dictate the route. A number of clear areas offering nice turns, but I could tell that many more shots would be available if the snowpack was bumped up a foot or two. After some consolidation and this dry January spell, snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is about a foot below average, so typically some of those areas with brush would be covered by now. Hopefully we can do some catching up on snow depth in the next couple of months.

An image looking down at an untracked powder line from Heavenly Highway in the Moose Glen area on the Nordic & Backcountry Ski Network at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Getting ready to drop in

I continued downward in a general southerly direction and entered an area of flat terrain among evergreens. I could tell that it was a bit of a shelf with land sloping off to the south. There was a clearly cut route that entered the area, but the ski tracks that had led me there disappeared. After a few minutes of poking around, I was happy to find that my instincts had led me in the right direction. There was a nicely made glade dropping down the initial steep slope, and then in mellowed out into a large, sparsely treed area with lines everywhere. I enjoyed a lot of good turns in there, and I eventually found that it had led me right down in Snow Hole, which without the Wilderness Lift running, didn’t have many ski tracks. I was really appreciating the consistency of the snow in Snow Hole – the powder was just perfect for the pitch; it was dry, but somewhere just on the dry side of medium in density, and the floatation was great.

When I came to the fork indicating the route over to the Wilderness Lift, I opted to check out the right option instead, and quickly found myself on Gardiner’s Lane. I was really liking the overall setup of this descent, gaining that extra elevation above the Bryant Cabin had already given it that extra boost of vertical, and I knew I still had some good turns to go. On World Cup I headed past the glades adjacent to the Telemark Practice Slope, since I could see that they had seen a number of skiers, and continued on until I got to some additional untracked lines. The woods are pretty open there, so there was no need for a specific glade to get some really nice turns.

As I slid through that last run in the powder, my feet felt really quick. I guess that’s the best way to describe it; the pitch of the slope, the depth of the powder, and the length and width of my skis all just came together to make everything work for Telemark turns. I’d say that was really just the pinnacle in terms of that feeling, but all day today I felt good on the AMPerages. After the way they’d felt slow at times last weekend when I hit the Bruce Trail, I was tempted to switch to my narrower-waisted RT-86s today for a faster feel with a potentially firmer base. In the end I decided that I wanted the float of the AMPerages, and I’m glad I went that route. Whether it was that improvement in the powder, the subsurface, the snow density, or just the lines I hit today, they were the tool of choice.

This is a Google Earth map with GPS tracking data for a ski tour on the Nordic/Backcountry network at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — GPS tracking data for today’s Bolton Valley Nordic/backcountry tour – click for full size map

It was getting close to 5:00 P.M. before I was done with my tour, and now that we’re over a month past the solstice, I’m definitely noticing (and thankful for) that longer light. We’ve also got some warmer temperatures coming in the next few days, with a dramatic change in the weather pattern this week. A storm is coming in tomorrow that is forecast to deliver a modest 2-4” type of snowfall, but that is going to feel like a lot after only arctic dustings over the past week or so. We’re also expected to go above freezing with the next round of the storm as it cuts to the west, but hopefully we’ll get some additional snow on the back side. We could be into a more active pattern going into next weekend, which would be nice to build the snowpack after these January doldrums. With that said, I’ve certainly got a new found respect for what these arctic weather conditions can do for the snowpack, so if we do get another round of that weather, the skiing could be good as long as we can get at least some snow to go with it.

January 13, 2013April 26, 2013

Stowe, VT 13JAN2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 5, 2013June 14, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 05JAN2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 1, 2013June 13, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 01JAN2013

An image of ski tracks in powder on the Spell Binder trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Mother Nature to Bolton Valley: here’s your new year’s refresher.

The arctic front that came through overnight dropped an inch or two down here at house, but 4 to 5 inches up on the mountain. It also brought in some colder air – single digits were reported on the Bolton Valley snow report in the morning. While that was cold enough to make riding the lifts less appealing, it sounded like some good temperatures for earning turns. Even though it’s already been a lengthy week of powder skiing, the allure of getting in another workout on yet more powder atop all the snow we’ve had over the holiday break was too much to resist.

I hadn’t thought that there would be much rise in temperatures today, but when I got to Timberline the temperature was already up to 15 F, so combined with the sunshine and minimal wind, it was much warmer than I’d expected. There were a few other cars in the parking lot, and I could see that several sets of tracks had been carved into the new snow at the bottom of Showtime.

An image of ski tracks near the base of the Timberline area at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Signs of folks out working the slopes today

The Twice as Nice skin track was in great shape; with the new snow already well packed by various skiers, the ascent was very quick. At the top I decided to head into Doug’s Woods through the upper entrance for a change of pace and to see if the snow in the trees was more protected from any winds. The snow in Doug’s Woods was fantastic, bottomless powder, but unfortunately it was just too much of it for some of the mellower pitches. I measured 24” of unconsolidated snow atop the base, and even with my fat skis I was moving slowly when the pitch wasn’t there.

I slid my way back to the car and was about to gear down to head home, when I noted the time and reconsidered. I had plenty of daylight left and it was just too nice out, so I headed up for another lap. I was feeling the rhythm on that one, and it only took about 20 minutes to ascend Twice as Nice proper. At the Timberline Mid Station I looked upward toward Intro and saw that it was pretty wind blasted, and that made the decision easy to descend from where I was. This time I opted for Spell Binder, which had just a few tracks on it. The headwall held great snow that really hadn’t been affected by wind. Snow was actually excellent from top to bottom, and there was enough consolidation from either previous rounds of wind or skiers that bogging down in deep powder on lower angle sections wasn’t a problem.

It’s been quite a holiday week for turns, with at least some new snow each day, and bigger shots of snow on some of them. This last snowfall actually put Bolton Valley past 100” for the season, and brought the Mt. Mansfield Stake to a depth of 46”, both good signs as we head into January. The next chance at snow appears to be this evening with some snow squalls from an upper level trough.

December 30, 2012June 13, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 30DEC2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

December 29, 2012September 8, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 29DEC2012

An image showing the snow depth of 26 inches above the base on the Showtime trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — 26 inches will do just fine!

Our latest winter storm started up in Waterbury around 10:45 A.M. today, with the snow coming in as small flakes that accumulated slowly – generally in the ½ inch per hour range. I gave the snow a few hours to accumulate and then headed up to the mountain for an afternoon session of turns. After seeing how busy the mountain was with holiday visitors yesterday, I decided to park down at Timberline and take the shuttle up to the main mountain, or if the shuttle wasn’t running, skin over via Timberline Run and Timberline Lane. My plan was to ski over at the main mountain and then finish my session with a run back down to the Timberline Base. Ty was away at a friend’s house, but E and Dylan thought that we should do some night skiing since the conditions looked so stellar, so it looked like I’d be picking them up at the house as soon as I was done with my tour.

As I drove up the Bolton Valley Access Road, snowfall was light but steady, with probably a bit more intensity than what we’d been getting down at the house. I found about an inch of new snow at the Timberline Base (1,500’) as I parked the car, and it didn’t seem like the resort had much parking taking place there, because there were only about a dozen cars present. While I was booting up, I saw a snowboarder finishing up a run, and he asked if I knew whether or not the shuttle was running like it had been yesterday. He had just made a run down through the Timberline terrain and was hoping to catch a ride back up to the Village. I told him that I unfortunately didn’t know about the shuttle, but that I’d been there for about five minutes and hadn’t seen any sign of it up to that point. Enough time had passed by the time I was suited up that I figured either the shuttle wasn’t running, or it wasn’t running very frequently. In either case, I was happy to get in the workout of getting over to the main mountain under my own power, so I strapped on my skins, wished the snowboarder good luck, and headed on my way out around the back of the Timberline Base Lodge.

Just as I crossed behind the lodge I could see that work was actively being done on the Timberline Quad, with several chairs removed, so I assumed that that was at least part of why the resort hasn’t started lift service on Timberline yet this season. My ascent was very smooth along Timberline Run – the groomers have been out doing their thing throughout parts of the Timberline area, so even with all the new snow of the past couple weeks, I had a nice firm base for skinning. Also, I’ve finally fit my Black Diamond AMPerages with some full width skins, so they were sticking like glue to the snow surface and I was no longer having to deal with the slippage that’s come with using the narrower skins for my Atomic RT-86s. In terms of the new skins, I once again went with G3 Alpinist Climbing Skins – I’ve not found anything that I like better. Many of the retail shops around here seem to be carrying Black Diamond Ascension Skins, but I got a pair for Ty’s (now Dylan’s) Telemark skis and they just don’t stack up to the Alpinists. The Ascension skins are fine on glide and grip as far as I can tell, but they are stiffer so that they don’t seem to fold up as well, they have a more standard style tip loop that is nowhere near as versatile as the clips on the Alpinists, and worst of all, the metal tail clips seem to easily fall off the tail adjuster. We’ve already lost a couple and had to replace them. The Alpinist tail clip doesn’t fall off because of the way it’s designed, and on this new pair of skins they have even improved the tail clip further to give it a really nice “cam” style attachment method. Also, the Alpinist skins come pre-sized for length, so all you do is trim the width to fit and you are good to go. For the AMPerages (as well as for E’s Black Diamond Element skis) we had to go with the 140 mm width skins to accommodate the 139 mm tips of the skis. 140 mm is the widest I’ve seen available in the Alpinist skins, but they are a fantastic fit, and I’m not slipping anymore. I’m absolutely convinced that full width is the way to go though, especially on fat, rockered skis that may ride the edges of skin track grooves because of their width and lose some contact surface because of the rocker. As an avid user of various pairs of Alpinist skins, I expect these new ones to be bomb proof just like the others; you can put them on and forget about them, and that’s the way it should be.

An image of skiers using a snowmobile to ski laps on terrain at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — Folks running fast laps at Timberline with the aid of a sled

Anyway, the ascent continued to be a delight with the new skins doing their thing, light to moderate snow falling, temperatures in the mid 20s F, and zero wind. It was another one of those perfect winter days to be out on the slopes. As I approached the corner of Timberline Run below the junction with Sure Shot, I noticed some folks out along the trail with a few dogs. I’m guessing that they lived in one of the many houses along the resort, and it turned out that they were running ski laps on Timberline with a snowmobile. The laps were fast too, the snowmobile must have passed me three times while I was finishing my ascent up toward Five Corners. Cutting the corner of Timberline Run via one of the access trails, I peered up into the Lower Sure Shot Trees and things looked quite nice in there.

At the Five Corners junction I stowed my skins in my pack, got into descent mode, and headed down to the main base area. The number of visitors seemed much more modest than yesterday, and the area had a mellower vibe. Snowfall that had tapered down a bit during my ascent made a notable resurgence by the time I’d reached the base, so I was eager to see how the snow was coming down in the higher elevations. I jumped on the Vista Quad, and from the Vista Summit made my way over to Cobrass to begin working my way back toward Timberline. Conditions on the Cobrass headwall were OK, but it definitely seemed to be showing some wear and tear form a day’s worth of traffic, and slick spots were plentiful. Below that though, surfaces were in excellent shape. More snow had definitely fallen in the higher elevations, but I didn’t get a good measurement to provide a number. I jumped into the Villager Trees and tried to check out a new line that I’d explored in the off season, but I didn’t quite hit the one I wanted. I’ve got a better idea of where it is now though, so next time should be closer. Snow in there was good, but as we found yesterday, this synoptic-style, medium-weight snow seems more easily affected by traffic.

I headed up Villager to get to the Timberline Summit, and the snowmobile crew was still running their laps at what seemed like a breakneck pace. I have to think those folks got in a lot of vertical today. Descending along the skier’s left at the top of Brandywine, and continuing on to Intro, I was simply blown away by how good the snow was. That east wind settled so much snow in there! Turns were perhaps even better than yesterday with today’s extra snow on top. To mix things up, I opted for Showtime below the mid station, and there were only a few tracks on the whole trail. Man, the snow on that headwall was SO DEEP! I hammered those turns as hard as I could and there was just no bottom to be found. I did a quick check on the depth and found 26 inches of snow above whatever base layer sat below, and since the snowpack has now got plenty of this medium weight synoptic snow in it, it can take whatever you can dish out. Even without Champlain Powder™ on top, those turns down Showtime were some of the best of the season so far; they just went on and on and on with smooth, buttery fluidity. Combined with the snow falling and dusk setting in, it was one of those great runs I’ll remember for a long time. Another fellow was just approaching the headwall as he was skinning up, and he was hooting and hollering with joy as I approached on my descent. He said that he’d been waiting all week to hit the slopes, and I let him know that he was going to be in for quite a run. I definitely wanted to go back for another lap, but darkness was in the near future and I had to get E and Dylan for night skiing.

Back at the Timberline Base I saw that indeed the shuttle bus was running today, so I’m assuming that snowboarder made it back up to the Village. I called up E and let her know that I was on my way to pick them up for night skiing – the snowfall had actually intensified, so things were looking really good for some snowy night skiing under the lights.

December 28, 2012April 27, 2013

Bolton Valley, VT 28DEC2012

An image of Dylan skiing some nor'easter powder on the Spell Binder trail at Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont — Dylan catching some sun and nor’easter powder today

The snow from yesterday’s nor’easter had essentially shut down by late afternoon, and while there was a touch of upslope snow after that, there really wasn’t any refill to provide another huge round of fresh powder for today. With that in mind, we didn’t rush off to the mountain, but instead took care of things around the house such as finishing off the driveway with the snow thrower, etc. Eventually we headed out to Bolton Valley in the mid morning timeframe, and I’d contacted Stephen earlier and learned that he was probably 30 minutes or so ahead of us. We again spotted a car at Timberline as we’d done on Sunday, figuring we’d head over that way depending on how the day went. The resort appeared to be frantically plowing the parking lots there, although we didn’t quite know why at the time. As we approached the Village, we figured out why; we saw that traffic was backed up, and within a minute or two we knew that all the upper lots were full. It was actually pretty convenient being where we were (near the outlet of Wentworth Road), since we just spun around and parked on the access road following the advice of the parking attendants, but this was the first time in our seven seasons of visiting the resort that we’ve actually parked like that. I’ve seen it done before on busy days, but we’ve always been much earlier or later and found a spot in the main lot. In any event, I took it as a sign that the holiday visitors had arrived and business was looking good. I think the combination of the big storm yesterday (in which many people probably didn’t venture out to the slopes due to the difficult travel) and the holiday week really came together to get everyone out today.

An image of cars parked along the Bolton Valley Access Road after the upper parking lots at Bolton Valley Ski Resort were filled — A busy day at the resort today saw people parking on the Access road.

It was good that all four of the main mountain’s chairs were running, but queues were forming. We opted for a run on the Mid Mountain Chair, since the queue was just a couple of minutes. We came straight down on Beech Seal, which amazingly still held some nice untracked powder on the sides. It was still that medium weight powder, but it skied pretty well where it was untracked. The queue for the Vista Quad had disappeared when we got back to the base, so we got ourselves to the Vista Summit and headed down Cobrass. There’s definitely been a solid resurfacing on Cobrass (as well as the rest of the slopes), and although there were still a few slick spots, it was overall quite good. We popped into the Villager Trees, where coverage was definitely fine, but the higher density of the snow seemed to leave its impression in there. It was difficult to really get into a groove, because even one set of tracks in the snow made it much more challenging. It was difficult to explain, but we could feel how things were just off at that point.

“As she floated her way down
the Spell Binder headwall, E
finally got to really feel her
Black Diamond Element fat skis
in their ‘element’ so to speak…”

We finished off the run catching the bottom of the Butterscotch Terrain Park, which is still just being left for powder skiing without any features. Even just catching the bottom of that area was enough to get a sense that it might be what we needed to reinvigorate everyone’s skiing. The powder wasn’t so deep that you bogged down, and tracks were sparse enough that you could get some fresh turns, or plentiful enough that you were skiing on skier packed snow. There wasn’t any of that deep, semi-tracked snow that was feeling so difficult to ski. There was little if any queue for the Snowflake Chair, so we went through the park terrain three times before the boys decided that they needed to eat. For me, the snow in there was skiing just right and I would have been happy to ski it all day. We got to see Claire and Luke, and make a run with Stephen and Johannes as well. E was also very observant and noticed that a young boy had lost his mother at the Snowflake Summit, so a quick cell phone call remedied the situation.

An image of the Butterscotch Terrain Park with chopped up powder and the Vista Quad Chairlift in the background at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — The Butterscotch Terrain Park offered up the right combination of powder and skier-packed conditions for us today.

The base lodge was jam packed, so we took a look upstairs at Fireside Flatbread to get some pizza and grab a seat. Unlike yesterday when Dylan and I walked right in and sat down, it was filled to capacity. We hung out along the side for a while near the big stacks of wood for the fire, and eventually got a seat and some slices, but even as we approached 2:00 P.M. it was just a continuous flow of people picking up slices at the counter. Business was so steady that they even ran out of dough soon after that, and had to shut down for a while to prepare more. I couldn’t believe how people just kept streaming in well into mid afternoon, but I overheard that the wait for a table at the James Moore Tavern was an hour and fifteen minutes.

An image of Erica Telemark skiing in powder on the Brandywine trail at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in Vermont — E sets off on a powder excursion.

E and the boys were ready for one final run after that, so we decided to head over to Timberline. They were actually grooming terrain on Timberline, and I heard on one of the patroller’s radios that they were going to be opening the route back to the base to let people ski back to their cars. Although the snow was still that medium weight powder that had sort of proven itself susceptible to deteriorating the skiing with traffic, the skiing was actually better in some respects than with the Champlain Powder™ from Sunday. It was combination of a thorough resurfacing with the denser snow, but also the somewhat uncommon easterly wind that hit with the nor’easter. The combination had snow sticking to the steep pitches on Intro and Spell Binder, leaving a gorgeous covering of white in those spots that are typically scoured by the wind. With lightly tracked snow, the skiing was superb, even if one wasn’t sinking in as deep as they would in the fluff. As she floated her way down the Spell Binder headwall, E finally got to really feel her Black Diamond Element fat skis in their “element” so to speak, and she mentioned how she was recalling the comments I’d made about the front rocker allowing you to be more aggressive and still put that weight forward in the powder. I think she looked really good in steep powder, which has definitely been challenging for her on Telemark skis. The afternoon sun came out as we were making our descent, which really set up some great end of the day photos to cap off another holiday session on the slopes. It sounds like another round of snow is on the way for tomorrow and tomorrow night, so that should help to keep the snow surfaces in great shape.

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