Bolton Valley - Feb 22 & 23 2014

[bdfreetuna]

It was 1 year anniversary for me and Patricia, and I had a 4 pack of Bolton Valley tix from the Boston ski show to use. So I got a hotel up there and said let's go for 2 days.

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking this time. Both days were great weather. It softened up Saturday and froze overnight, leaving a half inch of icy crust on top of the ungroomed terrain for Sunday.

Vista Glades and Preacher were good examples of broken up ice cubes. Somehow I enjoyed the hell out of this. I really like steep bumps and woods when the conditions are a bit on the hairy side. I actually enjoy this more than powder. Maybe I'm weird.

So it was a couple great days. This was day #3 and day #4 for Patricia on skis. Her skills improved significantly and she was able to pull off decent parallel skid turns by the end of the weekend. I accidentally took her on one bump run and she handled it ok. She volunteered to go in a few of the lower angle woods and while it wasn't easy for her in all parts of the woods, she handled it like a champ.

Great anniversary weekend for us and reminds me why Bolton Valley goes way back as one of my favorites. There is something for everyone here. Preacher might be my favorite trail (not woods) ever. Narrow, twisty, bumpy and steep.

Devil's Playground was pretty hairy due to the ice-over and really steep tree runs like TNT ended up being closed on Sunday due to the terrain.

I forgot to mention, anything that was groomed was beautiful both days. Even after the ice over Saturday night all the groomed terrain was perfect. I love this mountain and look forward to going back on days where the mountain is more "wide-open" and also checking out some of their backcountry. I was staring at the Centerline Chute on the middle mountain quite a bit on the lift lines up, and now I'm rather determined to ski this at some point in the upcoming seasons.

Sorry if you're not on Facebook but I don't actually have the pics on my laptop right now. It's a public folder so you should be able to view it.... and feel free to add me as a friend if you're into that. Let me know if this link isn't working for anybody

https://www.facebook.com/joshuatheshepherd/media_set?set=a.683557568378715&type=1


edit: nevermind I downloaded my pics of facebook and posted them here



That is Preacher on the bottom and Vista Glades 2nd from the top.

Forgot to mention the lodge was full, the parking lot was full, but there was very short lift lines if any, and most trails were either light traffic or all to myself. Bolton has basically 3 unique mountain areas and it spreads people out pretty well.

 

[steamboat1]

Nice.:beer:

Haven't been to Bolten in awhile.

Congrats on 1 year.

 

[thetrailboss]

Congrats on the anniversary and NICE pictures!

 

[MadMadWorld]

Nice report. I had a great time there in January and plan to go back at the end of March for Hyundai Day. Good luck skiing Centerline. It requires perfect snow conditions to hold snow on that thing and a set of brass balls. It looks mean and nasty from a distance and going by a friends first hand account it's a lot more technical than it looks. You are talking a 40 degree slope with large cliff bands that range anywhere from 10-20 feet with mandatory air. It's narrow as hell and a fall means your going all the way to the bottom. In the past 10 years I imagine you can count how many days it was skiable on 2 hands. Here is a bad picture that does it no justice.

 

[mikec142]

Happy Anniversary. The pix look great. I'm glad that you enjoyed Bolton as it holds a special place in my heart. My kids had skied before, but really became proficient skiers at Bolton thanks to a few lessons with great instructors there. I have family in Burlington so we've skied Bolton numerous times. As my kids have become better skiers, we've migrated to the bigger mountains. The past few times up we've gone to Stowe and Sugarbush which have been amazing. I have two complaints re: Bolton - The first is that the Wilderness portion of the mountain has rarely been open while I've been there. The second is that it seems like Bolton has more wind holds on their lifts than the surrounding ski areas. We were in VT for the Valentines Day weekend and skied a couple of glorious days at Sugarbush. Even though it was very windy on Sunday, Sugarbush had all of their lifts going except the Slide Brook Express in the AM (due to temperature). I saw on Facebook that Bolton had most of their lifts closed by noon on that same day. I also saw that Bolton had some wind holds that Friday too. Of course, safety is the top priority, but I'd be pretty angry if I drove all the way from NJ to VT and was only able to ski a tiny portion of the mountain.

 

[Nick]

Congrats on the anniversery! Nice pics!

 

[VT_Snowrider]

Glad you had a good time at my mtn, despite the somewhat crusty conditions. I'm a liftie there, live closeby. The weekend before last (2/15-16) had the best conditions we've had all year. As far as centerline, nobody I know has gone up yet this season. We usually have 4-5 good days a year to it that, but none yet this season. It is very technical, pick your line and stick to it or you're tumbling to the bottom. We got about 3-4" of light fresh pow last night so that's freshening things up a bit. Last week we did have wind holds on Friday but all lifts were running fine all weekend. Tons of lines in the Timberline woods still are untracked, if you know the good spots that aren't on the map. Still plenty of season left, come on back! And be sure to be nice to your ticket checkers & lifties :grin:

 

[VT_Snowrider]

And to mikec142 above, Wilderness is natural snow only so we can't open it unless coverage is adequate. It's also only open a few days a week due to small crowds during the week. You can always ski over to it from vista trails for most of the terrain, and a short hike will get you to the top for all trails. Due to the topography Bolton is a windy spot, nothing we can do about that. It's the first bump storms hit after whipping across the lake and Champlain Valley and takes the brunt of most storms. Luckily it also brings great snow.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Thanks everyone!

MMW: I wish I snapped a pic of the middle mountain. Yeah it does look really steep and hairy but it looked pretty "white" to me over the weekend. It must have been skiable before the melt and freezing rain. Also, besides centerline, there's a couple less intimidating chutes to the right.

Somebody told me Bolton's middle mountain was similar to Jay's ridge in terms of difficulty. Although it looks like the trees are thicker in most places.

I'm not in a huge hurry to ski it and I won't plan a trip just around doing it.. but I'd like to take a hike up the middle mountain some time when the snow is good, even if I chicken out on Centerline and take a less crazy way down.

BTW I couldn't tell if you had skied it based on your description. Is that 1st or 2nd hand info? Just wondering because I may have more questions if you have skied the middle mountain or centerline.

 

[MadMadWorld]

Thanks everyone!

MMW: I wish I snapped a pic of the middle mountain. Yeah it does look really steep and hairy but it looked pretty "white" to me over the weekend. It must have been skiable before the melt and freezing rain. Also, besides centerline, there's a couple less intimidating chutes to the right.


Somebody told me Bolton's middle mountain was similar to Jay's ridge in terms of difficulty. Although it looks like the trees are thicker in most places.

I'm not in a huge hurry to ski it and I won't plan a trip just around doing it.. but I'd like to take a hike up the middle mountain some time when the snow is good, even if I chicken out on Centerline and take a less crazy way down.

Yea I posted that in a report earlier this year. I skinned up and over it to get to some of the terrain off of Wilderness. The stuff to the right looks like it needs a lot less than Centerline. I will definitely be exploring that area but I don't think I would ski Centerline without someone that knows the mountain because there is no way out once you have committed. I can see it being pretty amazing in the right conditions though.

Never skied it myself but a ski buddy of mine has as well as some of the stuff off lookers right.

 

[VT_Snowrider]

Yea I posted that in a report earlier this year. I skinned up and over it to get to some of the terrain off of Timberline. The stuff to the right looks like it needs a lot less than Centerline. I will definitely be exploring that area but I don't think I would ski Centerline without someone that knows the mountain because there is no way out once you have committed. I can see it being pretty amazing in the right conditions though

Valentines weekend was the 1st time we got more than 8" at a time all season so no center line yet as that snow blew right away. It was white last weekend, and is today also, but it's deceiving and straight ice underneath. It doesn't hold snow very well since it's so exposed, it takes the right amount of semi wet snow and low winds to get after it. that line is really the only one on that peak that can compare to the face at Jay. There are plenty of other less sketchy lines to the right as you're looking up at the peak.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Oh, cool, thanks. Wasn't sure if I heard that from someone on AZ.

The stuff to the right doesn't look too hairy and still dumps you out into the same woods. I agree Centerline solo and without a guide could be a mistake. Probably a good idea to start on the chutes to the right to get an idea of the area without diving straight in to the deep end.

 

[4aprice]

How do you catch those nice pictures at tunaspeed? j/k Bolton can be a good time when conditions and terrain permit.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[VT_Snowrider]

I'm not on here too often but you can send me a pm if you need discounted Bolton tickets. We're treated very well and I can get you 1/2 price tix anytime. If you rode Vista lift anytime last Saturday or Sunday I was the guy checking your lift ticket all day. I'm at the bottom of Vista every saturday & sunday

 

[MadMadWorld]

I'm not on here too often but you can send me a pm if you need discounted Bolton tickets. We're treated very well and I can get you 1/2 price tix anytime. If you rode Vista lift anytime last Saturday or Sunday I was the guy checking your lift ticket all day. I'm at the bottom of Vista every saturday & sunday

Thanks for the kind offer!