dlague
Active member
Bolton Valley
Conditions: MG PP & PP in the woods
Trip Report:
Skiing at Bolton Valley was a tale of two days: Saturday was overcast, real feel seemed cold (damp) but temps were not so much and foggy at higher elevation with great skiing conditions, Sunday was bluebird skies, firmer conditions and much colder. We originally were expecting a nicer day on Saturday with brief snow around noon but that never really materialized.
We started our day on Saturday by making runs down Hard Luck and Spillway then Cobrass. While Spillway is a fairly steep trail that looks long but skis short and my favorite at BV, Hard Luck on the other hand is a nice trail with a little steepness but has a number of turns in it that make you pay attention. Cobrass is fun trail with lots of twists and turns and short pitches. This trail (for some reason) seems to always have some thin spots and is narrow so traffic can be problematic. We lapped the Vista Quad five times before we opted to head over to Timberline side via Cobrass and Five Corners (another nice cruiser) and eventually on Timberline Run (yawn – like a super long run out). We got there and were excited about a few trails there but noticed from the chair a few were closed and Intro looked a little sketchy (but skiable). Once at the top we reconsidered and headed back to Vista Quad.
While heading back we were trying to meet with a fellow AZ’er based on apparel descriptions. After a few runs on the trails mentioned above we opted to hit the Wilderness Double and there was the color patterns we were looking for. Once up at the top I skied over to xwhaler! We introduced the wives and each other as well as Jeff from RSNE and my son! We proceeded to do a few runs on the wilderness side with an interesting experience on Peggy Dow’s due to exposed patches and glass ice spots. They were all easily avoidable though. We eventually made our way over to Vista quad for a quick run down Spillway to Spillway Exit (the way to go) to avoid a flat area where Bear Run and Deer Run intersect. Once back at the base we (my wife and I) had a nice lunch and adult beverages with xwhaler and his wife. It was really cool to meet someone from this forum again – last time was savemeasammy.
After lunch we hunted down some of my siblings and their families and ended up skiing with some of the RSNE card holders which we ended up losing by accident because my wife and I opted to make some gladed turns in an unnamed area to the right of Coyote and below Work Road. It was a tight path that we followed with a few challenging drops and we popped out on Wilderness. We ended up riding the Wilderness chair and decided to ski Wilderness Woods a few times which was really fun. Not real technical but a glade that can be skied fairly quickly for the most part.
We ended our day skiing with my brother, bother-in-law and niece (6 year old) and skied Hard Luck, and Spillway. As the day was drawing to a close, my wife and I skied Preacher which is a very narrow trail that seemed pretty good there is in pitch that is followed by a quick turn where I would not want to have other people ahead of me. This is a really cool trail which opens many options. We tried to make it up to head into Devils Playground off Preacher but we missed it since they were closing trails for night skiing. Nice thing is the lift ticket allowed us to ski until 8PM. However, we started skiing at 8:30 and were fourth chair, so we skied two more runs on Spillway and lastly a slow easy run on Sherman’s Pass to Swing to Fanny Hill back to the base for a few beers with the relatives and get primed for the Ride and Ski Party!
It was a great skiing Saturday with many different people all at different times.
Thank you xwhaler for meeting up for a few runs and meeting your wife – like to do that again.
Now Sunday the temps dropped and the son was out! We skied much of the same trails but glades got really firm and scrapy and were totally different from the day before so we skipped those areas. The sun was bright (spring sun) and we were soaking it in on the chairlift rides. We focused on cruising from 9 ish until 1pm skiing a variety of runs and closed the day out on Hard Luck and Spillway which were skiing very fast – not that they didn’t the day before but the MG PP was chunkier but still skied really good!
Trail conditions were great, glades awesome Saturday and a No Go on Sunday, bumps didn’t really see much except for what was in the woods. Some of those trails were thin in spots and will do well with the snow on the way – otherwise trail dropping would have been starting soon there.
Thanks Ride and Ski for a great weekend of skiing!
Fog Saturday afternoon
Upper part of Spillway
Wilderness Glades
Cobrass - Five Corners intersection
Ride and Ski Party
Conditions: MG PP & PP in the woods
Trip Report:
Skiing at Bolton Valley was a tale of two days: Saturday was overcast, real feel seemed cold (damp) but temps were not so much and foggy at higher elevation with great skiing conditions, Sunday was bluebird skies, firmer conditions and much colder. We originally were expecting a nicer day on Saturday with brief snow around noon but that never really materialized.
We started our day on Saturday by making runs down Hard Luck and Spillway then Cobrass. While Spillway is a fairly steep trail that looks long but skis short and my favorite at BV, Hard Luck on the other hand is a nice trail with a little steepness but has a number of turns in it that make you pay attention. Cobrass is fun trail with lots of twists and turns and short pitches. This trail (for some reason) seems to always have some thin spots and is narrow so traffic can be problematic. We lapped the Vista Quad five times before we opted to head over to Timberline side via Cobrass and Five Corners (another nice cruiser) and eventually on Timberline Run (yawn – like a super long run out). We got there and were excited about a few trails there but noticed from the chair a few were closed and Intro looked a little sketchy (but skiable). Once at the top we reconsidered and headed back to Vista Quad.
While heading back we were trying to meet with a fellow AZ’er based on apparel descriptions. After a few runs on the trails mentioned above we opted to hit the Wilderness Double and there was the color patterns we were looking for. Once up at the top I skied over to xwhaler! We introduced the wives and each other as well as Jeff from RSNE and my son! We proceeded to do a few runs on the wilderness side with an interesting experience on Peggy Dow’s due to exposed patches and glass ice spots. They were all easily avoidable though. We eventually made our way over to Vista quad for a quick run down Spillway to Spillway Exit (the way to go) to avoid a flat area where Bear Run and Deer Run intersect. Once back at the base we (my wife and I) had a nice lunch and adult beverages with xwhaler and his wife. It was really cool to meet someone from this forum again – last time was savemeasammy.
After lunch we hunted down some of my siblings and their families and ended up skiing with some of the RSNE card holders which we ended up losing by accident because my wife and I opted to make some gladed turns in an unnamed area to the right of Coyote and below Work Road. It was a tight path that we followed with a few challenging drops and we popped out on Wilderness. We ended up riding the Wilderness chair and decided to ski Wilderness Woods a few times which was really fun. Not real technical but a glade that can be skied fairly quickly for the most part.
We ended our day skiing with my brother, bother-in-law and niece (6 year old) and skied Hard Luck, and Spillway. As the day was drawing to a close, my wife and I skied Preacher which is a very narrow trail that seemed pretty good there is in pitch that is followed by a quick turn where I would not want to have other people ahead of me. This is a really cool trail which opens many options. We tried to make it up to head into Devils Playground off Preacher but we missed it since they were closing trails for night skiing. Nice thing is the lift ticket allowed us to ski until 8PM. However, we started skiing at 8:30 and were fourth chair, so we skied two more runs on Spillway and lastly a slow easy run on Sherman’s Pass to Swing to Fanny Hill back to the base for a few beers with the relatives and get primed for the Ride and Ski Party!
It was a great skiing Saturday with many different people all at different times.
Thank you xwhaler for meeting up for a few runs and meeting your wife – like to do that again.
Now Sunday the temps dropped and the son was out! We skied much of the same trails but glades got really firm and scrapy and were totally different from the day before so we skipped those areas. The sun was bright (spring sun) and we were soaking it in on the chairlift rides. We focused on cruising from 9 ish until 1pm skiing a variety of runs and closed the day out on Hard Luck and Spillway which were skiing very fast – not that they didn’t the day before but the MG PP was chunkier but still skied really good!
Trail conditions were great, glades awesome Saturday and a No Go on Sunday, bumps didn’t really see much except for what was in the woods. Some of those trails were thin in spots and will do well with the snow on the way – otherwise trail dropping would have been starting soon there.
Thanks Ride and Ski for a great weekend of skiing!
Fog Saturday afternoon
Upper part of Spillway
Wilderness Glades
Cobrass - Five Corners intersection
Ride and Ski Party
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