Bolton Valley land sale

Not sure how I feel about this. The conservation trusts usually close the land down to any human activity.
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/94447/bolton-backs-proposed-land-sale/

Based on what I heard on WDEV, the bv owner said that the intent was to keep it as bc ski terrain. You do know that last year a rich guy was going to buy it to build a home on and to close access. So this is the lesser of two evils I guess....

Ill take nature over sprawl any day. However there is a land conservation trust buyin..err conserving alot of land in my area. They have gated and closed most of it while they count the squirrels.

I was on my IPhone yesterday, so I could not elaborate, but again my understanding is that the purchase was to protect ski access and the trail network.

This Backcountry magazine article was on TGR. Seems that skier access is part of the game plan.

http://www.backcountrymagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=737&Itemid=52



Bolton’s Bailout: Skiers rally to buy backcountry land

Written by James Dillon




Bolton Valley Resort sits quietly, nestled in the verdant rolling hills of Vermont, its chairlifts spinning and 5,000 acres of wild backcountry land waiting for skiers to break trail and carve turns. Ribbons of trails, meandering streambeds and open birch glades offer backcountry skiers endless options in quiet solitude. But last winter, the resort's developers put more than 1,000 acres of their land on the market, threatening skier access to the backcountry and opening the possibility for development. Now, it's a race to raise enough money to buy the land and preserve its twisting canvas of backcountry terrain.

Bolton Valley is situated between 20,000-acre Camel’s Hump State Park to the south and 34,000-acre Mount Mansfield State Forest to the north. The resort offers 70 alpine trails, more than 100 km of Nordic ski access and several entry points to some of Vermont’s most untraveled backcountry. With its high elevation, the Nordic Center and backcountry terrain receive more than 300 inches of snowfall annually. The Catamount Trail, a ski trail that runs the length of the state, also stretches through the land, primarily along the popular 9.4-mile Bolton to Trapps Trail.

“It’s unique, there’s nothing like it,” explains Rob Dasaro, manager of the Bolton Valley Nordic Center. “You can go ski the backcountry anywhere, but here the lines are manicured a little, and the Nordic Center gives you a place to put your boots on and get a cup of coffee.” This aspect of the backcountry experience draws in a tight community of skiers, says Dasaro, and that group helps maintain the land in the off season and enjoys the abundant trails, glades and drainages when the snow falls.

Over half of Vermont’s entire population lives within 30 miles of the land area as well, making it a convenient destination for outdoor enthusiasts. “A lot of people in Vermont use this land as their playground and there’s continued access, which is important,” says Elise Annes, Vice President for Community Relations at the Vermont Land Trust (VLT).

During February 2011, Redstone, the commercial real estate developer that owns Bolton Valley, put 1,161 acres of Nordic and backcountry terrain on the market and attracted interest from an unidentified private buyer. The resort and its alpine trails are not threatened by the sale. A majority of the Nordic trails and backcountry access, however, would be lost in the transaction and many Nordic trails were closed last winter because of the pending sale. Several stakeholders, including VLT, have speculated that if the land were to fall into the hands of a private buyer, it would be closed to skiing and a large-scale development or dozens of homes could be constructed.

But a group of individuals has banded together to form Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry (FOBVNB) in order to protect the land. “We are a group of people with a long history of dedication to working, hiking and skiing in this beautiful niche of Vermont forest land,” said Ann Gotham, coordinator of FOBVNB, in a statement. “Our intent is to conserve the parcel of land being sold by Bolton Valley and its investors while maintaining access to public use,” she added.

FOBVNB, now numbering more than 200, send some sixty heartfelt testimonials to the interested buyer explaining individuals’ personal connection to the land and its importance to the Bolton Valley community and the state of Vermont. Due in part to FOBVNB’s objection, the buyer backed away and the land did not sell. Instead, VLT took interest and on March 23, 2012, Bolton Valley announced that VLT had signed a contract with resort officials to purchase the land.

Over the next 14 months, FOBVNB, VLT and other concerned parties will campaign to collect the money needed to purchase the land—a total of $1,850,000. The Vermont Land Trust plans to approach the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board for a grant contribution of $800,000. The remaining $1,050,000 will come from public donations and local fundraising. “Our $1,050,000 fundraising goal is a large amount of money to raise in almost any context,” says Annes, “so it will be a challenging effort. We will need a very broad base of support and we will need those who love this land…to stretch themselves in supporting this project.”

According to Annes, this is one of the largest fundraising efforts VLT has taken on. Other campaigns of similar magnitude have been successful in the past, however, and she is confident that the community connected to Bolton Valley’s Nordic and backcountry terrain will demonstrate their support.

If the fundraising effort is successful and the land is purchased, it will become a part of the Mount Mansfield State Forest and will be accessible to the public for hiking, snowshoeing and skiing, and the Nordic Center will continue operation. “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to protect this land and we would love for people to realize what is important to them and take this opportunity to protect the legacy of this land,” says Annes.

If VLT does not meet its fundraising goal, the land will still be up for sale and could sell to another private party. If this were to happen, the threat of restricted access and development will loom large again.

But Rob Dasaro is confident that backcountry and Nordic skiers will band together and the fundraising effort will be successful. “Bolton has already sold passes for next year,” he says: “We have every intention to groom the [Nordic] trails and have awesome skiing next year.”

For more information or to make a donation visit the Vermont Land Trust website at vlt.org.

Just to comment on some of the posts above – it would be extremely surprising if access to the land was somehow limited through the proposed sale. Indeed, the effort that Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic is making for this purchase through Vermont Land Trust is to maintain access to the backcountry skiing and the Bolton Valley Nordic Network, so ensuring access to the terrain would be a major part of whatever goes through.

For those unfamiliar with the parcel of interest, it’s quite a gem in terms of sidecountry/backcountry skiing. It abuts Bolton Valley’s alpine skiing terrain for easy access from the ski area as sidecountry using the Wilderness Lift, but it’s also sitting right next to Bolton Valley’s parking lots, providing incredibly easy backcountry access. I attended the preliminary meeting that Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic put on last spring (actually, exactly a year ago today), and the access/frontage issue was a big one. The parcel itself is 1,161 acres, but it serves as an access point to many additional thousands of acres of backcountry terrain. Along with Bolton Valley’s 100 km network of Nordic trails and the backcountry trails, the area provides access to the Catamount Trail, the Bolton-Trapp Traverse, the Cotton Brook area, other areas off the east side of the spine of the Greens, and even the west side of the spine, etc. Throw on top of that the fact that most of the terrain is at a relatively high elevation, the area sits on the western slopes of the Northern Greens and receives 300+ inches of synoptic and upslope snowfall per season, and that there are numerous officially (and unofficially) maintained backcountry glades throughout the area… and it’s easy to see why skiers are so interested in preserving access.

I generally post lift-served trip reports here at AlpineZone, because that seems of most interest to the group, but when I did a search I found that I have posted at least one backcountry trip report from the Bolton Valley Nordic/backcountry area that folks are talking about in this thread. The report was from last season on January 17th, 2011; clicking on that date will bring you to the AlpineZone trip report, and it’s also available at our website in a web log format with more embedded links etc. Of our outings in the area this season, so far only one trip report is complete (February 19th, 2012). That one was a good combination sidecountry & backcountry tour that we did with the boys though, and it has some decent breadth of areal coverage that provides some feel for the area. I’ll try to pass along an update when I finish up my other trip reports from the area this season. For those that want to learn more about the area though, we’ve got tons of trip reports from all across that backcountry network and beyond on our Backcountry Page – just scroll down past the initial text to get to all the reports. I generally track each outing via GPS and plot it on Google Earth, so there should be one of those plots with each trip report. The maps don’t really provide specific GPS coordinates for the locations on the tour, but they give a general overview of where the tour took place so people can get a sense of the area.

Concerning this season though, as most folks are painfully aware, this was a pretty horrid season for snowfall, but it serves as a great example of just how much snow falls up in the area that people are concerned about. From my travels in the area, the snow depths (especially on the leeward side of the spine up above 3,000’) typically track with the snow depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake. So even in this abysmal ski season in which Bolton Valley had literally half (159”) their average snowfall, the depth of the snowpack in the area that we’re talking about here still probably topped out close to 7 feet. A great example of the snow is shown in the first photo I added in the collection at the end of this post – that photo of the buried trees was taken on February 20th of this season. For snowpack reference, I added in my updated Mt. Mansfield/Waterbury snowpack plot below, and you can see that the picture was taken before the big snow even came at the end of February. If you focus in on the plot, go to the plateau at around 48” just before the Mt. Mansfield snowpack makes that huge jump in late February.



I’m not even aware of another season when Bolton Valley’s snowfall was as low as this one, yet coverage was never an issue in the backcountry network during the heart of the ski season in January, February and March. That’s really a testament to the area’s ability to accumulate and preserve snow, and once they get a taste of it, it’s easy to see why people are so passionate about maintaining ski access.

I know that Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic is working hard on the fundraising to purchase the area, and although I don’t really have the fundraising skills that some of the folks on the team have, what I do have is a large amount of photo stoke from the area. So I’ll try to do my part in getting the word out here, either for folks that have visited the area in the past, or for those that would like to visit it in the future. The Bolton Valley Nordic project has its own section at the Vermont Land Trust website for people that want more information. For anyone that is interested in getting involved in the project, the link below has information about signing up, and there also a direct link there for making donations:

http://www.vlt.org/initiatives/bolton/get-involved

I added in an assortment of photos from our collection below to give people a sense of the terrain/feel/snowfall in the area; detailed reports associated with most of them are on our Backcountry Page. It’s a pretty amazing place for skiing, and we’ve barely scratched the surface in our explorations over the past few seasons.

Thanks for the reminder of this thread, jspin. After reading your TR, I went back to the Goodman book and started planning a Bolton tour. All this talk about the impending sale, has the wheels in my head spinning. I think I need to hit this place when we get snow again next season.

snowmonster said:

Thanks for the reminder of this thread, jspin. After reading your TR, I went back to the Goodman book and started planning a Bolton tour. All this talk about the impending sale, has the wheels in my head spinning. I think I need to hit this place when we get snow again next season.

Click to expand...

Nice snowmonster, I hope you get out for a good tour. If we have a typical season, you should have a fairly large window in which to fit a backcountry ski outing with all the elevation and the snowfall that the area around Bolton Valley gets. The first of the backcountry skiing will usually start up in December (and occasionally November) and it will continue through March and into April depending on the season. General conditions reports for the backcountry network are provided along with the Bolton Valley Nordic Snow Report, but you can also stay on top of how the base is increasing by following the snow depth at the Mt. Mansfield stake. I’ve got some information below that might help you and others that are planning backcountry ski tours in the area.

Traditionally, the “40-inch rule” (40 inches of snowpack depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake) is used as an indicator for when the local tree/backcountry skiing gets rolling, but that rule is inclusive of all off piste terrain, and areas that are well maintained (like some of the terrain in Bolton’s backcountry network) will be ready for skiing before that point. Using our own ski trip reports from the past couple of decades as empirical data, I obtained an average date of December 10th for when off piste skiing starts around here (Northern/North-Central Vermont). However, after a conversation with Powderfreak over at American Weather, I found out that reaching a depth of 24 inches at the stake can also serve as a good estimate for the start of off piste skiing in appropriately maintained areas. With almost 60 years of snowpack data available from the Mt. Mansfield Stake, I decided to take advantage of that data set, and I calculated the average date for reaching 24 inches at the stake as December 12th ± 19 days. It’s probably a decent estimate, since it’s so close to what I found from the empirical analysis. I’d put those data into a plot for a post at American Weather, so I’m passing the plot along here for folks to use. The plot shows the distribution of dates for reaching 24 inches at the stake, with the large vertical line in the plot indicating the mean, and the small vertical lines showing the values for ± 1 standard deviation. The red data point in the plot is for the 2011-2012 winter season (date = January 3rd, 2012). Not surprisingly, this season was on the late side for reaching the 24-inch depth and the start of tree skiing, but as slow as it was, it wasn’t as late a start as some seasons:



There are actually a fair number of seasons there (greater than 1 in 5) in which 24 inches of snowpack is attained in November, and for the vast majority (better than 4 out of 5), that depth is attained by the end of December. One has to pay attention to whether the 24 inches at the stake is settled snow or fluff of course, but it can certainly serve as a rough number for when initial explorations of well-maintained glades can start. The snow can get to that minimal base slowly through the routine clippers and upslope events that we usually receive, but what really helps is if we get a big, early season storm with a solid 1 to 3 inches of liquid equivalent in the form of snow. So certainly be on the lookout for those. I didn’t make a data plot for the date when the snowpack at the stake reaches 40 inches, but if you look at the green “average” area on the Mt. Mansfield snow depth plot at SkiVT-L, you’ll see that that happens around the end of December/beginning of January. Available backcountry options will gradually ramp up between the attainment of the 24 and 40-inch depths, so overall, backcountry options should generally be growing quickly during December.

Hopefully people will find the above information helpful in backcountry trip planning in the Bolton Valley area.

I also wanted to pass along a note that there is another thread over at the Telemark Tips Forum, which is also focusing on the efforts to preserve access to the land that had been up for sale. They have a bunch of additional links there for people that want to be informed of the situation:

http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=83041

It is deep at Bolton

Thanks for the information and I hope we cross paths this winter! I've always found the snow to be deep at Bolton. Now that we've moved up to the area I plan on doing a lot more touring. Woodward mountain trail is on my short list. Thanks for the heads up I'll look into what I can do to help.

skidmarks said:

Thanks for the information and I hope we cross paths this winter! I've always found the snow to be deep at Bolton. Now that we've moved up to the area I plan on doing a lot more touring. Woodward mountain trail is on my short list. Thanks for the heads up I'll look into what I can do to help.

Click to expand...

Congrats on moving to the area – based on the information in your sidebar it looks like you’re in Berlin, so you’re basically right on the line separating the Northern Greens from the Central Greens, and you’ll have quick access to the skiing in both areas. Even in the worst of seasons like this last one, your local backcountry touring options are going to be quite plentiful. In average to good seasons, touring options will be virtually limitless, as snowpack is generally substantial enough for descents all the way to the bottom of the lowest mountain valleys.

It’s great that you brought up the Woodward Mountain Trail, as it’s also high on the list of local routes that I want to explore. It’s a long enough tour that I haven’t done it with the boys just yet though. With the minimal weight of Telemark gear for ascending/flats, and the fact that the tour is mostly a descent if you start up at Bolton Valley, they might have the range now, but I still want to assess it myself first to get the lay of the land. Another Woodward Mountain variation we want to try is to tour back down to our house in the Winooski Valley. As the crow flies, it’s just over 3 miles from Woodward Mountain back to the house (slightly shorter than the actual trail down to the reservoir) but without the formal trail all the way, I suspect the tour will take a bit longer.

If you have David Goodman’s backcountry skiing book for this area, it has a really detailed chapter on the Woodward Mountain Trail – I just read it again last night and the history is fascinating. There’s at least some info out there on the web as well, I’ve found a few sites and added the links below.

There are a few trip reports from the area at Midnight Modern Conversation – those tours are usually up from the Waterbury Reservoir and back (vs. using Bolton Valley’s lifts and starting the descent from there) but it provides and interesting perspective and maps are generally included for reference:

2/17/2008
http://midmodcon.blogspot.com/2008/02/woodard-mtn-ski-trail-2172008.html

3/2/2008
http://midmodcon.blogspot.com/2008/03/big-suffering-on-little-mountain.html

2/1/2009
http://midmodcon.blogspot.com/2009/02/unbroken-snow-on-woodward-mountain.html

2/23/2009
http://midmodcon.blogspot.com/2009/02/still-plotting.html

Ben Bloom has a couple of reports on SkiVT-L:

3/2/2008 (with a link to some of Ben’s excellent photos from the day)
http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0803A&L=SKIVT-L&P=R5082

1/28/2007 (just a brief mention of the outing, but there’s a link to more photos)
http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0701D&L=SKIVT-L&P=R17956

There’s a little discussion about conditions and touring from the bottom at Telemarkeast.com:
http://www.telemarkeast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4038

Finally there’s Jim Bauman’s great feature piece on Bolton Valley at First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine – a few things about the resort have changed since the article is from 2001, but it still nails that Bolton Valley vibe, and there is a sidebar in the article in which he writes about the Woodward Mountain Trail and his own outing on it:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2001/03/02/bolton-valley-go-tele-it-on-the-mountain/

I don’t want to stray too far off topic since the Woodward Mountain Trail isn’t on the land that’s been up for sale, but it’s definitely a prominent route in the Bolton Valley backcountry, so it seems to fit in with the thread.

Can somebody clarify for me... is Bolton Valley closing it's lifts?

Are Preacher, Devil's Playground, Lost Boys and Adam's Solitude no more?

That would be a shame... Bolton Valley is one of the most fun places to ski in Vermont, I go there at least once a season.

bdfreetuna said:

Can somebody clarify for me... is Bolton Valley closing it's lifts?

Are Preacher, Devil's Playground, Lost Boys and Adam's Solitude no more?

That would be a shame... Bolton Valley is one of the most fun places to ski in Vermont, I go there at least once a season.

Click to expand...

I haven’t heard anything about interruptions in the lift-serviced skiing at Bolton Valley (and I’ve been in contact with both the patrol director and the director of sales and marketing in the past few weeks), so as far as I know it’s business as usual at the resort. This thread is about some of the resort’s adjoining Nordic and backcountry terrain that the owners have been thinking of selling off; if it was sold to a private entity, it’s possible that access to the land could be threatened. On that note, the latest update I received from Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic/Vermont Land Trust a week or two ago indicates that they have raised roughly 70% of the $1.85 million that they need to purchase the land. If you’re a fan of the resort, certainly get the word out to other folks you know that share your enthusiasm; even for folks that may not head out onto that backcountry terrain themselves, I’d argue its easy access from the alpine network strengthens the viability and attractiveness of the resort as a whole.

ok, thanks, good to know.

Never skied Bolton but those pics are making me dream of snow now .... p.s. that was a helluva detailed post J-spin!

Bolton Valley= most underrated Vermont ski area

The Preacher and Devil's Playground are New England classics. Adam's Solitude is one of the longer and more "remote"-feeling in-bounds glades around. Lost Boyz has a couple gnar sections. The place gets a lot of snow and doesn't get tracked out as quick as the more popular resorts.

Overall it may lack the amount of challenging terrain some other places have, but natural quality > quantity is what Bolton's all about.

My avatar was taken in Bolton's Adam's Solitude, btw. Nice little drop in there

Had to use a 6400 ISO exposure because I was going around 70mph in that photo.

Nick said:

Never skied Bolton but those pics are making me dream of snow now .... p.s. that was a helluva detailed post J-spin!

Click to expand...

Thx Nick, hopefully you can experience Bolton at some point; bd definitely has it right in his comments below.

bdfreetuna said:

Bolton Valley= most underrated Vermont ski area

The Preacher and Devil's Playground are New England classics. Adam's Solitude is one of the longer and more "remote"-feeling in-bounds glades around. Lost Boyz has a couple gnar sections. The place gets a lot of snow and doesn't get tracked out as quick as the more popular resorts.

Overall it may lack the amount of challenging terrain some other places have, but natural quality > quantity is what Bolton's all about.

My avatar was taken in Bolton's Adam's Solitude, btw. Nice little drop in there

Had to use a 6400 ISO exposure because I was going around 70mph in that photo.

Click to expand...

I’d say Bolton slips under the radar to make it the least crowded 300”+ snowfall resort in Northern Vermont, and presumably east of the Rockies; it’s certainly high on snow quality and definitely one of those “little mountains that rock” if you know where to look.

The current ownership has done a good job improving things at the mountain, including the new quad. My experience is pretty limited...only a few night skiing sessions over the years...the last visit on a night in February 2011 when it dumped all night (some thundersnow even!). I had a good time and it was affordable.

But I do know that last year the ownership made it clear that they would not mind someone taking over for them. They have leased part of the resort to the New England Culinary school to run (The Ponds or whatever one of their meeting/conference building is). They also were selling this portion of land to raise some cash...and last year it was going to go to a rich guy who was going to close access and build a private home...but that deal apparently fell through.

One of the partners in the resort was on WDEV's Mark Johnson show in March or April and was saying that this season was a real struggle for them. He confirmed that, unlike most places, they rely on a staggering number of local season passholders rather than marketing to out-of-state day and weekend trippers. It has worked pretty well for them and the place has a locals/low key vibe.

So while the resort is not closing the ownership is interested in getting out of the ski business by selling to someone else, so maybe bdfreetuna can be the new owner!

thetrailboss said:

But I do know that last year the ownership made it clear that they would not mind someone taking over for them. They have leased part of the resort to the New England Culinary school to run (The Ponds or whatever one of their meeting/conference building is). They also were selling this portion of land to raise some cash...and last year it was going to go to a rich guy who was going to close access and build a private home...but that deal apparently fell through.

Click to expand...

The current efforts being made by the Vermont Land Trust to acquire the land could be one of the best arrangements – Bolton Valley could get the money they are seeking for the land, they would no longer have to pay taxes on that 1,000+ acres, and backcountry ski access to that terrain would be maintained while keeping that Nordic/backcountry attribute associated with the resort.

thetrailboss said:

One of the partners in the resort was on WDEV's Mark Johnson show in March or April and was saying that this season was a real struggle for them. He confirmed that, unlike most places, they rely on a staggering number of local season passholders rather than marketing to out-of-state day and weekend trippers. It has worked pretty well for them and the place has a locals/low key vibe.

Click to expand...

Many folks that frequent the resort would love to see some things updated, especially the main base lodge, but it’s difficult to have it both ways; you generally can’t remain relatively low key/low traffic and have the money to make tons of capital improvements. If the resort can continue to stay in the black overall with their business model and whatever gradual improvement steps they’ve been taking (Vista Quad, The Ponds, Wind Turbine, etc.) then that’s already a plus. One hopes that if the financial environment improves and an interested party comes along to buy the resort, they keep things on a good track; those of us sharing lift-served access to all that snow with the current level of visitors know how good we have it, so it would be a shame if financial overextension ended up tipping that balance.

Re: base lodge. The last time I was there I realized how worn, small. and dated it was.

^^
If you thought the main lodge was tiny you'd really enjoy the Timberline Lodge