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Bolton Valley, VT 3/9/2009

J.Spin

New member
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
Messages
112
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Location
Waterbury, VT
Website
JandEproductions.com
Date(s) Skied: March 9th, 2009

Resort or Ski Area: Bolton Valley (Timberline), VT

Conditions: 32 degrees F and 2 to 3 inches of new, fairly dense snow at 1,500'

Trip Report: I wanted to get out of work early enough yesterday to grab some end of the day lift-served skiing on the new snow, but I just couldn’t manage to pull away soon enough. Fortunately, daylight savings time had just kicked in, so I still had enough light to earn some turns before dinner. Bolton’s snow report suggested that they hadn’t been running the Timberline Lift, so that seemed like a good spot to head for untracked snow. Temperatures in the mid 30s F in the valleys dropped to 32 F up at the Timberline base area (~1,500’), where there were 2 to 3 inches of fresh snow. With the timing of the snow and daylight savings in effect, I figured other folks would have the same idea as me, and not long after I’d started skinning up Twice as Nice I ran into Roger Klinger coming down. The turns didn’t look all that soft, but conversation with Roger gave me the impression that they might be better than they looked. I continued on up the established skin track (the new snow wasn’t too deep, but thanks to Roger or whoever broke trail) and had enough time to get up to the Timberline mid station (2,250’) before I needed to start heading down. In the mid station area I ran into two local women walking their dogs on snowshoes, and then another guy and a couple who were on skis. There didn’t seem to be much additional elevation-related snow accumulation at the mid station, although it did seem to fill in a bit more as I dropped down into the protected environs of Wood’s Hole. Based on the surfaces I’d seen on Twice as Nice and Showtime, which hadn’t been groomed since Sunday’s corn snow skiing, I’d decided to explore the Wood’s Hole area for some smoother, low angle terrain. I headed into Wood’s Hole, and as Roger had alluded to, the skiing was better than it initially appeared. It seemed that this was partly due to the fact that the new snow was fairly dense, and although you couldn’t tell from watching someone else skiing, the density provided some float. I skimmed along on some pleasantly bottomless snow as I headed down Wood’s Hole beside the women’s snowshoe tracks. I was looking for additional smooth surfaces for the rest of my descent, and passed on Brandy Wine, which looked like it had seen traffic before the new snow. But when I got to Tattle Tale the slope looked nice and smooth, so I dropped in. The turns certainly weren’t bottomless, but the surface was really quite smooth and fun. Back at my car I spoke with the solo skier I’d met up at the Timberline mid station, and we concluded that it was the relatively soft base snow (it hadn’t completely frozen up) that had helped make the skiing better than it might have been. So overall the outing was nothing too special, but it was certainly a good Vermont-style afternoon workout. A few pictures from the day are added below:

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J.Spin
 
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