polski
New member
I dedicate this TR to Teddy, my puppy, for assenting to postpone his scheduled neutering from yesterday to next week, thereby allowing me to ski this epic N VT snowfall.
"Postpone all you want, pal"
My intended destination yesterday was Mad River Glen for >2' of fresh. I'd planned to leave an hour earlier than usual to have a cushion in case driving conditions were suboptimal but I didn't set the alarm correctly so overslept by an hour - still enough time to get first chair if roads were OK. I made great time through MA and NH into VT.
As I drove up 89, when I wasn't trying to settle on a first-tracks run (my usual pow day choice, Cat Bowl > Lower Antelope? Or perhaps Fall Line? Or maybe even my first descent into Paradise? Which aspects might have avoided wind affect? So much to ponder ...) I wrestled with whether to take Roxbury Gap, the more direct route to the MRV, or 89 to Middlesex and then south. I hadn't tried the gap after heavy snow yet I know it's plowed and I expected no problem climbing. But I didn't relish the long, steep downhill on roads certain to be snow-covered, and 89 was in decent shape - passing lane sometimes/often snow-covered but that could be dealt with at speed. So I stayed on the interstate.
When I got off in Middlesex I found a tractor-trailer skidded sideways across 100B just south of the 89 interchange, closing the road :evil:. I quickly jumped back on 89 N (driving back down to Northfield/Roxbury wasn't gonna happen) to the next exit, Waterbury, where I would take 100 S to the MRV - and found a long, barely moving line of cars and trucks waiting to do just that. It took me about 2.5 seconds to conclude there way no way was I going to sit in traffic and get aggravated while missing first chair at MRG. So I called an audible: Bolton Valley. Scoot right of the line of traffic, turn onto Route 2 and I was there before 8:30. With CHAD card giving me $10 off the ticket was $39.
I was at the chair at 8:50 a.m. for 9 a.m. opening bell. Wound up skiing 'til closing, which they extended to 4:30 p.m. on account of "sun and snow," with only two short breaks - I'd done a lot of skinning locally this winter on our epic N Shore MA snowpack (including nearly every day last week) and I reaped a huge stamina dividend yesterday.
This was only my second time to BV and it was a great day to get a feel for the place - bluebird conditions with a reported 28-32" of snow Sunday night through Monday. From what I gather only the Timberline chair spun all day Monday; I think Vista Quad only ran in the morning for like an hour, if that, because of wind and employees unable to get in to work. So all the terrain from Vista was quite fresh - wind-buffed on some trails but not overly stiff, a very skiable density, and lighter up top. Untracked on ungroomed trails often skied less than a foot deep; in woods and on open trails with less wind affect it often was knee-deep+.
Started with third tracks through Vista Glades and that was good but I wasn't fully dialed in at first - it got better from there. Over the course of the day I wound up hitting pretty much all the on-map glades and other woods shots too. Only one snow-snake-induced double-eject/human torpedo maneuver to report.
Most of the day I didn't interrupt pow-slaying to take a lot of photos/videos but here's one representative upper-mountain glades shot, a screengrab from Flip:
By far the highlight - and right up there with my greatest moments ever on skis - was Wilderness Peak. BV doesn't run the Wilderness chair most weekdays including this day and I'd thoughtfully packed my skins so I figured it would be a fine time for a little slackcountry touring. They did have a groomer make one pass over a main route there so, this, Crossover, was the "skin track" I had to work with:
At a little after 10 a.m. I was the first person up that trail.
Soon I came across this:
That's not a track running through it - it's a drift (groomer debris in foreground in this shot):
Same trail - few things warm a skier's heart like a nearly buried "Thin Cover" sign:
I continued up and noted several steep chutes that might have been tempting to ski if I thought they'd be stable. I had my doubts, judging by how the passing groomer had triggered shallow surface slides that ran at least a couple hundred feet. This photo doesn't illustrate well the pitch or length of the run but you may be able to detect the debris field pretty much dead center in the image:
Next stop up was the top of Bolton Outlaw. About 10 minutes later I would put a first track in this:
But first I made the top of the Wilderness chair. Upon reaching my objective I was stunned to realize that except for that passing groomer, not another soul had been there since it snowed. Clear skies, incredible views of the ADKs beyond Lake Champlain and a mountain of untracked 2 1/2-foot-deep pow to myself - it was exhilarating.
Looking at the trail map and not knowing what to expect to skier's right - what was groomed, what was ungroomed but possibly not steep enough for the deep - I turned back down a short stretch of the Crossover corduroy to Outlaw. I love the woods but there's something magical about a steep wide trail with snow so deep and completely untracked.
This was the view from the mid-mountain runout:
Pretty much the same spot, looking downhill.
I skied to the right, to Cougar, and had untracked - or, starting a ways down, with two snowboard tracks in sight - on trail and in woods all the way to the bottom.
Entrance to Cougar:
OK, truth be told, a snow hare got first tracks:
Here's a brief video showing untracked Cougar before I skied it (pardon the usual Flip jitters):
I skinned up Wilderness a second time in early afternoon and actually encountered other human beings this time. Got some intel, started to skier's right this time and again, abundant freshness including deep woods.
Took a second short break after that run, ditched the backpack and skied the rest of the afternoon. Finished with three runs down the steep trails under Vista Quad - by then skiers had broken the wind slab and left deep soft bumps to play in. I thought the first of those runs would be my last and then discovered the lift would spin until 4:30 - a nice bonus that I wasn't too tired to take advantage of. I didn't get back to the lodge until nearly 4:45.
What. A. Day.
"Postpone all you want, pal"
My intended destination yesterday was Mad River Glen for >2' of fresh. I'd planned to leave an hour earlier than usual to have a cushion in case driving conditions were suboptimal but I didn't set the alarm correctly so overslept by an hour - still enough time to get first chair if roads were OK. I made great time through MA and NH into VT.
As I drove up 89, when I wasn't trying to settle on a first-tracks run (my usual pow day choice, Cat Bowl > Lower Antelope? Or perhaps Fall Line? Or maybe even my first descent into Paradise? Which aspects might have avoided wind affect? So much to ponder ...) I wrestled with whether to take Roxbury Gap, the more direct route to the MRV, or 89 to Middlesex and then south. I hadn't tried the gap after heavy snow yet I know it's plowed and I expected no problem climbing. But I didn't relish the long, steep downhill on roads certain to be snow-covered, and 89 was in decent shape - passing lane sometimes/often snow-covered but that could be dealt with at speed. So I stayed on the interstate.
When I got off in Middlesex I found a tractor-trailer skidded sideways across 100B just south of the 89 interchange, closing the road :evil:. I quickly jumped back on 89 N (driving back down to Northfield/Roxbury wasn't gonna happen) to the next exit, Waterbury, where I would take 100 S to the MRV - and found a long, barely moving line of cars and trucks waiting to do just that. It took me about 2.5 seconds to conclude there way no way was I going to sit in traffic and get aggravated while missing first chair at MRG. So I called an audible: Bolton Valley. Scoot right of the line of traffic, turn onto Route 2 and I was there before 8:30. With CHAD card giving me $10 off the ticket was $39.
I was at the chair at 8:50 a.m. for 9 a.m. opening bell. Wound up skiing 'til closing, which they extended to 4:30 p.m. on account of "sun and snow," with only two short breaks - I'd done a lot of skinning locally this winter on our epic N Shore MA snowpack (including nearly every day last week) and I reaped a huge stamina dividend yesterday.
This was only my second time to BV and it was a great day to get a feel for the place - bluebird conditions with a reported 28-32" of snow Sunday night through Monday. From what I gather only the Timberline chair spun all day Monday; I think Vista Quad only ran in the morning for like an hour, if that, because of wind and employees unable to get in to work. So all the terrain from Vista was quite fresh - wind-buffed on some trails but not overly stiff, a very skiable density, and lighter up top. Untracked on ungroomed trails often skied less than a foot deep; in woods and on open trails with less wind affect it often was knee-deep+.
Started with third tracks through Vista Glades and that was good but I wasn't fully dialed in at first - it got better from there. Over the course of the day I wound up hitting pretty much all the on-map glades and other woods shots too. Only one snow-snake-induced double-eject/human torpedo maneuver to report.
Most of the day I didn't interrupt pow-slaying to take a lot of photos/videos but here's one representative upper-mountain glades shot, a screengrab from Flip:
By far the highlight - and right up there with my greatest moments ever on skis - was Wilderness Peak. BV doesn't run the Wilderness chair most weekdays including this day and I'd thoughtfully packed my skins so I figured it would be a fine time for a little slackcountry touring. They did have a groomer make one pass over a main route there so, this, Crossover, was the "skin track" I had to work with:
At a little after 10 a.m. I was the first person up that trail.
Soon I came across this:
That's not a track running through it - it's a drift (groomer debris in foreground in this shot):
Same trail - few things warm a skier's heart like a nearly buried "Thin Cover" sign:
I continued up and noted several steep chutes that might have been tempting to ski if I thought they'd be stable. I had my doubts, judging by how the passing groomer had triggered shallow surface slides that ran at least a couple hundred feet. This photo doesn't illustrate well the pitch or length of the run but you may be able to detect the debris field pretty much dead center in the image:
Next stop up was the top of Bolton Outlaw. About 10 minutes later I would put a first track in this:
But first I made the top of the Wilderness chair. Upon reaching my objective I was stunned to realize that except for that passing groomer, not another soul had been there since it snowed. Clear skies, incredible views of the ADKs beyond Lake Champlain and a mountain of untracked 2 1/2-foot-deep pow to myself - it was exhilarating.
Looking at the trail map and not knowing what to expect to skier's right - what was groomed, what was ungroomed but possibly not steep enough for the deep - I turned back down a short stretch of the Crossover corduroy to Outlaw. I love the woods but there's something magical about a steep wide trail with snow so deep and completely untracked.
This was the view from the mid-mountain runout:
Pretty much the same spot, looking downhill.
I skied to the right, to Cougar, and had untracked - or, starting a ways down, with two snowboard tracks in sight - on trail and in woods all the way to the bottom.
Entrance to Cougar:
OK, truth be told, a snow hare got first tracks:
Here's a brief video showing untracked Cougar before I skied it (pardon the usual Flip jitters):
I skinned up Wilderness a second time in early afternoon and actually encountered other human beings this time. Got some intel, started to skier's right this time and again, abundant freshness including deep woods.
Took a second short break after that run, ditched the backpack and skied the rest of the afternoon. Finished with three runs down the steep trails under Vista Quad - by then skiers had broken the wind slab and left deep soft bumps to play in. I thought the first of those runs would be my last and then discovered the lift would spin until 4:30 - a nice bonus that I wasn't too tired to take advantage of. I didn't get back to the lodge until nearly 4:45.
What. A. Day.
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