J.Spin
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Larger versions of the images are available through the link at the bottom of the report.
Bolton Valley opened up today, so I took Ty up for what I thought was going to be a relatively quick trip. The initial plan was for the whole family to go skiing, but since E was a bit under the weather, she stayed home with Dylan. The only major run they have open at Bolton is Beech Seal, which is the blue/green run under the Mid-Mountain Lift. However, they also had the Mighty-Mite Lift running as an option for total beginners. This is actually nice to see, since many places only start up with more advanced terrain and options for beginners are limited.
I knew that the top of Beech Seal actually had a couple of steeper pitches, and with everyone on the same trail at once, I thought it might be good for Ty to start off with the Mighty-Mite Lift. We did one run there, but the Mighty Mite terrain was way too mellow for Ty so we quickly headed for the chair lift. The Mighty Mite area will actually be a great place for Dylan as he starts to do more on his skis this season, since it will be hard for him to lose control there and get going too fast.
Once on the lift, we could see that they had actually only made snow on the skier?s right half of Beech Seal. The crowds at the mountain were light compared to what I?ve experienced on opening day at many of the bigger mountains, but with everyone skiing on only half of a relatively small trail, it felt a little crowded at times. Space was more of an issue because of being with Ty, since he skied at a slower pace than most of the other folks there. I stayed behind him most of the time to make sure he was visible to skiers above. As I suspected, the steeper pitches at the top of the run were a bit challenging for Ty at first, so he asked for a little help getting through them. But, I was really surprised at how fast he conquered them; within a couple runs he was taking the whole route without any assistance. Part of the learning process was figuring out the snow. The skier?s right of the trail was very popular and started to get slick, but the skier?s left of the trail remained soft due to a lot less traffic. There was actually plenty of loose snow on the skier?s left of the terrain that was available. Ty had no problem holding an edge on the steep pitches on that side of the trail.
Overall the snow quality wasn?t bad. There was an icy spot or two where the snowmaking had created it, and then there was the heavily used region on the steep section of the trail that became slick, but most of the surface easily held and edge. The route that Ty took had several inches of loose snow to play around in. All the crystals seemed a little more coarse than natural snow as one would expect, but for manmade it was quite decent. The fact that the temperature was around 40 degrees F and we had full blown sunshine probably helped to keep things soft as well. There was never really a lift line to contend with, so for the most part we just walked right onto the lift. I?m sure bigger crowds would have degraded the snow surface much faster as well.
I thought we?d spend a couple of hours on the hill, but Ty just wanted to keep going. Aside from a bathroom break (which I was happy to find he asked for instead of me prompting it) Ty just kept doing runs. He would sometimes sit down for one of his ?rests?, where I had to be extra vigilant about standing with him and marking his position for other skiers, but I think we did about 10 runs in total and spent about four hours on the mountain. The couple of times I asked Ty if he wanted to leave he said that he didn?t want to go until ?they? (meaning the rest of the skiers on the mountain) left. When I heard that, I was really hoping that the mountain hadn?t started up night skiing yet. Around 3:00 P.M., Ty finally skied past the base of the lift, and when I asked if that meant he was done, he said it did. We hung out in the lodge for a while and had some food, and then headed down the access road with a cool view of the sunset hitting the north side of Camel?s Hump. Ty didn?t actually get to see the view though because he had passed out about the time we left the parking lot.
Larger versions of the pictures are at:
http://www.jandeproductions.com/2006/24NOV06.html
J.Spin
Bolton Valley opened up today, so I took Ty up for what I thought was going to be a relatively quick trip. The initial plan was for the whole family to go skiing, but since E was a bit under the weather, she stayed home with Dylan. The only major run they have open at Bolton is Beech Seal, which is the blue/green run under the Mid-Mountain Lift. However, they also had the Mighty-Mite Lift running as an option for total beginners. This is actually nice to see, since many places only start up with more advanced terrain and options for beginners are limited.
I knew that the top of Beech Seal actually had a couple of steeper pitches, and with everyone on the same trail at once, I thought it might be good for Ty to start off with the Mighty-Mite Lift. We did one run there, but the Mighty Mite terrain was way too mellow for Ty so we quickly headed for the chair lift. The Mighty Mite area will actually be a great place for Dylan as he starts to do more on his skis this season, since it will be hard for him to lose control there and get going too fast.
Once on the lift, we could see that they had actually only made snow on the skier?s right half of Beech Seal. The crowds at the mountain were light compared to what I?ve experienced on opening day at many of the bigger mountains, but with everyone skiing on only half of a relatively small trail, it felt a little crowded at times. Space was more of an issue because of being with Ty, since he skied at a slower pace than most of the other folks there. I stayed behind him most of the time to make sure he was visible to skiers above. As I suspected, the steeper pitches at the top of the run were a bit challenging for Ty at first, so he asked for a little help getting through them. But, I was really surprised at how fast he conquered them; within a couple runs he was taking the whole route without any assistance. Part of the learning process was figuring out the snow. The skier?s right of the trail was very popular and started to get slick, but the skier?s left of the trail remained soft due to a lot less traffic. There was actually plenty of loose snow on the skier?s left of the terrain that was available. Ty had no problem holding an edge on the steep pitches on that side of the trail.
Overall the snow quality wasn?t bad. There was an icy spot or two where the snowmaking had created it, and then there was the heavily used region on the steep section of the trail that became slick, but most of the surface easily held and edge. The route that Ty took had several inches of loose snow to play around in. All the crystals seemed a little more coarse than natural snow as one would expect, but for manmade it was quite decent. The fact that the temperature was around 40 degrees F and we had full blown sunshine probably helped to keep things soft as well. There was never really a lift line to contend with, so for the most part we just walked right onto the lift. I?m sure bigger crowds would have degraded the snow surface much faster as well.
I thought we?d spend a couple of hours on the hill, but Ty just wanted to keep going. Aside from a bathroom break (which I was happy to find he asked for instead of me prompting it) Ty just kept doing runs. He would sometimes sit down for one of his ?rests?, where I had to be extra vigilant about standing with him and marking his position for other skiers, but I think we did about 10 runs in total and spent about four hours on the mountain. The couple of times I asked Ty if he wanted to leave he said that he didn?t want to go until ?they? (meaning the rest of the skiers on the mountain) left. When I heard that, I was really hoping that the mountain hadn?t started up night skiing yet. Around 3:00 P.M., Ty finally skied past the base of the lift, and when I asked if that meant he was done, he said it did. We hung out in the lodge for a while and had some food, and then headed down the access road with a cool view of the sunset hitting the north side of Camel?s Hump. Ty didn?t actually get to see the view though because he had passed out about the time we left the parking lot.
Larger versions of the pictures are at:
http://www.jandeproductions.com/2006/24NOV06.html
J.Spin
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