Bolton Valley VT ( March 2,3,4)

[Anthony]

We skied in the Laurentians on Sunday (March 1 ) then packed up and drove 4 hours south to Bolton Valley to try to hit the new snow in the forecast and escape the frozen granular at home . Driving down the I 89 things did not look so good and all we could see was brown fields and pockets of snow . Being a veteran of VT skiing once again told the kids don't worry the snow is all in the mountains. Had to wait to heading up the Bolton Valley access road to see any snow banks but by the time we arrived at the base of the hill there was a decent snow pack . Checked into the Bolton Valley Hotel on the Canadian Special and waited for the snow to start . The snow started about mid morning on Monday and continued into the night after it was allover there was about 6 " of new snow . The skiing on Monday improved after each run as more snow accumulated . Tuesday was the best day as with 6 inches of new snow and more in areas where drifting snow piled up . The steep glade trails on the trail map remained closed as the rain( last Friday) caused quite a bit of damage that 6 inches couldn't repair and some of the steep groomers were also closed due to the rain and wind. However the 6 inches made for some great skiing off the Timberline Peak as made first tracks in this area on Tuesday morning by skiing on the trails/woods and the areas on skiers left just off the trail map . The Wilderness Peak Chair did not run so we hiked up from a trail off the Vista peak and made some more First Tracks. Overall, Bolton Valley has lots of potential and good back country opportunities and the place is affordable . Take note that the Wilderness Peak lift does not seem to run during the week and sometimes ( like today ) the Timberline peak chair did not run . This is not a problem for us a we are used to hiking /skiing but could be a problem for others. Will be heading back to Bolton as lots more to explore .

 

[J.Spin]

The snow started about mid morning on Monday and continued into the night after it was allover there was about 6 " of new snow. The skiing on Monday improved after each run as more snow accumulated. Tuesday was the best day as with 6 inches of new snow and more in areas where drifting snow piled up ...

It looks like we ended up on the low end of the 6-12" forecast from the early week system, but it's great to see you made good use of it.

The Wilderness Peak Chair did not run so we hiked up from a trail off the Vista peak and made some more First Tracks. Overall, Bolton Valley has lots of potential and good back country opportunities and the place is affordable. Take note that the Wilderness Peak lift does not seem to run during the week and sometimes (like today) the Timberline peak chair did not run. This is not a problem for us a we are used to hiking/skiing but could be a problem for others.

You guys are probably a good fit for Bolton if you enjoy hiking a bit and venturing around, because there's a huge amount of terrain to explore. Many folks that are out to lap the lifts aren’t going to find Bolton as exciting as the bigger surrounding resorts, since the in-bounds terrain area is pretty small (under 1,000 acres) and the typical run doesn’t offer up quite as much vertical. So, even though Bolton gets the same fantastic snow as the other Northern Vermont resorts, it’s not really on most people’s radar when they’re making a trip to the area. It does seem to keep the mountain rather low key with limited competition for the powder. I like Bolton’s setup a lot, since I’m happy to put in some extra effort to get around to the best snow and terrain. It’s one of the reasons I’m not pushing all that hard to introduce the boys to snowboarding though. I enjoy snowboarding, but from plenty of personal experience I can tell you that snowboards are an absolutely horrible tool for exploring around a mountain if your tour has any uphill or even flat components, especially in powder. Alpine skis work much better, an AT setup is even a bit better than that, and then Telemark is probably tops on the list of equipment options.

Will be heading back to Bolton as lots more to explore.

If you check out Jim Bauman's Bolton Valley article here at First Tracks, he points out that the resort owns over 5,000 acres in the valley. That’s a decent sized chunk of real estate, and from what I’ve seen just about all of it is skiable. In all my explorations over the past few seasons, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s out there. I have a running list of places that I want to explore in the Bolton Valley tract, and it continues to grow much faster than I can even get to the stuff. I suspect that as the boys get older and acquire the skills to explore and ski the terrain, I’ll be able to make more headway on that list. There’s also another 10,000 acres of terrain in the two drainages off the back side of Bolton (Ricker Basin/Cotton Brook area) that head down to Waterbury Reservoir for a descent of almost 3,000’. I’ve used lift-access from the resort to get to that terrain on numerous occasions, but you can also go the route of hiking up and treating it totally as backcountry. The guy at Midnight Modern Conversation does a lot of exploring back there and it’s great because unlike some backcountry skiers he actually posts his maps so you can get a real idea of where he explored. I checked his blog and he’s got a report and map from the basin from just a couple weeks ago. People also like to put a car down at the reservoir, use Bolton’s lifts for access, ski the back side drainages and skip the hike/skin back up. I haven’t done that yet, but hope to get that setup going eventually. If you head to the Bottom of Jim’s article you’ll see that he did the Woodward Mountain Trail, which is one of the more established options off the back side.

-J

 

[Anthony]

Have no problem with hiking /skiing as grew up doing this in the Laurentian hills when there was no money for lift tickets or only money for single tickets. Today , as a family we do quite a bit of hiking /backpacking/canoeing /biking so it helps with the conditioning . Was quite impressed with Bolton as usually when we are in VT we go to MRG ,however this year Bolton offered a great alternative as lots of areas to explore off the trail map with good pockets of snow even though it only snowed 6 inches. Above all , was pleased that Bolton offered a Canadian Special where a family of 5 could stay/ski on the hill for about $250.00. Brought the kettle along to heat up the camping meals and used the balcony for the
Guinness :wink: Thanks for the information on Bolton as will be going back again .

Locally the fog/ mist is lifting and the sun is coming out ,hopefully the temperature will rise for some spring turns this afternoon.