What a fun morning to be skiing on my newish, wider skis! The width came in handy in the wind-blown powder at Bolton Valley, Vt., this morning. Area ski resorts received about a foot of new snow with the snowstorm that hit Vermont yesterday.
It must have been quite windy yesterday and last night. On wider trails the snow was a bit wind-packed. But if you found a part of a trail that doesn't get whipped by wind, or if you were in the glades, you found softer, fluffier snow. It was a very fun morning to go exploring!
I actually started my morning by heading over to the Timberline area, figuring I could get quite a few first tracks there. I was right. I loved doing runs on Spellbinder! I concentrated on making my skis act like one single board and then picked up a bit of speed and went along for the powdery ride. Good stuff.
Over on Upper Tattle Tale I found more difficult conditions, as part of that trail really got blasted by the wind. You'd be on very hard-packed, noisy snow one moment, and then drop into a powdery bank of snow the next. It wasn't always easy to tell when that was going to happen, so it kept things very interesting. The powder was more consistent on middle and lower Tattle Tale. Again, good stuff.
I'm not sure where everyone was today, but they weren't clogging the lift lines. I pretty much skied right onto a chair every time. A nice surprise for a powdery Saturday!
Later in the morning I skied Preacher the proper way; I did the entire trail without being suckered into Devil's Playground. The trail is narrow, requiring very tight turns. But at the bottom you can spread out into open trees and enjoy the powder. Very good stuff.
I hadn't skied off the Wilderness Chair this season so I went over there to explore a bit. I enjoyed the mellow glades called Wilderness Woods — they are always fun. Then I went poking around in a gladed area that's marked on the map as Sleepy Hollow.
On my way there, I got a few deep turns on Upper Fanny Hill. Fun! Sleepy Hollow offered mellow glades and with the fresher, lighter snow that had been protected more from the wind, it made for a handful of very fun runs. Each time I looked around at different places to explore and tried different lines.
People that braved the cold (it was a bit chilly) were rewarded today with wonderful powder turns and no lift lines! Yay!
