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Bolton Valley Sunday, January 29, 2017 | |
Submitted on January 30, 2017 by newenglandskier13 ( 720) | ||
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Session | Full Day |
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Ticket Type | Discount from Ski Area |
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Lift Lines | 1 to 2 minutes |
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Trail Conditions | 90% open; Packed Powder, Powder |
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Glades | All open except for Adam's Solitude. Very good cover and still untouched powder to be found |
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Moguls | None |
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Terrain Park(s) | Hideaway Park open |
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Run of the Day | Cobrass Woods |
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Food and Beverage | None had |
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Comments | Yesterday I skied at Bolton Valley for the first time and used my $29 tickets I bought in October. I wasn't quite sure what to expect because of previous comments about Bolton being flat and not having good expert terrain. After skiing there yesterday I'm wondering if anyone who's made those comments has actually skied there! I found that Bolton is perfect for intermediate and expert skiers while also offering good novice terrain off the lower mountain lifts. Temperatures ranged thoughout the twenties during the day and it was cold enough that they were blowing snow nonstop all day. The morning started partly sunny, but later in the day snow moved in and dropped about an inch across the mountain. The upper parts of Wilderness and Vista peaks were covered in a thick layer of rime ice which made for some amazing scenery. Recent snowfall had opened almost every trail and glade on the mountain; I believe only 4 or 5 were closed and every lift was open. Electrical issues closed the Vista and Timberline Quads for about 45 minutes which made for 4-5 minute lines on the Wilderness and Mid-Mountain Doubles, but other than that lines never got longer than a minute or so. The skiing was terrific on most trails and glades and only a couple were icy. Untouched powder could still be found on the edges of some trails and in glades such as Doug's Woods. I'll give a summary of what I think of Bolton's terrain over the three peaks, all of which have a very similar vertical drop. Timberline is the lowest in elevation and has its own base area. It's less crowded than Vista and you have an option to get off the quad at a mid-station. There are a couple nice intermediate runs and one long novice trail. The northern face has some steep expert terrain and a challenging glade called Lost Boyz. The southern part of Timberline is mostly taken up by a huge gladed area called Doug's Woods and Adam's Solitude. This glade starts off steep, then mellows out some as it descends. It's a huge area and I could spend half the day in there and never get tired of it. Wilderness Peak is served by a double which also has a mid-station. This peak has nice intermediate cruisers and well-spaced lower angle glades. There is some very steep terrain near the summit including Bolton Outlaw and Outlaw Woods. Wilderness also has a few novice runs from the mid-station. Vista is the busiest peak and it is served by a quad to the summit and two doubles on the lower mountain. The lower mountain has wide novice and low intermediate terrain as well as a few introductory glades. From the summit there are some long blue cruisers with outstanding views. There are a number of very steep trails dropping off from the summit, some groomed, some not. Preacher is a very narrow double black which snakes its way down the upper half of the mountain to the south. There are glades of various difficulty scattered around the mountain. Vista Glade stands out as one of my favorites with its perfect spacing, great views, and constant pitch. On either side of Preacher there are two large glades called Cobrass Woods and Devil's Playground. Cobrass Woods is a large challenging glade which has very remote feeling as you ski through the evergreens on its upper sections, then feels more friendly as it transitions to hardwoods. Devil's Playground include some of the mountain's steepest terrain and the section alongside the Spillway trail will give pause to almost any skier; plus it's in full view of the lift. I found Bolton to be a great large area which has plenty of offerings for the expert skier. |
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URL | http://snowjournal.com/discussion/1086/bolton-valley-1-29-2017#latest |
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Report Rating | 5
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