The kind of day that really only happens in your dreams (In my case usually between July and Nov). 24* Light wind, complete bluebird and 26″ down that hasn’t been touched since Friday afternoon.

Starting Saturday afternoon, my buddy Chris, a part time Bolton Employee writes on his facebook wall that since Friday, the mountain has been on wind hold AND it’s still snowing. Dumping actually. Big flakes just piling up deep. I wished him a good day on Sunday and have fun getting after it as Sandy and I ski Pico, trade parental duties with skiing on Sundays. At about the same time as this Sandy who is skiing Pico is texting me and sending me pics of the Summit Chair derailment. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t on the chair at the time of the derailment. She skis whatever she can at Pico before heading home. Once home, she informs me that she has other things on her agenda for Sunday. Could it possibly be that I’m in the clear for Sunday? A “hall pass” to go shred nasties with Chris? Yes, yes it was. To sweeten Chris’ inticement, he trows in that he can get me a $40 lift ticket and now it’s snowing even harder.  I fgure I get up at 6 and head up to be there by 8. Sunday morning I get the idea that it might be better travels, even if further miles to head up Rte 7 then down 89 rather than going up through the interior green mountains where all the snow is. My plan seemed to work as there wasn’t anymore than a couple inches of snow on the roads until I got off at Exit 11.

I get there at about 8:45, simply because I missed the access road and went down Rte 2 to Waterbury before having to back treck to find it and it’s a beautiful sight. A ton of fresh, bluebird and no wind. I meet up with Chris and we get set for my first run, his third as he’s been here waiting for the lifts to spin. It was like nirvana. Deep, untracked snow mid-thigh deep every turn. It wasn’t as deep that it was just bellowing in front of you and your constantly in the white room, that seems to happen at about 36″, but nonetheless this was special. After that run we meet up with another of Chris’ friends Devin. We then proceede to shred it up from 9:30-2 without a break.

We rode mostly woods, but the trails were great too. Most of the trails had a groomer swath or two going down them, the rest ungroomed. The woods at Bolton were excellent. Not marked woods by any means, but definately not tight and spaced far enough to ensure sheer bliss. Kind of reminded me of the woods sections between Low Road and Vertigo, but more like a Patsy’s or Low Rider pitch.

Bolton Valley skis big for a place that is 1600′vertical and about 300 acres. There’s a lot of terrain in that 300 acres. There’s three peaks. The highest Wilderness, then the main peak of Vista and the lower peak of Timberline. Timberline is more of less their expert terrain. No high speed quads here. the peak chairs are two fixed grip quads and an old Hall double chair at Wilderness. They boast the highest base elevation of any ski area in VT. This helps them have and hold natural snow quite well. Although well maintained, you’ll believe it once you drive up their access road.

Sorry, I dont have any pics of the days adventures. We were busy shredding all day and since I never skied their woods, Chris and Devin would drop in first so I could see where I was headed. I did manage to make the Bolton Valley facebok page though. Here’s a look at their pics from  2.26.12 Two Feet of Fresh Snow

Great place, Great time, Great people and a lot of familair old faces. Check it out for a day if you want to get away from Killington or if you have an itch for night skiing/riding