Welcome Beech Seal and Hard Luck

Today we welcome Hard Luck and Beech Seal to our list of open trails. These trails are open thanks to the tremendous work of our dedicated  snowmakers who worked around the clock to get them open. If you have not thanked a snowmaker lately I suggest you do so in the very near future. We have also opened up about a dozen more trails this week thanks to the 23 inches of natural snowfall we have received in the past seven days. This pushes our total to 21 open trails for today. It looks like winter is finally starting to hit it's stride.

Opening 11 New Trails

We've picked up 7-10 inches of new snow across the mountain since yesterday. Not bad a bad snow total after a forecast that called for snow showers. The storm was highly localized and elevation played a major roll in snow totals. The net gain for Bolton Valley is that we are able to open up 11 new trails this morning on natural snow. This brings our total trail count to 17 for today. We expect to add Hard Luck and Beech Seal by tomorrow, thanks to our snow making crew. The temps today are expected to get into the upper teens. The next three days look even better as forecasts are calling for temps in the 20s and 30s. Great snow, comfortable temps and a holiday weekend. Sounds like the perfect recipe for some family ski time.

Snow. Natural and Manmade

Today is shaping up to be a good day for snow. We've picked up about 2 inches since it started to snow here at about 9am. The wind is picking up and the snow is continuing to fall, it feels like an honest to goodness winter storm. Not to be outdone, our snowmakers will be firing up the guns on Beech Seal. In fact, I just heard them on the radio talking about sending water through the system. Now, all we have to do is get out and ski.

Top To Bottom Skiing And Riding

Thanks to the hard work of our snowmakers we'll be opening the Vista Quad on Saturday, providing access to top to bottom skiing. Hard Luck Lane, Spillway Lane, and Sherman's Pass will all be open. The snowmakers will continue to make snow whenever temperatures allow. Their plan is to move to Alta Vista and Beech Seal by Sunday night.

Re-Opening Weekend

If there's one thing I like more than an Opening Weekend is a Re-Opening Weekend. It's like deja vu all over again. That's how it's feeling around here this morning. After opening last weekend we shut things down the past week and now we're open again, this time for good, well . . . at least until April.

Let's start with the similarities to last weekend, the heart of deja vu. We'll have two lifts and two trails for the weekend, people will ski and ride at Bolton, and we'll have a terrain park feature set up on Mighty Mite in what we are calling the "Mini Mite Terrain Park".

Now, let's get to what's different about today when compared to last week's opening day.

1) We'll have night skiing today until 8pm.
2) It's cold and looking like it will stay that way for a few days.
3) See number 2 above. This means our snowmakers will have several days in a row where they can blow snow all night AND all day.
4) We plan to have skiing from the top of the mountain within a couple days.
5) It's snowing.
6) There is another feature in the Mini Mite Terrain Park called a "Tube". We'll have photographic evidence of this on the website later this afternoon. Until then you'll have to use your imagination. I hear it's red and yellow.
7) We have a new website with a Web Cam so you can check in on Bolton Valley from the comfort of your desk chair.

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention some other key differences but this will have to do for now. As I mentioned, it's snowing out and my tolerance for "inside work" is short today.

Thank Goodness For Our Snowmakers

It was a great opening weekend, all things considered. Cold weather was in short supply leading up to opening day and our snowmaker's did what they could to lay down snow. There were many long hours logged and a lot of wet snowmakers tromping around on the hill constantly adjusting snowguns to keep up with the marginal (and rising) temperatures. The snow they were able to make was heavy and wet, which is the type of snow you get when temps are so warm.

Saturday night the temps finally dropped into the teens. Perfect weather for making snow. When I asked our head snowmaker Sunday morning how things went over night he simply said "Great. It was the first night we were able to make snow." A telling comment about the conditions they labored through for the nights leading up to opening and how they felt about the substance coming out of the snow guns.

Despite the challenges that mother nature threw at them, they soldiered on and piled up the heavy, wet snow during the nights leading up to opening day. The skiing and riding was better than most expected with both Bear Run and Mighty Mite featuring wall to wall snow. Our park crew even created an impromptu mini-park on the side of the Mighty Mite. While we were limited to just a couple of runs and one park feature on opening weekend, it was just good to be back on snow.

We'll be closed to start the week but plan to re-open on Saturday. We're trying to preserve the snow that we do have on the mountain. Our snowmakers are at the ready and will be back on the hill as soon as temperatures permit. Until them pray for snow, or at least cold temps so our guys can make more snow.

Snowmaking Resumes

The snowmakers fired the guns up on Friday night but had to shut down Saturday morning due to warm temps. Those warm temps stayed around for days like an unwelcome house guest. Finally, they seem to be shipping out tonight and our snowmakers will get back at it this evening. We'll fire up guns on Beech Seal, Bear Run and Mighty Mite, in anticipation of opening those three trails, along with the Mighty Mite and Mid-Mountain lifts on Saturday. We plan to run from 8:30am - 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Then, we'll close from Monday - Thursday. We plan to open back up on Friday, December 16th with skiing from the top of the Vista Quad, weather and snow conditions permitting.

Starting Up Snowmaking

The snowmakers fired up the snowguns last night in anticipation of our planned opening on Saturday, December 10th. The snow was heavy and wet, perfect to start building a base. The guns were shut down this morning as temps rose. But, the guys are at the ready, as soon as the temps drop back down to the snowmaking sweet spot, they'll be back out there laying down more snow. We also picked up an inch of natural snow from a snow squall that came through yesterday afternoon.