Weekend Update: It's Above Zero!

Yeah, it's been pretty cold up here this week. We reached a daytime low of -14 yesterday with wind chill values as low as -40 in the evening. I'm a cold-blooded soul and I've gone riding in -30 before (once, and I was done by noon), but 40 below is pushing it. Thankfully, we can kick that cold front in the rear today and send it off to Greenland or Russia or somewhere that's supposed to be that frigid. Positive temperatures have already returned, and it should only get warmer over the next 48 hours.

Weather:
Like I mentioned, cold. All week the mercury had trouble reaching zero, though it did stumble its way to -4 a few times. This weekend it will feel like a completely different ecosystem up here. It's an inversion day today, meaning the higher up you go, the warmer it gets. So, pay no attention to the double-digit negatives around your house today. We've stolen your sun and warmth, and we have no intention of giving it back. Sorry, we're not sorry.

Today should get warm around noon, when we expect temps to rise into the mid-upper teens (GASP!). Partly cloudy skies are a weather person's code of saying, "it's going to be sunny, but we can't give these people that much hope right? Let's throw a few clouds in there, too." So expect a beautiful day up here. Curse those weather people. Sunday will be even nicer, and we expect to see high 20s for the first time in over a week.

Hows the Snow:
In a word, squeaky. As in, that sound soft corduroy makes under your feet when you glide across it. Seriously, I expected the, let's call them "unseasonable", temps the past few days to make everything wicked slick, but everything we groomed this week has been soft and easy turnin'. A real shoutout to our groomers here, because they've worked magic on a few trails. If you came out yesterday, we got 2" overnight and there were some excellent powder stashes around, some 6-8" deep. You just had to know where to look.

Sometimes all it takes is 2-4". We've dropped ropes on 15 trails since last Saturday, including Swing, Schuss, VT 200 and Lower Showoff, bringing out open trail count to 28. That's keeping things pretty fresh up here as we eagerly await the first major signature storm of the season. Hercules and Electra clipped us, but we want more!

Snowmaking:
If you're riding the Vista Quad, no doubt you've taken note of the whalebacks on Spillway. Some of those things are huge! Our snowmaking team should finish up on the bottom section there either today or tomorrow, and so long as it drains enough to push out, we should have that trail open on Monday.

But, wait, Mike! What comes next? You haven't said anything about Timberline yet!

Timberline.

There. I said it, and I meant it. Once Spillway is done, we're going to absolutely light up Timberline. Upper Villager will likely bat leadoff, with Sure Shot and Timberline Run in the On-Deck Circle. Keep in mind, we're going to be hammering away on it, but there are some honkin' waterbars that need covering, so it's going to take a little while.

What's Going On:
There's SO MUCH going on!

Tonight is Bolton After Dark, where night skiing is just $19 from 4-8pm and we're serving up $2 slices and soda at Fireside Flatbread. Typically, we show a ski movie from Meathead Films, but this week we've got NFL playoffs on the big screen, so come warm up with some food, drink and entertainment once you're done skiing & riding.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the first of our Subaru & Hyundai Days. If you're an owner of either of those vehicles, just head over to Guest Services starting at noon and show your current registration to receive a complimentary lift ticket. Then, Monday is a 50/50 Monday! It pays to be 50+ here at Bolton Valley - this year anyone over the age of 50 can enjoy 50% off in the following areas: full-day lift tickets, full-day rentals, group lessons and a special lunch menu at James Moore Tavern.

And don't forget, we're on Instagram now, so we're running a season-long photo contest! Happiness is a fresh line to ride, the sound of a boot ratcheting into a binding, the crisp smell of pine in the air. Happiness is finally nailing that cab 720 you've been working on, or a hot cup of cider in front of a fireplace. Happiness is anyone and anything at all that’s loved by you. So, tell us - what makes you happy? When you follow us (@boltonvalley) and use #Bhappy and share a photo of what you love about Winter, we'll automatically enter you to win lift tickets! We'll re-gram the winner's photo and that gets person a free lift ticket.

As for me? There's blue sky outside my window, so I'm going to play outside now.