A Warm Weekend, Extra Timberline, and Sherpas

Welcome to this week's Newsletter, and welcome to February, Bolton insiders. As people who, one assumes, has some interest in skiing or riding or mountains, I imagine you enjoyed last week's snow. I also imagine you have a cool pet and a whimsical sense of personal style. Almost three feet of snow, followed by consistently cool temperatures, has kept the mountain looking very handsome. Like yourself, in those nouveau-bohemian outfits you wear while walking your Burmese Mountain Dog. It's possible that I read a fashion magazine while waiting to get a haircut today. And there may have been an article about dogs.

In this issue:
~ Weekend Projections and Bonus Timberline Action
~ Lodging Deals
~ Vermont Adaptive
~ Reminders: Backcountry and Nordic
~ Contest: Trivia

Weekend Projections
February doesn't get much respect. January starts off with New Year's Day almost every year, but how does February announce its arrival? Groundhog Day. The celebration of what is, essentially, a lethargic marmot. Fun. But February is our snowiest month, historically, and we're starting it with snow conditions that are already excellent. The forecast through the middle of the month is for appropriately wintry weather, with temps generally in the 20s and a chance for snow showers more often than not. Which is pretty promising. In fact, that's kind of how January ended, and that seemed to work out well for everyone. But what do I know--I just live inside your computer.

We've had all of our trails open all week long, and there's no good reason to change it up now. So expect to see every lift turning this weekend, every trail open, and all 3 terrain parks daring you to do something that will terrify and/or confuse me. Our groomers--to whom we should all give a respectful nod if you've seen how our trails look first thing in the morning--will continue to farm out about two-thirds of our trails every night, and surfaces will remain first-class packed powder until we get our next storm. As usual, we'll host night skiing until 8pm Friday and Saturday evening so you can experience the tranquility of a mountain snow-scape after dark...and then rip down it. And, since you are my trusted newsletter confidants, you're the first to know that we'll continue to run Timberline all next week. Which means top-to-bottom skiing on Vista and Timberline for $39 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Weather-wise, temperatures will begin moderating Friday, climbing into the upper-teens, and hover around 30F both Saturday and Sunday. So pleasant temps while you play in some excellent snow all weekend long. My gift to you. Why? Because I crave your approval. To get the daily Snow Report e-mailed to you each morning, sign up here.

Lodging Deals
I think it's no secret that I like deals. It would be fair to say that I even love deals. And it has been suggested that I'm possibly obsessed with deals. I've thought about talking to a professional about this problem, but I'm waiting until they go on sale. Hilarious. Apparently, I'm doing Vaudeville bits now. Let's move on. Here's some new lodging deals, which are technically the same lodging deals I talked about last week, but written using slightly different words.

In chronological order: first, we've got a special rate this weekend only, February 6th and 7th, which will get you in our slope-side lodging either Friday or Saturday night for $99. Which is 40% off our regular price, and 100% worthwhile. Next, we've put together the "President's Day Family Package", which lets children 17 and under ski and stay for free from February 13th to the 21st when accompanied by an adult. On the other hand, when accompanied by a grizzly bear, children 17 and under can do whatever they want. That's just my deal addiction talking. Do not rent grizzly bears.

Vermont Adaptive
If you've read any of the past newsletters, or read the daily snow reports, or looked at our Photo Gallery, or talked to me ever, then you know that I am almost historically obnoxious. Which is going to make this hard, because I'm about to tell you something that's actually quite nice. We're legitimately proud of our partnership with Vermont Adaptive, which has helped get skiers and riders with disabilities out on the snow this winter. Vermont Adaptive has put together some great programs at Bolton aimed at making these winter pastimes accessible to everybody, regardless of physical abilities. It's a good thing, and you can find out more about it, or how to get involved, by going here.

Reminders: Backcountry and Nordic
I, myself, never ski any terrain that I'm not carried to by some sort of chairlift, or gondola, or very generous sherpas. I find "earning your turns" to be suspicious, and vaguely Communist. Nevertheless, I've been informed (pretty much every day) that the Bolton backcountry trail system is kind of awesome. There's a wide variety of interesting terrain, all of it un-groomed and most of it challenging. I've seen photographs, so I'm pretty much an expert on our 70km of backcountry trails--which tend to be narrow, and therefore, tend to hold on to snow for a very long time. For example: the 31" of snow we got last week is still quite obvious out there. It's almost enough to tempt me in to abandoning my principles. Maybe someone at the Nordic Center will carry me. I have a baby harness that could work.

Which brings me to our Nordic trails. As you can imagine, with lots of snow and some nice, cold weather, those trails are doing pretty great. We have 30km of non-backcountry Nordic terrain ("front-country"?), and we usually have 15-25km of it skate groomed and classic tracked every day. I've never had a lesson--because I assume I would be a natural--but for others, the Nordic Center puts together a pretty wide range of clinics and programs for all ages and abilities. They're discussed in detail here. So you can get out there, sharpen up your technique on our groomed trails, and then enter the "Backcountry Challenge Race and Tour" from Trapp Family Lodge to Bolton Valley on Sunday, March 1st. I've never competed, obviously, because all the performance-enhancing blood-doping I do would never make it past the screeners, but it's a great event and a true challenge.

Contest: Trivia
To be honest, I wasn't 100% certain what the correct answer was to last week's trivia question. But, it turns out, almost all of you knew. The Wilderness Chair has been on the mountain the longest (sort of), which is hinted at by its operational designation as "Lift #1". There's a reasonable argument to be made that Mid-Mountain and Snowflake tied Wilderness for the title. But, that makes it harder to pick a winner. Speaking of which: Bolton Valley's own Dusty Kenney is the winner. You've earned yourself a free ticket, which I'll send to you in the form of a voucher, and which you can then trade for controlling interest in an investment bank. Congratulations, and good luck. This week's question is trickier, and something of a brainteaser: "What is Peggy Dow's real name?" Send me the correct answer as determined by myself and the Bolton Valley Television and Film Archive, and I'll send one of you a lift ticket along with a lovely note that I will personally ask an intern to write for you. Because that personal touch makes all the difference.

And keep sending me submissions for the ongoing "Photo-of-the-Day Contest". The deal is: you e-mail me a compelling Bolton-related photograph, and, if it makes it in to our Photo Gallery, you get a free lift ticket. If you send me photos that aren't of Bolton, make sure you at least Photoshop the Vista Quad in to your panorama of Chamonix. More details are on this page, and, as always, submissions can be sent to me at jthibault@boltonvalley.com.

That's all this week, silent heroes. Enjoy the snow, explore the mountain, and join me in honoring February the way it deserves to be honored--by consistently mispronouncing it for 28 straight days. That middle "r" was really not thought through at all. The point is: February is usually very snowy. Fortunately, we are snow-sport enthusiasts, and dark corners of our brain light up when it's snowing. So put on your helmet, grab your planks, and wait for that part of your cortex to start tingling.

Justin