Opening Weekend and the Infinite Beauty of $15 Tickets

No more teasing, Newsletter heroes: the 2009-2010 Bolton Valley ski season is finally upon us. The Vista Quad started turning a full 25 minutes ahead of our planned 9am opening, because...well, why not? I honestly don't think I could've waited one more hour. I even blacked out for a while yesterday. People tell me I spent the afternoon making a series of pencil sketches that, when flipped rapidly in sequence, depicted me winning the 2010 Olympic downhill over Alberto Tomba and what appears to be a furious snowman.

In this issue:
~ Weekend Projections
~ Holiday Lodging: Ski and stay and food castles
~ Ticket Deals: Brevity is the essence of short-ness
~ Nordic: Not just for Scandinavians anymore 

Weekend Projections
Last week's newsletter clocked in at an unsustainably bloated 1550 words, so I'll make an attempt to be more concise this time. For example: the first draft of this section was just the phrase "We’re Open!" Except it was in all capital letters and the exclamation point was actually a lightning bolt. But our opening weekend deserves more attention than that. These past 10 days saw a huge swing in Northern Vermont from the warm pattern of late November, to a much more Winter-appropriate system. We've received measurable snow on the mountain every day since Sunday, with a total weekly snowfall of 24" at some elevations. And it hasn't really stopped. The short-term forecast contains more wintry weather for the weekend, as chilly air and frequent flurries linger. The medium-term forecast is looking lovely, with snow showers possible essentially every day through next weekend. Sadly, the long-term forecast has the Sun going supernova in a few billion years, engulfing the Earth and the cyborg grizzly bear colonies that will have come to dominate it.

With all this snow, our first trail count revision of the season occurred roughly half an hour after lifts began turning. In a transparent ploy to embarrass the snow reporter, Ski Patrol immediately dropped ropes on three of our natural snow trails--with Upper Vermont 200 opening on the first day of the season for the first time in recorded history.* All together, we debuted with 15 trails and 3 spinning lifts. We expect to add the Cobrass suite of trails to those numbers for the weekend, with the potential for more ropes to drop based on snowfall and whether the subliminal messages I've been pumping through the Ski Patrol office will finally bend them to my will. Regardless, we'll start things off both Saturday and Sunday at 8:30am with the Vista Quad, followed at 9am by Mitey Mite and the Mid-Mountain chair. Lift tickets both days will remain $39 for adults, $29 for youths, seniors, and college students. Surfaces are predominantly packed powder and powder, but be aware of the usual early season variable conditions and remember to follow all Patrol signage. Unless it's that "Denim Shorts Only" sign. I didn’t find out that wasn't legally enforceable until the end of last season. But my tan lines were spectacular. For daily updates, sign up for our snow report here. And if once a day just isn’t enough, you can now follow Bolton Valley on Facebook and Twitter.

Holiday Lodging: Ski and stay and food castles
The first day of the season always brings moments of rediscovery. For example: Rediscovering that watching ski movies in the off-season hasn't made me spontaneously capable of doing any ski-movie things. Or rediscovering how good the Base Lodge cinnamon buns look, smell, taste, and feel. If it we had the technology, I would live at the mountain, baked inside of a cinnamon bun, slowly eating my way out. My point: we have some great non-pastry-based lodging packages available for this holiday season. The details can be perused here at your leisure, but the big picture is that adults can ski all day and stay in slope-side lodging all night for $139 per person during the holiday period. I can't run the numbers because I'm still hung up on the idea of living inside a cinnamon bun (example: how dense would the dough have to be to support a screen door?), but, in general, our ski and stay packages are tough to beat. I would mention that those packages also include breakfast, but I'm sure I'd wander into another misguided food fever-dream (would the sugar glaze be enough insulation?).

Ticket Deals: Brevity is the essence of short-ness
In the spirit of concision--and keeping in mind that I discussed (almost competently!) each of these three deals in last week's newsletter--I will do my best not to ramble. First up: Powder Passes and the importance of getting them. I'm sure that, like me, you've spent most of the last few weeks rocking back and forth inside a rudimentary fort made of skis. So it's understandable if you haven't gotten around to picking up either the 2-Day Snow Day Powder Pass, or the 5-Day Nor'easter--the latter of which will save an adult $81 off the holiday rate. That's almost enough to buy the haunted car I saw on Craig's List. The next deal: show up dressed as Santa this Sunday and you can ski or ride for free. You can check here to get some details, but the general standard for approval is: if you were robbing my house on Christmas Eve in your costume, would I hesitate before calling the police. Jolly-ness not mandatory. Last deal: lift tickets all next week, December 14th to the 18th, will be just $15. Ski and stay packages that week begin at just $49 per person. I try not to oversell things. Low expectations can be a good thing for a trip to the mountains, going to a new movie, or viewing my online dating profile. But I think even the harshest critics would agree that $15 lift tickets is the greatest thing ever dreamt by humanity.

Nordic: Not just for Scandinavians anymore
As long-time newsletter readers, you're aware that Nordic skiing frightens and confuses me. My therapist says this antagonism can be traced back to the time a Nordic skier stole my wallet and burned down my house, but I don’t see a connection. Somehow, I was lured out into our Nordic terrain last winter and discovered three things: (1) it's enormous; (2) the trails are extremely diverse; and (3) skinny skis make me feel like a giant. For those of you who enjoy such non-lift-powered explorations, the Nordic Center is now open for the season. Only 5km or so of our vast 100km system is groomed this weekend, but all of our ungroomed backcountry trails are available to skiers and snowshoers. Just be aware that early season conditions may be found in the ungroomed terrain. According to the photos I was forced to look at for my aversion therapy, the higher elevation trails are already holding quite a bit of snow.

If this sounds like the kind of thing that you think you might be in to, then check out the 5-Day and 10-Day punch cards that will save you up to $50 this season. If you have--or know of any--children, then it might be worth checking out the 4-week Nordic Kids Program. It's designed to help them develop basic Nordic skills ("Day 1: Tormenting Justin for Fun and Profit"), as well as offer education in orienteering and natural history. It's a great program, and should get those little guys well on their way to a life of petty larceny and arson.

That's it for this week, Bolton-loving humans. If the newsletter seemed even worse than usual, I can only defend myself by pointing out again that this place is covered in carve-worthy snow, the lifts are turning, and the off-season was way too long. It was like living in a dark cave full of sharks. But that's behind us now. What's ahead of us: four months in the mountains of Vermont, playing in the snow and exploring among the trees. Welcome to Winter.

Justin

*No source cited. Blatantly not true.