The Vermont Division of Forestry is doing a photo contest.  One of our long time Bolton Valley Nordic ski  friends, Sheri Larsen, has a photo in the finals.  It shows backcountry skiers enjoying the snow in the Mt. Mansfield State Forest/Little River State Park.  Sheri’s photo is #3 and it is a great shot of skiers.

Click here to link to the photo contest and vote for your favorite.

Today was the first significant morning with snow. There was a couple inches in the base area and more up on the mountain. On the access rd the snow line was just where the Catamount Trail crosses and by the time we got up to Timberline Lodge there was a good covering on the ground/trees.

The leaves are still on the trees and the ground is not frozen, so it doesn’t look like winter quite yet. A couple brave skiers made a few strides on the grass around the Nordic Center and it was nice to see their tracks in the fresh snow!

It’s time to get psyched for ski season!!! Two of the best ways we know how to do this are buying new gear/selling old gear and watch ski movies.

This is a listing of Ski Swaps and Ski Movies. We will update this listing as more information is available, so check back often to get times and locations  for your favorite swap.

South Burlington High School Ski Sale- Saturday, September 26th, 9am-4pm [consignment drop off Friday Sept 25th, 5-8pm]

Wild Stallions, Meathead Films, Friday, September 25th  – 6:30pm and 9pm shows CC Theater, UVM | more info

Colchester High School Ski and Board Sale- Saturday, October 3th and 4th [consignment drop off Friday October 2rd, 5-8pm]

Refresh, Level 1 Productions, Thursday October 8th-7:30 doors, Billings Theater, UVM

Smuggs Ski Sale, Champlain Expo Sat Oct 10 and Sun Oct 11 [consignment drop off Friday October 9] more info

In Deep, Matchstick Productions, October 16- 7pm doors | 8pm show, Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT | more info

Re: Session, Teton Gravity Research, October 10th- 7pm doors| 8pm show, Flynn, Burlington, VT | more info

Cochrans Ski Sale, Saturday November 7, 8am-4pm and Sunday November 8, 10am-3pm, Camel’s Hump Middle School, Richmond, VT consignment drop off Friday November 6th 6-8:30pm | 802.434.5135 for more info | and they will take credit cards

Waitsfield Ski and Skate Sale, November 14  and 15, Waitsfield Elementary School, Waitsfield, VT

Dynasty, Warren Miller, Saturday November 23 7pm and 9pm, Sunday November 23 7pm, Flynn Theater, Burlington, VT |photo gallery for Dynasty

Are we missing something?  Please comment or send an email with more info.
|special thanks to skimaven.com for some of the dates and info|

Lots goes on in the off season in preparation for the next ski season.  This year we are busy replacing bridges and improving trails.

Using the excavator to remove the old rusted culvert on Broadway.

One of the new bridges.

This is the new sign at the Telemark and Broadway intersection.

Maple Loop entrance.

Thanks to everyone for a very successful 2009 at Bolton Nordic. We are looking forward to the upcoming ski season.

Click here to see the Nordic Newsletter- Late Summer Edition.

Click here to sign up for our email newsletter and choose Nordic Newsletter from the list.

What do Nordic Directors do in the summer?

This summer I visited several ski areas near Grenoble, France. There wasn’t much snow left, but it was fun to drive and hike in the mountains. It was cool to play in the town and mountains that hosted the 1968 Olympics. One day we drove into the mountains and visited the town/village that hosted the Olympic Nordic events.

My mom and I checking out one of the local ski areas outside Grenoble.

Ski Area Sign in Col de Porte

Fresh snow in late June on the high mountains around Grenoble.

These are the Olympic rings in Autrans, the town that hosted Nordic Events for the 1968 Olympics.

Sunday: It flurried almost the whole day yesterday. By the end of the day snow had accumulated to 2-3″. It continued to snow through the night and it’s snowing hard this morning. Accumulation is about 5-6″. It’s quite heavy snow and it looks beautiful in the trees.   It’s right around 32degrees at 8:30am. We don’t plan to have any grooming today, but skiing will be great regardless.

I skied in the backcountry on Saturday and it was awesome. Lots of snow and nice skiing all the way up Bryant and the Catamount Trail to Raven’s Wind.   All the waterbars on Bryant are still covered. And with this new snow it’s going to be a great day out there.

Saturday: This past week has been a great mix of warm sunny days and spring skiing. We have lost a lot of snow and recommend only our backcountry trails for experienced skiers. At 9am the temp is 32 degrees and there are a couple snowflakes in the air. Forecast for today is temps 35-39 in the base area. It did rain overnight and with temps around freezing it looks like the snow may have transformed to granular. We have stopped grooming for the season. If you are looking for adventure also consider snowshoeing… Heavenly Highway, Stowe View and the upper trails still have tons of snow.

09/10 Season Passes are on sale NOW! To get the best price purchase your season’s pass before April 6th. link here to purchase a pass online

Pond Skimming- Sunday April 5th. Registration 10am-12pm. Skimming starts at 1pm Join us for this fun ritual of spring skiing. All procedes from this event go to the Bolton Valley Race Club… and will be used as part of a matching grant from the Kelly Brush Foundation to purchase race course fencing. The forecast is for great weather on Sunday, so come on up and skim or cheer.

Don’t put away those skis yet!!! After a very dry and warm March we received a surprise 4″-6″ on March 30th. It’s not enough to make everything perfect again, but it’s enough to bring back a couple more days of fun skiing or snowshoeing.

W e are open until Sunday, so come on up and get one more day of skiing .

Please check out the Conditions page for more details about the specific conditions.

Nice coverage on Broadway March 31.

Ski Tracks on Maple Loop after a surprise end of March storm.

The moose are enjoying out trails also. Moose tracks on Spruce Run.

Yesterday the Ski Maven visited us. And it sounds like she had an awesome backcountry ski… and had some nice tele turns in the birch glades. The photos she took area amazing and it’s great to see how much snow is in the woods.

Click here to read her story and see photos.

We have fielded calls from curious skiers all week because it’s so hard to tell from the valley towns what snow conditions are- here are a couple of your questions with our answers.

When is your last day? Sunday, April 5 is our last day.   So come and get it while you can!!

What trails are open? Yes!15 groomed and 70km backcountry.

Will you be grooming this weekend? Absolutely. We will have about 15km km skate and classic groomed.  It is spring conditions and this makes setting classic tracks sometimes challenging.

Are there waterbars on Bryant Trail? It has been warm here this week, but the snow pack is so deep and it’s been getting cold enough at night to refreeze everything.  If you come a cross an open water area in backcountry there is plenty of snow in the woods to go around.

I want to ski Bolton to Trapps Trail- Is that possible? Yes- there is still a huge base of snow in the backcountry. We expect that you should be able to ski most of the way.   The one place that is getting a little bare is the part of trail as you descend into Nebraska Notch Rd.

When does the $110 Nordic pass deal expire? This deal expires after next Sunday April 5th.  So now is the time to invest in next year’s ski pass at the best price of the year.