Mansfield Nordic Club- BKSL Duathlon

Today was a cold day, but it was not without lots of  skiing action.  Early morning clouds vanished and a brilliant blue sky appeared in time for a great ski day.  We hosted the Mansfield Nordic Club Youth Ski League Duathlon.  It was a great crowd of excited kids and parents coming from as far away as the Frost Mountain Club in Ripton. (Frost Mountain has the best team hats.)

The events started with a Lollipop Race for the littlest kids…. and the prize was not just any old lollipop, but a fancy rock candy lollipop.  The J5-J3 racers did race in Duathlon format- Starting with a mass start and classic race loop, then they changed their skis and poles and finished up the race with a skate loop.  With bomber classic tracks and nice firm corduroy for skate the racers were happy and skied fast.

J3 racer coming into the finish line.

The lead boys working together into the last lap on Picnic Loop.

Parents directing racer into the transtion zone to change skis from Classic to Freestyle.

Lollipop kids coming into the finish line with lots of cheering from parents and other racers.

Racers getting a course description from Murray.

Parents cheering with a bell for the Lollipop Race.

Lollipop racer from Frost Mountain Club making the turn on her second lap as her dad cheers.

October Snow.

Don’t miss out on the last Swap and Movie of the fall- click here for full listing.

Last night was our second snow of the season in as many weeks. It’s a good covering on the ground- at least a couple inches. We have already had a call from the CVU kids this morning- they are calling around to find a place to ski later this afternoon. It’s time to get out the rock skis. It sounds like Saranac Lake is the real story today- 12″ and a snow day.

Looking out towards Picnic Loop- there is a couple inches on the ground and lots of snow in the trees.

Snow on the trees.

A view of the trail from the Nordic Center past the condos to the top of Broadway.

Ice Storm Pics

Ski Report: by Liz

There was a pretty significant Ice Storm at Bolton Saturday March 8 . . . we have mostly recovered, but there is still lots of ice in the trees. Anne Gotham (ski patrol) and I went out in the backcountry to survey the damage and do some clearing this past Saturday. Here are some photos of our adventures.

On Heavenly Highway we realized pretty quick that there was about 1/2″ of ice still on the trees and 1-2″ of snow on top of that. Ann thought it looked like an ice castle.

Lots of cool icicles on the trees.

Ann and I took some stops along the way to make note of the snowpack…. in summer this Paradise Pass Trail sign is way overhead. There is 4-5 feet of snow around this sign.

More ICE….

We stopped along the way, got out the saw and cleared some debris from the trails. Trails are clear now… thanks to everyone who moved branches, knocked ice off branches, cut small trees and made the trails ski passable.

A close-up photo of the ice on branches and buds . . .

On the way back down the Catamount Trail we stopped at Bryant Cabin- the snow is up to the windows and the front door is down in a snow hole. March is a great time to rent the cabin for a night or two. Give us a call to reserve a night.

The ice is still on the trees– come on up for a ski or snowshoe and check it out. LH

Friday Adventures

[scroll down or link here for Saturday Ski Report]

On the Trail- by Liz

Friday morning stared out very cold– almost record temps in the valleys. Some places were reporting -17. But at Bolton it was not that cold (only -10) and the sun made it feel warmer. Paul and I decided to take Wilderness Lift and get into the backcountry off Peggy Dows. It was a cold ride– but the views were amazing. One thing that we don’t promote enough are the range of great views from the mtns around Bolton Valley. (click on the photos to get a full view)  This is a little bit about our adventure and the view.

On the Wilderness Lift– lots of powder under the lift line!!

A beautiful view from the top of Wilderness.

More views of Lake Champlain and Adirondack Mtns.

And to the South check out Camel’s Hump— and the alpine trails.

Mt. Mansfield to the North– and Smuggs to the right.

We stopped again at the turn off to Heavenly Highway– to put on climbing skins- in preparation for the rolls on the way to Cottonbrook Trail.

The powder in through the trees–there is so much snow.

We stopped here to take off our skins and take a photo of how low the signs area– in summer these signs are way over head.  From Heavenly Highway we got onto Paradise Pass.

We had been following a skied in track most of the way from Peggy Dow’s– it made it pretty quick going.  And the tracks continued down Cottonbrook– so we knew someone had beaten us there.

It was a fab ride down Cottonbrook– 10″ of great powder to start, a little slabby in the middle and great again near the bottom.  And hiking out we met up with two guys who had made the tracks just in front of us.  And the 4 of us put our skins back on and climbed back out– telling stories of powder all the way back out.

So after 1 pass down Cottonbrook we decided to try somewhere else.  So we went back out Stowe View and stopped to check out the view of Bolton Mtn, Stowe and Waterbury from the Lookout.

On the way back in we tried out some of the glades off Stowe View– they were amazing and there was more snow in there than in Cottonbrook.  At the bottom we found Birch Loop/Catamount Trail and skied on on Gardners Lane and A1A…. back to the Nordic Center.