Bolton Valley, VT, Report: Perfect Snow and Blue Skies on the Eve of Totality

Report from Sunday, April 7, 2024

Bolton Valley, where I started going maybe a decade ago for night skiing operations, became one of my go-to resorts this season on Indy Pass. I love it here, and I have only really started to explore their terrain. I already have a list of what I want to experience next year – mainly the NBU (Nordic/Backcountry/Uphill) trails. A little over two and a half hours of driving from Montreal’s south shore, it’s an easy day trip for me. I would make it my home mountain if I lived closer to the Quebec-Vermont border. The surrounding views of the Mount Mansfield State Forrest along the Winooski River on Route 2 towards the resort are breathtaking, though I’m not sure I will ever get used to the steep access road in my little four-cylinder rig. It takes a pep talk going up and good breaks on the way down.

As I sit in front of the computer in Montreal, I’m already reminiscing about my–maybe–last week on the slopes for the season. It’s been raining all day, and a balmy 60 degrees. It’s hard to believe that less than a week ago, I was snowboarding just a little further south, in pristine snow conditions, on a mild, blue skies day. The world experienced a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse somewhere in between, with Vermont and much of Quebec in the path of totality. Weather-wise, it has been strange days in the northeast all season long, with extreme highs and lows in temperature and one of the warmest on recent record. Despite this, Vermont has had a great ski season, with a healthy amount of snow accumulation, especially in the latter part of March. Things are wrapping up on a high note. While Bolton and other northern resorts in the northeast spin their lifts for the last time this weekend, I have it on some authority that the Jet at Jay Peak will spin through to May. I hope to make it there once more before summer. 

Knowing Sunday may be my last winter snowboarding, I decided to test a theory. It’s this. If you love playing in snowy mountains and have to live in a city, Montreal is one of the best due to its relatively equal proximity and accessibility to the Laurentians in the north and the Adirondacks and Appalachians in the south. You can make the best plans at the last minute and follow the weather and the snow. It’s not a bad theory if you don’t mind the driving. Saturday, I headed north and made some turns at Mont Saint-Sauveur, always the first resort in this part of the province to open and the last to close. It was that end-of-season party vibe that Quebec resorts do so well, and surfy, spring snow, a good warm-up for Sunday’s destination. Due to fatigue driving through insane traffic back into Montreal Saturday evening, I got a later start than planned the next morning. I rushed out the door around 8:00 a.m., grateful to be crossing the border south into the zen Green Mountain State. I was checked in and on the Vista lift at Bolton just after 10:30 a.m. 

The snow was still perfect by mid-morning, packed powder. A good crowd was out enjoying late-season turns on a mild bluebird day, but not too many to crowd the trails or keep the lift lines from moving. The temperature rose quickly. I lost a layer after my first run, switching up my insulated jacket for a windbreaker. I made the quick decision to make the most of the snow. This was a day to down some caffeine, put on a good playlist, and lap runs until my phone ran out of battery or my body gave out, whatever came first. My first run of the day was Spillway to Sherman’s Pass, which has this nice roller right before it links to Beech Seal and the lower mountain lift if you take it fast. The lower mountain lift wasn’t spinning. I had this part of the mountain to myself before other skiers and riders caught on, and I stopped for a while to snap some photos of the surrounding ranges. 

Lapping runs off the Vista lift I had my eye on the Snowflake lift, lookers right. That’s where I planned to spend the remainder of my day. This lift services park runs lookers left and some fun, ungroomed, tree-lined, and wind-protected terrain to the right. I had a clear memory of years ago driving through a blizzard from Johnson, Vermont, to go snowboarding during night operations at Bolton and lapping untracked powder of the Snowflake lift. It was just like my memory, and I ended my day doing leisurely laps on a run called Foxy before my toes started to tingle, and it was time to go home. On my way back north, I drove through Stowe village, thinking I might catch a glimpse of the interstellar tourists who were expected to flood into the region for the eclipse the next day. Sunday was like any beautiful day in this part of Vermont, the calm before the big event. I hope everyone got to experience the eclipse somehow, wherever in the world you happened to be. 

Bolton’s last ski day for 2023-24 is this Sunday, with lifts spinning until 5:00 p.m. A mix of rain and snow is expected in the region Saturday through Sunday, with cooler temperatures hovering around 45 degrees F. It’s not goodbye; it’s see you soon, in June when the lifts start spinning again for mountain biking, only a couple of short months away. Thank you for what’s been an amazing winter, Bolton Valley and Indy Pass. I am already looking forward to December.