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Winter in late April? What’s a skier to do?

Posted Saturday, April 21, 2018
— Backcountry skiing, Bolton Valley, Spring skiing

Backcountry skiing in northern Vermont on April 21, 2018.

Winter hasn’t been letting up here in Vermont. Several inches of snow have fallen in the mountains over the last couple of days. And, well, the sun came out this morning. What’s a skier to do???

We grabbed our tele gear and skinned up into the Bolton Valley backcountry trail network in the late morning. The parking lots were full of snow. The woods were wintry. The sky was blue.

We skied in about 8 inches of dense powder. It was drier at the top of our descent (at about 3,000 feet) and about half way down it got heavier and slower. But it was really, really good skiing for April! 

Sometimes my ski poles would click on a hard surface, but it was just an ice layer down below all the new snow. There’s quite a deep base of snow up high.

It wasn't super-warm, but the springtime sun was melting the snow and ice on the trees. It was showering down on us as we climbed and skied.

What a treat to have powder turns on April 21!

Update on the snow depth at the stake atop Mt. Mansfield: It's up to 100 inches again!

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