Powder Day Newsletters Are the Best Newsletters

Welcome, everybody, to the first Newsletter of the New Year. My resolution is to keep these things under one thousand words. And for all the children of the world to join hands and sing songs of peace. But, mostly, to keep this newsletter under a thousand words. In fact, forget that other thing. I'm already wasting words. This sentence, just the like the one before it, is completely unnecessary...

In this issue:
~ Weekend Projections
~ Getaway Lodging
~ Learn to Ski or Ride For Free
~ Contest: Winners and Recap

Weekend Projections
When I submitted my "Weekend Conditions" request Friday night to our Weather-Control Intern, I asked for wildly unexpected powder early Saturday morning, followed by sunshine for the rest of the day. You are all welcome. With huge, fluffy snowflakes falling heavily before dawn and continuing past Opening Bell, we began our weekend with about a foot of new powder Saturday. Combine that with sunny skies, and Saturday was hard to complain about. The good news: we've got all this snow, terrain is opening up, and we expect more sunshine again for Sunday. That pattern should hold for the week as well, with snowy days alternating with sunshine. Everyone laughed when we started our Weather-Control Internship, but everyone laughed at Thomas Edison, too. Probably. I don't read books.

And now the details: a handful of natural snow trails, as you would imagine, opened up Saturday morning, and we expect to offer about 35 trails for this weekend in addition to all 3 of our terrain parks. We plan on having 4 lifts going each day, beginning with the Vista Quad--though that number just might go up in the near future. Surfaces are much improved, and should be mostly packed powder once the groomers have had their fun with all that new snow. It all adds up to this: the mountain is looking sharp, the skiing has been excellent, and I can't believeI'm writing this instead of getting back out there. You owe me. To get the daily Snow Report e-mailed to you each morning, sign up here.

Getaway Lodging
Okay, so long-time Newsies (which is quite possibly a name I made up just now to describe those of us who read this Newsletter) will recall that almost every week I talk about a lodging deal, and offer you folks some sort of discounted ski-and-stay package. You long-time Newsies are sharp, I'll give you that. And you're right again this week.

I actually wrote this bit last, because I had to keep checking with people that I was reading the details correctly on our "Season's Best Ski and Ride Getaway". From what I can gather, we're offering a package that includes two days of lift tickets, your room for the night, a free group lesson for skiing and riding, dinner at either Bailey's or our Tavern, and breakfast in the morning...for $149 per person. That doesn't seem right, does it? I refuse to go check with someone again, so you'll just have to read the details on our website, here, and decide whether or not you like incredible deals. I'm already on record as liking them. And I won't apologize for that.

Learn to Ski or Ride For Free
Typically, all of our links go to things we have up on the Bolton Valley website. This is because they never let me leave the mountain, and as far as I know, there are no other websites. The Internet, for me, consists of the Bolton homepage and funny videos of kittens falling asleep that strangers send me. I'm very lonely. But someone told me about a ludicrous deal from the Vermont Ski Area's Association, and I've decided to tell you because you're my only friends in the world and I think we should hang out more.

If you've always wanted to try skiing or snowboarding--or have heard of someone, somewhere who wants to try--then VSAA wants you to get out and do it this upcoming week, from Sunday the 4th thru Sunday the 11th, for free. As long as you're a first-timer, you get rental gear, a limited lift ticket, and a lesson in exchange for exactly zero US Dollars. I know: the math doesn't make sense to me, either, but it's all right here on their website. Just pick which day you would like to discover a new snow sport, see what's available at lovable ol' Bolton, and get out there to alpine ski, snowboard, or Nordic ski for nothing. Madness, people. Madness.

Contest: Winners and Recap
We've been doing contests now, pretty much every week, because you deserve some kind of reward for reading this far down the page. And the participation has been really nice to see. People like free stuff, I guess. And, in a way, we're all winners. But in a better, more accurate way, Adam Fournier, Donna Ferrante, and whoever we decide won last week's "Bolton Storytelling Contest", are the winners. You've all captured our imagination with your ability to answer trivia, take photos-of-the-day, and write a couple sentences about fun times at Bolton. It's that easy: send in something that we like, and I send you a free ticket. I'm like Santa Claus, or "Extreme Home Makeover". Maybe "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", but more arbitrary and less lucrative. Man, that Regis Philbin sure is a firecracker, isn't he? Wait...you tricked me in to saying that.

This week, we're simply reminding everyone of our two ongoing contests: the "Photo-of-the-Day Contest", and the "Bolton Storytelling Contest". The details for the photo edition are on this page, and the storytelling info can be found at the bottom of last week's newsletter--which is always good to re-read, anyway, every few days. As always, submissions can be sent to me, at jthibault@boltonvalley.com. Our prizes this week are a little different: winners get a free pizza from our popular Fireside Flatbread restaurant upstairs in the Base Lodge. And, in no way, are you required to share your pizza with me. I mean, if I happen to see you eating your pizza, and I sit down next to you and quietly stare at you with sad eyes until you offer me some of your pizza, I won't say "No". But there is no contractual obligation, here. Technically.

That's it, everyone--thanks for dedicating several hours of your day to reading this massively overwritten Newsletter. If you're tempted to do a word count to see if I ended up over a thousand words, then you're my kind of Newsie. But the point is: we've started this weekend off in fine fashion with a foot of new snow and more sunshine than we expected. We'll do everything we can to keep that momentum going this week, and we hope to see you out there playing in the snow with us.

Justin