We had a lot of evidence suggesting summer was over a couple of weeks ago, like:
– Labor Day weekend came and went,
– our summer campers turned into back-to-schoolers,
– our Live Music on the Lawn twice weekly summer concert series drew to a close (with an incredible Dog Days at BV with The Wormdogs Labor Day weekend) and
– our summer lift schedule with 5 day-a-week lift service (and apres work lift laps Wed to Fri) transitions to the 3-a-day daylight grind of the fall lift schedule
But Mother Nature didn’t seem too concerned with such matters as she continued to send us temperatures climbing into the upper 70s and 80s, which in turn meant the creemee window and outdoor pool were still the places to be. BUT, change does suddenly appear to be in the air. Today’s calm, cooling rain and the forecast ahead signal the slow, steady and gorgeous march toward fall – with its tremendous parade or red, orange and yellow leaves – is finally upon us!
And boy are we excited! Nonetheless, before we move forward with foliage fervor, we must take one more pause to acknowledge the historic nature of this past summer here at Bolton Valley.
Truly. Historic.
Sure, Bolton Valley Resort was well known as a year round vacation destination from the ’60s to the ’90s during Ralph DesLauriers’ 1st run at the helm of the place he built and raised his family. But after Ralph sold the resort in the ’90s, BVR really shifted it’s sights toward a winter only focus in the new millennium under the new ownership groups. But when the DesLauriers family came back home (along with some local investors 5+ years ago now) their aim was quickly fixed upon returning the resort her former year-round Green Mountain glory. And boy have we been trying. And gradually, year in and year out, we’d been seeing evidence we were on the right track and things were moving in the right direction. But this summer? Well, it just hit different. From July onward, it was on and none of us hardly had a moment to notice as we were suddenly so busy taking care of our beloved guests day in and day out. When we finally picked our heads up for a minute last week there was a collective realization of what had just happened. It’s an amazing feeling really… to be a part of a team that’s gone through that process of building toward a vision for the future and then to suddenly find ourselves operating within that dream. It feels pretty dang good, if I’m being honest.
From the new outdoor pool, to the hotel renovation, to the recent purchase of The Ponds (a well established wedding venue) to the renovation of the Timberline Lodge (now hosting various weddings, private groups and events in its own right) to the Bike Park… oh, the Bike Park. It’s been years in the making, with the permitting to get the lift running in summer and new trail designs approved, but this summer, with the opening of our new top-to-bottom beginner flow trail, it’s a whole new day in the Bolton Bike Park, that’s for sure! Just like winter, we’re now teaching so many folks to ride with us, whereas before our trails were mostly for advanced riders only. It has been truly amazing to see kids from 5 years old (sometimes even younger) on up loading their bikes on the lift for the first time only to see them an hour or two later in the base area, truly transformed with the joy that is downhill mountain biking. We knew it could be like this, we hoped it would be like this and indeed… here we are. It seems Lindsay’s a chip off the old Ralph block – vision is not something the two of them lack, that’s for sure.
But I digress… when I sat down to write this blog post it was going to be all about fall. Frankly, I have so much more to say about this past summer still… Well, maybe we’ll have to get the #FoliageCheck rolling for 2022 the same way we did last fall when we declared peak foliage in early October. Please keep in mind, past performance is no indicator of future peak foliage date. You’ll just have to get on up here to see how it progresses for your yourself, I guess. Or watch that blog series 😉
But there can be no doubt, fall is clearly arriving as I type this at the highest base area elevation ski resort in Vermont and you know what? We’re ready for it! We love pumpkins and apple pie, cool nights and mums, scenic lift rides and our favorite fall flannel… it’s all just part of the joy of living here in Vermont, each season bringing it’s own vibrant joys.
And certainly with the onset of fall, our snowmakers are getting antsy, too. Didn’t make the most of your summer? No problem, make up for it in fall, winter or next summer, it’s all good. We’ll look forward to seeing you around the mountain soon – whatever your preferred season in Vermont’s Green Mountains.
