(Photo: Courtesy of Bolton Valley local Mark Clement captured on October 28, 2020 just before it snowed that night… and again the next night…)
Oh, let us count the reasons we are getting STOKED for this winter…
- First, it’s unprecedented. As in, we’re going where no season has gone before. We’ll be telling our grandkids about 2020 and we’re just crazy enough to think a big part of that story will be our re-connection with the natural world around us.
- The 2nd half of October has been a somewhat non-stop frozen precipitation landscape up here at the highest ski resort base elevation in Vermont (don’t let Wikipedia fool you – the main base lodge sits at 2,100 feet, they’re reporting the elevation of Timberline, about 700 feet below that). The image above was taken on October 28 before it snowed that night… and the next night… remind you of Snow-vember 2018 anyone? We had nearly 8 feet of snowfall that winter!
- The Mad Taco is joining us at the mountain this winter!
- Our staff – they really are the best! It’s that time of year where a lot of our seasonal staff is returning and new faces are joining the crew, too! Care to join us?
- Our guests, despite everything going on in this crazy world, are super excited for the season and every chance we get to interact with them – whether by email, direct message on our Instagram or Facebook pages, or our new call center – they reinforce our faith that they’ll do all the things they need to do (buy in advance online to skip our ticket windows/counters, wear face coverings, keep socially distant, not visit if they have symptoms and/or have been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19) so we can have a safe ski season together.
- The backcountry! Not to beat a dead horse here, but it’s pretty obvious backcountry terrain is pretty much the coolest thing going this winter and lucky for us we have a long tradition and program built around extensive backcountry terrain. This year, in addition to our guides, clinics and rental fleets, we’ve added season long backcountry lease equipment rentals from Dynafit for A/T Skis and Burton for Splitboards. And they have been flying off the shelves!
- Night skiing… we’re pretty sure it’s going to have a record year this year as people look to spread their visitation out more and what better way to do that than to avoid the early and mid day rush periods?
Oh, let’s leave it there for now, but I’m sure we’ll be adding to this list in the coming days/weeks/months/years frankly…
(11/30 Update: More stoke despite the slow start to the season… Read all about it at Hope Springs Eternal)