Well, the Picnic trail at Bolton has existed for quite some time, so it’s tough to call it the first ski on this loop. BUT, with the immense amount of work our club has put in over the past 2 months this loop is starting to feel more and more like a new home for the club.
Without the rock removal, bridge building, weed trimming, branch cutting, and grade levelling MNC members carried out, there is no way we would have been able to ski groomed laps this week. With the exception of two large rocks that we’ll need a real excavator to remove, the loop is about as fine-tuned as possible for low-snow skiing and grooming, and we got the perfect initial test of that this week.
Human grooming!
6 inches fell Sunday into Monday, and on Monday night my friend Ben and I, along with Mike Millar, were up and in business with some homemade grooming devices. Nothing like a good strength workout of snowshoeing a few laps tugging an unweighted groomer, followed by a couple laps with rocks in the back to pack things down further!
On Tuesday, we woke up to even more snow as a further 8 inches hit Bolton. For those curious, the base area is at 2000′ so even with barely an inch in Burlington there was a full-on winter scene up on the Nordic trails. More grooming was in order, and on Tuesday afternoon the Juniors had an awesome training session. As night fell and we donned headlamps (read on to learn about how you can help install the lighted system THIS SUNDAY) masters skiers from MNC and just the surrounding area in general
began to appear. This was really happening!
But the real treat was Wednesday morning, when the skied-in and groomed-in snow had another cold night to set-up. Skiers for the 8am training session had nearly perfect mid-winter conditions. With a little creative shoveling, the loop held on for the afternoon session as long as you were ok with dodging the occasional grass patch.
With the loop in the best shape it has ever been in, and the first real skiing able to happen, we were able to glean some first impressions from what will become our new lighted loop:
- Both the sunrise and sunset skiing is beautiful. With a western-facing high-point to start the loop off, you’re treated with beautiful light and views of the Adirondack sunset for the whole first half of the loop.
- The loop flows well, especially in the general counter-clockwise direction. There is a sharp downhill curve to the right, and hairpin to the left, with your reward for this tricky section being a smooth and snaking V2 section that feels like true “hero skiing”.
- The climb is tough, but perfect for this kind of loop. There is a steep climb out of the low-point, and once you reach the end of the steep section that parallels the access road, you are rewarded with smooth undulating grades that we are amazing for classic striding!
The sunsets are no joke here
While the snow is gone for now, the little taste we got makes us all the more excited for this winter.
You can check out on-snow photos from these couple of days in this album
You can check out the trail work before-the-snow in this album
Interested in installing the lights with us? Our mission will be to put up the remaining light posts on trees and then run this wire (below) to all of the posts as we prepare to flip the switch!
Join the club at Bolton this coming Sunday, 11/8 at 9AMto help complete this big project! Bring work clothes, gloves, and some water!
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