Wintertime in Vermont can be both beautiful and dangerous. Traveling from Pennsylvania, our vehicle was the second of a two vehicle convoy, separated by hours of distance on the road, and one hell-of-a-storm collecting in the atmosphere above us. Perfect alignments in the sky allowed it to precipitate snow for nearly the entire ride, in the form of heavy dense squalls, and then brief pockets of nothing..
The car ride would have been much more relaxing if i didn't pump dry of Windshield Wiper fluid, around 11pm in the southern end of Vermont area. I had to literally hang my head out the window, while driving in heavy snow, and there weren't any chain gas stations around that were open! In foreign lands to say the least, I thought we were in the middle of nowhere, but alas people are hardy and have settled in all corners of the globe, of course tons of people live in Vermont!
We eventually found an open Sunoco after about an hour of hanging my head out the window (yeah, i was super cold). Lubed and fueled up, we made it to the cabin we AirBnB'd not more than a hour later maybe.. and I will certainly say I was proud of my driving.
The cabin that Andrew (who will be joining Steemit soon) found and set up the rental with was spectacular.. heres a link to their AirBnB House listing: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10210038?location=Vermont%2C%20United%20States&checkin=&checkout=&adults=1&children=0&infants=0&s=OlsyAS3o
Some pictures of the cabin off of their AirBnB listing for those too lazy to click it.
Let me remind you there had been an enormous amount of snowfall that winter already for the New England states. When we arrived at the driveway entrance, after first driving past it for about a mile or so and having to turn around... there were machine cut walls of snow about 4 feet high on both sides of the driveway, which I was thankful for since the snow was still falling and it was still quite difficult to get up the sloped driveway.. But, driving up we saw huge mounds of completely smooth and untouched snow blankets that looked like some form of candy frosting on cakes it was so beautiful. And I stress this, there was an insane amount of snow on the ground for us people who only get a few inches per storm, most times. After the trip as we were leaving, a good bit had melted because the temperatures were up, we could see there was a car, a wagon and other things like benches that were completely covered in a flush, level surface of snow. It was incredible how deep it was when we arrived, I am upset we didn't take any pictures of the snow there, for there was actually zero snow cover at the time back in southeastern Pennsylvania.
So us 6 guys hanging in a cabin in the forest, we thought in the middle of nowhere initially, with several feet of snow on the ground, and the snow still falling, the fireplace crackling and the beer bottles being opened.. we all started to settle in for the night. We all understood the long days ahead of us, even if they are for entertainment, they deserve rest to be prepared.
For anyone who has not been to Vermont or gone skiing anywhere for that matter, I hope you get the chance in life to get out there and try it if able. This video I created captures a great bit of what Stowe Mountain, Jay Peak, and Bolton Valley have to offer.. I hope you all Enjoy!
On the first day, at Stowe Mountain which is sort of in the center of Vermont, there had been a near record amount of snowfall in the past week and was still snowing that Friday which gave us near whiteout conditions and a constant powder base. I didn't get that part on film but I nearly fell into a whole melted by a subsurface stream of meltwater and couldnt get out for about a half hour. Thankfully we ski in groups and I was not alone, but I still ended up panicking a little bit and overheating on the way back up on the Gondola.. I nearly fainted on that ride. But all was well, thankfully.
Saturday was a beautifully bright and sunny day at Jay Peak, which is at the northern border with Canada in Vermont. The air mass that brought the snow storm on its front must have still been moving out, because it was a bit too windy at the top of Jay Peak, so unfortunately they had the top gondola closed for the day. Bummer. But it still made for a beautiful day. The special happening on that day, was when I somehow got separated from everyone, and did my own thing for near two hours and four runs.. Hung out in a section of the glades, (glades are a section of the ski mountain that is forested, which you'll see we travel through a lot) and had myself some relaxation time.
Sunday we skied Bolton Valley. First time I had ever been there, and right away it seemed to be a nice place! Not very crowded like the other two more popular mountains for skiing. It was very sunny, and the temperatures had risen significantly as the air mass moved out more. The ended up turning the thick snow base of the slopes into a thick, sludgy snow layer which really started to put a brake on the skies. That's where the thumb photo is from. I would certainly go back to Bolton Valley, their prices were extremely fair I thought.
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