Our mountain bike trails don’t get much better than this… and to celebrate we have a couple of DEALS for you:

50% off Mountain Bike Rentals
Offered through Sunday, August 4, 2024

Full day only, through this Sunday, July 28 – cannot be combined with other offers/promos. No advance purchase/reservation required – first come, first served at the rental counter in the main base lodge, but we have plenty of downhill bikes all tuned up and ready to go for ya. More info on BV Mountain Bike Rentals

20% off food at the James Moore Tavern & Village Cafe
Through September 18, 2024

for Summer Season Passholders (Sports Center &/or Mtn Bike Park) AND Anyone who purchases a lift ticket (bike park/scenic lift ride) &/or mountain bike rental or lesson. Not valid on drinks OR at the Mountain Market/Miso Hut. More info on dining options HERE

And while we’re at it – how about a winter promo…

Early Bird Winter Hotel Special

Book now and enjoy 15% off winter hotel and suite rates (not the Evangeline suite, though) – discount does not apply to some restricted room types or holiday dates and is subject to availability. Use code earlybird to unlock your winter savings at time of online booking. Check hotel pricing & availability HERE

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The post Spring Hiking: Bryant Camp 5.8.24 appeared first on Bolton Valley.

The hike up to the firetower is about 1,100′ of elevation gain, up the Vista or Wilderness work roads. Today I followed the Wilderness route up until the intersection near Waterfall gap. From there I continued up the vista workroad to the top of the chairlift, and admired the beautiful day from atop the lookout tower. From this 360° vantage point, hikers can take in views of Bolton and the windmill, Camel’s Hump, Mount Mansfield, and Waterbury’s Little River State Park. In my opinion you would be hard pressed to find a VT hike this short with such a great lookout (honorable mention to Nichol’s Ledge in Cabot).

The trees are budding at a very rapid rate, and the wildflowers on the ground are coming in hot as well. Although ramp and fiddlehead season has come and gone, there are plenty of short-lived blossoms that are worth seeking out if you find yourself with the time. Early spring on the mountain is a great time to take in the natural scenery, and each time you go the plantlife is a little farther along!

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I was a part of the bell pepper group (beginners) and the first week we learned about the bike, equipment, and focused on body positioning #readyposition. By the second week we were already going up the lift and down the green trail! Many of us were actually more nervous about loading the bikes on the lift than going down the trail but we crushed both! 

Week 3 we worked on cornering which I was most excited about because that’s where I feel I struggle the most. It was nice to hear that turns we were practicing on the flats of the progression park are actually harder than the ones going down the trail. After this lesson we went back down the green trail, and it felt like my best run! Looking through the turns and other tips I learned before the ride were super helpful. On our last week we worked on a technique called “peak and push”, this taught us how to deal with any drops or bumps we may encounter and allows you to be in control of the bike. 

We finished up camp with another group ride down Ebascootcha and you could notice the improvements we all had from our first time down, we were going faster and stopping less while being more in control. I really appreciated how before we rode each week we recapped what we learned the week before. I also enjoyed how we got to learn and practice skills in the progression zone and then apply them on the trail. Doing this helped make it feel less intimidating and led us to become more comfortable and confident while going downhill.

Overall the 4 weeks made me feel much more at ease riding. When I started I was nervous to go down the green trail and now I can go down Ebascootcha comfortably and am ready to try some blues! It also helps to be around people who are the same skill level as you, and share similar concerns. Gage and Jasmine were such kind and skilled coaches who made you feel welcomed and where no question was a dumb question. (You can book a Saturday clinic with Jasmine!) Our group may not have been the most advanced of mountain bikers but we definitely had the most fun! Everyone enjoyed camp so much we exchanged numbers to ride with each other again. 

If you are looking to start or grow your Mountain Bike journey like me try some of these offerings:

Rider Pack 

Bolton Fest Adult Camp 

Bikes & Gear

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But this summer’s challenging weather has us scratching our heads a bit. It’s sort of like a right of passage around here that while we love winter, come April most everyone’s ready for longer days filled with sunshine and Vitamin D. And gosh darnit, summer’s the time we’re supposed to refill that serotonin cup. Well, summer 2023 has been a bit more fickle with that great big yellow thing in the sky hiding behind persistent clouds and so. much. rain. Truly historic amounts.

And as if the flooding that devastated several nearby communities in Vermont in mid July wasn’t enough, it just. kept. raining. Always the optimists and looking for the positive narrative to encourage folks to get outside, we kept holding out hope for a change in the pattern. But after this past Saturday’s annual VMBA Day delivered more unrelenting rain and temps in the 50s most of the day (with some sort of wet snow / nearly frozen precipitation at the top of the mountain late afternoon IN AUGUST) we humbly submit… Points for persistence and consistency this summer, Mother Nature? Well done on that I guess?

Don’t get us wrong – we had several incredible moments on the mountain together this summer – from our incredible summer camps, to wedding guests every weekend making memories to last a lifetime to wonderful evenings on the lawn Wednesdays and Fridays listening to music and watching the sun go down – BUT we’d be lying if we said we didn’t spend much of the summer counting the rain and thinking to that old cliche about rain to snow equivalents. How does that one go again? I think it’s:

“An Inch of Rain Would Be a Foot of Snow“

Give or take anyway… according to the Farmer’s Almanac it “varies depending on the type of snow, but to make 1 inch of water (rain), you need 10 inches of average snow, 4 to 5 inches of wet snow, or 15 inches of powdery snow.” Naturally, all we ever get up here is pow days, but for the sake of this piece we’ll go with a foot per inch (instead of 15” of pow that we’ll actually be getting all winter).

So as the weather data from our Vista Peak weather station confirms, we have received over 21” of rain since the beginning of July – and August still has more than a week to go! Absolutely insane amount of rain that is. (Update added a couple weeks after this post was originally written/published: by the end of August we had received 25+ inches of rain in July & August, yikes!)

So let’s have a little fun with this… let’s just go ahead and say the clock starts on winter snowfall on opening day (which is Friday, November 24 this year – the day after Thanksgiving as always). If history is any guide, we will have already received 2-4 feet of snow here in the upper elevations of northern Vermont’s Green Mountains by that point, but we’ll just pretend it starts that day. Well, 21” of rain in 7 weeks would then mean we see 21 feet of snow by the 2nd week of January 2024! Sounds kind of glamorous, but also, perhaps too much of a good thing?

Fine, we know you’ve been working hard on all that rain Ma Nature, so we’ll let you off the hook with less than 20 feet of snow expected by early January, but hey, we’re just putting it out there. We’ve seen what you can do this summer and in winters past, so let’s just keep that mojo rising into winter, what do you say?

Any way you slice it, with all the improvements and investments to our snowmaking operation, whatever Mother Nature decides to bring our way this winter, we’ll be ready that’s for sure!

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If you’re unfamiliar with Vermont Adaptive, they are a nationally recognized organization whose mission is to empower folks of all abilities with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities from all over the globe here in our home state of Vermont. With the support of its 400 active volunteers and sponsors, VA tackles obstacles in accessibility to the outdoors by providing instruction to sports, recreational opportunities to year-round programs, and specialized equipment (Currently this is the only Adaptive Program in New England to offer multiple Bowhead Adaptive Mountain Bikes to Participants).

This Summer Season marks our first year of hosting Vermont Adaptive’s mountain bike programming at our Bike Park and we’re ecstatic to see how our partnership will open doors for new and seasoned riders. With the addition of our Green Trail – Ebascootcha last year, we are proud to offer more accessible trails for bikers of all abilities. Whether you’re looking to participate or get involved (Volunteers are always needed!), we encourage you to check out Vermont Adaptive’s programming and supporting their missing of making “Sports for EveryBODY”.

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A Little About Me

Hey, I’m Kate! I’ve been a strength and mobility coach for the past eight years and I’ve worked with young athletes to more experienced athletes, and everyone in between. My love of movement came from a young age as I grew up participating in a variety of sports such as basketball, tennis, swimming, and track and field. Unfortunately, I experienced several injuries as a youth athlete, and it wasn’t until I was a coach myself that I realized these injuries could have been prevented or at least mitigated with a proper strength and mobility program. As an adult, I am still an athlete, and my go-to hobbies are pretty much anything that can be done outdoors, Vermont…am I right?? It is my goal and mission to keep athletes and outdoor enthusiasts doing what they love for as long as they darn well please. Once an athlete, always an athlete.  

Let’s Spring into Action

On April 26, Babe Force is launching a brand new, 4-week mountain activity prep series. The first three weeks will be focused on getting our joints and muscles ready to take on the gnarly effects of our spring hobbies, whether it be hiking, trail-running, biking or d. all of the above. We know these super fun activities can take a toll on the body and so why not prepare best we can to be strong and resilient? Week four will be a group hike up to the Bolton fire tower, weather permitting. 

This series is for those of you who love to get outdoors every chance you get and who are looking to stay strong and injury-free this spring season. Everyone can benefit from adding more strength and mobility training to their endurance sports, plus, making a few extra friends never hurt anyone.    

Join us as we empower each other to build knowledge, strengthen our bodies, and gain more confidence in our journeys to becoming more fearless athletes out on the trails. 

What? 60-min strength + mobility class

Why? Get stronger, mitigate injuries

Where? Sports Complex @ Bolton Valley

When? 5:30-6:30pm on 4/26, 5/5, 5/10, 5/19 (On 5/19 *weather permitting* we’ll go on a hike to the Fire tower afterwards)

What To Bring? Water/sports drink

SIGN UP HERE

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And we could use your help!

We enjoy naming new trails, but the challenge is, we just have so many directions we could take it. So we thought we’d take a moment to hear your opinions on the matter. As with most bike parks, we are mindful of starting / keeping a theme going and we’re sort of lucky to be walking into a few good options there.

Themes
(and trail names that go with them)

1. Aeronautical theme: It’s a jump trail, so an aeronautical theme makes sense… and, not for nothing, we just so happen to already have a trail just next to this one called Wright Bros. Sure, you probably thought that was a tip of the cap to the famed first flight on the Outer Banks near the turn of the 20th Century. Well, it’s not. But for the purposes of this exercise, it sure is handy that folks think that and continuing with that theme we offer you the options:
   Airheart (would probably show up on trail signs as Air + the heart emoji) – this a tip of the cap to Amelia Earhardt, of course
   JetBlue – We find flying the friendly skies with them is generally better than the alternative, and they have those little tv’s in the back of the seat and we love them for that. Also, this suggestion was offered by our hard-working trail crew, so it immediately gets taken seriously.
   Airbus – another one that came from the trail crew. Was also offered as a future black jump trail name. We’re not saying that’s coming any time real soon, but eventually, there can be no doubt and we want to be mindful of that evolution in this process.
2. Birds Aren’t Real theme: Okay, they might be real, but maybe not… could be spies, could be aliens, could be dinosaurs lost in time, who can be sure really? But whatever the heck those flying marmots are up to, we do like the notion of blue jump and black jump trails becoming:
   Bluebird – birds fly, you’re going to fly on this trail and it allows for the natural step up to Blackbird, or Raven.
   Three Little Birds – sure, checks the bird box, but probably it’s own thing going on here, covered with theme 3 here.
3. Numerology & Song Double Whammy:
   Three Little Birds – yeah, it sort of fits in the category above, but we like it more as a potential candidate for these 3 reasons: 1. We love Bob Marley and the simple sentiment of this song. We know, we know, that’s some basic b&*^*&^ status right there, but hey, sometimes you just have to submit to the easy button. 2. On the numerology front, this is kind of fun… if you look at our trail map you’ll notice we going from looker’s left to right we’d then have One Love (oh hey gain, Bob), Double Down (2) and then Three Little Birds. Dig, dog? 3. Song themes are fun… We’ve already got One Love in there and it would open up Pandora’s box on all new trail names going forward (in fact, the Blackbird idea offered above would work on this front as well).
4. Whip it Real Good: in some regards this last suggested trail name you’ll have the opportunity to vote on sort of fits into that the song bucket as well, if we just make it all about Devo’s classic “Whip It.” Which if you just clicked that link and watched that video, tell me you’re not happy and don’t want to go rip some jumps on your bike? So we offer you:
   Cool Whip – Song aside, let’s face it, this spreadable imitation whipped cream is more of a lifestyle than a food product. As would it be it’s grown up more advanced sibling Miracle Whip for the black jump trail in the years to come.
5. Zoolander / Movies Theme: This one isn’t a slam dunk on the theme train, per se, but we just think it’s a really funny (and fun) trail name to consider, so we’re adding it here:
   Blue Steel – “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.” Psssst, Derek, you just might find the enlightenment you seek on this trail…

What do you think we should do?

Vote Here:

The post Help Us Name the New Blue Jump Trail appeared first on Bolton Valley.

**Not transferrable. Must be used by one individual on 3 unique days. Valid through fall 2022.

Buy a Dirt Pass Now

Not sure how long this screaming deal will last, but with the new top-to-bottom beginner flow trail open and having just opened a new section of the new Blue Jump trail, we figured we’d make it real easy for you to come ride with us.

Vista lift spins 5 days a week through Labor Day (9/5) and then 3 days a week after that through Vermont’s legendary Fall Foliage Season.

Our independent, locally owned and operated ski and bike resort is conveniently located just off Interstate 89, just 30 minutes from Burlington/Stowe, Vermont and just 2 hours from Montreal and 3 hours from Boston. Getting here is easy peasy lemon squeezy… and once you’re here, you may not want to leave!

The new outdoor pool is now open, our concert series Live Music on the Lawn is free every Wednesday and Friday evening in August and we’re serving breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days/week with gorgeous sunset views everywhere you look. Oh, and did we mention creemees?

Come on up to higher ground and see for yourself what all the hype is about!

The post Introducing: The Dirt Pass appeared first on Bolton Valley.

From Labor Day through fall foliage season, Vista will run 3 days a week (Fri to Sun 10am to 5pm), which is also our favorite time of year for scenic lift rides to the top of Vermont.

The post The Mid Summer Lift Shift appeared first on Bolton Valley.