Bolton Valley: Vermont’s ATV Indy

Thanks to some strategic scheduling, I found myself in northern Vermont with some free time on Friday. After talking with Harvey and checking the Indy Pass resort list, I loaded up my car early and made the short trip to Bolton Valley.

As I approached, I started getting excited. It’s the kind of mountain road that feels like it will lead you to a promised land. Bolton reveals itself slowly; a few miles up the access road, you’ll pass the quaint Timberline Lodge. I continued on to the base lodge a few minutes further up.

Rolling in to the main base area, I saw other early-bird AT skiers. Bolton has a friendly uphill policy, and quite a few locals take advantage of it for early morning workouts.

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Berkshire East: Another New Frontier

I got a third day on my Indy Pass last Saturday at Berkshire East in Massachusetts. It got me thinking: multi-resort passes are appealling to me for three reasons.

young skier

The economics are paramount, of course. The price, divided by the number of days you’re hoping to ski, is compared to the window price for all those days. For my Freedom Pass or Max Pass, I needed ten days of skiing to break even. For the Indy Pass, it’s five or six.

Second is skiing hills I know and love. That’s the hook. Last year, I had a Freedom Pass through my Plattekill season pass. The year before I had a Max Pass. I loved several of the Max Pass hills including Whiteface, Gore, Killington and Pico. Both passes felt like a safe purchase.

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Greek Peak: Expanding the Zone

Embracing change isn’t exactly my specialty. My life can be boiled down to a handful of things I do year in and year out, over and over. Work, eat, sleep, deal with responsibilities in summer, and ski and blog about my favorite hills during the season.

Greek Peak

I’ve been planning to ski Greek Peak for almost ten years. I certainly had my chances. From my desk at work, I’ve watched the mountain experience some great lake effect snow cycles. I remember a stretch a few years ago, when a persistent upper-level low lingered for more than a week, dropping — as they say in the Virgil Valley — “two-tree” inches a day, until it was game-on across the mountain.

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