The Contessa, holding court in the K1 Gondola

The Contessa, holding court in the K1 Gondola

For the last 5 of 6 weeks, the trails of Killington have been busy with vacationers. College kids from Jersey, Families from Canada, English boarding schools...you name it they have all been to Killington. But for some reason.. not today. I am not sure if they have gone home, or just taking a break from the skiing and riding, but overall there were very few people out on the mountain this morning other than locals and some day trip skiers. And the Skiing was Great!

A little cloud cover and a little breeze kept temperatures this morning in the high 20's. I put an extra layer on in the base lodge after waking through the K1 parking lot, but I did not need a neck gaitor to keep me warm. Today I was just free skiing, as the guys I normally ski with had off mountain appointments to complete. As a result, I was pretty much skiing top to bottom on the mountain, non stop, no waiting.

Aerials ramp under construction at Bear Mountain Click image to enlarge

I started out on the Killington side taking runs down Highline, East Falls, and Cascades. All were in great shape, although the run out from East Falls and Cascades to the K1 gondola was choppy in places.

Bear Mountain this morning was also very nice. With the exception of some thin spots on lower Wildfire, all of the trails at Bear sported soft packed powder great for carving edge to edge sweeping turns, which because of lack of crowds, you could do with reckless abandon. There is a huge amount of activity going on at Bear to complete construction of the features for the Sprint Freestyle Championship to be held this weekend at Bear. i did not take Outer Limits because it was basically roped off in the middle, diverting people to the bottom of Devils Fiddle. Snow cats were moving snow around to build the Aerials jumps. Technicians were busy measuring the bumps course to begin the process of setting the bumps on the different lines for the competitors. Machines were also working the Super-Pipe.

Soft bumps on lower Superstar, skiers left. Click image to enlarge

I took a few runs in the Needles Eye area, and the Superstar area. Again, great carving snow. In addition to the soft snow in the middle of the trail, on these trails you also found nice soft bumps lines down at least one side. I did do some of the bumps down Lower Needles. Not many, mind you, but just enough to get the blood flowing in the legs after a morning of high speed cruising. And tomorrow is also predicted to be a sunny day! Let it Snow!