Killington Peak on a blue bird day

Killington Peak on a blue bird day

Today was another glorious day on the slopes of Killington. Temperatures were in the mid 20's, there was a slight breeze if any, and surface conditions were beautiful soft packed powder all around. Many people will be leaving the slopes this afternoon wishing they had remembered the sun screen. A great day to ski or ride Killington.

Unlike yesterday, today I had some company as I went around the mountain. We started out with a warm up run down Cascades. We did not go directly over the top, as it was one of the only trails on the mountain that looked polished, instead we went around on Great Northern to pick up Cascade at the traverse junction. The cover on Cascades was really nice. Last nights below 0 temperatures firmed up the dry packed powder just enough to yield a very carve-able surface with no ice from top to bottom. We all just cruised down for another trip up the box.

Norm, Mary and Howie in a line on Great Eastern heading to Bear Claw Click image to enlarge

When we got up to the top again, we swung wide and did a few laps off the North Ridge Triple chair before heading down East Falls. Rime and East Falls were very similar to Cascades. All the surfaces were very consistent and set up just right for smooth GS cruising.

We swung over to Bear Mountain for laps on Wildfire, Bear Trap, Bear Claw and Skyeburst. All this high speed cruising was starting to get to me so I played in the bumps for a while on Upper Wildfire, and on Skyeburst. The way the bumps were set up you could dive in for 6 to 10 turns, then bounce out to resume cruising. As I mentioned last week, this technique slows me down just enough so that Mary and I reach the bottom of the trails together, versus me waiting for her to catch up (and she feeling guilty that she is slowing me down). So I thought the bumps were a great diversion. They also are helping to harden up the legs... after all golf season will be soon and I need a strong leg kick for driving the ball off the tee.

Mary taking a few turns on Superstar Click image to enlarge

We finished up this mornings adventure with turns on Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, High Road, Skye Lark, and Superstar. I thought the best of the bunch was lower Skye Lark. For some reason, lower Skye Lark was boot high soft powder. I am not sure if it was the result of wind blown snow, or grooming, but I thought it was really nice. Of course, as one of todays pictures attests, Mary decided to ski Superstar, so you can guess that it was soft and sweet in it's own right. A great morning on the hill... now where is the tube of sun screen again? Let it Snow!