Bear Mountain on Mogul Challenge day

Bear Mountain on Mogul Challenge day

Another outstanding spring day to ski and ride at Killington. In a rare, non-snow day Saturday appearance, I went up on the mountain at mid-day to view the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge. Temperatures were in the high 40's/low 50's at the base. There was not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. Just a great day to poach a few bonus runs during this strange ski season.

I went up to the mountain at about noon and got a parking space close to the Snowdon quad. I was not on the hill today to do any serious skiing. My plan was to make a quick traverse across the mountain to view the Mogul Challenge. From the Snowdon Quad, I moved over to North Ridge for a traverse across Great Eastern to get to Bear. On my way there, I went down Bear Claw. The terrain features that have been in place on Bear Claw all season were knocked down last night. Groomers had spread the snow out across the trail. It was in really nice shape.

7 year old "Hannah Storm" in the course. Click image to enlarge

From Bear Claw, I went down Lower Wildfire. I thought the trail was covered with nice soft "hero" bumps. I had a great time hopping from soft bump to soft bump, although my legs are in pretty good shape from all of the skiing over the last several months. Some of the weekend and day skiers were having a difficult time of it, but everything was ice cream soft so no one was in any real danger, other than taking appropriate steps at collision avoidance.

Bear Mountain base was very busy. A tent city had been erected by various groups all along the bottom. I was a little early to see "Blue Oyster Cult", as I was there well before 1 PM. But the party was already in full swing. Many of the tents had barbecues going, and many were consuming various libations. One of the competitors I observed was a little 7 year old "Hannah Storm". I was really impressed. I am not sure where she would place in the overall competition, but her overall form put to shame some of the other competitors I observed. It is really nice to see young kids competing, as they are the future of skiing and riding.

Tent city set up on lower Outer Limits Click image to enlarge

I wish I had more time to stay at Bear this afternoon, as the party looked like it was really getting going. But, I do have a job to do in town, so I headed back home via the Skye Burst chair.

From the top of Skye Burst, I looped down Bitter Sweet. Unlike the soft snow at Bear Mountain, Bitter Sweet was surprisingly firm, especially on the upper sections. Even with the underlying firmness, Bitter Sweet still had an inch or so of beach sand consistency snow down the length of it. But the firmness had it's advantage, as I was able to cruise down lower Bitter Sweet with enough speed to almost get by the K1 Base Lodge with out skating as I headed back to the car. All told, a nice hour on the slopes... I was wishing it could have been 2 or 3. Let it Snow!