Killington Peak as viewed from Killink

Killington Peak as viewed from Killink

The holiday season is always a busy one at Killington. With that in mind, I wanted to try to get out on the mountain for a little while today, to get a final peek before the Christmas rush. One catch... I only had 1 hour. One hour on Killington does not sound like much, but with a little local knowledge, you can literally ski for miles and miles.

I started from the Vail parking lot and skied over to the Rams Head lift. From Rams Head, I cruised down Caper to the Snowdon Quad. The Snowdon Quad is not a speed demon (hence the pejorative designation Slowdon Quad), but it can get you where you want to go. From their, I took Killink to the North Ridge Triple, stopping to take some pictures of the peak. Although the scene was some what dark and gloomy, as there was a high overcast, Killington Peak looked impressive in it's snow capped grandeur.

Here is where an hour at Killington becomes interesting. The next move was a traverse across Great Northern to Great Eastern to get over to Bear Trap at Bear Mountain. A solid 10 minutes of continuous skiing. Bear Trap was very interesting. Snow guns were just pummeling the trail. Visibility was about zero. Snow piles were becoming knee to waist deep in places. The mountain will need to do some serious grooming of this to support the holiday crowds.

Usually on a one hour jaunt around Killington I would take the Outer Limits quad, however, that was not operating today. So up I went on the Skye Peak Quad. This placed me a the top of Skye Lark. From Skye Lark, I traversed over to Superstar for the last run of my hour, crossing in front of the K1 Base Lodge on my way back to the car. Total elapsed time 1 hour, on 4 lifts with a combined elevation of 4299 feet and a length of 17,140 feet.

Ski conditions on the mountain are without a doubt the best they have been for Christmas in many years. Next week it looks like basically 100% of the resort will be open for skiing and riding, a huge difference from the last couple of years. Great snowmaking weather, a new owner willing to make lots of snow, and a few good early season snow storms have the mountain in great shape for holiday visitors. I just might have to sneak out for an hour or 2 again before the new year.

Let it snow!