Killington Peak from top of Bear Mountain

Killington Peak from top of Bear Mountain

It is hard to complain when you can get 15 runs in between 9 and noon under brilliant sunshine in the middle of January.

When the group I was with today left the K1 base lodge, we decided to head towards Bear Mountain. The temperature at K1 was in the low teens. Although the sky was a brilliant blue, the Killington Peak side of the mountain in mid January tends to stay in the shadows most of the day. By heading south, we would be warmer (Bear Mountain is a little closer to the equator after all) and we would be in the sunshine, as the slopes at Bear generally face to the south east into the morning sun.

Bear Claw/Bear Trap were groomed nicely. Snow guns were laying down a velvet surface on Wildfire. Upper Wildfire had it's bumps groomed out. As the temperature was barely 20, the snow from the guns was light and dry. Very nice.

Outer Limits was the run of the day. Snow making operations have been taking place on OL over the last several days. Today, the snow cloud was lifted to reveal a combination of big snowmaking whales, and little soft bumps. The snow surface on OL was really good. Nice, quiet powder turns all the way down the trail. For most on the mountain today, it was a do over.

Skye Burst to Cruise Control was "interesting". Skye Burst was a mix of loose groomed granular with a slippery mix between ball bearings and death cookies. In comparison to the rest of the trails at Bear, it was a surprise. But I am sure a day or 2 more grooming will make Skye Burst nice as well, as there is plenty of cover on the trail. Cruise Control was groomed out. Skiers right had more than a few bamboo poles in place to block out some nasty thin cover, but skiers left was fine. On the way to Cruise Control we passed through Dream Maker. Lower Dream Maker was still closed. Grooming machines were working it over to build a new terrain park, which should be opening soon.

The Killington Mountain School was training this morning on Needles Eye. By 11:00 they were done and we had a chance to loop it. It was soft from new snow, plus flat and fast. An unusual combination for Killington. We happened to hit it at a time when no one else was on the trail. Suffice to say, as the conditions were ideal, it was a very high speed cruise from top to bottom.

We never did make it back to the Killington Peak side of the mountain. Playing in the sunshine was just to much fun.

Let it snow!