Killington cloud forming. A local weather phenomenon.

Killington cloud forming. A local weather phenomenon.

Cool dry air overspread the area overnight, resulting in a mostly clear, deep blue, sky. Temperatures at 9:00 when I started skiing were in the single digits (5). By mid day, temps approached 20.

As the resort was working on the K1 parking lot, I put my car in the Vale parking lot and started my day from the Rams Head lift. Caper, back to the Snowdon Quad was beautifully soft. I was able to do long GS turns all the way to Snowdon, as I was basically the only person on the trail at the time.

From Snowdon, I traversed over to East Falls. East Falls was groomed flat. It was coated with a light fluff which made it much easier to ski than its black diamond status would indicate. From East Falls, I made my way to the K1 Gondola for a traverse across the back of the resort to Bear Mountain.

Normally when I traverse to Bear I take "Bear Trax" (formerly know as "Great Eastern") all the way. Today I decided to take "Pipe Dream", under the South Ridge Triple, to Bear Trax. Oops... it was a nasty mess of wind blown hard pack, exposed rock, and trampled brush. The good news is that the edges on my skis are pretty sharp, so turning on the stuff was possible. But overall, it was not a pleasant "milk run" across the back side of the resort.

I was rewarded when I got to Bear Mountain. I started on Wild Fire. Upper Wild Fire was nicely groomed on skiers right, with firm bumps down skiers left. Lower Wild Fire was covered with soft groomed snow. Overall, Wild Fire quickly made up for the mess on "Pipe Dream".

Next up was Bear Claw to Lower Sky Burst. The groom on Bear Claw covered the slope with little marbles. The condition persisted through the Viper Pit until Lower Sky Burst, which seemed to have had a little snow making to cover the surface. Lower Sky Burst features a series of snow making whales down the middle of the trail. The whales made for a lot of fun as one skied up and down the sides of the mounds.

Outer Limits was next up. It had been groomed earlier in the week. The cold temperatures had basically kept it flat. Skier traffic created a loose granular surface which set up nicely for carving turns.

After Outer Limits, I went up the Sky Peak Quad for a run down Dream Maker. Upper Dream Maker was covered with a soft velvet coating of man made snow. I don't think that the resort blew snow there. It probably landed there, carried by the wind from some other trail. That being said, Upper Dream Maker was almost as good as it gets. (Give me a foot and it would be the best... a couple of inches and it will only rate a good!). Middle Dream Maker with the free style features was will covered. Lower Dream Maker, on the way to the Super Pipe, also was covered with newly made snow. This was probably intentional, given the traffic this slope gets to get to the top of the pipe. Whatever the reason, however, it was very nice.

Leaving Bear Mountain, I did the Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet trio. All were good. Needles Eye, and Panic Button in particular, was probably the best of the bunch, as the groom resulted in a smoother surface.

I finished with a run down Super Star. It was in much better shape than the last couple of weeks. The resort has worked over the wind blown hardpack that made the trail a down hill skating rink last week. They have also made a lot of new snow, pretty much covering the trail with a new surface from side to side.

Todays picture comes from my ride up the Super Star quad. You have to remember that during my morning on the mountain, there were basically no clouds in the sky. Yet as I was riding the Super Star quad, I was witnessing the creation of the Infamous K Cloud on Killington Peak. There was obviously a wind from the west hitting the back side of the peak. The wind was compressing the air column as it ran into the mountain, resulting in clouds forming over the peak. The clouds would drift several hundred feet from the peak and disappear. It was like the peak was sending out smoke signals to the other mountains in the Green Mountain chain. But then, of course, I am easily entertained.......Let it snow!