"The Canyon" at Killington. The junction of Double Dipper, Down Draft, Cascades, and East Fall from the Canyon Quad.

"The Canyon" at Killington. The junction of Double Dipper, Down Draft, Cascades, and East Fall from the Canyon Quad.

With Town Meeting Day on Tuesday behind us, today was the day for many Killington residents to head out on the mountain. And a beautiful day it was! Temperatures were in the low 20's; the wind was light; and sunshine was at near 100% with just a few high clouds drifting over Killington peak.

Snow surfaces across Killington consisted of a very firm base covered by a 2 to 3 inch layer of machine groomed loose granular over most of the trails. Trails that were not groomed overnight were fairly slick hardback and not very appetizing.

A lot of the mountain was closed off today for a variety of reasons. At Bear Mountain, Lower SkyBurst , Lower Dream Maker and the Super Pipe were closed to allow the resort team time to build the course for the US Snowboarding Grand Prix. The Grand Prix will take place at the Killington Resort on March 13, 14 and 15. In addition to the closures at Bear Mountain, Needles Eye was set up for race training, and ski bum races were being held on High Line, limiting some of the available terrain. 100% sunshine and moderate temperatures more than compensated for the trail closures, however, as the rest of the mountain was fully open.

Super Star, Bitter Sweet, Sky Lark, High Road, Dream Maker, Skye Burst, Bear Claw and Lower Wildfire were all in good shape. Upper Wildfire was not groomed and very "interesting" One of my turns went through a 270 degree rotation before coming to a stop on what can only be called blue ice. Needless to say, Upper Wildfire was not a do over. Outer Limits also looked very firm and unforgiving. The bright sun probably softened it up during the afternoon, but when we were at Bear Mountain before 10 it did not beckon a second look.

On the Killington Peak side of the resort, the sun has returned. The trilogy of Cascades, Double Dipper, and East Falls were very fast cruisers, each worthy of do overs in the late winter sun. They were made all the more tempting because the Canyon Quad was running today.

The North Ridge area and Snowdon were also nicely groomed. I did take a peak at North Star and Great Bear, but the do overs in the Canyon left me with too little time to do any exploring off the Snowdon Quad.

200 local residents attended yesterdays town meeting in Killington. The meeting was relatively uneventful, with the exception of the election of a new select board member. Sitting Selectmen Norm Holcomb was defeated in his re-election attempt by Chris Bianchi. Norm had served as a selectman in Killington for the last 9 years. While Killington Voters wanted a change, I also know from speaking with many of them that they thank Norm for his long service to the community.

Also at town meeting, both the School and Town budgets easily passed. The newly formed Economic Development and Tourism (EDT) committee gave their first formal report on their organizational activities. And there was some discussion on servicing of debt for the Green Mountain National Golf Course. Overall, however, it was a very tame town meeting by recent Killington standards.

Until the next time........Let it snow!