Killington Peak, sparsely covered in snow.

Killington Peak, sparsely covered in snow.

Kudos to the Killington Resort for their efforts to begin the 2009/2010 ski season this weekend. Although weather conditions are forcing them to suspend skiing and riding during the week this week, many people were able to enjoy a nice weekend on the mountain.

Once again, Mary and I did not ski this weekend, but that did not keep us off the mountain. Taking advantage of our seasons passes, we took the K1 to Killington Peak and hiked around the mountain for most of the day.

Mary at the K1 terminal on Killington Peak. Click to enlarge.

On our hike, we saw a lot of interesting things pointing to the changes being made by the resort in it's operating model this year. One of the interesting things we saw was the pre-positioning of Snow Grooming machines around Killington Peak. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, as the snow cover on lower elevations was thin. But, in many years at Killington, we have not noticed snow machines pre-placed around the mountain before. Usually during the day they are comfortably parked at the base of Snowdon.

Mom - Snow Cat pre-positioned on Killington Peak. Click to enlarge.

Thru out our hike, we also saw repeated evidence of repairs made to the snow making system. Although Killington is reported to have the worlds largest snow making system, some people have joked that it is also the worlds largest sprinkler system. The resort is obviously making a concerted effort to find and fix the leaks so the water being pumped thru the system actually exits snow guns to make snow.

Bill in woods near Anarchy. Click to enlarge.

To avoid skiers and riders, when we hiked down the mountain we traversed the "E" hiking trail. This trail takes you through the woods across Anarchy, Julio, Ovation, Superstar, Skye Lark, and Bittersweet. The hike itself is quite peaceful though the "Forest Primeval" which makes up the Green Mountains. Along the hike, the the thing that stood out most was the complete lack of natural snow in the woods along the trail. Here and there we occasionally ran into an ice patch or two, but in general there was no snow along the entire route.

In our minds, the lack of natural snow just reinforced the change in operating mode of the resort. It impressed upon us the gymnastics the Resort went through to make enough snow to open the resort for skiing and riding this weekend.

Snow gun standing guard at the junction of High Road and Skye Lark. Click to enlarge.

The walk across the ski trails on Skye Peak was pretty straight forward. The Resort had mowed the grass on the trails weeks ago to get ready for the season. Some low lying weeds have grown back, providing a nice green cover. But it was a pretty easy traverse. We did notice that along the edge of the trails that a lot of maintenance has been done to cut back the brush and small trees along the edges of the trails. The net effect is that they may seem a little wider this year, but in reality they are just returning to their normal width.

Killington Base Lodge on a warm November afternnon. Click to enlarge.

All told we spent a little more than 3 hours hiking around the mountain Sunday afternoon. From the trails we could see, and the people we spoke with, snow surfaces held out pretty well through out the day. People were comparing it more to spring skiing, than skiing in November, but we saw a lot of people who were just happy to be out on the mountain.

With a little luck, everyone will be able to do it all again next weekend. The weather forecast for Killington this week looks unseasonably mild early, with cold temperatures returning at the end of the week. Hopefully the resort gets the opportunity to turn on their snow making system again so that the 2009/2010 ski season can restart at Killington again next weekend.........let it snow!