Bill coming out of the seeded bumps on Upper Royal Flush

Bill coming out of the seeded bumps on Upper Royal Flush

Snow conditions at the Killington Resort today were spring soft, with nice little bumps forming on many of the trails. The sky was overcast; the result of a storm passing to the south of the area. Temperatures were in the mid 40's.

Mary and I headed to the mountain this morning around 10 for a couple of hours of exercise. Starting out at the Snowdon Quad our first run was down Upper Royal Flush through the seeded bump course followed by a soft cruise down Highline. The seeded bump course was just fun. If you are at Killington, and you want to try some easy bumps, give it a try...you might surprise yourself. Highline was creamy soft. It was set up really nicely for sweeping turns for the return run back to the K1 gondola.

From the Gondola, we took advantage of the Canyon Quad and did the trilogy of Cascade, Double Dipper, and East Fall. Upper and middle Cascade tight to the right tree line was like a natural terrain park, with rides up and down the slope back and forth from the trees. Lower Cascade was just like Highline, except for the compound fall line. Broad, cruising turns were in order.

Double Dipper had a strip about 20 feet wide that was groomed up it's middle. When it was groomed is hard to tell, as it was still filled with small spring bumps. But there was a noticeable line with much larger bumps down both skiers right and skiers left. East Fall was flat and relatively fast for soft snow. Lots of intermediate snow boarders were cruising East Fall as it did not have many bumps.

After the trilogy, we headed across the back side of the mountain for a few runs off of the Superstar Quad. I started on Upper Ovations which was filled with small to medium sized bumps all the way to the Superstar cutoff. Lots of fun...really!

Superstar clearly started the day groomed. The upper headwall was still basically flat. The soft snow was doing a good job checking peoples speed, so not a lot of turns were required on this stretch. As a result, there were not many bumps on Upper Superstar this morning. Middle Superstar was your basic groomed cruiser with lines starting to form due to skier traffic. The snow whales from February's snowmaking effort now form a large hump down skiers left. I rode up and down it all the way to the lower headwall. Lower Superstar was creamy. It was being churned up by a combination of good skiers and riders making tight turns, combined with beginner snow boarders and skiers, who should not have been on the trail, side slipping down it's length. Soft conditions made the trail negotiable for most abilities...but I really don't care to use human beings as slalom gates.

After the Superstar run, we decided to take a cruise down Upper Skyelark to Lower Bitter Sweet. As we suspected, both trails had been groomed out. Combined with the soft snow, this route was a nice intermediate cruiser, allowing our quads and other leg muscles a little breathing space to cool down.

Looping up the Superstar quad once more, I decided to try the bumps on Old Superstar. They were really nice and well formed. Skier traffic taking Old Superstar is primarily people who know what they are doing. As a result, the bumps that form naturally on this trail reflect the rhythm of the skiers and riders who bump down it. As this was the last run, I continued bumping down skiers left under and to the left of the Superstar Quad. By the time I reached the bottom, my legs were pretty fried...but as it was the last run of the morning for us, it was a great feeling.

Mary finished up with a run top to bottom on Skyelark. She cruised down the middle section. On lower Skyelark she was greeted by a collection of moguls of various sizes. She was raving about lower Skyelark in the car when we met up, as the bumps were soft and well spaced with no ice in the troughs.

All told this morning we were out on the mountain for just under 2 hours. The soft snow and the bumps got our hearts pumping and our legs moving. Who need a gym when the Killington Resort and the Green Mountains are in your back yard?

......let it snow!