Ovation - spring soft bumpy goodness...

Ovation - spring soft bumpy goodness...

It is an absolutely georgous day at Killington. The storm which deluged the communities to the south of Killington has finally pulled away, leaving in its place bright sunshine, temperatures in the mid 40's, and lots of creamy soft snow.

I had a meeting this morning, which was OK as temperatures overnight dipped to the mid 20's. By the time I was done, Mary and I headed to the mountain at the crack of noon. By 12:15 PM we were skis on the ground and off to the proverbial races.

In the next hour and 15 minutes (thank God for high speed lifts) we did 7 runs including Upper Royal Flush to Highline, Dream Maker, Bitter Sweet, Superstar Headwall to Skye Lark, Upper Ovation to Lower Superstar, Great Northern to Upper East Fall, and Rime to Great Northern to Mouse Trap.

Surface conditions were generally soft. The more southern exposure a trail had, the softer it was.

Highline was delightfully soft. Lower Dream Maker was quite soft in the early afternoon sun. Upper Dream Maker was a touch firmer than lower, probably due to overnight temperatures.

Superstar Headwall was powdery; it really was not in the sun to soften up much. Upper Ovation had a groomed stripe down the middle which was developing little regular bumps. Lower Superstar was getting sandy from all of the skier and boarder traffic side slipping down the trail.

Skye Lark and Bitter Sweet were both nicely soft. Skier traffic was moderate on both trails, except for lower Skye Lark (Most people exit via lower Bitter Sweet). Lower Skye Lark had been groomed by was also starting to develop some snow piles which were trying to coalesce into bumps.

Great Norther, Rime and Upper East Fall were leg cool down runs before heading for home. All were creamy soft with small bumps forming, especially on the Upper East Fall section attached to Reason.

I finished my day with a quick hit through the seeded bumps course on Mouse Trap (Mary went around it.) Mouse Trap was softening up in the sun. The bumps course is short. It is a nice quick leg work out if you feel like you want a little more exercise.

The weather forecast, if you can believe it, is predicting a string of nice days like today through the week. Mary and I always took the week of Saint Patrick's day as our spring vacation at Killington when we were ski house members before starting the inn. Once again, it looks like this week could be one of the better weeks at Killington to enjoy skiing and riding at the resort.

......let it snow!