Superstar at Sky Peak from Rams Head

Superstar at Sky Peak from Rams Head

It is definitely winter now.... Depending upon altitude, Killington easily received 6 to 12 inches of snow from the storm that hit the area yesterday. At the snow stake at the inn, the measurement this morning was 6 1/2 inches.

I headed to the resort bright and early this morning to catch some runs. I was on the Snowdon Quad by 9, avoiding the "first run freshies" queue that had developed at the K1 Gondola. The resort had a strange configuration of lifts running this morning, which I did not find out about till I was on the mountain as I had bypassed starting my day at the K1 Base Lodge. From the Snowdon Quad, I attempted to traverse over to the North Ridge Triple to get a boost up higher. I was greeted by the dreaded "North Ridge Triple Closed" sign... so it goes.

Instead of moving forward and heading down East Falls, I doubled back to head down Highline. At the entrance to Highline there was a "thin cover" sign... I should have paid a little more attention, but in I went. At 9:00 AM, Highline was a winter version of Dante's Inferno. There was plenty of thin cover at the top, due to wind scouring the snow at the trail entrance. Once you were into the trail, the resort had every snow making hydrant connected and pumping out snow. The trail featured half filled water bars, huge snow whales from the guns, and a foot of fresh powder hiding everything else, in case you really wanted to pick out any trail detail to hit or avoid. In a phrase....I got my butt kicked....and it was glorious! My early season ski legs have been doing pretty well cruising around the mountain. But playing "Seeing Eye" skiing on uncertain terrain with dirt, bumps, twigs, and powder is another thing all together.

After being humbled, I took the K1 to the peak to try it again. This time I headed down Great Northern to Rime to East Fall. Great Northern and Rime were groomed. The Resort did a lot of grooming overnight to set the snow to keep it from blowing away in the wind. East Fall was slightly bumpy with about a foot of fresh powder. Skiers and Riders were starting to push the snow around into little hits. But after my experience on Highline, East Fall seemed almost groomed flat in comparison.

I spent the next couple of hours repeating my loop from the Ki Gondola, alternating between East Fall and Great Northern. I finished with an excursion from Killington Peak down Great Northern, to Lower Chute to Rams Head. At Rams Head the resort was also pumping out a huge amount of snow up and down the length of Header. Clearly the resort is taking advantage of the cold temps to continue the push to expand open terrain.

From the Rams Head Chair, I looped down Caper to the Snowdon Quad for one last run down Chute. With temps in the low teens, snow in the air, and blustery winds in the 10 to 30 mph zone, I was ready to head home to the inn for a hot shower.

Overall, the resort did a nice job "capturing" the snow that fell the last several days. Northern facing terrain (Superstar for instance) showed visible signs of wind scour. This was really visible in places where snow making has not yet begun. Everywhere else, the resort was skiing on a nice packed powder surface with the odd wind blow spot just to make sure you were paying attention.

Winter has definitely arrive in Killington!!! Let it snow!