Preparations underway for the Dew Tour at Killington

Preparations underway for the Dew Tour at Killington

Yippie yi yo kayah...Soft powder just rules the day!

I have a slight sprain of a ligament in my right leg. The doctor said I could ski, but be careful in the bumps. He did not mention powder:) I tried to be good, I really did.... but there was soft snow everywhere... with nice little bumps, a few big moguls, plus some knee deep shots that...oh too he double sticks with it... they just had to be taken.

Mary and I started from the car today at the Snowdon Quad. The K1 Gondola was running at 9:00 but it did not seem to be loading, so we did the right thing and took the first operating lift we could get close too. Even though the resort got dumped on the last couple of days, they were aggressively making snow on Chute, under the Snowdon Quad lift line. The chair was slower than normal, as people exiting at the top were sticking because of ice buildup on the bottom of their equipment. Mary and I did not suffer that fate, so we quickly exited the lift, boosted up to the peak on the North Ridge Triple, and headed over to Bear Mountain.

As a point of reference, we headed to Bear Mountain because Killington Peak was still covered in a dense cloud; left over from the storm. The wind was picking up as we traversed the peak. The sunshine of Bear Mountain was just too inviting, even though we could clearly see tons of soft powder on the Killington Peak side of the resort.

We took a quick run down Bear Claw. Beautiful calf deep powder down the tree line on skiers left. Even though there was a windblown bump or two, the consistency was so soft that turns were effortless. Lower Wildfire, where everyone is forced to enter because of Dew Tour preparations, was a proverbial mess. But it was a small price to pay after the run down upper Bear Claw.

A quick boost to the top of Skye Peak on the quad and we were off to the Stash. Mary mistakenly read the trail report and thought the Stash was groomed. Why she thought this, I don't know. I was very happy to find more powder and soft bumps. (Dr. Matt, you are not supposed to read this..) It got a little choppy at the junction with Bear Claw and Lower Wildfire, but overall it was a good second run.

Outer Limits was groomed, so we flirted with it by taking the Bear Chair. Turns out the grooming was more like paving, based upon listening to the skiers coming down the slope, so we bypassed OL in favor of Wildfire. Upper Wildfire was again...wait for it...soft bumps and powder. There was a huge windblown cornice/mogul at the entrance to Wildfire, which pushed Mary off to Bear Claw. More soft snow for me. I can't complain.

After a few more loops, we took the Skyeburst/Dream Maker/Cruise Control exit to get to the Skyeship stage 2. Needles Eye was just too nice to pass up. Again it was really soft down skiers left. A really good leg work out. We took a run down Sky Lark and Bitter Sweet to finish up. I also took a detour down Low Road (which was knee deep in places), before calling it a morning and heading back to the car.

If you are heading up to Killington this weekend, in addition to nice soft snow, you will find preparations underway all around the resort for next weekends Dew Tour event. TV Towers are being erected at Bear Mountain to televise the event. Construction of the Pipe and the Freestyle course are well underway. A quarter of the Bear Mountain parking lot has been taken over by a logistics and staging area, which is fenced in. Detailed information on next weeks event has been posted on the resorts web site. It looks like it will be a fun event to attend, or to at least watch from the comfort of your living room to the telecast on NBC TV.

.....Let it snow!