Stash woods....lots of snow!

Stash woods....lots of snow!

I am definitely getting old... my legs are just burnt out!

Beautiful soft snow was the order of the day at Killington. Whether your choice was a groomer, a bumps run, au natural, or the woods, all you could find today was beautiful soft snow. (If you overlook the snow making whales on Superstar.)

I skied from the car today, starting at the Snow Shed Quad. Being by myself today, I was not too adventurous, but there was plenty of good stuff to be found lying around almost anywhere. I started my day on Upper Royal Flush. It seemed like a good choice, but once in it I had my concerns. The trail was covered with about 6 to 8 inches of new snow, but wind overnight created this slabtastic crust. The legs got pushed around a little, which given the shallow pitch of the trails was interesting in itself. Fortunately, this was the only trail which exhibited this type of surface.

All the traditional trails on Snowdon were well snow covered. On even the simplest groomed run, moguls were developing in the soft snow.

On the other side of the mountain, there was plenty of fun to be had in the Stash. The Stash Woods were in great shape. Lower down on the stash, the soft snow was bumping up on some of the features favored by skiers. Many boarders in the Stash today used the soft surfaces as an opportunity to get some air off the jumps. I doubt the soft snow created a softer landing zone, but psychologically it must have as there were a lot of people taking air today.

Upper Dream Maker, Old Needles Eye, and Vertigo were all bumps. Needles Eye and Cruise Control were your typical groomed cruisers, except the grooming did not stick. Skier traffic quickly broke up the surface into small snow bumps requiring the average skier or rider to make a turn or three.

I finished out on Old Superstar. Beautiful soft snow filled with soft, sub-knee height bumps. The bumps are all natural, but they were really spaced well; a testament to the quality of the skiers taking Old Superstar. You could get a nice rhythm on it.

Following Old Superstar, I tracked tight down skiers left on Superstar. Huge, hard, whales of snow mound the trail, the result of days of snow blowing. Some of the whales are approaching the height of the lift towers. Soft snow accumulated in the troughs to the left of the whales, which set up a nice bump run to the bottom. These bumps were not as well organized, so you needed to pick and choose your line a little more carefully. But why would you ski on a section of groomed flat trail when there is all this new snow to play in?

We finished up with a net gain in snow of 8 3/4 inches for this storm. Not epic, but with the snow at the stake now over 2 feet, it looks like we will have great skiing and riding for a long while to come.

....Let it snow!