Blue skies provide a radiant glow over a freshly groomed Ovation.

Blue skies provide a radiant glow over a freshly groomed Ovation.

Once again a March storm just before St. Patrick's day has set up a great week of skiing and riding at Killington.

Today was a day for steep. Our first 2 "warm up" runs were straight down Superstar. Groomed from edge to edge, it was just beckoning to be done multiple times right from the get go this morning. On both runs, I ducked in on skiers left beside the lift on the lower headwall. With the speed I was carrying from the mid section, it felt like I was free-falling for the first hundred yards as I crested the lower headwall. I held the line as long as I dared prior to making a series of S turns to scrub off speed before traversing back to the lift. With the trail groomed impeccably, it was just the right thing to do.

Not to be left out of the action, we then turned our attention to Ovation. Middle Ovation was just like Superstar. Lower Ovation was not quite as kind. It was like skiing in the dark over the blade of a serrated steak knife. With our eyes being blinded by the sun shining off of middle Ovation, the traverse down the lower headwall at 9:30 am was into pure darkness. The darkness also held the cold on the trail, freezing the groomed corduroy into a saw toothed deck that chattered the base of the skis and erratically gripped the ski edges all the way from top to bottom. Ovation got the heart pumping, and added an adrenaline rush to match the feeling of accomplishment about arriving at the bottom still standing, but it was definitely not a do over at 9:30 am in the morning.

From Ovation, we entered a more normal pattern, heading to Bear Mountain for a run down Bear Claw. The Stash, Bear Claw, Wild Fire, Sky Burst, and Dream Maker were all a little mundane after our steep beginning. Each was groomed nicely. Minimum skier and rider traffic insured that they would all be high speed cruisers, which was ok give we were still a little amped up by Ovation.

We next headed to Cruise Control figuring we would do some laps in the Needles Eye pod. On the way back up the Skyship, we caught sight of Vertigo. It looked interesting so I "inspected" it on our next run down. Low and behold, the headwall was covered in super soft fluff. The run out to the bottom had been groomed on Sunday so it was relatively flat with some small features. It was a definite top to bottom do-over (how often does Vertigo become a do-over?). It was so nice, we even got Mary to take in on our next run down.

After another run down Superstar to carry enough velocity to ski to the K1 Gondola, we headed towards Cascade. I entered Cascade via FIS, hugging the the tree line on skiers right. The Canyon chair promptly brought us up again for a run down Rime; followed by a run down a bump ladened Ridge Run before a final run out down East Falls. By now we were out for over 3 hours skiing steeps lift to lift with out a break. Time for lunch (Fungus burger at the Lookout) before heading off to an afternoon of work. (Or as Mary says... napping at my keyboard)

Happy St Patricks Day! Let it snow!