On the way to Bear Mountain. Ruts and Chuckles on Gateway

On the way to Bear Mountain. Ruts and Chuckles on Gateway

It just keeps gettting better and better...

It has been a great week to ski and ride Killington. Crisp bluebird days and wall to wall snow coverage have offered skiers and riders at Killington the most terrain available in the East.

All of the mountains of Killington are now open with a combination of man made and natural snow. A 6 inch powder storm early in the week helped Killingtons snowmakers advance the cause, resulting in rapid terrain expansion across the resort.

All week long we have been skiing on packed powder surfaces. Most of the terrain is reasonably soft for January. There are a few wind blown sections which are scoured down to the hardpack, but they are both few and far between, and in predictable locations.

Off of Killington Peak, the North Ridge area is in good shape. Cascades and East Falls are flat and fast. This time of year they are also dark as the sun does not rise above the Peak on the north side of the resort. Highline looks beautiful. It has been closed for racing most of the week so I did not have a chance to ski it. Of note, the Snowdon Triple chair was being load tested today. A sign that it will be put into service soon.

Off of Skye Peak; Superstar, Bitter Sweet and Sky Lark were all skiing great. The upper Superstar headwall was wind scoured, but very edgeable. Middle and lower Superstar are machine groomed granular. The sun shadow comes into play again on the lower part of Superstar, so be careful as your eyes adjust to the darkness.

Needles Eye and Cruise Control were excellent. Small bumps are developing on skiers right on Needles. I am nursing a bum knee so I did not venture into them, but they did look tempting.

Skye Burst, lower Wildfire, and Bear Claw all were superb. Upper Wildfire was not groomed resulting in a wind blown hard pack mess. A couple of passes with the groomers will get it in shape for the weekend.

The resort was still making snow in the Stash. Visible mountains of snow at that. I would expect the Stash to open any day now.

Unfortunately, the winter storm that it hitting the Mid-Atlantic looks like it will miss us. A strong, cold, Canadian high pressure ridge is over Killington right now, giving us crisp temperatures and blue sky. We will probably see some increased cloud cover this weekend from the southern storm, but not much more based upon the local forecast.

Where ever you may be, have a great weekend.... Think Snow!