Snowmaking on Superstar with Killington Peak in the background.

Snowmaking on Superstar with Killington Peak in the background.

Kudo's to the Killington Resort for a fabulous ski day at the resort.

It is hard to believe that it was only 2 weeks ago when the snow stake at the inn was at 21 inches. Much has changed since then.

Today was a glorious day to ski at Killington. Bright blue sky, cool temperatures in the low teens, no wind, snow making guns laying down velvety powder everywhere. It is hard to believe that we are going into the first weekend of March.

Conditions on the mountain were mixed. Base conditions were firm as the surfaces have frozen after melting in the warm temperatures of the last 2 weeks. Some areas were beach sandy, as the base has been ground up repeatedly with the freeze thaw cycles. Some areas were sweet and carvable. Machine groomed packed powder in cold areas of the mountain has held up quite well. Other surfaces were pure velvet where snow making operations are taking place. Bumps are generally missing, as the warm weather has effectively flattened all surfaces. Natural terrain in pretty much done, but at Killington has over 70% of the mountain covered with snow making, one hardly notices. The woods are at your own risk at best. You better know where you are and have some local knowledge, or it will be a long walk out. However, even with the exceptions, today was just a beautiful day to be skiing Killington.

Lone snow gun on Lower Skyburst

We started the day as we often do at Bear Mountain. Upper Skyburst was flat and fast. The middle was knarly with chunks and death cookies. Lower Skyburst was groomed but soft with beach sand developing.

Blue sky over Wildfire

The Stash to lower Wildfire was nice. Grooming in the Stash was firm with a few artifacts from the snow cats. Wildfire did not suffer the chuncks of Sky Burst but the bottom was once again getting granular.

Mary and Ruts on the Sky Peak Quad. A full armor day.

Sky Peak Quad in bright sunshine

While it was a full on armor day, as temperatures were in the low teens in the morning, the bright sunshine and the lack of any significant wind made riding the lifts quite tolerable. Not spring with the jacket open tolerable, but there was no shivering or complaining going on either.

Needles Eye Quad

After Bear Mountain we traversed to Cruise Control and Needles Eye. Cruise was groomed corduroy with a few ice patches mid slope. Needles was flat and fast. Skiers left was more granular due to deeper snow making coverage. Skiers right was getting thin. Don't try to ski under the Skyship unless you plan on a new pair of skis in the near future.

Lower Bittersweet.

Lower Superstar.

Bittersweet was nicely covered top to bottom. While the surfaces were granular, they were very pliable for carving. Skylark from the top was nice. Lower Skylark was your basic skating rink. Our skis are well maintained so setting an edge was not a problem. But Lower Skylark would present some problems for those who are not prepared. Superstar was beautiful. On middle Superstar you had your choice of sweeping whales on skiers left, or beautiful velvet on skiers right. Lower Superstar was getting the full 21 gun salute. It was soft and creamy. Really nice.

Mouse Trap getting the full treatment.

Snow guns were also delivering the goods on Snowdon. Great Northern and Mouse Trap were getting the treatment during the day. North Ridge saw snowmaking earlier in the week, and maybe last night. There will be plenty of intermediate and beginner terrain available for the weekend.

Rime and Reason

East Fall

Upper Rime

Rime and Reason skied very well. East Fall was soft with some granular developing. Double Dipper was getting narrow, especially at the merge point with Down Draft. Down Draft was closed. Cascades also seemed closed as no one was skiing it, but we did not venture over to it to find out. Cascade is scheduled for snow making later this evening according to the Mountain Operations report.

All in all it was just a beautiful day to ski. Saturday also looks good, although it will be colder with some wind. But the mountain is in very good shape if you want to partake.

Where ever you may be, get out and enjoy the winter season. And remember...Let It Snow!