Looking up Skyeburst from the old Snowshed crossover. 

Sometimes interesting can be good. Other times, interesting can be bad. But most of the time, interesting is just interesting. And that just about describes todays ski journey around the Killington resort.

Today was Mary's first venture on to the slopes in 2010. The inn is settling down from the holidays. We still have quite a few people staying with us thru the week, but the pace has slowed a bit, allowing everyone to breathe a little easier. Around the inn, the Christmas decorations are beginning to disappear. The march of the snowmen, invading Birch Ridge, is imminent.

Mary and I got to the mountain late today, by our standards, arriving near the crack of 11 AM. Killington Peak was totally covered in a dark, foreboding cloud. A light, weird, snow-mist combination was falling from the sky. Temperatures were in the high teens with a light wind. We parked in the K1 parking lot, near the Snowdon Quad. Mary had put her boots on back at the inn. I slipped mine on in the parking lot... then off we went. Well sort of...

Turns out, while I was putting my boots on, the Snowdon Quad went down for some reason. The rope was put up blocking the corral, so instead of boosting up to get to Killington Peak, we skied down Great Northern, thru the ski tunnel between Rams Head and Snow Shed and wound up on the Snowshed Express Quad. From their, we took a left turn down High Road and found ourselves in Needles Eye.

After a relatively quick trip in the Skyeship Gondola to Skye Peak, we traversed off the back and headed over to Bear Mountain. When we left the K1 parking lot, the light was down right dreadful. At Skye Peak, although there were still some heavy clouds in the sky, the visibility was improved. What had been dark at K1 could now be best described as dim. But the snow was nice!

Bear Claw, Wildfire, and Skye Burst were similar to my ski day on Monday. All had some minor wind blown patches in places, with the majority of the trails covered with a top layer of several inches of dry powder. You needed to pay attention on the crests of drop offs along the trails in the dim light, but that's good practice anyway.

Cruise Control, Needles Eye, and Dream Maker all were skiing well. Outer Limits was open. Snow guns were pounding OL so we took a pass.

Coming back to the Basin side of the resort, Skyelark, Bittersweet, and Superstar were "interesting". Snow guns were going strong on parts of Superstar and the length of Skyelark. The wind was blowing everything on to Bittersweet. Combined with the dim light, visibility was near zero in spots along the trail. This was particularly true in the mixing zones where trails intersected. The peak area where people from the Skye Ship exit to Skyelark was particularly treacherous with copious snow drifts hidden in a fog of mist from snow guns and dim light.

Except for the visibility, Bittersweet was quite fun. The snow surface was soft due to new snow making. The resort did play a few tricks on skiers leaving enormous whales of snow all over the trail. On middle Bittersweet, in the dark with blowing snow, the new snow piles were medium sized. On lower Bittersweet, some were literally over 10 feet high. The good news is the visibility had improved considerably on lower Bittersweet, so riding up and over the snow whales was a lot of fun.

Light snow is continuing to fall at the resort. Taking into account snow compression, the new snow is not amounting to much, but it is keeping everything nice and white and fresh. Somewhere there is a tradeoff between dim light, bright sunshine, and falling snow. I am not sure where it exactly is... but for now, I will take the dim light as long as it keeps snowing at Killington.....let it snow!

Killington Peak and Sky Peak in the clouds as seen from Bear Peak 

Happy New Year!

For the first blog post of the new year, Mary and I would like to give a warm thank you to all of the guests who visited with us, and dined with us, during the holiday season. We appreciate your continued support. Also, a big thank you to our staff, without whom we would not be able to continue to provide a high quality of service for all of our guests...

With the holiday season coming to a close, I was able to had out to the mountain this morning to take in the slopes. A lot has changed since my last adventure on skis 10 days ago. The biggest one, of course, is the snow. Prior to the holidays, the resort was in an all out assault to make snow to open terrain for holiday visitors. Since Christmas, we have had abundant cold temperatures, and constant small snow storms passing through the area. It all adds up. With the exception of some double black diamonds (Outer Limits in particular) the Killington Resort enters the new year with all of it's base lodges open, and nearly all of its terrain available for skiers and riders. Based upon what I saw on the mountain this morning, someone's Christmas wish got granted.

I spent my ski morning checking out terrain I have not yet skied this year, primarily on Sky Peak and Bear Mountain. Overall, conditions were packed powder. The majority of the trails had 1 to 2 inches of fluff over a machine groomed base. On a couple of the crests, the wind had exposed a crust. In the more sheltered areas, it was not unusual to hit 4 to 6 inches of light powder. No face shots, mind you, but plenty of snow to go around.

From an individual trail stand point, Upper Bear Claw was firm. Upper Skyeburst had nice snow, a little deeper on the edges of course, but even the middle was nicely soft. Upper Wildfire was ugly icy bumps. (After working round the clock for the last 2 weeks, all I really wanted to do today was some nice cruising). Lower Wildfire was nice past the pinch point. Lower Skyeburst was well snow covered. The new snow cannon at the junction of Lower Skyeburst and Dream Maker was operating. It had made an impressive mound of snow at the bottom of Dream Maker.

Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet and High Road were all in nice shape. We took a break down at the Skye Ship base on Route 4. Great Eastern had some of the softest snow on the mountain on the way to Route 4. Clearly the trees sheltered the area from the wind of the last couple of days, allowing accumulating snow to stay in place.

The last run of the day was down Superstar. The headwall had a little scratch to it...but the big problem was it was in the dark. The sun this time of year does not get high enough to light the headwall up even at noon time. Middle Superstar was just a beautiful cruiser. Nice snow across the trail supporting broad sweeping turns. Everyone in our group thought Lower Superstar was also nice.

Light snow is due in the forecast pretty much all week. That should keep surfaces at Killington nice for a while. It should be a good week for skiing and riding at Killington.....let it snow!

Everyone smiles at Christmas time. 

Today is a big transition day at Killington. Many Christmas guests who were in town over the holiday weekend are now heading off. In their place, others are now aiming their cars towards the mountain; due to arrive in Killington later this afternoon and evening for a few days on the slopes. The week between Christmas and New Years is underway in the mountains.

Right on time, Mother Nature threw eastern ski resorts a curveball. Last night the mountain was saturated with a combination of sleet and freezing r@!n. Today, temperatures are momentarily climbing behind the storm, with fog hanging low across the mountains. The good news is that little immediate damage has been done to the snow pack. Of course, storm systems do not leave the Northeast quietly in winter, so it may get interesting as we hit the storms back side the next couple of days.

Light snow and much colder temperatures are due in the area on Monday and Tuesday. The cold temperatures will be both a plus and minus. On the down side, wet surfaces will firm up beyond the "packed powder" state. But the silver lining is that snow flurries will turn the countryside a dazzling white again. And on the slopes, the resorts snow making systems should be back on with a vengeance, resurfacing the ski area to provide holiday visitors with a nice ski product.

It should be an interesting week....let it snow!

Have you been naughty or nice? 

Mary and I wish you a very Merry Christmas. The holidays are a special time for reflection on past accomplishments and hope for future challenges. Where ever you may be, have a very happy day.

....let it snow!

Has Santa's North Pole workshop been found at Killington? 

Between finishing getting the inn ready for the holidays and acting like Santa's helper Christmas shopping, it's been a pretty busy few days. Throw in a very interesting ride to Rutland in the Subaru with no brakes (it's a long story...but the garage completed the repairs for free) and it has been a pretty complete week already.

Mary and I did get out on the mountain earlier this morning for a few runs. Since we were last there, it is amazing how much snow the resort has made on the trails. And with light snow flurries falling the last 12 hours, everything is taking on a nice white patina to welcome Christmas guests visiting Killington over the holidays.

Because our time on the mountain was limited, we decided to explore new terrain the resort has recently opened. We boosted to the top of K1 on the Gondola then traversed over into the Needles Eye area. Great Eastern, Cruise Control, Bittersweet, Skylark and High Road were all nicely covered in soft snow. All, with the exception of Needles Eye, were groomed flat, with a covering of a couple inches of fluff. Needles Eye, while groomed, was rolling bumps...vestiges of the snow making activity that took place to cover the trail no doubt.

In addition to some resurfacing being done at night, snow making operations have now pushed over to Bear Mountain and down to the Route 4 Skyeship base. Bear Mountain is scheduled to open on Friday for holiday skiers and riders. Great Eastern down to Route 4 and the Skyeship base lodge is due to open on Saturday. Once Bear Mountain opens, six of the seven peaks which make up the Killington/Pico Ski Resort will be open for Christmas skiing and riding. An incredible feat by the snow making team of Killington accomplished in 3 short weeks. With mid winter conditions on the mountain, it is hard to remember that the resort was closed and a lush green during last months Thanksgiving holiday.

About the "Santa's Workshop" picture... that was taken today on Cruise Control. About half way down the trail, there was leak in one of the snow making pipes that created an ice sculpture of sorts in the woods on skiers left.

For those of you who may be traveling this over the next couple of days for the holiday, have a safe journey...... let it snow (on the mountain of course, not on the roads)!

Into the Maelstrom. Snow making underway on Superstar at Killington. 

Today was a really nice, rather lazy, ski day at Killington. Temperatures in the early morning were in the high single digits. The sun was shining brightly. There was no wind. And snow surface conditions, while firm, were generally excellent on all of the terrain we skied.

Starting at North Ridge, Rime, Reason, and Upper East Fall were all in great shape. We were skiing with our friend, Ruts, today, so in deference to him as he boards, we did not take Cascade or East Falls. That would have caused us to take the long run out, Spillway, back to the K1 Gondola. With so much open terrain open, that was unnecessary.

From North Ridge, we hit Highline. The bumps from several days ago were groomed flat. The first run down, at about 10:00 AM was a little spooky because of the light. The upper portions were bathed in bright sunshine. The lower third was in complete darkness. Literally, somebody tuned out the lights, the transition was so abrupt. The trail itself was relatively smooth with some residually fluff on the top, so even skiing by braille it was quite nice, even though it was a little disconcerting at the same time.

We hopped the K1 Gondola after Highline and did the traverse across the top of the resort (which is better for boarders than across the bottom) over to Superstar. Upper Skylark was in great shape. You can tell that the snow surface was thin, as groomers overnight are popping up little pebbles as they do their work. They were easy to avoid as long as you paid attention to the track you were taking.

Snow making operations were taking place on Superstar. We avoided the headwall, as it was in complete darkness. After looping around Upper Ovation, we went down under the guns of middle Superstar. A couple of inches of nice soft snow were covering a firm base. In places where the surface was wind blown there was some skidding, but in general it was nice to play under the guns once again. Even in the cold, temps by now had risen to the low teens, some of the guns were a little wet. But that is the price to pay if you want fresh snow.

We took a warm up coffee break at the Snowshed base lodge, then finished with a run down Rams Head over to Snowdon. Caper was nicely groomed. Chute on Snowdon was surprisingly firm, especially skiers right near the trees. We finished with a run down Upper Royal Flush to Highline. Highline was now bathed in beautiful sunshine from top to bottom. It was a really nice run to finish up a lazy morning on the mountain.

Snow making operations were taking place on Superstar. Guns were also pounding the Needles Eye area. That looks like the next part of the mountain to open, probably this weekend..... let it snow!

Rogues on display. From left...Ray, Mary, Howie, Mike, Chad, and Dale on Skylark at Killington. 

Finally, a day on the slopes of Killington this week...

Mary and I took the opportunity to head out to the mountain this morning to "exercise" the ski legs. Overall conditions were very good with cool temperatures and plenty of snow.

The resort was operating lifts today on K Peak, Superstar, and Snowdon. Snow making operations were ongoing the length of Rams Head (which the resort plans to open this coming weekend) and Upper Bittersweet down to High Road. Rumors were circulating around the mountain that snow making was about to commence in the Needles Eye area, but from various viewing spots around the mountain, we could not visually confirm that. Snowmaking guns were set up, with hoses connected, the length of Superstar as well. It would not be a surprise to see snow making begin on Superstar in the next day or so, if not sooner.

Surface conditions were somewhat variable, but overall very good. Upper trails on Killington Peak in the North Ridge Area were well snow covered. 2 to 3 inches of light fluff greeted us on Rime, Reason and Upper East Fall. East Fall proper was still on the slick side, especially at the squeeze point midway down the trail, but the golf balls and death cookies of last week were gone. We did not choose to ski over to Chute today. And we also did not do Highline, as it was closed for the ski bum races, better known locally as "World Cup Wednesday"

We traversed across the top of the resort from Killington Peak thru Blue Heaven and High Traverse to Skylark and Bittersweet. Skylark had really nice snow on the upper and middle portions of the trail. Lower Skylark looked like it had a few "spots". We did not ski it, nor for that matter did we observe anyone on it during our time out this morning. Lower Bittersweet was in decent shape for the run back to the Superstar quad. Some ball bearings in spots, but very skiable.

Temperatures through the morning appeared to be going down. We started the day at about 20 degrees. When we got back we were looking at 16.

Temperatures overnight are forecasted to fall into the single digits, if not lower. It should be a good night for Killingtons snow makers..... let it snow!