Mary going over first hit on
Upper Bear Claw 

We are starting to get spoiled. Other than being a little cool, Killington is just in great shape.

When we got to the mountain this morning, it was a beautiful bluebird kind of day. While we were in the K1 base lodge putting on our boots, the situation changed at Killington Peak, with a large grey cloud moving in. We took the box up to the peak anyway, but instead of doing warm up laps off the K1 Gondola, we decided to traverse to Bear Mountain which was still in radiant sunshine. it was a really good move.

The top of the Superpipe on lower Dream Maker at Bear Mountain

Bear Mountain was in beautiful shape this morning. The parks on Bear Claw and Bear Trap and Dream Maker were covered with an inch or two of fresh snow over a nice groomed surface. With very few people on the mountain, and really consistent snow surfaces, we found ourselves just cruising through the parks. We had a lot of fun bouncing up and down the various terrain features. While I did not capture a picture of it, Mary even found herself taking a little air off some of the ramps, particularly on Dream Maker. (And yes, she made all of the landings!)

It is just amazing all of the snow that the resort has blown on the mountain in the last few days. Everywhere you go, you will find huge whales of snow blown onto the trails. With the warm weather we had earlier this season, it almost looks like the resort has created a little protection in case of an early spring. On skiers left on Outer Limits, the resort has blown a huge mound of snow several hundred feet long and 20 or so feet high. Last year, they used this area to build a jump for the aerials competition as part of the Spring Freestyle Championships held at the end of March. I am sure that they will use this whale of snow for that purpose, if they do not have to spread it around the slope before then.

Snow Whale on skiers left on Outer Limits

Before heading back to the Killington Peak side of the resort, we took a run down Great Eastern all the way to the Skyeship station on Route 4. We have been telling our inn guests to take this run over the last couple of days, so we though it would be a good thing to check it our first hand. Snow coverage on Great Eastern was very nice all the way down to Route 4. We did not do side trails, like Home Stretch, so I can not comment on them, but if you are looking to take beginner skiers on a nice ride, Great Eastern would certainly give them a chance to test their ski legs and see more of the resort than just Snowshed and Rams Head.

On the Killington side of the mountain, snow making operations are continuing on High Line. Huge amounts of snow have been blown on to High Line in the last 48 hours. Snowmaking had suspended on Superstar, although it looked like there were a couple of hours of snow making on Bitter Sweet. Bitter Sweet was generally soft from top to bottom. There was a very strong up slope wind on Lower Bitter Sweet. Both Mary and I were able to ski straight down lower Bitter Sweet with no turns because the wind was so strong.

Snow guns covering High Line

I finished up the day, as I often do, with a run down Superstar. The upper headwall, while not as soft as last week, still had a nice covering on it, allowing for some nice turns with little skidding. Middle Super Star was just set up for cruising this morning. Last nights snow put a nice soft layer on top of weeks of man made snow. Lower Superstar was wind blown in spots. I went down skiers left close to the trees. The wind had blown some snow into this area paving the way for a few nice soft turns on my final run before heading back to the inn.

Over the next couple of days, the weather forecast calls for temperatures to moderate (highs in the low 20's) with snow showers and snow flurries occurring every day. It should keep everything nice and white. Let it snow!

Killington Peak up the K1 Gondola Line 

Today was again on the cool side, but nothing like yesterday. Temperatures were in the single digits. There was a light up slope wind. Since this placed the breeze on your back on most chair lifts, they were quite manageable today. When you add in beautiful blue-violet skies with some high clouds and lots of sunshine, it was a pretty good morning to be out on the hill.

The word for the day on most skiable slopes was corduroy. With the exception of Highline, Cascade, Upper Wildfire and Needles Eye, everything we skied today took on the look and feel of a nicely groomed cruiser. Because there were few people on the hill, sweeping side to side GS turns at speed was the predominate ski style of the day. It was just a nice day to let the skis run.

The trails that weren't quite there, were interesting. Snowmaking operations were ongoing at Highline. Upper and Middle Cascade were great. Lower Cascade required an oral exam to count your fillings at the bottom. It had been groomed during the night, but the groom was very "lumpy" resulting in a huge amount of chatter and vibration as you skied down the lower portion of the trail.

We did not do Needles Eye as we could see from the Skye Ship that it had not been groomed overnight. According to several friends I spoke with, it was very slick and frozen. it was a good trail to bypass.

Wildfire on the other hand was interesting. Snowmaking operations had taken place recently on Upper Wildfire. The surface had not been groomed out. It was a combination of silky smooth surfaces punctuated by windblown sections. While being quiet skiable, it kept you on your toes versus some of the other cruising trails. Lower Wildfire on the other hand was generally magnificent. Nice snow on skiers left all the way to the bottom. It was one of the trails that qualified as a do-over today.

All in all a very nice early February day to ski.

Howie (on right) and I at "Johnny Boy's" 

Last night when I retired around 2:00 AM the temperature was a brisk -15 at the inn. On the mountain, there is a code for morning activities, so before I went to bed for the night, I left Mary a note telling her that if my friend, Howie, called, that Mary should find out where breakfast was going to be held. At 8:00, Howie called. He was heading out of the house to go to the mountain, so I started to put on my ski clothes. At 8:05, Howie called again and said the code words "Johnny Boy's". Breakfast was on!

Over the last several years, Johnny Boy's has become a local institution for breakfast on the mountain. Located in a small building in front of the Comfort Inn and beside Surefoot, on the Killington Road, it is a place where many locals go for breakfast in the morning, before or after skiing or golf depending on the season. This morning, the place was packed with people who were in various stages of denial about their desire to go skiing and riding today. Of course, Howie and I had no guilt at all about our decision. A county omelet was headed my way.

Killington Peak in a wind whipped cloud of snow

This morning when I headed out of the front door of the inn, the temperature was a balmy -9F. I drove up to the mountain to take a peak before breakfast. The wind on the hill at 9:00 AM was just howling. Snow was being kicked up from everywhere into a massive fog over the mountain. The K1 Gondola, Snowdon Triple and Quad were all running, virtually empty. The Superstar chair was not even prepped for operation; the chairs still encrusted with snow blown on them during the night. It was not a very pleasant sight, but it reinforced our decision to forgo skiing and do breakfast instead. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

One final note as a follow up to a posting from last week... this mornings Rutland Herald had a very nice article about Howard "Howie" Zack. It's worth a read.

Killington Peak in a snow squall 

As an innkeeper, Sundays are usually quiet. Superbowl Sundays are a little more so than usual; this one especially since there is no Northeast based team in the big game.

Inn guests returning to the inn from the mountain reported excellent conditions with light crowds. "Sublime" is how one guest described the mountain today. "The best day of skiing they have had thus far this season".

As the afternoon comes to a close, temperatures in the area are chilling down to single digits. While on our walk this afternoon, a brisk breeze was blowing, making the cold all the more biting. The sky was a dull grey, which most of the time would be foreboding, but in this case it was causing light snow to fall on the mountain. And snow at a ski resort in February is a good thing. Let it snow!

Super Pipe at Bear Mountain opens for season. 

The little storm we had overnight dropped about 2 1/2 inches of snow around the inn when it was all said and done. It seemed like more when it was coming down, as it snowed from late afternoon till after midnight, but the snow stake tells no lies. Light snow is continuing to fall on the mountain, adding to accumulations at higher elevations.

Killington opened the Super Pipe at Bear Mountain today. Occupying most of the space on the Lower Dream Maker run out to Bear Claw, the pipe was seeing a fair amount of use this afternoon. Killington is now up to 70 miles of terrain open across 7 mountains; the most terrain in the east. With snow falling every day, and lots of snow making, the resort has made a tremendous turn around in open terrain in the month of January, just in time for February and March ski vacations.

Howie and Norm exiting "Blur Heaven"
underneath the South Ridge Triple. 

Very nice ski day at Killington. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 20's. Fresh snow all over the mountain providing nice soft surfaces. Just a beautiful Friday to ski.

Where to begin on todays report is problematic. Overall, the mountain was in great shape. To get the negative out of the way quickly, the only trail that was a little scratchy was Needles Eye. Other than that it was generally soft powder or machine groomed packed powder surfaces everywhere.

Our tune up run was Upper Downdraft to Upper East Falls (formerly East Glade) to the North Ridge Triple. Downdraft was groomed sweet. Upper East Fall had nice well spaced soft carving bumps. The legs got working. it was a great start. In rapid succession we did the following: East Falls, Downdraft (top to bottom), Cascades(top to bottom). All were nicely groomed with a loose packed powder surface. After that, it was a trip down "Blue Heaven" to High Traverse for the run over to Bear Mountain.

The terrain park in Bear Claw was groomed sweet. Viper Pit and Lower Bear Claw were nice and soft. I think the trail of the day was Upper Wildfire. Beautiful soft bumps made for nice cruising turns. They were spaced just far enough that you could use the bumps like slalom gates with only a minor speed check at the bump. Really nice!

Howie on his way to the K1 Gondola

The Needles Eye chair was running today so we did the requisite laps on Cruise Control, the previously mentioned Needles Eye, and Bitter Sweet. Snowmaking operations had been suspended on Cruise Control leaving a nice soft surface with minor whales in the middle of the trail. Bittersweet also skied like it had some snow making on it in the last day of two, with nice soft snow down skier right. (It may have been the result of wind blowing snow the last couple of days, but skiers left on Bittersweet was also pretty good.) The bumps were a little tighter on lower Bittersweet, giving us a work out as we neared the end of the day. The final run was down Superstar to lower SkyeLark. The Superstar Headwall was deep with new snow. Some large but soft bumps were forming as the snow making whales were getting carved up. It was so soft, that you as long as you were not tentative you could pretty much cruise down the headwall. Middle Superstar had softened up considerably from yesterday. And Lower Skye Lark was just plain nice, with some mid sized snowmaking whales and plenty of soft snow.

All told, we were out over 3 hours this morning...a very good session indeed. Around noon time the area clouded over. We are expecting a little weather this evening with some light snow forecasted. The mountain is just getting better! Let it snow!

Winter Wonderland!
Great Eastern and Launch Pad Junction. 

I finally had a chance this morning to take a few turns on the hill today after a little adventure along the way(more on that later).

Todays conditions were mixed. Several inches of light snow had fallen overnight. In areas where the snow had blown together with the wind, the powder surface was fairly consistent. On areas where the wind had blown off the powder, those surfaces were also consistent. In between, where there was an inch or so of powder, surface conditions alternated between silky smooth and skid bumps.

I only had about an hour to ski today, as I had breakfast duty this morning and an appointment in Woodstock at Noon. I did a loop from the Snowshed Quad, thru the K1 Gondola to the Superstar Quad to the Rams Head Quad with a couple of runs at North Ridge. Chute had the skid bump effect in sections. Rime and East Falls were in very nice shape. Superstar was interesting at best.

On Superstar, snowmaking operations were taking place on the headwall. Middle Superstar was covered with whales of man made snow topped with an inch or so of natural. The surface was somewhat grabby. Edges were not necessary in Middle Superstar. Lower Superstar on the other hand was ugly. A strong up slope wind had scoured the crest of the lower headwall. Several very wet snow guns from prior days snowmaking laid down a skating rink in sections that the NHL would have been proud of. Edges were a must, but many people still wound up on their behinds and other places. As is usually the case after an extended snowmaking session, Lower Superstar had not yet been groomed. I am sure all of the sins will be taken care of once the grooming machines hit the surface.

I then looped down Skye Lark to High Road to Snow Shed, up the Rams Head Lift to Caper to the car. All of these trails were in great shape. I would have done more laps on Skye Lark if I had more time. But it was not meant to be.

Jeep sucked in by the K1 Parking Lot

For those of you who may be superstitious, we had our third car event of the week this morning. Because I was short on time this morning, I decided to park at the end of Bay 1 in the K1 parking lot, put my boots on in the car, and hop on the Snowshed quad. Nice idea... but bad execution. When I go to the parking space, the area had been freshly plowed. I pulled in even with the car beside me, and proceeded to sink the front end of the car to the oil pan. The plow had pushed back the snow bank over a drainage ditch. Five feet on either side of me was solid ground... but the jeep was stuck. A quick call to the local towing company, Habro, and 30 minutes later with a slightly lighter wallet the car was back on solid ground. Instead of 90 minutes on the slopes, I got an hour. But, as they say, it's better than working! Tomorrow is another day. Let it snow!