Way to Frolic at top of Snowdon Quad
February 8, 2006, 10:00 AM 

Conditions keep getting better. Killington has continued to receive light snow over the last 24 hours. It is not amounting to much, just a couple of inches, but it is helping to continue to improve ski conditions.

This morning when we got to the mountain, we though we would try something different. We have been bombing down the mountain the last couple of days, so today we thought we would try to forget everything we knew about Killington and act like first time visitors. We give our inn guests advice all the time on where to ski. We thought, that with the busy February Holiday period coming up, that we should ski some of the terrain we tell people about.

Not to go totally crazy, we did our warm up run down Cascade. Upper Cascade was well groomed with a light fluff on the top. Lower Cascade had a few small but manageable cat tracks with death cookies, but was still very enjoyable. it was a good warm-up for our adventure.

We took the K1 up to the peak on our second run and tried to do Great Northern as it is laid our on the ski map. Surface conditions were quite nice. We did run into some missing signs where Great Northern joins Klllink, but other than that it would be a good trail for an advanced beginner to start out on. Up the Snowdon Quad next to Frolic. Many of our guests had mentioned Frolic to us, but quite frankly we have never been on it. Frolic turned out to be a nice, winding green trail, which leads over to Rams Head mountain. From the bottom of Frolic, we entered the terrain park set up on Rams Head on Timberline. The park was a lot of fun with a fairly gentle slope punctuated with several ramps, jumps and hits along the way. Up the Rams Head lift we went. We decided to take Swirl which is a blue trail to the right of the top of Rams Head lift. The trail itself was pretty easy, but the cover was thin. Before getting all the way to the bottom, we detoured into another park set up on Easy Street. Again, manicured to perfection, this time with a number of small "beginner" ramps, rails and hits.

We left Rams Head thru the tunnel under Killington Road to catch the Snowshed Quad to High Road. We then took the Skyeship to Skye Peak for perhaps the scariest skiing we have ever had at Killington.

Atmospheric conditions on Skye Peak were totally surreal. At the very top at the Gondola station, there was a little cloud, but visibility was generally good. Upon exiting the top on Skye Walker to 4 Way, you ran right into a cloud bank. For those people who know the area, when you turned right to go to Skye Lark, you literally could not see 2 feet in front of you. I could not see my ski's on the ground below me. There was quite a crowd of people in the cloud suffering from vertigo, to the point where Mary found herself nauseous. I kept calling Mary's name and skied to the right until I came to the up mountain side on 4 Way. We carefully followed the trail on the right until we came to the wind shield for the Skye Ship. Under the wind shield, we traversed by the top station of the Skye Peak quad, which we could hear but not see. Staying right, we traversed the top of Skye Burst re-entering 4 Way. We skied down 4 Way another 100 yards in very dense cloud, emerging at the junction with Frost Line. All told the cloud was probably about 250 tall. And it was definitely a cloud, not fog, as there was a defined edge to it were in a matter of feet you went from no cloud to can't see. Very weird indeed.

Mary was quite shaken by the experience, so we headed over to Bear Mountain to try to ski it off. We did a couple of runs down Bear Claw and Wild Fire, then we took the Snow Shed Crossover (to avoid the cloud) back to the K1 Base lodge and called it a day.

Overall, conditions are continuing to improve. In addition to the continuous light snow fall, Killington is assaulting the mountain wholesale with snow guns. Guns were still blasting on skiers right on Outer Limits. In addition, guns were going on Skye Burst, Wildfire, in the Viper Pit, and top to bottom from Upper Skye Lark (in the cloud) to Lower Bittersweet.

In terms of new features, the resort has the boarder cross area set up and opened on Dream Maker (which I will have to try soon), and it looked like they were getting ready to build another park on skiers right down Snowshed. All in all, with the exception of the cloud, another great day of skiing at Killington.

Howie, Bob and Margaret
The "Bear Chair" at Outer Limits
February 7, 2006, 10:15 AM 

Unbelievable. What Killington has been able to do with a hard packed base, a few inches of natural snow, and the largest snow making system in North America. Truly unbelievable.

Mary and I got to the mountain around 9:00 AM this morning. When we left the inn, our expectations were low. We took the K1 up to the Glades. Conditions included dim light from the K-Cloud, and extremely "Flat and Fast". No real ice, mind you, but an exhilarating rocket ride all the same. We then took a quick run down Highline which was beautifully groomed with an inch of so of light fluff on top.

Bear Mountain this morning was sunny and (relatively) warm. It seemed like Killington had blown snow all over Bear last night. The terrain parks were well groomed, as is usually the case mid-week. Lower Bear Claw and Lower Wild Fire were covered with a soft velvety snow. Great for carving turns, or just plain cruising. Upper Wild Fire was groomed flat revealing a beautiful compound fall line cruiser. Outer Limits on skiers right was getting pounded by snow guns. Killington has blown a huge amount of snow down skiers right, opposite the mogul field; probably to let people ski down OL while they have competitions on it during the next couple of weeks.

What was impressive today was the snow guns. Killington was not just blowing snow on one trail. Killington had hundreds of snow guns operating, pumping out a nice light dry fluffy snow, thanks to temperatures in the teens and low 20's. I saw snow guns running on Snow Shed, Cruise Control, Super Star, Skye Lark, Bunny Buster, Chute, Outer Limits, and Bear Claw. Truly an impressive display which will continue to please skiers and riders for weeks to come.

Got Snow!
Snow Guns on Lower Bunny Buster
February 6, 2006, 11:15 AM 

In comparison to the last week, today is cold and blustery at Killington. Snow squalls are moving through the area and are forecasted to continue most of the week. Surface conditions have significantly firmed up overnight as temperatures dipped into the low 20's. In other words, today can be characterized as "Dust on Crust".

Killington restarted snow making operations last night. This morning, snow guns were visible in operation in the Snowdon area. (I did not have a chance to get to Bear Mountain to see if guns were running there.) Surface conditions should rapidly improve thru the week as Killington continues to blow snow combined with the natural snow fall occurring across the region. Killington's snow makers and grooming fleet have done an outstanding job this year keeping snow surfaces in great shape. It looks like mother nature, and Killington's management team, will be providing them with more snow to work with this week.

Lone Skier on OL Lift
with Skier on Wild Fire Jump
February 5, 2006, 3:15PM 

Our usual walk around the block, a nice 2 mile loop from the inn, usually takes around 30 minutes. Today, it was over 2 hours. It was just one of those unusual days. We ran into many week-enders who were coming off the mountain from this mornings adventure. (more on that later) We ran into locals out walking on a very mild winter day. Some friends had a new puppy which Mary had to meet. Some other friends gave us a house tour of the new home they are building. All in all, it was a a really nice neighbor hood type of walk, the type of which you usually don't get in a resort. A very nice walk indeed.

The people we spoke with who went to the mountain this morning were pleasantly surprised. Even though we have been warm the last couple of days, and had some unpleasant weather for a ski resort, the mountain is staying in good shape for skiing and riding. Conditions this morning were very spring like, with early runs on the firm and crunchy side with later runs softening up.

Temperatures have been falling all day. We expect to be in the high 20's by early evening. The weather forecast is calling for snow showers on and off the next 3 days. Hopefully they are right. But on the mountain it should not matter as temperatures should be ideal for snow making.

Today's picture is from Bear Mountain. I went over to the Bear base lodge around 2:45 this afternoon to take a look around. Outer Limits was set up for a bump competition. The half pipe had a some boarders in it. But, being Super Bowl afternoon, the area was pretty quiet. Hence the lone skier on the Outer Limits Quad.

Killington Peak for Green Side
Hole 2, Killington Resort Golf Course
February 4, 2006, 12:30PM 

Some winters can be long in Killington, some can be quite short. But one thing is certain....The weathermen rarely get it right!.

Today was supposed to start out sunny with NCP (non-crystaline precipitation) moving into the area around noon. We spoke with all our inn guests last night at dinner to tell them to go out early, ski the morning, and if liquid started falling to come back to the inn for a mid-afternoon nap. Well it is currently 2:00 PM while I write this, partly sunny outside, with the nearest precipitation according to the weather radars somewhere over Pennsylvania...still hours away. If skiing were like a soccer game, the announcer would be yelling SCOOOOORE!!!!, because anyone who came to Killington this weekend has gotten a great day to ski.

Saturday is not a ski day for me, but with the beautiful weather I needed to get out. Warm days get me thinking about the other sport I enjoy, so I walked over to the Killington Resort Golf Course. I did not get a lot of exercise, mind you, because the course is basically across the road from the inn. But I did take todays picture, which shows Killington Peak from green-side of Hole 2.

For all the non-winter we are having, the golf course was still quite snow covered. Not knee deep by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid 2 to 4 inches in most places. If you believe the Weather Channel, with any luck, over the next couple of weeks local golf courses will get covered by several feet of snow. Of course, I have no knowledge that this will occur. But, being trained in math and science as an engineer, I know that by just taking simple probability theory, that sooner or later the weatherman have to guess right.

Last night, we received about 1 and 1/2 inches of wet snow as part of a storm system moving through the area. This morning, unfortunately, it has turned liquid. By the time the weather system moves thru in mid afternoon, snow depths will probably wind up being equal to what they were before it started. It has been one of those winters. I would expect weekend skiing to be quite good on soft surfaces, as the temperatures behind this storm are not due to drop much below freezing.

Of course, Superbowl weekend is upon us. It is always hard to guess how busy the mountain will be on this weekend, especially since over the last few years the New England Patriots have been one of the contenders. This weekend, however, where there is no Boston or New York team involved, and the game is in Detroit, it looks like the mountain may be a little busier than normal (if our inn and restaurant reservations are any guide). Now if we could just get a little sunshine like yesterday.

Today was another unseasonably warm day at Killington. For the first time in several days the cloud cover lifted to reveal the mountain in all it's glory. Naturally, as luck would have it, this was not my day to ski. (I do have to work sometimes.) But it was still an interesting day.

Part of the work I had to do today was to participate in a planning meeting for this summers Killington Wine Festival. For the last 3 years, the Killington Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Farrell Distributors, has hosted a weekend of wine events in Killington in mid July. I will post more information on the blog as the event planning for this year takes shape.

Two other items caught my eye in the news today, which are sort of opposing stories. Of course, today is Ground Hogs Day, and Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow. This means we are do for 6 more weeks of winter. This is in contrast with the activities of the sugar maples in Vermont. Because of the relatively warm days and the cool nights, the sap in the maple trees has already started to flow. By some estimates, the flow has started 6 to 8 weeks sooner than normal. I am not sure what either of these stories really mean when applied to ski conditions over the next couple of months, but at least we will not run out of maple syrup for breakfast in the spring this year before the new crop is brought in.