Mary and our friend Walt on the Canyon Quad 

When Killington is bad...well we live here...If you read my blog often you know what a picture of Johnny Boys means. But on other days, Killington is great. And today was one of them.

Today was not a powder day. The sunshine was not out, in fact it was snowing on the mountain all morning. The grooming was not perfect. The firm ice of the last couple of days has been groomed out, leaving beach sand and cookies on many of the trails. But today was one of those lift to lift, hard skiing, black diamond days that can only happen on the east coast at Killington.

Today from the get go, Killington had almost all of their lifts turning, at full operating speed. In the space of 2 hours and 15 minutes, we took 14 lifts skiing exclusively black and double black diamond terrain with only one ride to the top of the mountain (the first) on the K1 gondola. It was probably the hardest, most concentrated, morning of skiing we have done at Killington in a couple of years. And if it were not for work around the inn, we would still probably be out on the hill.

We started the day riding the Canyon Quad. Usually this chair is not running during the week. So it was a pleasure to see it running first thing this morning. We looped through the entire canyon area. Cascades and East Fall were in nice shape, worthy of multiple do overs. Double Dipper was groomed flat, but still very firm and slick. As the 3rd run of the day, it was not for the faint of heart, but the group we were with is made up of very technically proficient skiers, so we all just ripped down Double Dippers compound fall line.

After the Canyon area, we bypassed the K1 Base Lodge by skiing across the top of the mountain via Launch Pad to Superstar. Superstar, Skye Lark, Bittersweet were all better than yesterday, having experienced another groom overnight to break up a lot of the residual cookies. On our run down Bittersweet, we noticed that the Needle Eye Quad was also running, so we looped over there to finish the morning.

Needles Eye had 2 to 3 inches of ground up snow from top to bottom. I did several loops down skiers left. The snow was not conducive to bump formation, but because of the depth of the beach sand, plenty of turns were required. And then to top it off we were presented with Vertigo, groomed out from top to bottom.

Clearly Vertigo had probably only had one pass of grooming, as there were a lot of chucks along the trail. But the headwall was as sweet as can be, with no ice or slick spots. Vertigo's headwall supported a nice series of tight turns, which carried all the way through to the Snow Shed cross over. Now if we only had a couple of feet of champagne powder on top??? But I am getting greedy.

Let it snow.

Bear Claw being prepared for the Chevrolet US Snowboarding Grand Prix to be held at Killington March 15 and 16. 

Today was a beautiful ski day at Killington. Temperatures were in the high teens to upper 20's. Sunshine was almost 100%. Snow surfaces are continuing to improve from last weekends r@*n.

We started out this morning on the K1 Gondola with a couple of quick loops down Highline and Cascade. Both trails were well groomed but firm, as the mornings sun had not had a chance to soften up the surfaces. After Cascade, as the K1 Gondola was getting crowded (it is Canada week in Killington), instead of staying in the Canyon area we decided to ski across the top over to Bear Mountain.

Terrain at Bear is somewhat limited as the mountain prepares for the Chevrolet US Snowboarding Grand Prix this coming weekend. Lower Bear Claw and Dream Maker are closed off to allow the mountain to construct what can only be described as huge terrain features for the event. Never matter, though, as Wildfire and Outer Limits were in nice shape and worthy of several do-overs.

Upper Wildfire was flat and firm. Groomers had worked the surface over fairly well so there was minimal ice, but it was still firm under foot. Lower Wildfire was starting to corn up in the sun. It was not warm enough to get much melting going, but because of the concentrated ski traffic on Lower Wildfire, the surface was starting to break up heading towards a beach sand consistency. Outer Limits, in full sunshine, was also getting very loose. The trail was groomed flat, but skier traffic was chopping up the surface even more, turning over all sorts of "death cookies" and other artifacts.

From Bear we took several loops through Cruise Control, Needles Eye, and Bittersweet. All were nice. I finished my day with a couple of runs down Superstar. From the lift, Superstar looked like it might be a little slick, but at noon time the surface was quite nice. The headwall was very firm, but I found some loose granular on skiers right. Middle Superstar and the lower face were flat and fast. They were very receptive to carving turns while offering loose granular in natural high traffic sections.

All in all, a nice ski day at Killington. And we have a little snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow to keep things nice.

Let it snow.

Wispy clouds top Killington Peak 

With the exception of an hour here, and hour there, it has been almost 3 weeks since Mary and I have been able to get on the slopes for some serious skiing at Killington. Today was the day.

Our expectations were fairly low given the inordinate amount of wet weather we have had the last few weeks. In some ways those expectations were correct, but there were a few surprises along the way.

The light fluff that has fallen the last 30 or so hours served as camouflage for generally very firm surfaces under foot. Trails that were groomed were skiable. If they were groomed only once, hold on because turning was more like aiming. If there had been groomed a couple of times, the surfaces were much more stable and softer. Trails that had been groomed a couple of times and were in the sun were nicer still.

Other than the firmness of the base, what was most unexpected was the overall snow depth. At the Killington Peak, the warming hut just to the right of the Gondola Station is virtually buried in snow. Only it's roof is sticking out. If you want to go inside, you must climb down a snow bank. I saw similar instances where the depth of the base was more than I had expected, given the weather we have experienced at the inn. Of course, the top of the mountain is 2000 feet higher than the inn, so it stands to reason that on a few of the storms we had when the inn was getting liquid, the top of the mountain was getting something solid. It should bode well for some nice spring skiing over the next few weeks.

Let it snow.

Hearty souls on the Snowdon Quad in the snow. 

Yesterdays dreary weather moved out of the area with a roar last night. R@*n and sleet gave way to heavy snow showers and high winds as temperatures plunged from the mid 30's to the mid teens around midnight.

At noon time today, the Killington Resort was open with limited lifts. The fixed grip lifts of the Snowshed Double, Snowdon Triple and the Snowdon Quad were operating, as well as the detachable chair, the Ramshead Quad. Heavy icing from the rapid temperature drop, combined with high winds resulted in the limited operations. Inn guests who ventured on the mountain today reported that the open terrain was in good shape, but the high winds and continuous snow fall resulted in a very cold day on the slopes. So it goes.

Let it snow.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
Robert Frost 

It is a wet, dreary, day at Killington. The weather has been the usual spring mix of r@*n, sleet, and snow. Not the best of days to be on the mountain.

Snow surfaces look like they are still holding up. I was actually surprised when I saw the net gain on the snow stake overnight. The storm did start yesterday with several inches of snow early in the evening. Since then, it has been primarily wet, although it is supposed to finish off with snow this evening. We can hope.

Let it snow.

Mary and I are still sidelined from skiing due to the after effects of last weeks flu. We are on the mend, but have a lot of catching up to do.

Our Chef, "Frizzie", who came in 1st runner up in last weekends Jack Daniel's Cook Off, did venture out onto Pico this morning. According to Frizzie, the word for the day is "Loud". Conditions at Pico were very firm. Groomed surfaces were skiable with a lot of noise. Un-groomed surfaces not so good. Frizzie thought that conditions would continue to soften up as the afternoon sun had a chance to work on the terrain. I have not had a chance to speak with our guests who went to Killington this morning. I would guess that they will be enjoying spring like conditions in the afternoon sunshine.

Let it snow.

Long time Killington Town Manager, Dave Lewis, being recognized for his service to Killington at Town Meeting. 

In a ceremony fit for a skit out of Saturday Night Live, two town constables were called to approach the podium at Town Meeting before the discussion of Town Meeting Article 8 began. In quick succession, Town Moderator MB Neisner stepped down from the podium and was quickly wrapped in a flak jacket by the constables. Regaining his composure, MB implored to the huge, and now laughing, town meeting crowd: "No Head Shots Please".

So goes town meeting day at Killington. For the Civics students, it is always a direct lesson in participatory democracy. For many, it's a classic Greek drama..a little comedy, a little tragedy. For everyone it is a chance to express how they want the town of Killington to be governed for the following year.

This year the most contentious item was Article 8 placed on the ballot by the Selectboard to raise a 1% local options tax on meals, rooms, alcohol, and retail sales. The funds, which will start being collected October 1, are destined to fund an office of Economic Development within town government.

Debate on the article was vigorous, both for and against. Chris Nyberg, President of the Killington Resort, and who is not a Killington citizen, was granted special permission to address the crowd. Chris presented an alternative to Article 8 that Powdr was recommending to local voters. Bill Bauer, who along with Chris Karr, leads the Killington Economic Growth Initiative gave an impassioned speech near the end of public discussion imploring town citizens to reject Powdr's alternative and vote yes on Article 8. After almost 90 minutes of floor debate, the article was voted 167 in favor, 87 against. Killington will have a local option tax in October. So it goes.

The rest of town meeting had little contention. The only other segment with any drama was for the one position up for re-election this year on the select board. In a rare challenge, Jim Haff challenged incumbent selectman Mike Miller for the position. The vote was split almost 60/40 in favor af Mr. Miller who retained his seat on the selectboard.

Dave Lewis, retiring town manager, was honored with a standing ovation during the meeting. A fete for Dave to be held June 8th at the Summit Lodge was announced today during the ceremonies. And Dave Gouchberg was honored by the recreation department as the Kenneth Kranz Volunteer of the Year.

Let it snow.