Killington peak from Skye Peak 

I had a chance to get out for a couple of hours this morning and I can report first hand that ski conditions at Killington are pretty good. The new snow from the last couple of days has really made a difference on conditions.

We started out the morning with laps on Highline and Cascade from the K1 "Box". Both primary trails were covered with groomed packed powder with an inch of so of light fluff on top. To get to Highline we took Great Northern, at a pretty good clip I might say. To get to Cascade we took Downdraft. The only ice we encountered was on Upper Downdraft. It was soft enough to take an edge and allow a turn or two, but I would call it more of a controlled skid versus down hill skiing.

After Cascade, we took High Traverse over to the other side of the resort. Bear Claw and Skye Burst on Bear Mountain were in nice shape. The terrain at Bear, however, was somewhat limited due to the construction of terrain parks on Bear Trap, Bear Claw and Dream Maker so we headed over to the Needles area. The triple play of Cruise Control, Needles Eye and Bitter Sweet were "do overs" they were in such good shape. I finished the morning on Superstar. Skiers left on lower Superstar is developing a small bump run. I took a couple of turns in it, but was not crazy about the firmness of the back side of the bumps, so I got out of there and cruised down the lower headwall.

Overall, the new snow we have gotten the last couple of days has helped soften up the mountain. We are expecting some more this evening which will only continue to improve conditions. Let it snow!

Adirondack chairs in the snow. 

Light snow is continuing to fall on Killington, with the forecast indicating it will continue most of the week.

Unfortunately I was not able to go skiing this morning. Work does get in the way. But our chef did go up to the mountain this morning to get in his turns. Steve (aka Frizzy) reported that most surfaces were machine groomed packed powder with a couple inches of light fluff on top. "I almost forgot what it was like to ski on natural snow because we have been skiing on man made snow for so long this season. It was really good!" With the snow we have received over the last 4 days, the base of snow that Killington had made over the last several months has been nicely dressed with several inches of natural powder. Let it snow!

There are no friends on a powder day! 

I went to bed at 2:30 AM. My alarm was set for 7:00 AM. 3 inches of light fluffy powder had fallen when I went to bed... But the time I had gotten up another 2 inches had been added. The biggest snow fall this season.. I needed to go skiing!

I got to the K1 Base Lodge around 7:30 AM. The "Box" was already loading. I saw some old ski house mates heading out. The plan was to meet at the Superstar chair around 8 after taking a run thru the pow.

By the time I got my equipment on and got over to the K1 Gondola, it was 7:40. When I got to the peak, I figured that I could cut across the mountain and run down Superstar, meeting the group at the scheduled hour.. Bad Plan... At 7:45, Superstar was a cold version of hell. Snow was still falling very heavy, there was a 20-30 MPH up slope wind, and the resort had groomed a path 3 cat tracks wide down the middle. With the falling and blowing snow, visibility was ZERO. And the traverse between a groomed surface and knee deep snow drifts was not the great ski experience I was planning. (But I would not have missed it for the world!) While I am in the middle of this mess, and I was the only person on Superstar at this point, I see the people I was supposed to meet overhead on the Superstar chair... there are no friends on a powder day!

I took the chair and went off the back side towards Bear. Bear Trap was sweet, with a nice 6 inch covering of fluff on skiers right. On lower Bear Claw, this guy rockets by me on a board. I was already far over to the right, he was between me and the woods. I thought I recognized him, so I followed him down to the OL chair... sure enough, it was my friend Larry who did car parking duty for me last weekend.

We got on the OL chair for a loop before taking the Skye Peak chair to head down to Needles Eye. Skye Burst was getting pretty cut up. Cruise Control on far skiers right was clear. Needles Eye had some great face shots interspersed with a little slip and slide. From the Needles Eye chair, we went down Bitter Sweet (which was totally blown away by the wind) and took Low Road back to the Superstar lift. Low Road had only been track by 1 other skier... nice pow on a thin base. From the Superstar Chair we then went down Upper and Middle Ovation. The wind had blown a ton of snow onto skiers left on Upper Ovation, which was really nice. Middle Ovation was a little boney, with powder bumps interspersed with skid plates. After all, the sign at the top did say "Thin Cover". The visibility had improved considerably on Lower Superstar. Skiers right was very deep, although the very end featured a interesting slide around the "Slow" sign at the bottom. Hard to go slow on powder shot legs when the surface is rock hard.

One more boost on the Superstar chair and I was done... It was 9:45, I had skied for 2 hours on 4 1/2 hours sleep... not a bad ratio. Now if we could get another 6 inches of powder tonight!

Superpipe at Bear Mountain being coated
with snow on Thursday. 

Killington is continuing to expand terrain and todays light snow will only help. Local forecasts are calling for up to 6 inches of light snow spread out over the next 2 days to fall on the area. Around the inn so far we have about 3/4's of an inch. Our chef, who went skiing on the mountain this morning, reported that the peak at received about 1 to 2 inches of new powder with light snow ongoing. He also reported that the little death cookies on the slopes yesterday had been groomed out overnight resulting in a very consistent packed machine groomed granular base with light snow on top. For the weekend, Killington plans to have 41 miles of trails open, the most skiing and riding on the East Coast.

Snow making operations are continuing on Outer Limits, building up the base into large whales. The guns are a little wet today, as temperatures at Bear Mountain are in the high 20's at the base lodge. Snow making is also underway on the Superpipe at Bear Mountain. Killington plans to complete building of the Superpipe to allow it to open this weekend.

Down slope on Upper Superstar Headwall 

In comparison to yesterday, it was a veritable heat wave at Killington today. This morning when we left for the mountain it was 18 degrees, a full 30 degrees warmer than yesterday. The warmer temperatures we matched once again with full sunshine, although the wind was a little stronger. Although 30 degrees warmer sounds like a lot, it was still plenty cool.

Conditions on the mountain were much more variable than yesterday. The grooming done overnight was not quite as good as the previous day. Many of the trails were groomed with little death cookies. Apparently yesterdays deep freeze caused the surfaces to crust up a little bit. Once over with a snow cat and the tracks cut the crust up into bite sized chuncks. This type of surface condition was all over the mountain except where snow making operations were going on, so it had to be related to the snow itself, and not just a stray snow cat needing adjustment. Another groom tonight should chop the surfaces up to a more consistent shape. Snow surfaces being what they were, ski conditions were still very good. Most surfaces were very receptive to edges, allowing nice carving turns if that is your thing.

Snow making was continuing on Outer Limits and Super Star. Both trails were open top to bottom today for skiing and riding. Surface conditions on OL were very soft man made powder organized into broad whales. Under the snow guns on skiers left was fairly flat, while skiers right was developing several skier made bumps. Of course, since this was OL's first day, there were more than a few herbs planted on the bottom side of each bump. But with the blowing snow, OL was not set up for fast cruising, so the obstacle course was quite navigable.

Super Star continued to improve. Upper and Middle had a few slick spots. Middle had not been groomed, so yesterdays comments about the surface still hold. Lower Superstar was a different story. The guns have been moved almost into the woods on skiers left. A real nice combination of soft whales and intermediate bumps was developing. And since the crowd was over on Outer Limits, you could actually pick a line and keep it all the way down the hill.

Overall, it was a very nice day. Some insignificant light snow is expected tonight and tomorrow, so I would guess that conditions will continue to get better as we head towards the weekend. Think Snow!

Noel and Dick on an empty Needles Eye 

The temperature this morning said roll over. The sunshine said hurry up and get to the mountain. The sunshine was right. Today was a gorgeous day to ski at Killington.

The temperature when I left the inn this morning at 8:40 was a crisp - 8 degrees (Minus 22 if you like your temperature in degrees C). The good news is that there was only a light wind, and 100% available sunshine. Driving up the Killington Road the mountain looked stunning against a backdrop of a deep violet sky. Snow guns were blasting away on Superstar. Random snow guns scattered around the resort were kicking up plumes of snow which hung over the mountain.

We decided to start our day at Bear Mountain (it is closer to the equator so it is warmer). The Superstar lift from the K1 Base lodge was cold but acceptable. The run over to Bear Trap on Gateway was a nice combination of firm machine groomed packed powder, with wispy pockets of new snow. Flat, fast, and very edgeable. You could tell right away it was going to be a good day. We took a quick run through the terrain park on Bear Trap. Mary even went up on a couple of the hits, but only with enough speed to coast over the tops. The first run down Viper Pit I thought was very good, although Mary though it was a little too firm. Of course, I went straight down with maybe 1/2 a turn, while Mary was doing her normal sweeping carves. When we got to the Bear Mountain Base Lodge, we were rewarded. The Outer Limits chair was running. Sweet... we were able to make a couple more quick loops through Bear non-stop, no waiting, as they say, as the OL chair is soooo much faster than the Skye Peak quad.

On Outer Limits, it looked like every available snow gun that the resort could connect to a water and air line was pumping out snow. The trail was not open (rumor has it it opened late this afternoon) when we were doing our loops. From what we hear, the plan is to have it opened officially tomorrow.

We then traversed over the Needles Eye area and hooked up with Dick and Noel Gluck for a run. Cruise Control was very flat and fast. Needles Eye was very nice. It rated do overs. A loop through Skye Lark to High Road completed the runs through the Needles Eye area.

We then headed towards "The Box" at K1. I took Superstar, Mary took Skye Lark to get there. Superstar was a tail of two trails today. Yesterdays soft middle Super Star was not groomed, so it turned into a very firm surface overnight. Good edges prevailed however, because I wanted to get down slope where the guns were blasting away. Yesterday, they had a rope across the lower headwall, so you needed to take the exit to Lower Skye Lark. Today...no rope. So down I went. Whoa... multiple feet of fresh (man made) powder. Of course, I could not see a thing because there were so many snow guns running... but it is really easy when you have taken multiple courses of physics studying for an engineering degree... Gravity will guide you down the hill every time. And because the surface was so deep and consistent, it was really easy to just let it rip down the hill. A great ride.

From the K1, we took a couple of runs in the North Ridge Area. I started by doing Downdraft from the peak. Mary took Great Eastern. The temperatures at the peak seemed cooler than on the Bear side of the mountain. This time of year the sun barely hits the slopes on the Kpeak side of the resort, so I am sure it was actually cooler. After a few loops, we called it quits. A great ski day under our belts. Let it snow!

Middle Superstar..Soft Silky Powder! 

There is no headline that I could use that would tell the story of Killington today. Killington was a true animal today. The quality of a persons ski day was clearly based upon a combination of factors including skiing ability, equipment, knowledge of Killington, cold weather, working lifts... you name it, it all came into play.

I was up on the mountain this morning for over 2 hours. I skied on every mountain at Killington, from most of the lifts that were operating. Conditions were wildly variable based upon snow surface conditions. I could easily say that the mountain was great or the mountain was horrible. If you were new to Killington today and did not know the mountain, you might have gotten yourself in trouble. As an experienced Killington skier, I found some great runs. The only thing which caused me to come in was having to go to work this afternoon. (Bills need to be paid you know.)With all this in mind, the entry today will be little snippets of possible stories that could be made by people at Killington today.

Killington - Just the facts!

The storm Killington experienced yesterday turned out to be a disappointment. Weathermen were predicting 8 to 12 inches of snow over the wide area of Killington. In actuality, the area received 3-6 inches of heavy wet slop. Cold temperatures have moved into the area solidifying yesterdays accumulation into a white candy coating. While the storm was rather light on the total accumulation front, the storm and the cold temperatures that are infiltrating the area in the storms wake has solidified the base on all of the ski trails at Killington.

Flat and Fast at Killington

Temperatures in Killington have dropped to the low teens today after a very heavy wet snow yesterday. Conditions on the mountain were variable over a frozen base. Trails that saw overnight grooming can be characterized as flat and fast, while trails that have not been groomed are virtually un-skiable. The K1 gondola was not operating today for an unspecified reason. Most of the trails serviced by the Snowdon Quad and the North Ridge Triple were groomed flat with an occasional coating of light powder in patches.

Death Cookies must die!

Rams Head, usually one of the easiest mountains at Killington to ski because of it's combination of blue and green trails was probably the most difficult mountain at Killington today. In addition to snow blowing operations on side trails from the top of Rams Head, "Header", the main trial under the lift, was a chewed up mess of death cookies ranging in size from small ball bearings to softballs in diameter. Accomplished skiers and riders, with the possible exception of needing a foot massage after chattering down the trail, were able to negotiate "Header" with little trouble. However, I saw numerous beginner skiers and riders hiking down skiers left on the trail, instead of riding it out.

Dust on Crust at Killington

Yesterdays wet accumulation froze overnight at Killington. A continuous light snow flurry in the area left crusty groomed surfaces covered with a fine dust of snow at Bear Mountain and in the Needles Eye Area. Snowmaking operations were visible as Killington was taking advantage of the seasonably cold temperatures to build up ski surfaces.

Sweet Powder at Killington

The run of the day at Killington is a toss up. Leaving the Needles Eye area, I took the Skyeship for a run down Skye Lark. Oh My!. Sweet, carve-able snow on top of a firm, flatly groomed base. Perfect for ripping GS turns at high speed down the nearly empty trail. The only downside was that lower Skye Lark, while groomed flat, was rock hard as no snow had blown on top of the surface. While the surface was very receptive to the sharp edges on my skies, it was a pure rocket ride to the bottom to get a boast back to the top on the Superstar Chair.

Snowmaking operations were taking place on Superstar on both the upper and lower headwalls, and on Middle Superstar at the Skye Lark exit. All I can say is WOW!

I took the upper headwall of Superstar with a nice pace through the snow guns. Beautiful, light powder was being dropped on the trail from overhead snow guns. Soft little powder bumps were developing, just right for some quick hits before dropping out on the flat of middle Superstar. Snowmaking operations had taken place overnight on middle Superstar, resulting in a flat surface covered with 2 to 3 inches of new, silky, sweet powder. Until I skied Superstar, I was sure Skye Lark was the run of the day, How quick one can change their mind.. I did another couple of loops on Superstar before heading out for the day. Just a great way to end. Let it snow!