Marc
New member
Date(s) Skied: May 7, 2006
Resort or Ski Area: Killington
Conditions: Corn, and more corn
Trip Report:
I, like Trailboss, was at the mighty K to witness firsthand the carnage Mother Natures hath wrought on our already dissapointing season.
The trip was planned in literally, 5 minutes tops. It went something like this- Marc emails Nate on Friday afternoon: Hey, want to go hike turns at Killington Sunday?; Nate: Sure; Marc: Want to drive up Saturday and camp to get an early start?
So we got the details out of the way first, as you can see. I got up too early on Saturday, and washed and waxed my car. I left Nate an IM early that morning to ask if he still wanted to go. I got the call around 11 am. While he gathered his ski and camping gear, I drove to my parents' to steal... err... borrow a cooler. Nate arrived at my pad around 5 pm. I dozed off mid afternoon I think. We threw his stuff in my Audi and took off.
We stopped in Holyoke to buy the essentials (beer, bugers, dogs, eggs, cheese, bread and ice) as we were in need of animal flesh to char on the Hibachi I brought along. We got back on the road and decided to pull off again in Brattleboro for some grub. We stopped at a pizza joint on Route 5 where we met some ecclectic characters and ate some good food. Among the locals staffing the establishment included "Super Bill" whose world records in backhand pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, frog hops and leg lifts made for some interesting listening. Has anyone else met this guy? Apparently he'll be on ESPN sometime in the next two weeks doing two finger pushups. It was one of the most random things either of us had experienced. We left satiated and puzzled.
We pulled into the main parking lot around 10:30 and set up camp in what we thought was a relatively hidden far corner of the lot. After bedding down around 11 and then hearing the Security vehicle drive by around 11:30 we realized we were wrong about the hidden part. They came around again around 6. I would like to take this time and use this space to thank those who decided not to kick us off their property. That would have been a major damper on the weekend.
So we arose at 6, and realizing we had no silverware except for a handy spatula, we drove down the access road around 7 am and resourcefully borrowed a couple forks from an undisclosed location. Nate fired up the camp stove and we cooked a scramble of egg, hot dog and cheddar cheese. We at it on hamburger buns. It was good. Nate displayed our highly advanced and expensive state of the art gear:
We packed up supplies and gear and started hiking around 9. We decided to hike up for turns on Cascade in the morning and then maybe a lap or two on Superstar after we ate some lunch. We hiked up an access road to the Canyon Quad and then climbed up Downdraft. It looked every bit as steep going up with only patches of slippery snow as it did this winter loaded with snow. A cool trail. We reached the Great Northern crossover after the painstaking slog and looked up at the summit. I said to Nate, and I could tell he was already thinking the same thing... "You know, we've come this far..." So fifteen minutes later we left our packs at the top of the gondola and headed up catwalk to the peak. Your author:
And compadre:
After staying on the peak for a couple windy and chilly minutes, and after I marked my territory over by the radio towers, we went back on down to the cascade trailhead. As we were arriving two tele's were gearing up for their first run, they were real cool guys.
The guy on the right owned a tele and randonee ski shop. We talked for quite a while and on several parts of the trail.
We booted up and made our first run probably around 11 am. The sun had softened up the exposed snow on Cascade. The trail consisted of two skiable patches. The first one was just under twice the size of the lower one. The were only separated by about 20 feet of hiking. After the first run we dumped our packs at the bottom of the first patch and hiked up a forming boot pack for seconds. I attempted some action shots of Nate on the second run but due to communication errors, missed. We hiked up again for a third run. Wanting some action shots, I told Nate to hike up about 100 feet of vertical to the nearest tower. After arguing with my new camera a bit, I got the shutter at 1/2000 s, the aperature was at f 8.0, and a simulated film speed of ISO 400. The snow definition could be better, but I'm pretty happy.
Resort or Ski Area: Killington
Conditions: Corn, and more corn
Trip Report:
I, like Trailboss, was at the mighty K to witness firsthand the carnage Mother Natures hath wrought on our already dissapointing season.
The trip was planned in literally, 5 minutes tops. It went something like this- Marc emails Nate on Friday afternoon: Hey, want to go hike turns at Killington Sunday?; Nate: Sure; Marc: Want to drive up Saturday and camp to get an early start?
So we got the details out of the way first, as you can see. I got up too early on Saturday, and washed and waxed my car. I left Nate an IM early that morning to ask if he still wanted to go. I got the call around 11 am. While he gathered his ski and camping gear, I drove to my parents' to steal... err... borrow a cooler. Nate arrived at my pad around 5 pm. I dozed off mid afternoon I think. We threw his stuff in my Audi and took off.
We stopped in Holyoke to buy the essentials (beer, bugers, dogs, eggs, cheese, bread and ice) as we were in need of animal flesh to char on the Hibachi I brought along. We got back on the road and decided to pull off again in Brattleboro for some grub. We stopped at a pizza joint on Route 5 where we met some ecclectic characters and ate some good food. Among the locals staffing the establishment included "Super Bill" whose world records in backhand pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, frog hops and leg lifts made for some interesting listening. Has anyone else met this guy? Apparently he'll be on ESPN sometime in the next two weeks doing two finger pushups. It was one of the most random things either of us had experienced. We left satiated and puzzled.
We pulled into the main parking lot around 10:30 and set up camp in what we thought was a relatively hidden far corner of the lot. After bedding down around 11 and then hearing the Security vehicle drive by around 11:30 we realized we were wrong about the hidden part. They came around again around 6. I would like to take this time and use this space to thank those who decided not to kick us off their property. That would have been a major damper on the weekend.
So we arose at 6, and realizing we had no silverware except for a handy spatula, we drove down the access road around 7 am and resourcefully borrowed a couple forks from an undisclosed location. Nate fired up the camp stove and we cooked a scramble of egg, hot dog and cheddar cheese. We at it on hamburger buns. It was good. Nate displayed our highly advanced and expensive state of the art gear:
We packed up supplies and gear and started hiking around 9. We decided to hike up for turns on Cascade in the morning and then maybe a lap or two on Superstar after we ate some lunch. We hiked up an access road to the Canyon Quad and then climbed up Downdraft. It looked every bit as steep going up with only patches of slippery snow as it did this winter loaded with snow. A cool trail. We reached the Great Northern crossover after the painstaking slog and looked up at the summit. I said to Nate, and I could tell he was already thinking the same thing... "You know, we've come this far..." So fifteen minutes later we left our packs at the top of the gondola and headed up catwalk to the peak. Your author:
And compadre:
After staying on the peak for a couple windy and chilly minutes, and after I marked my territory over by the radio towers, we went back on down to the cascade trailhead. As we were arriving two tele's were gearing up for their first run, they were real cool guys.
The guy on the right owned a tele and randonee ski shop. We talked for quite a while and on several parts of the trail.
We booted up and made our first run probably around 11 am. The sun had softened up the exposed snow on Cascade. The trail consisted of two skiable patches. The first one was just under twice the size of the lower one. The were only separated by about 20 feet of hiking. After the first run we dumped our packs at the bottom of the first patch and hiked up a forming boot pack for seconds. I attempted some action shots of Nate on the second run but due to communication errors, missed. We hiked up again for a third run. Wanting some action shots, I told Nate to hike up about 100 feet of vertical to the nearest tower. After arguing with my new camera a bit, I got the shutter at 1/2000 s, the aperature was at f 8.0, and a simulated film speed of ISO 400. The snow definition could be better, but I'm pretty happy.
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