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Killllington 🎿🏂🏂🎿🎿🏂🏂🎿😀

Newpylong

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Are any of Killington’s abandoned areas (Northeast Passage, Rams Head summit, Juggernaut, etc) still skiable ?

Of Hawk's Nest (old mid-station) of Northeast Passage one may still ski Hawkeye (the easiest off the back) down to Lower Sun Dog and down to Juggernaut Too closer to the bottom. Technically you could keep going right at the end of current Sun Dog to get there too. You'll be sharing all of this with the snowmobiles.

A lot of the old snowmaking gear is still there and all the extra triple chairs were stashed down there too.
 
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Dexter

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We just made our second trip to Killington - the first was in April 2022 - from December 26 to January 1. Last spring the snow was mushy and there were a lot of bare patches, but I wrote that off to Spring. But this past week... geez 40 degree temperatures? I sure didn't expect that. I assume this is not normal for the week after Christmas?

Despite the slushy snow and bare patches, we did hit some runs that we didn't do last spring, and it was a good trip.

Last spring, we could drive up to K-1 and park because hardly anyone was there. This time we had to take THE BUS from Mountain Green to Snowshed. I saw that there was a bus that went up to K-1 but I couldn't figure out where else it stopped besides outside Snowshed. I looked on THE BUS website and couldn't find anything. For future reference, if you want to go to K-1, what's the best place to get on THE BUS?
 

cdskier

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We just made our second trip to Killington - the first was in April 2022 - from December 26 to January 1. Last spring the snow was mushy and there were a lot of bare patches, but I wrote that off to Spring. But this past week... geez 40 degree temperatures? I sure didn't expect that. I assume this is not normal for the week after Christmas?
I'd actually say this IS somewhat normal for the week after Christmas. Honestly it seems we get a thaw and/or wet weather almost every year around Christmas lately.
 

urungus

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Western Mass
We just made our second trip to Killington - the first was in April 2022 - from December 26 to January 1. Last spring the snow was mushy and there were a lot of bare patches, but I wrote that off to Spring. But this past week... geez 40 degree temperatures? I sure didn't expect that. I assume this is not normal for the week after Christmas?

Despite the slushy snow and bare patches, we did hit some runs that we didn't do last spring, and it was a good trip.

Last spring, we could drive up to K-1 and park because hardly anyone was there. This time we had to take THE BUS from Mountain Green to Snowshed. I saw that there was a bus that went up to K-1 but I couldn't figure out where else it stopped besides outside Snowshed. I looked on THE BUS website and couldn't find anything. For future reference, if you want to go to K-1, what's the best place to get on THE BUS?
”The Bus” is a commuter route, for moving around Killington itself (eg if you park at some other Killington lot and would rather wait for a bus to take you to K1 than ski over there) you can use one of Killingtons resort shuttle buses, for a map see https://www.killington.com/the-mountain/trail-area-maps/base-area-map

edit: list of stops for “The Bus” can be found here: https://thebus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Rutland-Killington-Commuter-Update-12-28-22.pdf
 
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boston_e

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We just made our second trip to Killington - the first was in April 2022 - from December 26 to January 1. Last spring the snow was mushy and there were a lot of bare patches, but I wrote that off to Spring. But this past week... geez 40 degree temperatures? I sure didn't expect that. I assume this is not normal for the week after Christmas?

Despite the slushy snow and bare patches, we did hit some runs that we didn't do last spring, and it was a good trip.

Last spring, we could drive up to K-1 and park because hardly anyone was there. This time we had to take THE BUS from Mountain Green to Snowshed. I saw that there was a bus that went up to K-1 but I couldn't figure out where else it stopped besides outside Snowshed. I looked on THE BUS website and couldn't find anything. For future reference, if you want to go to K-1, what's the best place to get on THE BUS?
Christmas / New Years vacation is always a crapshoot on New England. Thaw / Freeze cycles are not uncommon on or near that time. There was also a Xmas break week a few years ago that was so cold you basically couldn’t ski…maybe it was 2017 or 18. Taking like highs of -5 at the base without windchill.
 

Dexter

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The other thing I noticed was that the resort didn't seem "too busy" - I expected it to be crazy busy the week after Christmas. There were definitely lots of people there judging by the parking lots, but we never waited in line for more than a few minutes. Is that because Killington is big, with lots of lifts, and the RFID gates keep things moving pretty fast? Or was it an unusually slow week after Christmas?
 

Smellytele

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Right where I want to be
The other thing I noticed was that the resort didn't seem "too busy" - I expected it to be crazy busy the week after Christmas. There were definitely lots of people there judging by the parking lots, but we never waited in line for more than a few minutes. Is that because Killington is big, with lots of lifts, and the RFID gates keep things moving pretty fast? Or was it an unusually slow week after Christmas?
Conditions sucked
 

KustyTheKlown

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That’s true, but also when Christmas and New Years both fall on weekends, lots of people end up having to work a sort of regular week. It ends up being back to back long weekends for companies that don’t want to be chill about it. I think the calendar this year ensured a pretty quiet M-Th on the holiday week. In addition to bad conditions. Tremblant was pretty quiet on Tuesday Wednesday, and a zoo on Thursday Friday
 

boston_e

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That’s true, but also when Christmas and New Years both fall on weekends, lots of people end up having to work a sort of regular week. It ends up being back to back long weekends for companies that don’t want to be chill about it. I think the calendar this year ensured a pretty quiet M-Th on the holiday week. In addition to bad conditions. Tremblant was pretty quiet on Tuesday Wednesday, and a zoo on Thursday Friday
Agree this was a factor as well. I know a good number of people who chose not to use their vacation days just after Christmas day and held off on coming up until the new years weekend. So the part of the week that would have been the most busy also was when the most snow had melted away.
 

urungus

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Spent Sunday afternoon at South Ridge, hadn’t spent much time there before, a few thoughts:

1) Bear Mountain parking lot was half full at noon. Bear Mountain, South Ridge, Skye Peak lifts were ski-on.
2) Steep sections at end of Breakaway and Pipedream have VERY thin cover with lots of grass and little trees sticking out.
3) Bottom black diamond section of the Jug was roped off even though the snow cover looked much better from the lift than Breakaway/Pipedream. There was a continuous stream of people ducking the rope and skiing down lower Jug right under the chairlift. Didn’t see a single ski patroller all day.
4) Roundabout is a great trail, very narrow and hidden away. Didn’t realize Killington had trails like this.
5) Solitude and Sassafras had several hazardous unmarked water bars that were invisible from above until you were right on top of them. Otherwise I really enjoyed the peaceful seclusion of these trails. With careful line choice, there was very little skating/poling required despite all the warnings.
6) Wildfire was pretty scraped off at the end of the day
7) Outler Limits was open, possibly first time this season ? Guns were going full force and made the ride up the Bear Mountain chairlift unpleasant.
 

urungus

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Very peaceful:
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Beware of unmarked water bars, this photo was taken from below - from above it was not visible
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Rogman

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Jan 18, 2007
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Lot of streams/water bars at Killington that typically freeze in December still have open water in them. Definitely a warm winter.
 
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