Killington Nov 4

[urungus]

Saw on the Killington web site last night that advance tickets were only thirty bucks, so figured “what the hell” and went up this afternoon. My typical route is 91 to Rockingham exit 6, 103 to Ludlow, 100 to US 4 to East Mountain Road. Condition of roads was excellent, large portions of 100, 103, and E Mountain Road had nice new blacktop. From Ludlow you can see the progress Okemo had made as of early this afternoon:



Then after driving very carefully through the 35mph speed trap in Plymouth, took the shortcut up E Mountain Rd where there is a good vista to check out the snowmaking progress at Killington:



End of Killington Rd is now closed, you have to turn right on Vale Rd and access parking from the “back”. Note progress on Superstar.



Another view of Superstar:



...continued...

 

[urungus]

There is a new stairway from the parking area directly to the gondola, snaking through the construction. Lots of welding going on in the new structure. Here’s a couple shots of the construction:

 

[urungus]

Views of snowmaking progress going up the gondola:







Then off to my first ever trip down the Peak Walkway. Being old and out of shape I had always viewed this requirement with a bit of trepidation, but it wasn’t too bad, at least the walk downhill at the beginning of the day, ha ha. One thing that made it much easier was wearing regular shoes and waiting to boot up until after the walk. To get to the start of the walkway you have to scramble down a rock slope under the gondola:

 

[urungus]

Heading down the walkway:



Intersection of the walkway with the Catwalk trail. Good place to catch your breath on the way back. I had always wanted to try Catwalk, but am having second thoughts as the drop off below the walkway looked stomach churningly steep.





More stairs:



End of the road:

 

[urungus]

At the top of the chairlift there is a bench where you can boot up if you wore regular shoes along the walkway:



Two runs were open, Rime and Reason. A 9-feature “pop-up” terrain park with the new Woodward branding was set up on Reason. Wasn’t much room to skirt around the features so I spent most of my time lapping Rime.

 

[urungus]

Looking back up, it won’t be long before they drop the ropes on upper East Fall on the left:



Closer look at East Fall:



New North Ridge Quad was comfortable and ran smoothly while I was there. Zero lift line which was kind of surprising. Coverage was solid with no bare spots. Conditions were firm and fast, getting icy/scrapy in spots, but there was enough loose snow that I never felt like I was in danger of losing an edge. Some small bumps had formed, but most of them could be simply powered through.

Back at the gondola for the ride down, here is a view of the guns running on Great Northern. Won’t be long before it will be possible to ski down to the North Ridge.

 

[Tonyr]

Thanks for the report. It looks like Killington's snow making capabilities are pretty amazing. They had rime and reason opened up within a day it seems.

 

[bdfreetuna]

you get time for a lot of photos with only 2 trails open!

 

[jaytrem]

Looks great! Thanks for the trip report. Kids are off Thurs/Fri so we'll get up there one of those days.

 

[machski]

For the future, you can avoid the "rock scramble" if you want by going down the staircase towards the peak lodge entrance and then hooking around to the side. Glad you enjoyed the hiking to ski season!

Sent from my SM-T830 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[urungus]

For the future, you can avoid the "rock scramble" if you want by going down the staircase towards the peak lodge entrance and then hooking around to the side.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Pez]

Great post! Gotta get my skis tuned.

 

[Glenn]

Nice work! I like how you included some non skiing pics as well!

 

[bdfreetuna]

Def encourage you not to bail on skiing Catwalk btw. It looks far worse without snow. Really a very fun trail, narrow and steep and bumpy but nothing I wouldn't take friends and family down.

 

[urungus]

Def encourage you not to bail on skiing Catwalk btw. It looks far worse without snow. Really a very fun trail, narrow and steep and bumpy but nothing I wouldn't take friends and family down.

Thanks for the encouragement. It does look like a great trail when it has snow on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2Y371KWcs

 

[Cornhead]

Thanks for the encouragement. It does look like a great trail when it has snow on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2Y371KWcs

Wow! Winter wonderland, can't wait to partake in similar conditions, bring it Urll.

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[kingslug]

Ok..going wednesday and Thursday..online tickets 2 day for 66 bucks..sold..hotel 79 bucks..sold. getting the frak out of here..priceless.