riverc0il
New member
Kind of hard for me to judge as I have never skied Killington during the spring before including when they were the king of spring. I still find the juxtaposition of the new foofy elegant script logo next to the big bold THE BEAST font to be an identity crisis at its worst. Powd'r seems to want to show that this is a different Killington while simultaneously retaining, or rediscovering and redeveloping, its prior culture and image. I am not familiar with Killington's history and culture personally and only can report back on what I have seen with my own eyes having skied there a few times early season in the ASC days and my time spent there today skiing spring bumps every run all day. Is THE BEAST Back? It may be too early to judge. But they are setup well to go late into the spring and I see no reason why they could not be last to close in the east.... it all depends if they want to write the word "closed for the season" in flowery and flowy script or big bold lettering. Time will tell.
For today, I worked the mountain south to north starting at Outer Limits and working back to the Canyon area trying to hit every steeper pitched trail on the mountain and finally completing my knowledge of the terrain to a sufficient level minus the trees (Julios looked mouth watering, will need to be back mid-winter for that glade at some point!). Snow varied from just past prime corn to sloppy mush but was best on the moderately steep bumps and worse on flatter terrain, especially groomed out blue squares.
Outer Limits was big banging wide spaced bumps with exception of the BMMC course which had tight but deep bumps. All set, thanks. Upper Wildfire was on fire with amazing perfect moderately pitched bumps, sensational. Would have kept on lapping but I wanted to cover the place and needed to keep moving. Upper Needle's Eye was okay but nothing special, good thin coverage in there. Vertigo was off the hook with another bump course setup on the bottom half. Again, would have lapped but wanted to keep moving.
Superstar looked like it might have been recently groomed as the main trail didn't really have bumps but rather slush piles. Bump lines on Lower skier's right were variable lines but REALLY good. Lines on Lower skier's left were DEEP but really fun and pretty tight, got some good snow kicking up down there and of course flattens out to perfect lines at the bottom. Upper Ovation was SMOKING!!! Really great lines up there. But ended with Lower Ovation at the steep pitch with wide spaced variable crap bumps. Lunch time!
Over in the Canyon area, Escape was pretty good but Cascade was not so hot. Downdraft was another trail that was SMOKING HOT! Nice lines and a nice trail unlike K's normal straight and wide. Caught some good air of a 8 foot rock drop at the bottom. Would return two more times for more on Downdraft. Double Dipper was kinda crappy with well spaced out bumps but I found a good line skier's left and lower East Fall was horrendous slides of mush piles, perhaps due to its southernly exposure. Returned back to Upper Ovation to Lower Superstar two more times to finish out the day.
Unfortunately, the best bump lines were kinda all over the place and usually not consistent top to bottom on any one trail where they were found (either upper was great and lower not or vice versa). Upper Wildfire, Vertigo, Upper Ovation, Lower Superstar, and Downdraft were all BIG WINNERS today.
Put on the sunscreen, skied in a short sleeve T all day, and lots of big smiles as the spring bump snow kicked up all around me explosion style. Great day at Killington. They have a ton of snow still left with great coverage. The majority of open trails still have no notable bear spots to speak of if any coverage issues at all. Lots of empty chairs though... that is really worrying. Then again, K has enormous uphill capacity but still... the place should have been jam packed today and it felt empty, mid-week-like, even for the first weekend in April. Maybe it was the holiday? People need to get their priorities straight!
:beer:
For today, I worked the mountain south to north starting at Outer Limits and working back to the Canyon area trying to hit every steeper pitched trail on the mountain and finally completing my knowledge of the terrain to a sufficient level minus the trees (Julios looked mouth watering, will need to be back mid-winter for that glade at some point!). Snow varied from just past prime corn to sloppy mush but was best on the moderately steep bumps and worse on flatter terrain, especially groomed out blue squares.
Outer Limits was big banging wide spaced bumps with exception of the BMMC course which had tight but deep bumps. All set, thanks. Upper Wildfire was on fire with amazing perfect moderately pitched bumps, sensational. Would have kept on lapping but I wanted to cover the place and needed to keep moving. Upper Needle's Eye was okay but nothing special, good thin coverage in there. Vertigo was off the hook with another bump course setup on the bottom half. Again, would have lapped but wanted to keep moving.
Superstar looked like it might have been recently groomed as the main trail didn't really have bumps but rather slush piles. Bump lines on Lower skier's right were variable lines but REALLY good. Lines on Lower skier's left were DEEP but really fun and pretty tight, got some good snow kicking up down there and of course flattens out to perfect lines at the bottom. Upper Ovation was SMOKING!!! Really great lines up there. But ended with Lower Ovation at the steep pitch with wide spaced variable crap bumps. Lunch time!
Over in the Canyon area, Escape was pretty good but Cascade was not so hot. Downdraft was another trail that was SMOKING HOT! Nice lines and a nice trail unlike K's normal straight and wide. Caught some good air of a 8 foot rock drop at the bottom. Would return two more times for more on Downdraft. Double Dipper was kinda crappy with well spaced out bumps but I found a good line skier's left and lower East Fall was horrendous slides of mush piles, perhaps due to its southernly exposure. Returned back to Upper Ovation to Lower Superstar two more times to finish out the day.
Unfortunately, the best bump lines were kinda all over the place and usually not consistent top to bottom on any one trail where they were found (either upper was great and lower not or vice versa). Upper Wildfire, Vertigo, Upper Ovation, Lower Superstar, and Downdraft were all BIG WINNERS today.
Put on the sunscreen, skied in a short sleeve T all day, and lots of big smiles as the spring bump snow kicked up all around me explosion style. Great day at Killington. They have a ton of snow still left with great coverage. The majority of open trails still have no notable bear spots to speak of if any coverage issues at all. Lots of empty chairs though... that is really worrying. Then again, K has enormous uphill capacity but still... the place should have been jam packed today and it felt empty, mid-week-like, even for the first weekend in April. Maybe it was the holiday? People need to get their priorities straight!
:beer:
