Zand
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: Monday 10/31/11
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Mid-winter, low 30s to start and warming into the 40s, sunny
Trip Report:
Awesome day at Killington. Would've considered it awesome in January, nevermind October. Light to moderate crowd... a very short wait at times on the triple, but usually ski on.
Rime: Seemed to carry most of the crowd today. Firm early, then loosening up along the sides as the day went on and temps went up. A short bump line (as in 6-8 bumps) on skiers right just after the GN crossing. A few slick spots because of the crowd, but very very good for Halloween.
Upper East Fall: Ungroomed whales, complete with water bars and other funky stuff. Snow was very firm and slick. Hoping to find bumps in there somewhere but never did. Therefore only hit it a couple times.
Reason: 5 boxes/rails set up along it. Never seemed to be that many people using it.
Upper Dipper: Don't know if they blew snow on it or not but it felt like all natural snow, and groomed. Made for an EXCELLENT surface as long as you watched out for the thin spots. Snow was so soft.
Powerline: Opened around noonish... got flattened out pretty fast, so nothing really special about it.
West Glade/that section of GN: Was pleasantly surprised to see the ropes drop, and boy was it great to ski that first pitch. Perfect skier packed natural. Expected to see some bumps later on, but never did. Tons of fun regardless. GN was pretty slick, seemed like it only had a night of snowmaking. The narrow section back to the triple was a bit rocky.
Also did some poaching after reading on K-Zone (and having it confirmed today by a ski patroller) that they're not busting people for ducking ropes. First poach was Royal Flush to Racer's Edge to Highline. Was psyched to hit Royal Flush, but it was just too sticky to have fun on. Racer's was rocky, especially at waterbars (took a nice core shot in there). Highline was also very sticky, however a little more tracked out than Flush so a little more doable.
Next poach was Downdraft (actually skied the top part with a ski patroller who just said "looks nice, let's go" when he skied up lol). Deep snow... knee deep at the waterbars. A bit thick, but not as sticky as Flush. Definitely a leg burner this early on. Runout had a single track pack which made it easy to get down without poling. A few rocks, but not too bad.
Third poach was Ovation to Superstar. Bear Trax was actually groomed, which actually didn't help as it was very thin and rocky. Launch Pad was "groomed" by a snowmobile, leaving a packed surface that had better coverage. Ovation was off the charts, fields of shin deep powder EVERYWHERE. Didn't see any tracks going over the headwall, so decided not to risk it and hit lower Superstar. From the crossover to the last tower it was rocky and unmowed, so not a ton of fun. After the last tower, the last few hundred vertical feet were mowed and untouched knee deep powder all over the place. And this is Halloween.
Last one was the last run of the day (therefore never had to use the stairs), a simple GN/Mouse Trap/Bunny Buster run. GN was groomed and pebbly. Mouse Trap was thick and had a lot of rocks under foot. BB was groomed as well, and very thin. Would've taken a better run but I was spent.
Absolutely fantastic day. Thank you to Killington for finally going back to your roots, glad to see it be a special place for skiing again.
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Mid-winter, low 30s to start and warming into the 40s, sunny
Trip Report:
Awesome day at Killington. Would've considered it awesome in January, nevermind October. Light to moderate crowd... a very short wait at times on the triple, but usually ski on.
Rime: Seemed to carry most of the crowd today. Firm early, then loosening up along the sides as the day went on and temps went up. A short bump line (as in 6-8 bumps) on skiers right just after the GN crossing. A few slick spots because of the crowd, but very very good for Halloween.
Upper East Fall: Ungroomed whales, complete with water bars and other funky stuff. Snow was very firm and slick. Hoping to find bumps in there somewhere but never did. Therefore only hit it a couple times.
Reason: 5 boxes/rails set up along it. Never seemed to be that many people using it.
Upper Dipper: Don't know if they blew snow on it or not but it felt like all natural snow, and groomed. Made for an EXCELLENT surface as long as you watched out for the thin spots. Snow was so soft.
Powerline: Opened around noonish... got flattened out pretty fast, so nothing really special about it.
West Glade/that section of GN: Was pleasantly surprised to see the ropes drop, and boy was it great to ski that first pitch. Perfect skier packed natural. Expected to see some bumps later on, but never did. Tons of fun regardless. GN was pretty slick, seemed like it only had a night of snowmaking. The narrow section back to the triple was a bit rocky.
Also did some poaching after reading on K-Zone (and having it confirmed today by a ski patroller) that they're not busting people for ducking ropes. First poach was Royal Flush to Racer's Edge to Highline. Was psyched to hit Royal Flush, but it was just too sticky to have fun on. Racer's was rocky, especially at waterbars (took a nice core shot in there). Highline was also very sticky, however a little more tracked out than Flush so a little more doable.
Next poach was Downdraft (actually skied the top part with a ski patroller who just said "looks nice, let's go" when he skied up lol). Deep snow... knee deep at the waterbars. A bit thick, but not as sticky as Flush. Definitely a leg burner this early on. Runout had a single track pack which made it easy to get down without poling. A few rocks, but not too bad.
Third poach was Ovation to Superstar. Bear Trax was actually groomed, which actually didn't help as it was very thin and rocky. Launch Pad was "groomed" by a snowmobile, leaving a packed surface that had better coverage. Ovation was off the charts, fields of shin deep powder EVERYWHERE. Didn't see any tracks going over the headwall, so decided not to risk it and hit lower Superstar. From the crossover to the last tower it was rocky and unmowed, so not a ton of fun. After the last tower, the last few hundred vertical feet were mowed and untouched knee deep powder all over the place. And this is Halloween.
Last one was the last run of the day (therefore never had to use the stairs), a simple GN/Mouse Trap/Bunny Buster run. GN was groomed and pebbly. Mouse Trap was thick and had a lot of rocks under foot. BB was groomed as well, and very thin. Would've taken a better run but I was spent.
Absolutely fantastic day. Thank you to Killington for finally going back to your roots, glad to see it be a special place for skiing again.
) First one is Cascade from the K1, second one is Ovation.
