I spent the morning of Christmas Eve at Killington. Of course, this was the sucky-weather half of the day, as instead of the beautiful, clear blue sky I'm looking at right now, it was grey with very gusty winds.
Riding up the gondola I thought I was going to get seasick. The forecast was for wind gusts up to 30mph. I don't know what they were, but the little cab was swinging around a lot and this acrophobic skier wasn't too happy.
The whole way down Great Northern off the top had snow guns blasting. I hung a right onto Rime and continued through the snow guns down to the North Ridge Triple. I made a few runs down Rime, in spite of the guns, because it was still a nice run. Apparently I got out at the right time.
I got back on Great Northern and found the peak of the day: Snowdon. The runs off the Snowdon Triple, the Snowdon Quad, and, yes, the Poma, were all in about as decent shape as could be expected for the weather, and with minimal crowds, and no snow guns. There were sticky spots, but for the most part soft piles interspersed with scratch up high, and softer piles down low. I enjoyed Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap & Mouse Run, but the run fo the day was Chute, as it was the most consistent all the way down, and the quad had no line at all.
Unfortunately, by the time I wanted to head over to Ramshead, it had been put on wind hold. I looked the other way, and Superstar was in the same boat. In fact, according to some folks the North Ridge Triple had a gust of wind derail the cable from a tower, and they were evacuating the lift by roping skiers down!
At this point the crowds appeared on Snowdon. The second of the Great Northern/Chute intersections (at the start of lower Bunny Buster) became stand-around-central, and way too many unskilled folk were picking their way down Mouse Trap. Another few Poma rides worked out until everyone else "discovered" it and brought the line to a few dozen long.
It was 11:45 so I called it a day. I'd done at least 8 or 9 runs and it was plenty for the conditions. I didn't expect better; given the temperatures I'm impressed they even had what they had. I wouldn't have put the snow guns up on the green trails, though; a lot of people were not dealing well with the zero visibility.
As I sat in my car pulling off my boots and ski pants, the entire mountain was enveloped by a snow shower, and I could see that I'd missed the reopening of both Superstar and Ramshead. Alas.
Riding up the gondola I thought I was going to get seasick. The forecast was for wind gusts up to 30mph. I don't know what they were, but the little cab was swinging around a lot and this acrophobic skier wasn't too happy.
The whole way down Great Northern off the top had snow guns blasting. I hung a right onto Rime and continued through the snow guns down to the North Ridge Triple. I made a few runs down Rime, in spite of the guns, because it was still a nice run. Apparently I got out at the right time.
I got back on Great Northern and found the peak of the day: Snowdon. The runs off the Snowdon Triple, the Snowdon Quad, and, yes, the Poma, were all in about as decent shape as could be expected for the weather, and with minimal crowds, and no snow guns. There were sticky spots, but for the most part soft piles interspersed with scratch up high, and softer piles down low. I enjoyed Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap & Mouse Run, but the run fo the day was Chute, as it was the most consistent all the way down, and the quad had no line at all.
Unfortunately, by the time I wanted to head over to Ramshead, it had been put on wind hold. I looked the other way, and Superstar was in the same boat. In fact, according to some folks the North Ridge Triple had a gust of wind derail the cable from a tower, and they were evacuating the lift by roping skiers down!
At this point the crowds appeared on Snowdon. The second of the Great Northern/Chute intersections (at the start of lower Bunny Buster) became stand-around-central, and way too many unskilled folk were picking their way down Mouse Trap. Another few Poma rides worked out until everyone else "discovered" it and brought the line to a few dozen long.
It was 11:45 so I called it a day. I'd done at least 8 or 9 runs and it was plenty for the conditions. I didn't expect better; given the temperatures I'm impressed they even had what they had. I wouldn't have put the snow guns up on the green trails, though; a lot of people were not dealing well with the zero visibility.
As I sat in my car pulling off my boots and ski pants, the entire mountain was enveloped by a snow shower, and I could see that I'd missed the reopening of both Superstar and Ramshead. Alas.
