Zand
Well-known member
Killington 3/25/07-3/27/07, Pico 3/26/07
Date(s) Skied: Sunday, 3/25/07
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Spring, 4" of fresh with temps in the upper 40s
Trip Report:
Took my annual spring trip to Killington. Once again, the weather sucked for the majority of the trip with Sunday being the only good day. I got caught right in the middle of the meltdown with the majority of the mountain open with good conditions Sunday, then by Tuesday there were some key trails closed with bare spots on every trail except Superstar and a few Canyon trails. Here's the Sunday report:
Arrived at the Skyeship base around 10:30, got my 3 day ticket, and boarded the gondola (first time in my life that I've ridden the bottom). Saw 3 people trying to use February 25th tickets. Throw'em in jail just for being ignorant. Anyway, took Cruise Control from the top of Skye which was some of the best butter I've ever experiened in my life. Not too many people and the run was great.
Next run was up the Needles Quad and down Panic Button to Needles Eye. Panic Button had a few bumps and was in good shape. Needles was also bumped with ungroomed crud on skiers right which I spent most of the run in. Very fun.
Headed back up Needles and down Bittersweet. Upper was great with nice bumps and few people. Lower was a free-for-all. Conditions weren't bad, but herbs (trying to bring in some K terminology here lol) were flying all over the place.
Next run was up the Superstar Quad and down its namesake. The upper 2/3rds of the trail were awesome with some small bumps forming and no slick spots at all. The lower headwall had some patchy ice, but the bumps were very manageable and all-in-all, a good run.
Traverse around KBL over to the Snowdon Cripple (K1 had a good line so I skipped it). Cripple only stopped 3 times for the entire ride so it was manageable. Headed down Bunny Buster and took my first ride ever on a real Poma. I've ridden the Waterville one, but that's not a detachable and its very slow, so this is essentially my first real one. I had so much fun that I went back down Bunny and did it again. Now I REALLY want to go to Burke.
Next run, I traversed from the Poma over to Frolic and down a BEAUTIFUL Northstar. Pretty much hero bumps the entire way, especially with the fresh from the night before. Absolutely amazing run.
Next run was up the Slowdon Quad and down Killink to the Glades... ehem... North Ridge Triple. Took a run down Double Dipper. Good steep run with very nice bumps. Didn't get a chance to hit Big Dipper, but I saw plenty of people in there having a good time.
Headed up the Canyon Quad and traversed over to the South Ridge. Started off on Upper Jug which had nice soft bumps. It was roped after Escape, so I headed over to Breakaway. Awesome run. Only one bare spot and otherwise had great spring bumps. Took the mandatory scenic run down Falls Brook off of that.
Got to Bear base right when they were ending Quals and announced there were 45 minutes until finals started. Took the Bear Quad up and took Outer Limits with the rest of the state. Nice bumps the whole way, albeit small.
Headed back up the Bear Quad and took a run down Wildfire. This run also had nice small bumps just like OL. Lower Wildfire was also nice.
There were 20 minutes left till finals, so I headed up the Skye Quad and took a top to bottom run down Skyeburst. Nice bumps the whole way and a good long run. Not too many people on lower Bear Claw/Trap/whatever it is.
Got in the burger line right when that kid did a front flip of the 2nd air and then sang the National Anthem. Got a front row seat and watched the comp for the next hour. Just an insane comp with some good wipeouts (including a guy whos helmet beat him across the finish line) and some very close finishes.
I headed out at 3 and back up the Bear Quad (good view of the semifinal from there) and headed down Bloodshed Crossover to K1. Took that to the top and took a top to bottom run on Great Eastern. Amazing change of conditions and weather over those 3,000 feet of vertical. The top was in a fog and the snow was firm with temps around 35 (never saw the peak the entire time I was there... damn fog). The fog cleared very qpickly right after crossing the South Ridge and it warmed more and more. The bottom featured 50 degree temps and bright sun. Just an amazing difference.
Back up the Skyeship, I took a run down Skyelark. Good run, especially the lower part which had some good bumps. Final run of the day was down Superstar which was nice and soft.
It was a great Sunday at Killington. Unfortunately, that would end up being the only good day of my trip with the weather taking its toll on the next 2 days besides good morning runs at Pico.
Date(s) Skied: Monday, 3/26/07 (Morning)
Resort or Ski Area: Pico Mountain, VT
Conditions: Perfect frozen corduroy on groomed trails, soft bumps on ungroomed trails, temps in the upper 30s with sun
Trip Report:
Left my condo at Pico base around 8:50 and was the 3rd one in line for the Golden Express. 5 minutes later, I was on the lift and took first tracks down Fool's Gold. Ended up being the first one on the Summit Express and got first tracks down 49er. Great run with fresh corduroy the whole way and nice rolling terrain. Great warmup run.
Headed back up to the summit and took a run down the groomed, but narrow Ka. I had about 2nd tracks and t was very nice with the narrow, twisty trail. Felt like bring on the Ravines at Cannon.
Another run off the summit, this time Sunset 71. It's not as narrow or twisty as Ka, but is steeper and made for a nice fast cruiser with about 4th or 5th tracks.
Headed up to check out Summit Glades. I took a sampling of the first part of the trail and to my satisfaction, the bumps were nice and soft. So, I kept it on the trail and wasn't disappointed... great soft bumps the entire way with great cover. Took Sunset Schuss from the midway point which was ungroomed and there was just one long track of hardpack in the middle of the crappy ungroomed stuff and seemed like it went on forever. Not such a great run.
Next, I took first run of the morning down Pike. Again, the bumps were nice and soft the entire way. It seemed like I was the one who encouraged the rest of the crowd (about 100 people in all) that it was soft now and time to hit the bumps as many people started going down after I did. I kept right on cruising past the station for the Quad and did the full 2,000 feet of vertical in one straight run.
Next run up the Golden Express, I tried flying down Prospector to try to get up to the Outpost area, but the trail to Outpost was roped so I traversed back down to the Summit Quad. Took another great run down Pike, then traversed over to Lower Giant Killer. It stull featured fresh powder from Saturday night's storm, but it was so dense that it practically wasn't even worth it. Cruised back down to the condo and finished up just before 11, a nice 2 hour side trip to Pico. Nice place and I'll hopefully be back there next time I'm in Killington.
Date(s) Skied: Monday, 3/26/07 (Afternoon)
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Wet Snow. Weather: Rain, Temps in the 30s
Trip Report:
After I finished at Pico, I had a late breakfast at Johnny Boy's on the Access Road before heading up to K. Figures the skies opened up right when I left the restaurant, but I figured I might as well ski anyway. Boarded K1 shortly after noon and ascended in the rain. Took a run down Downdraft headwall to Rime. Downdraft headwall had big bumps that were a bit icy. Rime was nice crusing on skiers left.
Next run was up the Glades and down West Glade (Ridge Run). Short and not that steep, but the bumps were a blast. The lower half was a bit messy.
Another run up the triple led me to Powerline. Very narrow trail, but had some nice bumps on a decent pitch. Took Lower Rime down to Lower East Fall. That one had some decent bumps on a steep slope. The runout was rotting quite quickly, don't think it'll last too long.
Headed back up the K1, this time down Cascade top to bottom. Cascade headwall was like Downdraft Headwall. Cascade was nice crusing before the turn, then got some irregular bumps into the Canyon.
Headed over to the Slowdon Quad and headed down Caper. Hopped into Squeeze Play which had surprisingly nice coverage. Stayed in there for a bit, the popped out to hit the Timberline park. Features were small, but good for practicing stuff... I wish Wachusett would made some nice small features like those and not just make all big ones.
Headed up the Rams Quad and went down Header. Coverage is about gone here and I spotted better coverage on Easy Street, so I blasted down that. Header won't make it past this weekend, I'll say that much.
Headed back up and took Caper back to the Slowdon Quad. Did a Bunny Buster/Poma run before heading back down Bunny and onto Mouse Trap. Had some nice bumps on skiers left and rocks on skiers right. Headed down Lower Bunny. Just like a November run minus the bodies.
Headed up K1 and down Double Dipper. Just about the same as Sunday, nice bumps the whole way. Just not as many people. By then, the fog had also encompassed the entire upper mountain. I headed in to dry off and to my pleasure, the rain stopped (this was about 2:30) and the sun came out. I decided I'd try to ski without gloves as mine were completely soaked.
Headed up the K1 and down Great Eastern hoping Bear would be warmer for the gloveless hands. Hopped onto Wildfire which had nice bumps the whole way. Unfortunately, it wasn't very warm at Bear and I decided to shell out the $30 on new gloves. They are VERY warm and they'll be good for next year.
Headed up the Bear Quad for a quick OL run. The middle was groomed, the left was small bumps, and the right was big bumps. I swapped in between the small bumps and the groomed part.
Headed up the Skye Quad next and headed down upper Needles. Had some very nice bumps, but was roped at the Cruise Control so I headed down that. At Snowshed Crossover, I headed back and hit Lower Needles which was very scratchy and the bumps were pretty crappy.
Headed up the skyeship and down Skyelark. That one had some decent bumps. The trail was surprisingly closed at the High Road intersection (that's a late season trail right there... IDK why it's closed already, but if they lost the snow on it already, there's a problem), so I headed down Lower Bittersweet. That run also had some soft bumps.
Took last run of the day down Superstar. The top was nice with some soft bumps. The lower headwall was a lot scratchier and slick. All in all, Monday wasn't too bad although the weather completely blew. I'll have the Tuesday report in a bit.
Date(s) Skied: Tuesday, 3/27/07
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Spring, FOG everywhere except Bear with temps around 50
Trip Report:
My final day at Killington started off with me waking up at 8 and not being able to see the cars in the parking lot 30 feet from my window. The drive to the mountain was slow and white (in a bad way)... the fog was so bad on the Access Road you couldn't even see the Rams Head lift which is just a few feet from the road.
Started off on K1 and took a warmup run down Great Northern onto Upper East Fall (Lower East Glade). It wasn't groomed and was very crappy.
Took the triple and went top to bottom on Rime. Nice groomed run and good for some nice long GS turns.
Took the triple once more and took Reason. Just like Upper East Fall, it was ungroomed and crappy. I took Great Northern from there and headed down Highline. The coverage at the top was sparse, but good after that. Some decent bumps, but the fog was so bad I didn't even know I was at the bottom until I almost ran into the old halfpipe.
I headed up the Slowdon Quad and took a couple laps off the Poma whch featured a great Bunny Buster. Took Mouse Trap after a few laps which was like Monday, then lower Bunny back to K1.
Decided that maybe Bear would have less fog, so I headed up K1 and down Great Eastern to Falls Brook. I decided to detour into Sunrise since I've never been there before. Sun Dog was a decent green trail with great views of a not-so-foggy Bear. Took the triple back up and it was interesting seeing the old lift and the old trails heading down to Route 4. Be neat to see them come back under the old management. Headed over to Bear Base off the triple.
Bear was shrouded not in a dense fog, but bright sun all the way to the summit. The entire mountain was surrounded by fog, but it seemed like Bear had some special fog burning powers and it got sun nonstop. Took 3 straight runs down a beautiful OL. Some of the best spring snow I've ever experienced. I hit OL a couple more times and Bear Trap to Wildfire for some jumps a few times.
Took one run up the Skye Quad and just past the Great Eastern intersection stood the fog. Took a run into Northbrook via Panic Button and Needles, which were like Monday. The very bottom of Needles was out of the fog, but the conditions were lackluster, so I headed back to Bear via Skyeburst which had mant bare spots, but good bumps.
Had lunch at Bear base, then took some more runs on OL and Bear Trap. Took one ride up the ropetow from death by the superpipe. Now I've experienced some of the hardest trails in NE, but I've never had a skiing experience as hard as that damn ropetow. After the 2 minute ride, my arms felt lke complete rubber. They couldn't at least make it a handletow with that kind of speed? Come on now...
It was about 1:00 and I decided that I wanted to hit some of the terrain I missed on the rest of K the first 2 days, so I kissed the sun goodbye and took Snowshed Crossover back to the main base. Took a run down Superstar which was like the 2 days before it.
Headed up K1 and took a run down Escapade. Great natural trail with decent coverage besides the very bottom and one spot a little before the bottom. Cascade was like Monday, biggish bumps.
Took Slowdon up to Vagabond which was another great natural trail with very decent cover and great bumps. Almost remeniscent to Nothstar. I can see why everyone flocks to these trails on powder days. At the bottom of Snowdon, I hung a left to Rams base.
Took a couple runs through Timberline. The first was preceded by a run through Squeeze Play which had that scary "collapse underfoot and sink your front tips in the process" type snow. The second time was preceded by a run down Swirl which was ungroomed and a bit like Reason, but got better after the groomed Criss Cross came into play.
Took the Slowdon Quad and did a few more Poma/Bunny Buster laps. I wish Wachusett had a Poma, but like that'll ever happen. Headed back to K1 and closed the trip with a run top to bottom on Downdraft. The headwall was a bit messy. The trail felt very long due to the fog and was steep and bumpy, but a lot of fun.
As I was heading back down the access road, the sun came out as I passed Rams and Snowshed and I never saw fog for the rest of the day. Great luck there. Anyway, I had a nice trip to Killington that only the weather put a damper on. Can't wait (or maybe I can... we'll see) to ski it under the new management next year. Anyway, I'll have a Wachusett closing day report on Sunday, then my final day of the season will either be at Sunapee or Mount Snow next Thursday.
Date(s) Skied: Sunday, 3/25/07
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Spring, 4" of fresh with temps in the upper 40s
Trip Report:
Took my annual spring trip to Killington. Once again, the weather sucked for the majority of the trip with Sunday being the only good day. I got caught right in the middle of the meltdown with the majority of the mountain open with good conditions Sunday, then by Tuesday there were some key trails closed with bare spots on every trail except Superstar and a few Canyon trails. Here's the Sunday report:
Arrived at the Skyeship base around 10:30, got my 3 day ticket, and boarded the gondola (first time in my life that I've ridden the bottom). Saw 3 people trying to use February 25th tickets. Throw'em in jail just for being ignorant. Anyway, took Cruise Control from the top of Skye which was some of the best butter I've ever experiened in my life. Not too many people and the run was great.
Next run was up the Needles Quad and down Panic Button to Needles Eye. Panic Button had a few bumps and was in good shape. Needles was also bumped with ungroomed crud on skiers right which I spent most of the run in. Very fun.
Headed back up Needles and down Bittersweet. Upper was great with nice bumps and few people. Lower was a free-for-all. Conditions weren't bad, but herbs (trying to bring in some K terminology here lol) were flying all over the place.
Next run was up the Superstar Quad and down its namesake. The upper 2/3rds of the trail were awesome with some small bumps forming and no slick spots at all. The lower headwall had some patchy ice, but the bumps were very manageable and all-in-all, a good run.
Traverse around KBL over to the Snowdon Cripple (K1 had a good line so I skipped it). Cripple only stopped 3 times for the entire ride so it was manageable. Headed down Bunny Buster and took my first ride ever on a real Poma. I've ridden the Waterville one, but that's not a detachable and its very slow, so this is essentially my first real one. I had so much fun that I went back down Bunny and did it again. Now I REALLY want to go to Burke.
Next run, I traversed from the Poma over to Frolic and down a BEAUTIFUL Northstar. Pretty much hero bumps the entire way, especially with the fresh from the night before. Absolutely amazing run.
Next run was up the Slowdon Quad and down Killink to the Glades... ehem... North Ridge Triple. Took a run down Double Dipper. Good steep run with very nice bumps. Didn't get a chance to hit Big Dipper, but I saw plenty of people in there having a good time.
Headed up the Canyon Quad and traversed over to the South Ridge. Started off on Upper Jug which had nice soft bumps. It was roped after Escape, so I headed over to Breakaway. Awesome run. Only one bare spot and otherwise had great spring bumps. Took the mandatory scenic run down Falls Brook off of that.
Got to Bear base right when they were ending Quals and announced there were 45 minutes until finals started. Took the Bear Quad up and took Outer Limits with the rest of the state. Nice bumps the whole way, albeit small.
Headed back up the Bear Quad and took a run down Wildfire. This run also had nice small bumps just like OL. Lower Wildfire was also nice.
There were 20 minutes left till finals, so I headed up the Skye Quad and took a top to bottom run down Skyeburst. Nice bumps the whole way and a good long run. Not too many people on lower Bear Claw/Trap/whatever it is.
Got in the burger line right when that kid did a front flip of the 2nd air and then sang the National Anthem. Got a front row seat and watched the comp for the next hour. Just an insane comp with some good wipeouts (including a guy whos helmet beat him across the finish line) and some very close finishes.
I headed out at 3 and back up the Bear Quad (good view of the semifinal from there) and headed down Bloodshed Crossover to K1. Took that to the top and took a top to bottom run on Great Eastern. Amazing change of conditions and weather over those 3,000 feet of vertical. The top was in a fog and the snow was firm with temps around 35 (never saw the peak the entire time I was there... damn fog). The fog cleared very qpickly right after crossing the South Ridge and it warmed more and more. The bottom featured 50 degree temps and bright sun. Just an amazing difference.
Back up the Skyeship, I took a run down Skyelark. Good run, especially the lower part which had some good bumps. Final run of the day was down Superstar which was nice and soft.
It was a great Sunday at Killington. Unfortunately, that would end up being the only good day of my trip with the weather taking its toll on the next 2 days besides good morning runs at Pico.
Date(s) Skied: Monday, 3/26/07 (Morning)
Resort or Ski Area: Pico Mountain, VT
Conditions: Perfect frozen corduroy on groomed trails, soft bumps on ungroomed trails, temps in the upper 30s with sun
Trip Report:
Left my condo at Pico base around 8:50 and was the 3rd one in line for the Golden Express. 5 minutes later, I was on the lift and took first tracks down Fool's Gold. Ended up being the first one on the Summit Express and got first tracks down 49er. Great run with fresh corduroy the whole way and nice rolling terrain. Great warmup run.
Headed back up to the summit and took a run down the groomed, but narrow Ka. I had about 2nd tracks and t was very nice with the narrow, twisty trail. Felt like bring on the Ravines at Cannon.
Another run off the summit, this time Sunset 71. It's not as narrow or twisty as Ka, but is steeper and made for a nice fast cruiser with about 4th or 5th tracks.
Headed up to check out Summit Glades. I took a sampling of the first part of the trail and to my satisfaction, the bumps were nice and soft. So, I kept it on the trail and wasn't disappointed... great soft bumps the entire way with great cover. Took Sunset Schuss from the midway point which was ungroomed and there was just one long track of hardpack in the middle of the crappy ungroomed stuff and seemed like it went on forever. Not such a great run.
Next, I took first run of the morning down Pike. Again, the bumps were nice and soft the entire way. It seemed like I was the one who encouraged the rest of the crowd (about 100 people in all) that it was soft now and time to hit the bumps as many people started going down after I did. I kept right on cruising past the station for the Quad and did the full 2,000 feet of vertical in one straight run.
Next run up the Golden Express, I tried flying down Prospector to try to get up to the Outpost area, but the trail to Outpost was roped so I traversed back down to the Summit Quad. Took another great run down Pike, then traversed over to Lower Giant Killer. It stull featured fresh powder from Saturday night's storm, but it was so dense that it practically wasn't even worth it. Cruised back down to the condo and finished up just before 11, a nice 2 hour side trip to Pico. Nice place and I'll hopefully be back there next time I'm in Killington.
Date(s) Skied: Monday, 3/26/07 (Afternoon)
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Wet Snow. Weather: Rain, Temps in the 30s
Trip Report:
After I finished at Pico, I had a late breakfast at Johnny Boy's on the Access Road before heading up to K. Figures the skies opened up right when I left the restaurant, but I figured I might as well ski anyway. Boarded K1 shortly after noon and ascended in the rain. Took a run down Downdraft headwall to Rime. Downdraft headwall had big bumps that were a bit icy. Rime was nice crusing on skiers left.
Next run was up the Glades and down West Glade (Ridge Run). Short and not that steep, but the bumps were a blast. The lower half was a bit messy.
Another run up the triple led me to Powerline. Very narrow trail, but had some nice bumps on a decent pitch. Took Lower Rime down to Lower East Fall. That one had some decent bumps on a steep slope. The runout was rotting quite quickly, don't think it'll last too long.
Headed back up the K1, this time down Cascade top to bottom. Cascade headwall was like Downdraft Headwall. Cascade was nice crusing before the turn, then got some irregular bumps into the Canyon.
Headed over to the Slowdon Quad and headed down Caper. Hopped into Squeeze Play which had surprisingly nice coverage. Stayed in there for a bit, the popped out to hit the Timberline park. Features were small, but good for practicing stuff... I wish Wachusett would made some nice small features like those and not just make all big ones.
Headed up the Rams Quad and went down Header. Coverage is about gone here and I spotted better coverage on Easy Street, so I blasted down that. Header won't make it past this weekend, I'll say that much.
Headed back up and took Caper back to the Slowdon Quad. Did a Bunny Buster/Poma run before heading back down Bunny and onto Mouse Trap. Had some nice bumps on skiers left and rocks on skiers right. Headed down Lower Bunny. Just like a November run minus the bodies.
Headed up K1 and down Double Dipper. Just about the same as Sunday, nice bumps the whole way. Just not as many people. By then, the fog had also encompassed the entire upper mountain. I headed in to dry off and to my pleasure, the rain stopped (this was about 2:30) and the sun came out. I decided I'd try to ski without gloves as mine were completely soaked.
Headed up the K1 and down Great Eastern hoping Bear would be warmer for the gloveless hands. Hopped onto Wildfire which had nice bumps the whole way. Unfortunately, it wasn't very warm at Bear and I decided to shell out the $30 on new gloves. They are VERY warm and they'll be good for next year.
Headed up the Bear Quad for a quick OL run. The middle was groomed, the left was small bumps, and the right was big bumps. I swapped in between the small bumps and the groomed part.
Headed up the Skye Quad next and headed down upper Needles. Had some very nice bumps, but was roped at the Cruise Control so I headed down that. At Snowshed Crossover, I headed back and hit Lower Needles which was very scratchy and the bumps were pretty crappy.
Headed up the skyeship and down Skyelark. That one had some decent bumps. The trail was surprisingly closed at the High Road intersection (that's a late season trail right there... IDK why it's closed already, but if they lost the snow on it already, there's a problem), so I headed down Lower Bittersweet. That run also had some soft bumps.
Took last run of the day down Superstar. The top was nice with some soft bumps. The lower headwall was a lot scratchier and slick. All in all, Monday wasn't too bad although the weather completely blew. I'll have the Tuesday report in a bit.
Date(s) Skied: Tuesday, 3/27/07
Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT
Conditions: Spring, FOG everywhere except Bear with temps around 50
Trip Report:
My final day at Killington started off with me waking up at 8 and not being able to see the cars in the parking lot 30 feet from my window. The drive to the mountain was slow and white (in a bad way)... the fog was so bad on the Access Road you couldn't even see the Rams Head lift which is just a few feet from the road.
Started off on K1 and took a warmup run down Great Northern onto Upper East Fall (Lower East Glade). It wasn't groomed and was very crappy.
Took the triple and went top to bottom on Rime. Nice groomed run and good for some nice long GS turns.
Took the triple once more and took Reason. Just like Upper East Fall, it was ungroomed and crappy. I took Great Northern from there and headed down Highline. The coverage at the top was sparse, but good after that. Some decent bumps, but the fog was so bad I didn't even know I was at the bottom until I almost ran into the old halfpipe.
I headed up the Slowdon Quad and took a couple laps off the Poma whch featured a great Bunny Buster. Took Mouse Trap after a few laps which was like Monday, then lower Bunny back to K1.
Decided that maybe Bear would have less fog, so I headed up K1 and down Great Eastern to Falls Brook. I decided to detour into Sunrise since I've never been there before. Sun Dog was a decent green trail with great views of a not-so-foggy Bear. Took the triple back up and it was interesting seeing the old lift and the old trails heading down to Route 4. Be neat to see them come back under the old management. Headed over to Bear Base off the triple.
Bear was shrouded not in a dense fog, but bright sun all the way to the summit. The entire mountain was surrounded by fog, but it seemed like Bear had some special fog burning powers and it got sun nonstop. Took 3 straight runs down a beautiful OL. Some of the best spring snow I've ever experienced. I hit OL a couple more times and Bear Trap to Wildfire for some jumps a few times.
Took one run up the Skye Quad and just past the Great Eastern intersection stood the fog. Took a run into Northbrook via Panic Button and Needles, which were like Monday. The very bottom of Needles was out of the fog, but the conditions were lackluster, so I headed back to Bear via Skyeburst which had mant bare spots, but good bumps.
Had lunch at Bear base, then took some more runs on OL and Bear Trap. Took one ride up the ropetow from death by the superpipe. Now I've experienced some of the hardest trails in NE, but I've never had a skiing experience as hard as that damn ropetow. After the 2 minute ride, my arms felt lke complete rubber. They couldn't at least make it a handletow with that kind of speed? Come on now...
It was about 1:00 and I decided that I wanted to hit some of the terrain I missed on the rest of K the first 2 days, so I kissed the sun goodbye and took Snowshed Crossover back to the main base. Took a run down Superstar which was like the 2 days before it.
Headed up K1 and took a run down Escapade. Great natural trail with decent coverage besides the very bottom and one spot a little before the bottom. Cascade was like Monday, biggish bumps.
Took Slowdon up to Vagabond which was another great natural trail with very decent cover and great bumps. Almost remeniscent to Nothstar. I can see why everyone flocks to these trails on powder days. At the bottom of Snowdon, I hung a left to Rams base.
Took a couple runs through Timberline. The first was preceded by a run through Squeeze Play which had that scary "collapse underfoot and sink your front tips in the process" type snow. The second time was preceded by a run down Swirl which was ungroomed and a bit like Reason, but got better after the groomed Criss Cross came into play.
Took the Slowdon Quad and did a few more Poma/Bunny Buster laps. I wish Wachusett had a Poma, but like that'll ever happen. Headed back to K1 and closed the trip with a run top to bottom on Downdraft. The headwall was a bit messy. The trail felt very long due to the fog and was steep and bumpy, but a lot of fun.
As I was heading back down the access road, the sun came out as I passed Rams and Snowshed and I never saw fog for the rest of the day. Great luck there. Anyway, I had a nice trip to Killington that only the weather put a damper on. Can't wait (or maybe I can... we'll see) to ski it under the new management next year. Anyway, I'll have a Wachusett closing day report on Sunday, then my final day of the season will either be at Sunapee or Mount Snow next Thursday.
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