Killington - 3/4/18

[speden]

Hit Killington yesterday. As expected the big crowds went on Saturday, so going on Sunday was a good move and we had pretty much ski on lifts all day.

The mountain is kind of split into two zones at this point, with the upper mountain staying below freezing most of the time and holding the snow better, while the lower mountain was quite a bit warmer and more melted. The freeze line yesterday was around 3300 feet, a little below the top of the Needle's eye express. Above that all the tree branches were still covered in snow from the storm.

They seem to be reporting on the upper mountain in their snow reports, so are kind of fibbing a little. They said they got 7" from the storm, but it seemed like only maybe 4" on the lower mountain. Still coverage isn't too bad overall and they've been making snow when they can. The ungroomed trails have quite a bit of scrapey ice, especially on bumped up trails, but it was warm enough that you could edge it to control your speed.

All the areas are open except south ridge, so we hit pretty much everything. My favorite area yesterday was the little pod off the North Ridge Triple. Nice coverage there and temps were lower, so I didn't get all sweaty like I did on the lower mountain since I was overdressed. The Ridge Run trail was quite icy, but it's fairly low angle and had widely spaced bumps, so it was surprisingly fun to navigate down it.

 

[bzrperfspec77]

I was there on Saturday and although it was crowded, the longest we waited in line was maybe 5 minutes. The gondi was packed, but we avoided it. As you stated above, we lapped North Ridge quite a bit. Lots of fun up there.

Bear Mountain was Slush City...

 

[speden]

Yeah, Bear wasn't skiing that great on Sunday either. Lots of variable conditions on the trails. We did two runs over there and bailed for better areas. I'm not a K regular, but isn't Bear usually one of the earliest areas to close in the spring?

 

[bdfreetuna]

that Ridge Run trail used to be called West Glade and was on the map as a blue square until 2001-ish

Easy bump run but it is icy a lot of the time. Fun trail anyway.

 

[speden]

The approach to Ridge Run looked a little sketchy so I wasn't sure it was a good idea to head over that way, but was pleasantly surprised once I got on the trail. The pitch is certainly a lot less than you'd expect for a black diamond, but I can see how someone might get into trouble on it if they marked it as a blue. It was completely deserted too, so I like how they've got it marked.

It's the third time this season I went to Killington, and I'm starting to feel like I know my way around a little bit. I think the place is starting to grow on me.