Killington 4/19/2006

[kcyanks1]

I think K should install a lift from the base to the base of the Canyon Quad. Use it just early and late season. Then they can have skiing off both the Canyon Quad and Glades Triple. Intermediates could ride up the Canyon Quad, play in the Glades, and then ride the Canyon Quad back down to avoid the blacks.

The old Killington double with the midstation might have provided the best early/late season option. You then have the peak at over 4000' feet and skiing down Cascade (and perhaps Downdraft) to the mid-station, and downloading to get to the base. I think that's what they did pre-Superstar days, but that was before my time as far as May skiing goes. Not good for the intermediates, but I think most people who want to ski at that point in the season probably can deal with Cascade, and they currently use an expert trail in Superstar anyways. Cascade is probably a little harder, though it doesn't quite warrant that big warning sign that Killington puts on top of all their double diamonds.

 

[loafer89]

I was seriously considering skiing at Killington tomorrow, but based on the weather and conditions, I decided against it, plus I am still tired from 3 days of skiing last weekend in Maine.

It is sad to see Killington closing so early with such sparse snowcover, they used to take great pride in the length of the season at Killington. This is a picture from my first ski day there in June on June 1st 1994 which was day #235:-o :

The old Killington double had the mid-station at 3450', so it was easy to make snow on a short trail (Upper Cascade) and open with only 18 hours of snowmaking. October 1st 1993:

 

[ALLSKIING]

That is some really good cover for June..WOW

 

[loafer89]

Killington did experiment with other early season trails, I have heard that they offered October skiing on Snowshed in the 1970's and I skied Header on Rams Head in October of 1997.

 

[loafer89]

That is some really good cover for June..WOW

Spring 1994 was very cold, in fact there was a frost on the night of May 31st and Superstar was frozen solid first thing in the morning:-o

Check out the cover on Snowshed in this picture from April 26th, 2003:

Nearly edge to edge

 

[kcyanks1]

Killington did experiment with other early season trails, I have heard that they offered October skiing on Snowshed in the 1970's and I skied Header on Rams Head in October of 1997.

Wow, that's interesting. Snoshead seems to make no sense. it starts at a slightly lower elevation than Superstar or K-Peak, and hardly rises at all. I guess it's less trail to cover, but back then they had the K-Peak chair with the midstation, and I can almost imagine that covering that short stretch of Cascade wouldn't be too much more difficult.

 

[kcyanks1]

The old Killington double had the mid-station at 3450', so it was easy to make snow on a short trail (Upper Cascade) and open with only 18 hours of snowmaking. October 1st 1993:

<pic snipped>

That is some amazingly thin coverage there. Did the rest of the trail look so thin? While I hate (but understand) the new philosophy of a shortened season, I can understand why they wouldn't open if the trail were that thin the whole way down. (At least it appears thin to me in the pic.)

 

[riverc0il]

ah, yea. lack of mid-station, forgot about that simple fact!

 

[loafer89]

<pic snipped>

That is some amazingly thin coverage there. Did the rest of the trail look so thin? While I hate (but understand) the new philosophy of a shortened season, I can understand why they wouldn't open if the trail were that thin the whole way down. (At least it appears thin to me in the pic.)

Cover on the trail was actually very good:

The picture of the mid-station was taken later in the day after alot of skier traffic had gone by already. The things to consider with these pictures is that it is October 1st and the sun angle is still high and strong, the ground is not yet frozen, and they only had a snowmaking window of less than 24 hours.

 

[kcyanks1]

Cover on the trail was actually very good:

<pic snipped>

The picture of the mid-station was taken later in the day after alot of skier traffic had gone by already. The things to consider with these pictures is that it is October 1st and the sun angle is still high and strong, the ground is not yet frozen, and they only had a snowmaking window of less than 24 hours.

That does look a little better. Still thin, but as you said, it is October. I've never skied in Oct., and still have my old skis from 4 years or so ago, so I'd go for it. How long does it take them to make enough snow now that they open top to bottom? It's a at least a few solid days of snowmaking if not a week, right?

 

[loafer89]

I have not skied in October at Killington since 1999, but I would imagine that it would take 2-3 days to cover top to bottom terrain from the start with ideal snowmaking temps/weather.

Killington never indended to stay open with these early October openings, but they tried to provide the best possible conditions when they did open, which usually lasted for 2-3 days before it warmed up again and the snow melted.

Still it was neat to ski with peak fall foliage surrounding you.

 

[ga2ski]

It was fun to ski this past october 29th on natural at k. Wierd to ski in the woodd while the leaves were still falling. Normally when I skied in October is it was manmade on the trails. It is really nice to see the colors contrasting with the white.