Killington Help

[SnowRider]

So this upcoming weekend I am heading to Killington with a bunch of my friends. Honestly everytime I go I get stuck in some flat spot, skating around, being lost, and notknowing where the terrain is. So I was hoping some local could help answer some of these questions.

1. Saturday. Crowded or Not?
2. Name trails to avoid due to flatness, crowdedness etc.
3. What are generally good connector trails between mountains?
4. What woods get less tracked up and what are the best glades at the mountain?
5. Any interesting, fun, windy trails to try out?
6. If crowded what lifts do you recommend?

Thanks to whoever answers. BTW is there a trail there like Powerline? I remember riding it and thinking it was a lot of fun.

Oh and let it snow all week long!

 

[danny p]

1.) Saturdays are crowded compared to sunday and midweek, but not bad at all, and certainly not bad compared to the last couple years.
2.) Rams Head gets crowded, if you want to hit anything up over there (timberline terrain park is tons of fun) go early or during the lunch rush. K1 gondola is always packed, I hit it first couple of runs and never return. Another one you might be able to catch at lunch time and avoid crowds. Most of the flat trails are traverses that connect the mountain. I don't have the energy to list them (study the trail map prior to your visit if you can).
3.) I find that as long as you start at the top of the mountain, you can cut over to the next mountain area easy without flat spots. Its when you are mid mountain and want to cut over that you hit all the flat spots. Again, look at the map if you can beforehand.
4.) Woods all get tracked out, but the key to it is entering and immediately traversing left or right and finding the good stuff. Most people follow the herd. Break away and you will find the goods. Squeeze Play on Ram's Head always gets scraped first.
5.) Cool terrain trails: almost any of the south ridge area, vagabond and northstar on snowdon, wildfire, great eastern to name a few of my favorites.
6.) You really shouldn't have problems with lifts being crowded if you avoid K1 and Rams Head during the busy times during the day.

Hopefully others like Geoff, SkiDork, Allskiing and others will chime in, they have been skiing K for longer than I have. Have fun!

 

[trainlazz]

This weekend...

1. Crowds down a lot from last season due to the demise of the cheap All for One pass.
2. Snowshed Crossover and Juggernaut for flatness, Skye Lark for crowds.
3. Skyeburst is a good trail to connect from Skye peak to Bear Mtn.
5. I like Panic button into Needles Eye, myself. I also agree with above about South Ridge for natural, ungroomed goodness. If you like bumps, nothing beats Outer Limits.
6. Skyeship gondola and the lifts at Bear generally don't get too crowded.

Powerline is located just off to right as you get off the Snowdon quad.
Hope this helps.

PS- Sushi Yoshi for the best free Apres-ski wings :-D

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

Feb break is over, crowds will be way down....head to PICO, no one there and you'll have freshies all day long....PICO isnt open during the week so the snow stays put....Pico is the best seceret out there....

 

[2knees]

Powerline is located just off to right as you get off the Snowdon quad.

Powerline is just to your right off the north ridge triple. here's a tip, keep going if the snow is good after the marked run ends. the lower half, while not an official trail, is much more fun.

 

[millerm277]

1. Saturday. Crowded or Not?

Hasn't been so far this year.

2. Name trails to avoid due to flatness, crowdedness etc.

Juggernaut/Solitude (but you should know that already). Trails with large flat sections are Frolic, Snowshed Crossover, Carpenter's Run. Home Stretch and Falls Brook also have a few flat spots, and the end of Great Northern is very flat (K-1 to RH base).

Great Northern has a bunch of really bad intersections, so watch yourself on it. (Especially crossing the North Ridge/Glades, and the two crossings of Snowdon). Great Eastern and Lower Bear Claw also can get crowded.

3. What are generally good connector trails between mountains?

Unless the South Ridge Triple is running, there is no way to avoid the trek in front of KBL if you're going from Skye Peak to K-1.

K-peak to Superstar-Take Launchpad, it's pretty flat, but you don't usually have to pole much.

Snowdon to Rams Head-Either take Frolic and deal with the flat section, or take the bottom section of Caper, and carry a bit of speed.

Rams Head to Snowdon-Caper...that's it.

Bear is easy to get in and out of (Skye Peak Quad).

4. What woods get less tracked up and what are the best glades at the mountain?

They don't really usually get tracked up too much, and what the best glades are really is based on your ability level. The glades off of Racer's Edge are nice (Chop Chop, The Throne). Squeeze Play is a nice warm-up (watch out for the stream), Patsy's is good as well. I haven't been in the marked ones on Skye and Bear too much, but they're all good as well. (Julio, Anarchy, Somewhere/Nowhere, Skye Bits).

5. Any interesting, fun, windy trails to try out?

All of South Ridge (Pipe Dream and Breakaway are wide, Jug is narrow, and Roundabout is very narrow), Catwalk from the top (You have to hike up stairs to the right when you get off the K-1). Great Bear, Northstar, and Vagabond are wide but nice. The lower portions of Great Eastern wind slowly through the woods, fun for a speed run from the top.

6. If crowded what lifts do you recommend?

Just stay away from the K-1, and Rams Head, and you probably won't see a liftline all day. Needle's Eye HSQ instead of Skyeship Stage II.

BTW is there a trail there like Powerline? I remember riding it and thinking it was a lot of fun.

If there's snow, keep going, the lower section is more fun.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Take the K1 up and ski down to the canyon Quad...Tons of goods in that area, I usually ski there all day.Big Dipper,Escapade,Cascade,Flume....For trees hit Anarchy and Juelo all off launchpad.

 

[Geoff]

1. Saturday. Crowded or Not?

I think this Saturday will be pretty busy. A big midweek dump. A bunch of people from metro-NYC didn't make it up last weekend due to the poor driving conditions. It won't be like the last few years but it won't be like last Sunday, either, where it looked like a neutron bomb had hit.

2. Name trails to avoid due to flatness, crowdedness etc.

Just don't use any of the connecting trails. There are always multiple lift options so it's easy to avoid them on a snowboard. If you are at Bear, use the Skye Peak quad to get back to main mountain rather than the Snowshed crossover. If you are at the top of the Southridge triple, don't bother trying to get over to Snowdon.

3. What are generally good connector trails between mountains?

See above.

4. What woods get less tracked up and what are the best glades at the mountain?

There is tree skiing between virtually every cut-trail at Killington. Things that were placed on the map get tracked out first.

5. Any interesting, fun, windy trails to try out?

On Snowdon, Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond have the most character since they're natural snow trails. On Southridge, Breakaway, Roundabout, and Jug/Jug Handle have the most character. There are little pockets like Thimble and Old Needles Eye that are natural snow and don't get much traffic. Sadly, most of the character at Killington was removed via chainsaw over the last 25 years.

6. If crowded what lifts do you recommend?

Stay away from the family areas like Rams Head and Snowshed. Avoid the K1 gondola and the Skyeship midstation after 10:00. The fixed grip lifts are rarely busy. Canyon quad, Southridge, Snowdon triple and quad, Northridge triple. Needles Eye is rarely all that busy.

BTW is there a trail there like Powerline?

Powerline stopped being interesting when they buried the power line, removed the poles, and started grooming it. Yawn.

 

[SnowRider]

Powerline stopped being interesting when they buried the power line, removed the poles, and started grooming it. Yawn.

Yeah when I did it it was bumped with the lines still in place.

 

[millerm277]

There is tree skiing between virtually every cut-trail at Killington. Things that were placed on the map get tracked out first.

You can pretty much just point them into the woods in most places, in-bounds. The only exception to that is, do not go off the backside of bear/off the side of Falls Brook. (There's a ravine), and be careful when going off the side of Ridge Run/West Glade. (Unless you like winding up a few miles from the ski area).

 

[bobbutts]

don't feel like you have to check out all the different mtn areas one after another. that causes lots of traversing