Day 15 - Killington

Top to bottom gone – back to the stairs.  Upper GN and Rime only.  Rock skis today…

Day 14 - Killington

60° at 10:00 this morning - fifth straight day of warm weather; walking required today; rain in the forecast L

Day 13 - Killington

Forgot to hit the start button again, so no Ski Tracks today. On the hill first thing; skied with Tom. The weather remains warm, but at least it hasn't rained yet. Soft conditions, dwindling terrain. Stilll had a nice morning, 12 runs or so.

Day 12 - Killington

Happy Thanksgiving! Conditions on the hill were very good today – yesterday’s new snow was groomed in nicely.  Thank god they opened Snowdon because the hill was very, very busy today.  I skied with Tom, Susan, and Jay so once again we did a fair amount of standing around.  That’s not a complaint, just an observation.  Tom broke a buckle on his boots today, so we stopped at Northern on the way home and he ended up with a new pair of Lange Banshee Pro’s. I had a couple of moments today when it felt like I actually had things together.  Here’s hoping that these moments come a little more frequently in the days to come.

Day 11 - Killington

A foot of new snow today! Conditions on the hill went from thrashed man-made to mid-winter just like that. Skied with Susan and Jay today. It was their first day of the season and Jay is recovering from a ruptured Achilles so it was prettly slow going... Still all in all it was the nicest day of the season so far.

Day 10 - Killington

Another blue-bird day; nice corduroy to start, but quickly became small granular piles on a hard crust; K2 Apache Xplorer’s again…; Middle Great Northern, Middle Chute, Lower Bunny were in much better shape today – in fact I skied down intending to leave but rode the gondi back up for another run; Snowdon soon; Snow in the forecast for late tonight and tomorrow morning!

Big pile of snow of Mouse Run

Day 9 - Killington

Really nice day today - sunny and warm, but cool enough for snowmaking to continue. I skied with Tom today - his first day this season. Lots of people on the hill today - KMS, Holdernes, NYSEF, ... ... Conditions up top quickly became small to medium piles of granular on a hard crust, while the run down had all sorts of different conditions.

Day 8 - Killington

It was a good morning; Conditions are holding up pretty well; By the time I left there were small to medium piles of granular on a firm base; the only thin spot on Rime is the flat spot just below Great Norhern - wierd, because flat spots are usually easier to cover than anything with a pitch; Skied my K2 Apache Xplorers again today; I'm still searching for some consistency in my skiiing - I had a couple of runs today that felt OK, but generally I'm still lost; It never ceases to amaze me how poorly some people maintain their equipment. Walking up the stairs today I stopped to rest at Upper Catwalk. There were two other guys already there. I had seen both of them on the hill and would have catagorized them as die-hards, i.e. competent regulars. When I stepped off the stairs I was right next to their skis and noticed how dull and rust-pitted the edges of their skis were. As I looked the gleeming and polished razor edges on my skis, I remembered how last night I was thinking I needed to take them to Peak Performance to get a good edge tune because they looked so rough - different strokes for different folks.

Day 7 - Killington

Pleasantly suprised with conditions this morning. After a fairly heavy rain last night I wasn't sure what to expect, but they had guns blowing almost top to bottom. It was a little tough getting down Upper Great Northern with 40-50 wet, sticky guns blowing in your face, but they had groomed Rime and it ended up skiing OK. I skied my K2 Apache Xplorer's today for the first time this season - they skied very well. I tweeked by left ankle twice today - no falls, just sudden pain. I think I end up jamming it sometimes if I'm lazy making right turns in choppy terrain. It feels better when I ski aggressively staying low, forward, and inside. Tons of die-hards out this morning - very few herbs.

Day 6 - Killington

Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.  This morning I rode the gondi to the top, clicked in, skied halfway around the corner on Upper GN before veering completely off the trail over the snow making pipes and into the trees – awesome start. Conditions are more like late April than early November – everywhere they groomed is just ankle deep mush. Lots of work going on around the mountain. The picture below shows some work being done on Spillway just above the Canyon Quad. I'm not sure whether they're replacing snow making pipes or regrading.

Day 5 - Killington

Spent the morning skiing in the K-cloud; overnight rain washed away a lot of snow; forgot to hit the start button, so I don't have a Ski Track today; on the hill at 9:00 and left at 11:00; made about a dozen runs today; the snow on Rime is holding up, there's a 30-40' swath of snow center-left. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow.

Day 4 - Killington

Warm and sunny when I arrived, but then increasing wind and clouds as rain blows in from the southwest for this afternoon and evening.  Conditions were pretty soft.  There’s good cover on Rime and Reason/East Fall, but everything else that’s open is pretty sketchy.  I’ve been skiing on my Volkl RacerTiger SL Cheaters, but with the rain and continued warm weather in the forecast I’m going to change to something further down the food chain for tomorrow and the remainder of the week.

Day 3 - Killington

Got to the hill right at 9:00, but today's start was delayed once again - this time until 9:45. Another beautiful day - mostly sunny with temperatures in the low to mid-thirties. It got cooler and more windy as the day wore on. They groomed Rime into some serious chunks, but by 11:00 it was skied in and conditions although firm and scratchy were much more consistent. Although I'm not feeling particularly good on my skis yet, I'm pleased that my body feels ok after three straight days.

Day 2 - Killington

Another nice morning on the mountain, increasing clouds with temperatures in the mid-forties. Conditions are holding up everywhere they've made snow, but I wouldn't venture off onto anything else right now with any skis that I valued. I made my first three runs today with Jim Good. 10 runs today, 2 more than yesterday, but I still don't feel comfortable. Surprised when I actually passed 4 people on the walk back up the stairs.

Day 1 - Killington

My first day of this year's ski season turned out to be perfectly sunny with tempertures in the mid to upper forties.  As expected there wasn't a whole lot open, just a few trails up in the Glades area. I rode the gondola up and took Upper Great Northern down to the North Ridge Triple chair, then made seven round-trips up the chair and stright down on Rime, then walked the Peak Stairway back to the gondola.  I was a little worried about dinging up my skis, but it turns out everything I skied had plenty of cover. All in all, a nice start to the season.