A little more snow overnight freshened things up nicely. First run on Bunny-Mouse-Chute was divine. From my perspective the second run on Mouse-Chute-Chute was equally nice, but Tom might have a different opinion. He took a bad tumble in some snowmaking as we flew through the Mixing Bowl. He’s pretty sure he broke some ribs. Needless to say, his day was done. After coffee I skied with Jim Good. Nice day.
We had a couple of inches of snow overnight and this is Killington so of course the lifts weren’t running this morning… … … Parked at Snowdon but the Quad hadn’t moved by 8:50 so looked to move to K-1 - of course it wasn’t moving either… … … Luckily Superstar was turning, albeit with frequent stops, but hey it was running so we drove over to the end of Bay 3, walked over, and loaded right at 9:00. When we reached the bottom for our third run it was closed… … … WTF? I wasn’t walking anywhere, so I convinced Tom to ski through Learn to Ski down to Snowshed. However with a couple of inches of fresh snow, Learn to Ski was Learn to Walk… … … Eventually we ended up at the Snowshed Quad and it was actually running, so we rode up and decided to do Low Road and catch Skyship. We got down to Needle’s and of course the Skyship wasn’t running. So we had to take the Northbrook Quad back to Snowshed. Since the only lift we could see running from the top of Snowshed was the Quad we skied down and got on. From the chair we could see the Snowshed Quad was running, so we headed down Highlander intending to go around KBL, but low and behold they just reopened Superstar. We rode up and headed over to Bear. Thankfully, everything was running over there and we ended up having a nice morning. But really WTF? BTW, did several things for the first time today: Lower Dreamaker, the Superpipe, Bear Cub, Sun Dog, and the Sunrise Triple. I impressed myself in the Superpipe – rode high up the walls six times before gaining so much speed that I got squashed in the transition.
Excellent day. Tom and I started right at 9:00 at Bear. Warm and Sunny. I skied the Atomic D2 GS’s and changed to the K2 Apache Xplorer’s after running over some Dew Tour debris in front of the lodge at Bear and ripping a huge chuck out of the bases of the Atomic’s. Just another reason to Dump the Dew! They groomed Outer Limits a little too deep for my liking overnight, so it chucked up after just a couple of runs. Normally over-grooming OL on a day like today would piss me off, but Bear Claw-Bear Trap-Wildfire was really, really nice. I ended up doing like 6 of these. After coffee we moved on to Needles and Superstar; and everything was in great shape. BTW, I’m finally skiing better.
A little late this morning, started at 9:10 at Bear, skied the Volkl Racetiger SL’s. Outer Limits was spectacular – groomed perfectly flat and fast! I did it 11 times in a row, then had coffee.
On the hill first thing, skied the Rossignol Avenger 76 Ti’s. Heavy rain overnight washed away lots of snow – see the picture of Highline below. Very few people on the hill today – good thing because as is apparently now the custom there were very few lifts running. Temperatures had not fallen below freezing by the time I left at 1:00, so were they’ve made a lot of snow conditions were excellent. The lower headwall on Superstar was divine! Made the long trip to the Skyship base twice today.
On the hill early with Tom, skied the Atomic Race GS 12’s. Overcast with low clouds, fog and flat light; however snow conditions were excellent; very few people. Started on Snowdon - Bunny was perfectly groomed and relatively soft. With the Canyon Quad and the North Ridge Triple closed we found very little traffic had skied East Fall, so conditions there were excellent! Moved on to Skye Peak. Superstar was nice, but very hard to see. Skylark wasn't quite as nice, but had much better visibility. After coffee we lapped K-1 skiing East Fall before moving on to Bear. Bear Claw and Wildfire were very nice. Outer Limits had been groomed flat, but it had been cut up pretty good by the time we got there - still good enough that I did three. Returned via the Skyship Stage II and down Superstar.
Out early with Tom, clear and cold. Skied one of the Atomic D2 GS’s. Good conditions just about everywhere. Plenty of snowmaking on Superstar, Needles’, and Dreammaker. Plan to ski hard tomorrow, since a hard rain is in the forecast for tomorrow night.
GS training with KSC Masters on Highline this afternoon. A couple of my runs later in the day weren’t too bad. In fact the last one was pretty good – everybody else was starting to slip on the ice up on the headwall, but I skied a real nice line and felt fairly fast.
As bad as yesterday was, that's how good today was. On the hill at 9:00 with Tom. Clear and fairly cold. Skied the K2 Apache Xplorer's. Started at Snowdon with a few Bunny-Mouse-Chutes; Upper Bunny was groomed flat and firm, while Mouse Trap had a couple of big snowmaking piles - not the greatest snow, but pretty cool. Moved on to the Peak and skied down East Fall. Wicked nice. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had one of my GS skis on. Coffee, then another East Fall before moving on to Superstar. Again, wicked nice! The top was firm but edgeable and the bottom was all pretty good snowmaking! Did 3 of those and a Skylark, before moving on to Bear. Started out with an Outer Limits – flat and extremely firm; I believe this is what an injected World Cup slope would look like! Then a couple Wildfire’s from the SPQ. The bottom was all lit up with snowmaking. Finished with one last Superstar. Dew Tour started today – lots of traffic around the lifts over there.
Tom and I loaded up the car at 8:30 in the pouring rain. We got in and decided it just wasn’t worth it. The rain eventually turned to snow, so I made it to the mountain just before 1:00. Conditions were pretty good; it was snowing hard and very windy. Skied the Volkl Katana’s again. Did Outer Limits 3 times; even did 3 Chute-Upper Bear-Great-[Chute|Bunny|Mouse]’s.
Out right at 9:00 with Tom. For something just a little different, we started at Bear. Skied my Atomic GS-12’s. This was the first time I'd skied them since I had them repaired - they are way too sharp! Nice snow on Wildfire and Skyburst, of course it was first thing in the morning. Then we moved on to Skye Peak before coffee. Upper Superstar to Skylark was consistently firm, just was the doctor ordered for the skis I was using. Middle and Lower Superstar had full on snowmaking pulled way over to skier’s left. This made the snow that drifted to skier’s right really nice! After coffee we did a couple of Bunny-Bunny-Bunnies then on to the Canyon before calling it a day. Working on hand positioning as a way to improve counter-rotation of the hips and upper body and allow a wider stance. Inside hand forward and at or above the waist, outside hand lower. Nice view of Mt. Washington today.
Out right at 9:00 with Tom, skied the Rossignol Avenger 76 Ti’s. Bunny-Bunny-Bunny first thing was really nice. They were blowing really wet, sticky snow on the bottom of Superstar so we only skied it twice. Wildfire and Skyburst were also really good. If they could just use some of that Dew Tour snowmaking elsewhere on the hill, I’d be happy.
On the hill right at 9:00. Skied with Tom. Used the K2 Apache Xplorer’s. Nobody else there. Good morning. Forty-niner was groomed nicely, but KA was run of the day – tons of new snowmaking.
Out first thing with Tom. Skied the Volkl Racetiger SL's. Rode all open lifts today – 14 in total (Ramshead Quad, Snowdon Quad, Canyon Quad, Northridge Triple, Superstar Quad, Bear Mountain Quad, Skye Peak Quad, Needles Eye Quad, Skyship Gondola II, Snowshed I Double, Snowshed Quad, Northbrook Quad, Snowdon Triple, and K-1 Gondola).
