Day 78 - Killington

Volkl SL History Day. Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a coffee break; teens, snow, and wind; started snowing at about 11:00 - 12"+ forecast for this afternoon and evening; 23 runs; 15,400 vertical; skied the P50's, P60's, RaceTigers, and World Cups; the P50's felt similar to the Head Cheater 17's; the P60's and the RaceTigers felt like slalom skis - turny; the World Cups felt great on the flat, but were too stiff for me to keep in front of on any pitch what so ever; the snow was fantastic - soft pack with new snow falling.

Day 68 - Ski Sawmill

Surprised how nice it was for such a small hill - 225 vertical; out from 12:30 until 5:00 with a couple of short breaks; overcast with temps comfortably around freezing; 25 runs; 5,600 vertical; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters and the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; picked up new skis from FedEx in Horseheads

Day 1 - Killington

Late start this morning after arriving last night and unpacking until 2 AM; out for 2½ hours from 10:30 till 1:00; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; mid-thirties, increasing overcast, and windy; no snowmaking this morning - I guess they're expecting some warmer weather to move in; 16 runs; 9,500 vertical; fairly good coverage; variable conditions from hard pack to super soft snowmaking; Great Northern around to most of the Northridge area; lots of familiar faces: Jim, Bob, Ric, Rick, Barb, Chelsea, and Dave; my legs feel pretty good after a fairly agressive start to the season.

Day 113 - Killington

Decent winter type day for late spring; parked on the Access Road; on the hill from 9:00 until 11:15; temps at or just above freezing with overcast skies; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; 13 runs; 16,500 vert; the upper and lower Superstar headwalls were in nice shape, most everything else was pretty much blah...

Day 112 - Killington

Parked on the Access Road again this morning; on the hill from 9:00 until 11:00; 35° with a bright overcast; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; 15 runs; 18,000 vertical; overall pretty good morning; Super-High-Skylark was good - relatively firm, flat, and skiable.

Day 109 - Killington

Just a few runs the morning; on the hill from 9:00 until 11:30; 11 runs; the rain overnight soaked in and froze, so most of the runs off the peak were closed early on; Superstar was the only thing even remotely skiable until after coffee when they dropped the rope on Cascade; skied the K2 Apache Xplorer's and immediately changed the the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; the hill is looking pretty worse for wear.

Day 91 - Killington

On the hill at 8:00, left at 11:30; 25° and overcast; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; good conditions today, but I just felt blah…; made 12 runs by 10:00; DD was groomed poorly.

Day 77 - Gore Mountain

On the hill from 9:00 until 2:00; Skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; 25° overcast with intermittant light snow; skied The Rumor, Hawkeye and Lies before moving on to Stielhang and the Darkside Glade before an early lunch, then 5 laps on the front-side via the gondi; hit a couple of jumps in their park; I drove a majority of the Adirondack Trail Senic Byway on the drive down from Malone. I'd never driven through the western Adirondack lakes region before - it's very pretty.

Day 56 - Killington

On the hill from 8:00 to 12:00; 15 runs; 2° at Snowdon this morning; 15° when I left; Skied the Rossignol Experience 98's and the Volkl Racetiger SL Cheaters; Despite all the rest my left knee is still a problem; Skied the Canyon today; Cascade under the guns was nice - I did 4.

Day 28 - Killington

Day 1 of ASRA Race Camp; SL today; Rick Svenson's group; warm and rainy; we got really lucky today - hard rain overnight, 1" of soup in the KBL parking lot at 8:00 with a steady rain, but the precip stopped by 10:00 and only started again after we left the hill at 3:00; good day - lots of gates and some OK skiing.

Day 25 - Killington

Race Week Day 3; hard rain overnight followed by falling temperatures led to lift hold for grooming until 10:30; AM session was gates on Reason - I declined, the course deteriorated immediately and was unsafe; a quick lunch and 2 Sky-High-Sweet's and a Highline before our afternoon session; our afternoon session started with the same course on Reason... I gave it a shot, jammed the hell out of my left ankle and lower leg in the top of a trough at the third gate so I called it a day.

Day 24 - Killington

Day Two of Race Week; on the hill at 9:00; sessions all day; afternoon video analysis - all I could see was how fat I am; very warm again today - the snow is dwindling fast; skied the K2 Apache Xplorer's and switched to the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters at lunch; they groomed Highline - SWEET; some of today's drills - ski on one leg, shuffle turns, teli-turns, practice starts, gates.

Day 23 - Killington

First day of Race Week - Doug Tucker's group; hard rain overnight and 40° temps turned anything they touched with the groomers into mush; drills and gates were difficult due to the super soft and variable conditions; Some things to remember in the gates - line! line! line! - get the turn started above the fall line, but don't pinch - quit fixating on where I am, rather focus on were I'm going! - at the start of a turn, focus on the top of the next turn. Forward pressure, corresponding angles, stance, and body position aren't too bad; also need to work on good, high hand position.

On the way down to the ATC this afternoon I hit Highline. I'm glad I did. The snow was marvelous with nicely spaced, medium sized bumps, but there were a couple of thin spots (one way up high and the normal one on the headwall) that make me think it won't be open much longer. After this afternoon's ill-fated attempt at video analysis, I headed over to Skye Peak and did a couple of non-stop Super-High-Sweet's. On Superstart the snow was nice and soft and the bumps weren't too too big; and Lower Bittersweet was nice, and soft, and smooth, and not too mushy.

Day 22 - Killington

KSC Masters Training again today; drills again from 8:30 to 10:30; skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; much warmer today - rain expected this afternoon; conditions were soft and creamy this morning; hit the gym right after this morning's session.

Day 21 - Killington

First day of KSC Masters Training; various drills from 8:30 to 10:30; stance, balance, edging, and pressure; between the ackwardness the drills were designed to induce and the cold I was ready to leave well before 10:30.

Day 16 - Killington

On the hill at 8:00 with Chris Radvanyi; we skied till 2:00 with both a coffee and a lunch break; made 20+ runs. Much colder and windier today; forgot my fleece jacket - that won't happen again! Skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters; A little snow overnight and tons of snowmaking had the hill pretty skiable. Fairly large crowd on the hill today, but no real liftline. Skied just about everything that was open today - only missed Cascade Headwall and the Learn To Snowboard Magic Carpet.

Today was Radvanyi's first day of the season after an ACL tear last February. He definitely rehabed effectively - he skied hard and fast all day.

Day 15 - Killington

A really good morning - nice weather and good snow. On the hill right at 8:00, skied for 2¼ hours making 13 runs. Skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters. It started to get crowded by the time I left. The boots are feeling pretty good - a few more days and I should be there. Bunny-Bunny-Chute was very good - again. My skiing feels pretty good, but I can't wait to get in some gates to really test things out.

Today should mark the end of a string of gloriously sunny and warm days - 8 or 9 in a row I believe. Cold weather (and snowmaking) return for Sunday and beyond.

Day 11 - Killington

This has been quite a strech of good weather - another bluebird day with temperatures in the low thirties and little to no wind. On the hill at 9:00; skied till 12:30; coffee in KBL. Skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL Cheaters. Conditions remain stellar - most trails 3F with the occasional soft pack thrown in. Boots are still in break-in mode; I'm unbuckling just about every lift ride. Skied all morning with Doug Tucker. My skiing is far from top-notch, but it's coming along. If I continue going to the gym and losing weight, my skiing should come around.

Learn to Snowboard Area

Day 3 - Killington

A beautiful morning on the hill - 32°, sunny, with very little wind and Rime was nicely groomed. Pretty big crowd right from the start so I only made 8 runs. Skied the Volkl Racetiger SL's again. Still working the kinks out, my right shin was tender this morning, but didn't give me too much trouble on the hill. Top to bottom did not open today, so I had to walk the stairs one last tiime (hopefully).

Day 2 - Killington

A pretty good day. 27° in the parking lot when I arrived, but much colder up top. The cloud layer hovered right around the peak all morning. That combined with the end of snowmaking on Upper Great Northern and Rime made visability much better today. Rime was groomed, so I skied the Volkl RaceTiger SL's - a good choice.
 
Snowmaking continues on Reason/Upper East Fall and Middle Great Northern and was expanded on Middle Chute, Mouse Trap, and Lower Bunny Buster. I predict top to bottom tomorrow despite the warm forcast for the weekend.