Having one more free pass to blow by December 20th, I hit up the formerly “Mighty-K” for my third time this season. I normally crap on Killington rather viciously. I still feel that Killington deserves such rants but after three tries at Killington during an awful early season, I have a little more respect for the mountain. Having as much terrain open considering the conditions is very impressive. I was expecting much less open terrain than they managed to open. Also impressive were the snow guns covering Lower Superstar and the Canyons area. I would guess Superstar through Ramshead may likely be fully open by next weekend except for the trees.
Wet spring like conditions were reported on Saturday which could not have been more different from today. I arrived at the Killington Access Road with tires spinning over a blanket of white. The fresh snow fall got me excited.
I began the morning on Snowdon and I ended the day on Snowdon. Sheets of scraped snow were everywhere by the end of the day. The North Ridge Triple offered natural snow on Ridge Run which sucked but it was completely natural snow so I could not complain! I was amazed that Killington had natural terrain open. They also had Upper Chute and Great Bear open with natural snow conditions but they looked too nasty and thin for even my tastes (which is saying something!).
Best snow was found on a short segment of Cascade where they were blowing man made snow. The fresh man made snow made for good turning on a soft surface which I enjoyed. From Killington Peak, natural snow was available on Downdraft and Cascade under the Gondola which were both poor conditions but it was still nice to ski natural snow.
The headwall of Superstar was a complete mess. Scraped snow made turning difficult and the big knarly bumps offered distinguishing pattern. My first run on “the headwalll” was rather unimpressive. Upper and Middle Superstar had acceptable bumps that were quickly scraped. Killington’s use of Upper/Middle/Lower designations on average sized trails is unimpressive marketing hype to boost trail counts.
Old Superstar featured some really nice snow and even a touch of powder before it was snuffed out by noon time. Bumps on Skyelark and Bittersweet were decent in places but scraped with wide spaces in others. Skye Hawk headwall was open but was a waste of time. I enjoy steeps but the lack of snow was pushing my relatively liberal stretch of what I consider skiable thin cover.
The Canyon Quad was turning all day but I do not think there was an open trail to access the loading station. I kept looking but could not find a trail not roped to lead me down to the Canyon Quad. I only saw one person riding the the lift all day and that person was a lift opp down loading. It was certainly puzzling seeing a Quad of decent vertical running all day with no one riding it and no known way to get to the boarding area.
The snow was rather ugly in places but I can not complain given the nature of the early season. A true New England hard pack day in which you make the best of what you are given. It was the type of day that develops technique because you are forced to ski stuff you normally would avoid.