Much to the dismay of Killington pass holders, Killington die hards, and spring bump skiers everywhere, Killington recently announced that this would be there last weekend in operation despite having previously promoted that they would ski into May if conditions allow. As we would find out throughout the afternoon, conditions most certainly would allow at least one more weekend of skiing if not two more weekends with a little effort. Three weeks ago, I skied Killington and asked whether or not THE BEAST is back. In answer to the question I posed, Killington will write the words “Closed for the Season” in the new flowery and flowy script of Powd’r and not the big bold letters of the beast of old.

With a freeze overnight, we arrived at Killington shortly after 10 A.M. and went about booting up at a leisurely pace to allow the sun and temperatures to work their magic. Even as early as 11 A.M., some surfaces were still a little firm and variable. By by noon time, epic spring bump conditions arrived and it was game on for a great afternoon of bumps.

The center of Superstar was groomed which proved to be a disaster. The snow formed long well spaced out mounds of snow. Right and left sides had bumps but lines were fairly irregular though things did get better after noon. Upper Ovation was a narrow ribbon down skier’s left and I would be surprised if it was still open on Sunday. There is a 10 foot break in the snow mid-trail. Sensible folks were taking off their skis and down hiking but more adventurous folks, such as yours truly, just pointed the skis straight down the wet grass and went for it. The portage back to Superstar was short and not the problem.

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That is difficult for me to judge as I have never skied Killington during the spring. So I have no basis for comparison. The the new Killington logo with its foofy elegant script juxtaposed to the big bold THE BEAST logo is an identity crisis at its worst. Powd’r wants to demonstrate that this is a different Killington while simultaneously retaining, rediscovering, and redeveloping its prior culture and image.

Is THE BEAST Back? It may be too early to judge. But they are setup to go as late into spring as weather allows. I see no reason why they could not be last to close in the east. Whether or not they do depends if Killington wants to write the word “closed for the season” in flowery and flowy script or big bold lettering. Time will tell.

I worked the mountain south to north starting at Outer Limits and working back to the Canyon area. Having never skied south of Skye Peak at Killington nor the Canyon area, I tried so ski every steeper pitched open trail on the mountain and finally completie my knowledge of the terrain to a sufficient level (minus the trees). Snow varied from just past prime corn to sloppy mush. Conditions were best on moderately steep bumps and worst on flatter terrain, especially groomed out blue squares.

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