Category: Reports by Month

2004-2005 Season, December, Killington

Killington, VT

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!).

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2004-2005 Season, Cannon Mountain, December

Demo Day at Cannon

Peabody Quad

Today was Cannon’s demo day: sample all the skis you want for only an Andrew Jackson. It was an incredible deal that I could not pass up. The big winner of the day was the Dynastar Legend 8000 178cm which I have since purchased.

Originally, I planned to ski Cannon on Friday and stay overnight at the ‘Dice in Gorham. When leaving Cannon, I did not believe the hype regarding potential snow fall overnight. So I decided to head home and research the skis online after wrapping the day up at Cannon.

Middle/Lower Ravine with Big/Short Link provided the only route just like the previous weekend. Snow conditions were much better overall this weekend. The conditions were similar: pushed around loose powder on the trail edges and hard pack in the middle. Most of the route yielded mini-bumps and loose snow. I established a standard route down the trails to keep my testing conditions essentially the same for every ski. While the conditions were boring, they allowed for excellent comparisons for the demo.

Regarding other non-opened trails, the groomers and ski patrol were busy on Middle/Lower Cannon today and that is a lot to open for this coming weekend. All other trails had less snow and coverage than last week, especially the Front Five which would need a solid one foot dump to open without snow making at this point, and that is not happening any time soon.

The weather was fair with patchy fog and cloudiness. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the fog in the valleys making an under cast near the lower surrounding hills, but I was too busy pushing the skis to pull out my camera. The mountain saw a small amount of sleet or freezing rain around noon time and just a touch of light snow when I left at three–hardly a prelude to an incoming dump. By the time I got to Plymouth, the sky opened up and started raining. Cannon will definitely benefit from the system moving in this weekend but don’t expect any additional terrain to open other than Middle/Lower Cannon.

2004-2005 Season, Cannon Mountain, December, Earned Turns, Powder Day

Possessed by Powder at Cannon Mountain!

Lafayette from Tramway

Opening day at Cannon Mountain. Regardless of trail count or conditions, there is no place I would rather be. While en route to Cannon, I noticed a familiar pattern: the further north I drove, the more snow I saw. Coming around a corner on I-93 just past the Lakes Region, I spied the four major peaks of the Franconia Ridge caked in white, sparkling in a near cloudless blue sky. A rare perfect day at Cannon: blue bird skies following a major storm.

After breaking the pre-season legs in at Killington twice during November, I thought Cannon might be a disappointment. Despite operating one lift with only one route, Cannon did not disappoint due to mother nature’s bounty and a whole lot of thigh burn. Big Link, Middle Ravine, and Lower Ravine were open, the rest would have to be earned. I eagerly bought my $25 reduced price lift ticket and ascended Cannon’s Peabody slopes.

Guns were blazing everywhere with special attention being paid to a small stretch of Lower Ravine that was closed and Upper Cannon. Guns would be turned off on Lower Ravine and Upper Cannon later in the day as snow making moved down towards Middle Cannon. With a decent base already provided by mother nature, it is not going to take much snow making to get more slopes online.

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2004-2005 Season, Killington, November

Killington, VT

Great NorthernThanksgiving Holiday Weekend in New England, a time of blackout dates on Special Offers and crowded slopes at the larger ski resorts. With a marginal early season snow wise in which many ski areas were pushing opening days back and Non-Crystalline Precipitation had fallen fallen twice, not many solid options were available. I decided to do the previously unthinkable and make the trek up to Killington Vermont which was the only New England ski area that could offer up decent pitched trails and bumps. While the parking lot was quickly filling up, I paid the man a ridiculous $49 for a little over 20 trails and boarded the K1 Gondola.

From the Summit of Killington, I quickly tracked down Great Northern which is one of Killington’s many throw away connector trails. Today, Great Northern was more than just a connecting trail, it was a novice skiers’ only option from the summit which made it a trail to be avoided at all costs throughout the day. Bailing to the right onto an already scraped down Lower Reason was probably not the best option. I took the Northern Ridge Triple back up and tried Upper Rime where snow blowers were going top to bottom, a definite turn off. I quickly abandoned all the upper mountain trails on Killington Peak and held on for dear life skiing the middle portion of Great Northern where I managed to find some rocks which I threw back into the woods going down skiers left.

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2004-2005 Season, Killington, November

Killington, VT: Opening Week

Steve Under the Glades TripleKillington was the first ski area to open for the 2004-2005 skiing season on Tuesday November 9, 2004. I claimed my first tracks of the season two days later on a Veterans Day Holiday. Being freed of work obligations for the day had me setting my alarm one hour early and having the wheels spinning by 5:30AM. Along the way, I discovered that New Order is great pre-skiing music and that Vermont schools do not have Veterans Day off which was an early sign that crowds would not be as bad as I had anticipated.Arriving at KBL (now renamed K1BL for what it’s worth) at exactly 8:15AM, I hit the lodge and picked up a free ticket courtesy of Killington for attending the latest Warren Miller film in Boston called Impact. After some minor confusion about which window to obtain my free lift ticket from, I booted and suited up and ascended via the K1 Gondi with my P40 Platinums. Unfortunately, my preferred and 10cm shorter P50 Motions were still in the shop. I made due with my longer backup boards which had my quads burning early!

The best thing about the first run is that for the rest of the season, your skiing can never get any worse. It sets the standard for the absolutely worst you could possibly ski which is a comforting thought given my rather forced and unnatural turns. I am trying not to blame it on the skis, but after a year of skiing on 183cm skis it was really tough going back and adjusting to something that is 193cm long. I pretty much had the longest skis on the mountain that I noticed.

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