# Pico - 2.8.14 & 2.9.14



## gmcunni (Feb 9, 2014)

*Date(s) Skied: *Pico Mountain


*Resort or Ski Area: *2.8.14 & 2.9.14


*Conditions: *sunny, cold (teens), light wind, pack pow


*Trip Report: *Ct Ski council days @ Killington & Pico but we skied P both days.  It was me, my daughter and her friend, pico was a good mountain for us.


Snow was great on Saturday. We skied mostly the lower mountian, cruising groomers.  a few trails were au naturale and quite enjoyable. 


main lower lift was crowded all day, 10 minute-ish waits.  outpost chair and upper mountain quad were pretty much ski on.  didn't ski the outpost trails but the ride up had me drooling (girls didn't want anything to do with them).


returned on Sunday, skied til noon due to a commitment back in CT in the evening.  got first tracks on the fresh morning cord, it was nice cruising the empty mountain.  a trip down Fools Gold led to the discovery of some freshly seeded bumps.  skied them later in the morning and they were pretty nice.


Fun skiiing, and only $80 for the 2 days


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## Euler (Feb 9, 2014)

Looks and sounds great!   Next time you're there, definitely try to find a way to enjoy the trails of the Outpost lift...the lift itself gets your adrenaline rushing as you wonder if the duct tape, plywood and cable ties are going to hold up for another day, and the terrain of that lift is amazing!


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## skifree (Feb 9, 2014)

Euler said:


> Looks and sounds great!   Next time you're there, definitely try to find a way to enjoy the trails of the Outpost lift...the lift itself gets your adrenaline rushing as you wonder if the duct tape, plywood and cable ties are going to hold up for another day, and the terrain of that lift is amazing!


Outpost is awesome. That chair is a piece of history


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## jaysunn (Feb 9, 2014)

Pico can delver. +1 outpost. 2nd shot of your pics is my favorite. Glad you got it at Pico. Love it.


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## xlr8r (Feb 9, 2014)

I was there as well on Saturday, and went to Killington today.  Pico definitely had the better skiing of the 2 this weekend.  Outpost area was in great shape, Bronco was the run of the day IMO, but Wrangler and Stampede also were in fine condition.  Also did natural runs on Birch Glade, The natural half of Pike, and Giant Killer.  Birch Glade and Pike were also excellent, but GK needs more snow, hit a few too many hidden rocks on that one.  I will try to post a TR of my own later with pics.


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## bdfreetuna (Feb 9, 2014)

Outpost is the best area at Pico. Reminds me of a mini Berkshire East all to itself!

I planned on Pico today but it was a long weekend already and I slept in.


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## MadMadWorld (Feb 9, 2014)

xlr8r said:


> I was there as well on Saturday, and went to Killington today.  Pico definitely had the better skiing of the 2 this weekend.  Outpost area was in great shape, Bronco was the run of the day IMO, but Wrangler and Stampede also were in fine condition.  Also did natural runs on Birch Glade, The natural half of Pike, and Giant Killer.  Birch Glade and Pike were also excellent, but GK needs more snow, hit a few too many hidden rocks on that one.  I will try to post a TR of my own later with pics.



GK is always pretty bony. Did you take a look at the Poma line? I've done laps on a powder day.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 9, 2014)

Glad to see that Pico is looking good.


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## mulva (Feb 10, 2014)

+1 to Outpost!  Loved that pod especially under the lift and the one far skiier's left last March!!!


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## C-Rex (Feb 10, 2014)

I'm glad you had a good time.  I was at Killington on Saturday.  The crowds were probably the biggest I've ever dealt with, but somehow we still had a great day.

We avoided the K1 as much as possible, doing most of our riding on Bear and Ramshead.  The Growler glade was lots of fun but needed a bit more base before you can rip it without being nervous the whole way down.  The Stash was super fun as always.  Ramshead was great.  We spent the afternoon ripping the Twister glade and then cutting over to the lower half of the park.  Good times!!


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## lerops (Feb 10, 2014)

Thanks for the TR. Were the trails crowded?


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

lerops said:


> Thanks for the TR. Were the trails crowded?



a little crowded.  since we skied the lower mnt a lot we were bumping into ski classes and quite a few adaptive skier groups (not sure if there as a special adaptive skier weekend going on but i'd never seen so many at one mountain).  both days had race events going on so trails were closed for that too.


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

C-Rex said:


> I'm glad you had a good time.  I was at Killington on Saturday.  The crowds were probably the biggest I've ever dealt with, but somehow we still had a great day.
> 
> We avoided the K1 as much as possible, doing most of our riding on Bear and Ramshead.  The Growler glade was lots of fun but needed a bit more base before you can rip it without being nervous the whole way down.  The Stash was super fun as always.  Ramshead was great.  We spent the afternoon ripping the Twister glade and then cutting over to the lower half of the park.  Good times!!



i thought about K on Saturday, especially hanging out at Ramshead due to who i was skiing with. the $45 deal with CSC was sweet.


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

fwiw, stayed at the econlodge a few miles west of Pico on RT4.   if you are looking for cheap (relatively) lodging give it a try.   personally, i think next time i'm in the area i'll spend a few $$ more and try a different place.


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## Abominable (Feb 10, 2014)

We shoulda had a mini- summit!  I also skied Pico this weekend.  First time at the mountain in many (20+) years.  We had some groupons (70 bucks for two days) and figured we better use 'em when the snow was at least better than average.  Didn't want to hold out for more snow and get stuck as the rest of ski season is starting to get booked up.

And we had a great time!  Outpost was the place to be on Saturday morning as that lift is closed during the week.  Had a blast lapping Wrangler and Bronco until beer o'clock.  A-slope was also fun, and some of the natural trails from the top skied well through lunch.  Afternoon groomers were great in the sun, but UGK was pretty scratchy in the afternoon, especially on the upper bit.  Saw a few tracks headed skiers left from UGK into the Poma woods.  My own small forays into the woods were fun but 'variable' resulting in a bit of damage, so I decided against it.

Sunday the natural trails were getting thin but still found some fun runs, and the afternoon groomers were great.  Both days were sun-filled with great views.  I loved having beers around the fire at the midstation hot dog stand.

The only lines were on the lower main quad, and even that was only during those times when you'd expect, late morning and after lunch.  Singles line resulted in no wait, and other lifts were pretty much ski on.

On Pico - I really like this mountain.  I like the layout.  I like the bar, with all the old ski club plaques and other ski memorabilia (old magazine covers and pictures).  The little ski / snowboard museum is neat.  The mannequins are creepy though...

I bet this is a fantastic mountain to ski after a couple solid dumps, but aren't they all.

We stayed at the Happy Bear which was ok, but sort of expensive for what you get.  What you _do_ get is location - I wanted to see what the K-Ton scene is all about, and we could walk to some bars and restaurants.  I could not believe lines and cover charges for bars in Vermont.  Lots of younger people... some of whom deserved their own melo-dramatic reality show.  But all worth checking out.. once.  Next time I'll stay in Rutland.  Is there a place in Rutland people like that's within walking distance of some of the bars / restaurants around the center of town / Amtrack station?

All in all it was a great weekend and I enjoyed Pico and I hope they maintain their own identity.  I don't know the politics or economics of the situation, but I suspect that linking the two mountains would wreck some of those things I liked about Pico. 

Some lousy pics, Wrangler, A-slope and UGK.


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## emmaurice2 (Feb 10, 2014)

Nice report, glad you and the kids had fun.


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

i wish i'd skied the outpost trails.. in retrospect i should have just let the girls take a few runs on their own while i hit those but i'm still going through a stage of overprotectiveness with my daughter and this being her first trip back to VT i was nervous about her skiing without me.


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## Abominable (Feb 10, 2014)

gmcunni said:


> i wish i'd skied the outpost trails.. in retrospect i should have just let the girls take a few runs on their own while i hit those but i'm still going through a stage of overprotectiveness with my daughter and this being her first trip back to VT i was nervous about her skiing without me.



Yeah, it's not like you missed knee deep blower powder turns or anything... just some natural snow with powder turns here and there and some rocks and twigs here and there as well... you didn't really miss much, it's just that we haven't had so much in terms of fresh snow around here in awhile that I got a bit excited about snow over my toes.  Colorado is laughing at us.


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## emmaurice2 (Feb 10, 2014)

gmcunni said:


> i wish i'd skied the outpost trails.. in retrospect i should have just let the girls take a few runs on their own while i hit those but i'm still going through a stage of overprotectiveness with my daughter and this being her first trip back to VT i was nervous about her skiing without me.


I was going to ask about that.  You must be glad that she hasn't been dissuaded from skiing, though.


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

Abominable said:


> Yeah, it's not like you missed knee deep blower powder turns or anything... just some natural snow with powder turns here and there and some rocks and twigs here and there as well... you didn't really miss much, it's just that we haven't had so much in terms of fresh snow around here in awhile that I got a bit excited about snow over my toes.  Colorado is laughing at us.



i rode up the outpost chair and the trail below (not sure it was open) reminded me of Red LIne @ Magic.


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

emmaurice2 said:


> I was going to ask about that.  You must be glad that she hasn't been dissuaded from skiing, though.


yeah, she has no fear of skiing.. i joke with her that it is because she can't remember anything 

we were skiing with her friend who was also with us last year when the accident occurred so it was kind of a "Vermont redo" and it went very well.

my daughter on the left


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## xlr8r (Feb 10, 2014)

Here are some of my pics from the day.  Now that this post is 3 pages long It seems better to add it here than make my own TR.

It really was nice to see a good crowd at Pico, it seems to be getting a bit busier year after year again.  While Killington might not have invested a lot of money into Pico lately, they have not neglected it either.  5 or 6 years ago it seemed like Pico might be heading the way Haystack ended up, with its services slowly reduced until eventual closure, but now Pico seems to be a healthy operation even if it is only open 5 days a week.  

The new base building looks nice and fits in well with the base area layout and architecture.  I always though Pico had one of the best base areas, with a level parking lot , multiple buildings for different services, and a level walk to the lifts.  The one problem has always been seating space in the main lodge, but that has been improved this year by moving the pizza area across the deck to upstairs in the next building near the Pico sports / clothing store.  This adds a bit of seating, although more would still help the problem.

Birch Glade


Birch Glade


Summit Express


Summit Express


Outpost


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## xlr8r (Feb 10, 2014)

Upper Pike


Upper Pike


Top of Golden Express


Final run of the day off of Golden Express


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## gmcunni (Feb 10, 2014)

great pics!  i wish i'd stopped to take out my camera more.


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## dmw (Feb 10, 2014)

I was there last Thursday after the foot of fresh. Definitely one of my favorite mountains.


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## lerops (Feb 10, 2014)

Thanks guys. This TR makes me want to get there before end of this season.


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## Wavewheeler (Feb 10, 2014)

gmcunni said:


> fwiw, stayed at the econlodge a few miles west of Pico on RT4.   if you are looking for cheap (relatively) lodging give it a try.   personally, i think next time i'm in the area i'll spend a few $$ more and try a different place.



Check out the Summit Lodge. It's on access road at Killington. If you stay midweek 2 nights you get the 3rd one free and the price includes an incredible hot breakfast!  They have a pool and Jacuzzi. It's a really nice "ski lodge" kind of place. I've taken my kids there several times and they love it. 

http://www.summitlodgevermont.com/

Here's a pic of my daughter in front of it in 2006..


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