Killington 4/19/2006

[BeanoNYC]

Date(s) Skied: 4/19/2005 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Resort or Ski Area: Killington, VT

Conditions: Spring Varied. Corn Snow, Hardpack Groomed, Mashed Potatos

Trip Report: Well, I arrived to a rainy and desolate access road the evening of 4/18. It was sad to see the area lacking of it's usual "buzz." Many restaurants and pubs closed. Since my wife was kind enough to take the trip with me, I was looking forward to going out to a nice dinner at The Garlic, but alas, they had fallen victim to the spring season and we settled for Casey's Caboose. (Not the best place for a Vegetarian; The wife not me)

I awoke the next morning to a really nice day. Mid 50's, no wind and bluebird skies. As the day progressed the temperature rose to the mid 60's. The parking lot at K1 was nearly empty; I booted up and waited to get first chair on the K1 gondola. My first run was Great Northern>East Fall and down to the Canyon Quad. Great Northern was in decent condition and groomed with hardly any bare spots. The blue portion of East Fall was groomed with great coverage. The black portion of East Fall was ungroomed with some nice soft bumps. Coverage was limited especially at the end of the run by the Canyon Quad.

I made my way back up the Canyon Quad and would make the rest of my time at K1/Snowdon making a few loops on Great Northern, East Fall, Lower third of Chute, Mouse Trap et all. It was a short walk from the end of, what I think was, Bunny Buster back to the K1 Gondola Side Note: Cascade was open and bumped up. I didn't ski it as the bumps were still a bit bulletproof. Coverage, did look good, though.

Having had enough of that side of the mountain, I decided to walk over to the superstar quad and get some time in on what was left of Skye Peak. I wish I had hit it sooner. I made a few loops from the top of Skye Peak to all the jumble of trails (4 way Skylark, bittersweet, skyehawk panic button, High Road.) It all had very nice coverage and nice corn. From time to time, you would encounter a bare spot, but all-in-all it was good skiing. Some might be interested to know that the black section of skylarke was turned into a terrain park with minimal coverage. Now, on to superstar. The top of the trail was in bad condition. The only way from the top was to navigate a series of monster-sized bumps (please don't sue me for copyright infringement monster cables) in about a 5 foot path. The other way to superstar was to take skyehawk and hang a left. By the time I got to superstar the bumps were nice and soft. It seemed to me that the middle of the run was groomed at some point, not too long ago.

I made two runs down superstar, feeling like a hero on the soft bumps, made a final few runs off the trails from Skye Peak and called it a season. I picked my wife up at the hotel and we made our way to Foxwoods, finally settling in at Mystic, CT for the evening. Nice time there too!

Now for the pictures:

Edit: Clarification

A very groomed Great Northern

East Fall Looking Good

Black Portion of East Fall

"Which way to go?" East Fall by Canyon Quad

From the Superstar Quad

Looking good from the top of Skye

From the top of Superstar

 

[ALLSKIING]

Nice...Glad you got out one last time. Thanks for the pics.

 

[andyzee]

Thanks for the report and pics, at least you got the last day of lift service for Killington Peak and the Canyons area.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Thanks for the report and pics, at least you got the last day of lift service for Killington Peak and the Canyons area.

Yeah, I noticed that on the Killington web site today. The liftie at K1 told me that Sunday was the last day for the gondola. There were some bare spots, but there is no reason to close that side of the mountain.

 

[ga2ski]

Thanks for the great trip report and pix. I plan to hit K on Saturday.

 

[riverc0il]

Nice report. With the K1 going down, a skin up to Canyon land would be quite fun with an assist from Superstar, that area looks to have really really sweet coverage! though $39 is a bit much for 11 trails and 1 lift.

 

[kcyanks1]

Thanks for the report and pics, at least you got the last day of lift service for Killington Peak and the Canyons area.

Wow, I can't believe they are closing that so early when they still have snow and are operating other parts of the mountain. While Bear Mtn is totally separate and would possibly entail keeping open another base lodge, especially if the connection trails are closed, I'd think that if they have enough snow they'd keep Killington Peak open as long as they plan to keep Superstar open. Disappointing that there lack of effort for late season skiing is going this far. I didn't take advantage of the May skiing until around 4 or 5 winters ago, but have gone on 3 different occasions in May, and had a lot of fun each time. I even once drove 3.5 hours each way alone to ski in a light rain. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only non-season's pass holder that day. Amazing that now I'm going to be longing for an opportunity to do something so many (except people on this board) would view as crazy

 

[andyzee]

Wow, I can't believe they are closing that so early when they still have snow and are operating other parts of the mountain. While Bear Mtn is totally separate and would possibly entail keeping open another base lodge, especially if the connection trails are closed, I'd think that if they have enough snow they'd keep Killington Peak open as long as they plan to keep Superstar open. Disappointing that there lack of effort for late season skiing is going this far. I didn't take advantage of the May skiing until around 4 or 5 winters ago, but have gone on 3 different occasions in May, and had a lot of fun each time. I even once drove 3.5 hours each way alone to ski in a light rain. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only non-season's pass holder that day. Amazing that now I'm going to be longing for an opportunity to do something so many (except people on this board) would view as crazy

Last year was my first skiing in May, went to May 30th and it was great. Killington had closed on the 15th and we had to hike for turns. Guess if we want to go into May this year we'll have to do the same. Bear may be worth checking out.

 

[Tyrolean_skier]

Beano, too bad you did not post at www.killingtonzone.com that you were going to be around or we could have met you. We had a Bay1 BBQ going that day and you could have joined us for some food and drinks. I've been here in Killington since last Friday and I have seen the snow disappearing pretty fast. I did quite a few runs on Outer Limits this past weekend and as long as you had a ride at Bear then it was quite accessible and enjoyable. I got a chance to go over there again today and found the path to there lacking in snow in many places. I also hiked today to the Canyon area and skied Double Dipper. The hike was a bit tough but the snow on that trail was sweet. It is a shame that we no longer have lift access to the Canyon area because the snow on those trails is still great. So sad to see the changes day to day.

 

[Vortex]

Beano thankx for the report. Was there enough snow at the top of Superstar to plow over the dirt patch. Last year they did that the last weekend I was there so the weekend had better coverage.

 

[andyzee]

Beano thankx for the report. Was there enough snow at the top of Superstar to plow over the dirt patch. Last year they did that the last weekend I was there so the weekend had better coverage.

Play it safe, get up there this weekend!

 

[riverc0il]

you know, the headwall of superstar raises a really interesting point... why focus on superstar for late season skiing? of course, they did not always focus on superstar but that is the current focus. why not canyon? download on K1 if needed but then they would have two lifts spinning instead of just one. :-?

 

[andyzee]

you know, the headwall of superstar raises a really interesting point... why focus on superstar for late season skiing? of course, they did not always focus on superstar but that is the current focus. why not canyon? download on K1 if needed but then they would have two lifts spinning instead of just one. :-?

My guess, money. The K1 itself would cost more to run and then yeah, they would have to run a second lift.

 

[riverc0il]

but they might not need to blow as much snow would be my thought? covering that headwall must be a night mare, and then stock piling snow just to cover up bare spots? ick.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Beano thankx for the report. Was there enough snow at the top of Superstar to plow over the dirt patch. Last year they did that the last weekend I was there so the weekend had better coverage.

Yes, I forgot to mention that.

 

[Vortex]

I plan on going to K on the 29 for a few hours in the morning. BW this weekend. thankx Rich

 

[skijay]

Awesome pictures. I wish I did go yesterday, but I got so much accomplished with yard work in time for this weekend's rain.

 

[2knees]

you know, the headwall of superstar raises a really interesting point... why focus on superstar for late season skiing? of course, they did not always focus on superstar but that is the current focus. why not canyon? download on K1 if needed but then they would have two lifts spinning instead of just one. :-?

Superstar has been the focus since around the time they replaced the double and its midstation with the k1. You cant download the gondola because there is no midstation. Thats been part of the problem with the early season skiing. They need top to bottom now since they no longer truck people up and have no midstation or 2 lift system to get people down. But it is a shame.

 

[Zand]

I think K should install a lift from the base to the base of the Canyon Quad. Use it just early and late season. Then they can have skiing off both the Canyon Quad and Glades Triple. Intermediates could ride up the Canyon Quad, play in the Glades, and then ride the Canyon Quad back down to avoid the blacks.

Either that, or do it the smart way and move spring skiing to Bear Mountain on Outer Limits.

 

[andyzee]

I think K should install a lift from the base to the base of the Canyon Quad. Use it just early and late season. Then they can have skiing off both the Canyon Quad and Glades Triple. Intermediates could ride up the Canyon Quad, play in the Glades, and then ride the Canyon Quad back down to avoid the blacks.

Either that, or do it the smart way and move spring skiing to Bear Mountain on Outer Limits.

Couple of problems with that.

1. An extra lift would cost money. Something ASC doesn't have
2. Bear Mountain is good for now, they blew more snow on it this year, but under normal circumstances, it is warmer there due to the fact that it gets more sun and is at a lower elevation.