There you have it... Evidence! Courtesy of Peter Smith of the Forerunner Ski Shop.

There you have it... Evidence! Courtesy of Peter Smith of the Forerunner Ski Shop.

When I woke up this morning, I was determined that today would be the day we finally got out on the slopes of Killington for a few turns. All work and no play make Bill and Mary dull people. We needed to have some fun and I was not going to let anything get in the way.

For those of you who do not live at a ski resort, the first day a local attempts to go skiing is usually hilarious. Visitors to the area usually have the added advantage of being able to quietly pack all of their clothes for the trip to Killington. Locals are left scratching their head wondering where the stuff went from last year as the car engine is running in the parking lot. Such was the scene this morning.

After a quick breakfast, I braved the attic of the inn to find "our stuff". Although the inn seems large, life storage for the innkeepers is at a premium. The attic has a full collection of plastic storage boxes with clothes for all seasons (and Christmas decorations and Halloween Decorations, and Easter decorations and.....you get the idea). After rummaging around for a bit while Mary was making breakfast for inn guests, I found a box of general winter clothing, and a box with nicely washed ski clothes(thank you Mary!). Everything seemed to be there, so I hauled it our of the attic. Mary was now done with breakfast, so we got dressed to go. Oops... as we are packing up our kit, no helmet liner for my ski helmet. To be more accurate, it is really a very thin hat that sits between my head and my helmet, but it really does make a difference on cool days, which by definition this one was as it was our first day on the mountain.

Not a tragedy, we live in the land of the best ski shops on the planet, so on our way off to the mountain we stopped at the Forerunner Ski Shop. Donna was behind the desk. She quickly got me a new helmet liner, and we were off.

When we arrived at the mountain, I maneuvered the car to the Bay 1 lot about 2 cars down from the K1 Gondola. A little boot magic in the car(God...they are still comfortable after all these years) and we took the short walk to the K1 for the lift to the peak.

On the way up the mountain was ablaze in snow guns. Great Northern was lit up as was all of Snowdon. The resort is clearly putting a marker down to make a major expansion of terrain for the Thanksgiving weekend, weather be damned. If we get what is predicted for the area tomorrow, all of the work the resort is doing to make snow will be a stroke of genius. We will know in 24 hours.

We arrived at the peak at the proverbial "Crack O'Noon", probably one of our latest ski day arrival times ever. But that's ok... we were here to have some fun, air out the ski legs, and enjoy the mountain.

The conditions on the mountain were an interesting mix of textures. By this time, the middle of Rime and Reason was pretty sparse with a firm ski base covered with loose granular. The sides had plenty of character with small, unorganized soft bumps made from the loose granular that at 9:00 AM was probably in the middle of the trail, but by Noontime had all be moved by skier traffic.

Snow guns were going on Upper Great Northern, yielding some creamy goodness. The sides had some interesting "sitzmarks" carved in troughs along the edges of the snow. Not difficult to avoid (in fact many boarders were using them as launching pads). But if you were not paying attention they could have caught you by surprise.

Lower Ridge Run back to the triple was pretty good. I always feel like one of those metal balls in a pinball machine on Lower Ridge Run, as the trails compound fall line can push one from side to side quite quickly as you traverse down the trail.

The top to bottom run on Great Northern was very nice. Snow making was continuing down the length of Great Northern yielding some nice snow along the way. Snow guns were also operating on several of the upper trails of Snowdon, and also all the way to the bottom of the Snowdon Quad, but as this was something that the resort started last night, there was not enough snow accumulation yet on this terrain to allow the resort to "drop the ropes".

All in all, once we got our "stuff" together, it was a nice couple of hours on the mountain. A good light work out for the legs to start toning them up for what we hope will be a long ski season to come.

Let it snow!!!