Snow guns covering Superstar with snow in the morning sun.

Snow guns covering Superstar with snow in the morning sun.

At Killington we tend to think differently. I could have gone Christmas shopping today, but when I got up this morning there was a beautiful blue sky. Temperatures were in the low 20's with a "slight" breeze. Knowing that the resort has been making snow with the Christmas Holiday season fast approaching, it was the ideal day to go out and make some turns on the slopes.

The calendar says that winter officially starts at the end of this week. That means that historically this is the darkest week of the year, in terms of sunshine falling on the trails, of the winter season. And today lived up to that challenge. Arriving at the resort you were presented with the surreal man-made blizzard covering the area in fine, powdery, snow. With the sun just barely above the mountain peak, the shadows created a moody feeling. The faint of heart might have trepidation, but anyone who skies Killington regularly knows that the chaos the image paints just means that the resort is going all out to make as much snow as they can while they have the right conditions.

Snow at Killington Resort on December 19, 2011 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

We started the day with a boost up to Killington Peak. Wind gusts at the peak were quiet strong, bouncing the gondola cabin a couple of times as we arrived at the upper terminal. The sun was shining brightly with nary a cloud in the sky, yet light snow was raining down, being swept up to the top of the mountain by the wind carrying the product of hundreds of snow guns working their magic around the resort. The North Ridge area, scene of basically all of the early season skiing and riding at Killington, was soft and velvety. Upper East Fall, basically in the shadows the whole way except for far skiers left, was nicely consistent. There were a couple of "death cookies" in the middle of the trail; their origin however was a puzzle since there were not any visible craters from which they could have erupted. Rime under the lift was the best it has been all season. Light skier traffic this morning did not erode the surface. We did it several times in the early morning, and then later in the day. Every time it was nice.

On the Skye Peak side of the resort, Superstar is seeing aggressive snow making from top to bottom. A very strong downslope wind was present at the top. Mary briefly thought she lost me on the traverse over to Sky Lark as I appeared to dip below the horizon of the upper Superstar Headwall on my traverse across the top of Sky Peak. I explained to her that I was doing an old sailing trick, tacking into the wind, to propel me across the mountain. It took her a minute, then she realized I had my arms spread apart with my jacket like a sail when she last saw me on the headwall, so it sort of made sense. (All I know is that it works!)

Upper Sky Lark was very chunky, the product of a snow groomer cutting up the crust left by wet snow guns last week. A couple of more grooming cycles and they will be all broken up, leaving a smooth surface in their place. Upper Bittersweet still was roped off, although there looked like there was adequate snow cover for skiing and riding. I would guess the rope will drop on Upper Bittersweet in the next couple of days, if not sooner.

The run of the day was probably Lower Bittersweet. Lower Bittersweet was very dark in the shadows cast by the mountain, but the snow surface once you got below the junction with High Road was beautifully soft. It was a definite do over.

Killington is continuing their snow making operations full bore as we prepare for the Christmas Holidays... Now, how do I find time for Christmas Shopping? Let it snow!