Sign on Lower Great Northern at the entrance to the Vale parking lot.

Sign on Lower Great Northern at the entrance to the Vale parking lot.

Sometimes you see things on the mountain that make you shake your head. Sometimes they make you laugh....sometimes they make you cry....But today, it was just a laugh.

College week is in full swing at Killington. There are lots of newbys on the slopes (and that is a great thing for the snow-sports and skiing industries!) You could not get into a lift line without someone dancing to tunes on their ipod. Every where you looked, it seemed like 1970 all over again...except this time it was not Japanese tourists with Canon cameras, but college students (and older) taking the advice of Annie Leibovitz and snapping pictures with their Iphones. Being at least 10 degrees warmer today than yesterday, and with light snow falling to brighten everyones mood, you got the feeling that people had planed to go skiing but a party broke out instead.

Which was a good thing!

Conditions today at Killington were similar to yesterday, with the possible exception that there were more people on the trails. And since terrain is still not near 100% open, the crowds were noticeable.

Surface conditions across the mountain, except where the snow guns were continuing to operate at Bear Mountain, were firm at best. In many areas, trail grooming has turned up some dark surprises, which in heavy skier traffic make collision avoidance an interesting proposition. The resort has done a good job with "Thin Cover" stakes in spots, but the random piece of loose granite in the middle of some trails presents an interesting and unexpected slalom gate for one to practice their turns with.

We did a quick traverse around the mountain today, skiing from the car at the Vale parking lot. In addition to what we skied yesterday, we added the traverse to Bear Mountain on Bearly, and Skylark to the list. Bearly was filled with snow boarders heading to Bear Mountain while avoiding the snow guns on Skyburst. Why they were going to Bear Mountain is clearly validating the marketing message of the upcoming Dew Tour, as there are really no facilities set up for beginner and average boarders at Bear. Snow making is continuing to pound lower Skyburst and Wildfire. Bumps are random and huge. Waterbars on Wildfire have created huge obstacles to overcome. Not a great place for experienced skiers let alone snowboarders trying out their new Christmas gifts.

Coming out of Bear Mountain, Bittersweet was taking a beating as the "easy way" back to the K1 Base Lodge. Upper Bittersweet was soft in most places, but the steeper pitch of lower Bittersweet was really scraped off. Skylark, on the other hand, was much nicer. I think the fact that it is listed as a black diamond worked well to keep the skier and rider traffic down, resulting in a much more reliable and friendly snow surface.

Todays picture is from the trail side of the walkway across the road to the Vale parking lot. It is hard to get a road confused with a ski trail, but clearly the resort felt that making that distinction to people was in order. Darwin would be so proud!

It has been snowing all day at Killington. Before we left, we had picked up an inch of new snow at the inn. On the mountain, I am sure that they will see 3-5 inches of new snow before the day is done. It's a wonderful thing!. Let it snow!!!