Lower Superstar Headwall bathed in sunshine.

Lower Superstar Headwall bathed in sunshine.

Oh what a day on the mountain! Take bright sunshine, temperatures in the 50's, a turtle neck shirt, a ski bib and ski vest. Add in soft snow, fast lifts, and no crowds. Throw in some bumps for good measure. Blend it all together. And while you are at it, say a pray to the divinity for being able to ski all winter to develop hard skiers legs. You have got today down pat!

I arrived at the mountain just before 9. I put my boots on in Bay 1 of the K1 parking lot, and slipped over to the K1 Gondola. It was hot. As I am going up K1, I am a little pensive. The base area was damp. Highline was groomed like a Slurpie run over by an 18 wheeler in a 7/11 parking lot. Royal Flush looked like it needed a plunger. East Fall was laying flat. And Cascaded looked like it was covered with lots of little icy bumps. I was not sure what I had gotten myself into.

A warm breeze greeted me at Killington Peak. I snapped on my skis, and headed out, followed by a couple of friends I met at the peak as I was getting ready. The first run was down Great Northern to Rime to East Fall. The snow was soft and creamy. East Fall was erratic in spots, the result of inconsistent sunshine warming the trail through the trees. But the Canyon Quad was running, so all was right with the world.

The next run saw us take a wider swing down Great Northern to Highline. Full sunshine had been on Highline since daybreak. The snow surface was folded like a delicious whipped cream, pushing back with enough texture and body on the skis to keep speed in check, but not being sticky and foul like a sugary meringue. I though it was great. The guys I was skiing with at the time ...not so much... so off to breakfast they went leaving me to the mountain and my own whims.

Cover Art for Herb Alperts 1965 album Whipped Cream and Other Delights. Click to enlarge..

I took the K1 Gondola again and skied across the top of the mountain. Superstar was looming in the distance, but I did not feel like skating in front of the K1 Base Lodge so off to the peak I went. From the peak I traversed across Launch Pad to just below the Superstar Headwall. Launch Pad was medium soft primarily due to warm air temperature, versus spring sunshine. Entering Superstar brought full sunshine, and more whipped cream.

From Superstar I decided to brave Bear Mountain. By now it was 10 AM and I expected Bear to be mixed up. I traversed over to Bear Claw and found some more beautiful snow. I followed that with a cruise down Upper Wildfire, with some nice, soft, little bumps. Both Bear Claw and Wildfire empty into Lower Wildfire because of the Hole Shot competition on lower Sky Burst. I thought this might be a problem, but I hung to skiers right near the trees and found more delicious soft serve ice cream for my efforts.

I found more of the same on my run down Skyburst to Dream Maker to Cruise Control, as well as a follow up run down Bitter Sweet. By now I am starting to look for some bumps, as the high speed soft snow cruising was starting to loose my attention span, so I took a run down Sky Lark to the Superstar Quad. Upper Skylark was the creamy goodness found around the mountain. Lower Skylark had gorgeous big soft Volkswagen beetle bumps. Just enough variety to get the legs moving and get your attention. I was ready for more.

By now Superstar was calling my name. The upper headwall had a few bumps to keep the party going, followed by a whipped cream filling in the middle, and more bumps on the lower headwall. I sought out the bumps under the lift line on skiers left. I found them the perfect height and combination of firmness and softness to just develop a great rhythm heading down the trail. When I got to the bottom, I had to do it over before my day was done. It was just a delight after a long winter of predominately Super G style skiing.

When I was driving home, the riff on the talk show I was listening too was "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It was from his album "Whipped Cream and Other Delight" which was the perfect descriptor for skiing at Killington today. But there is something even stranger about this story. It is the connection between this album from 1965 and skiing. The original album was produced and released by A and M Records. In 2005, it was re-mastered into digital format to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the albums release. It was re-masterd by Shout Factory...who happen to be the same company that makes and distributes Warren Miller ski movies. Talk about closing a circle....

Here is to more great spring skiing and riding at Killington!...... Let it snow!!!