Superstar getting "Hosed"

Superstar getting "Hosed"

if Mother Nature brings you cold weather, it's time to turn on the snow guns!

In response to the immature snow which fell earlier in the week across the mountains of Vermont, the Killington Resort "hosed up" and once again is making a major move to make snow across their open terrain. And it is glorious!

Mary and I started skiing today at the rather leisurely time of 11:30 this morning. Temperatures across the mountain were in the mid to high 20's with the "Killington Cloud" dimming the sunshine overhead. We parked right at the Snowdon Quad, donned our boots, and were on the chair in less than 10 minutes from leaving the inn, ready to explore the mountain.

Immediately we noticed that the resort was actively making snow over much of their open terrain. Resurfacing operations were taking place on Mouse Trap, Great Northern, Cascades, Superstar, Sky Lark, Rams Head, Caper and Snow Shed. In addition, snow guns were making snow all around the Rams Head, Snow Shed, and K1 base lodges, with the K1 Umbrella Bars getting heavily coated by the lower fan gun on Superstar.

We started skiing up in North Ridge. Rime, Reason, East Falls, Upper Double Dipper, and Down Draft were all well covered. Firm spots prevailed, so sharp edges were appreciated. But there was also plenty of loose granular on most of the trail edges to provide some soft goodness to support turns on aging knees.

Snowmaking operations resume at the Killington Resort, December 12, 2012. Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

We skied out down Great Northern. It was nicely soft in many places from the large number of snow guns deployed along the trail. Mouse Trap and Lower Bunny Buster featured much of the same. While snow guns were not running on Lower Bunny, the large Fan Gun on Mouse Trap was blanketing the Mouse Trap, Great Northern, Chute intersection with loads of snow.

From Lower Bunny Buster we traversed over to Superstar. Snow guns were running from top to bottom to resurface the trail. Superstar was open from the top to the High Road cut off. It looked rather undulating with vestigial water bars present, so we decided to bypass it. Bitter Sweet was nicely covered, and also in beautiful sunshine. Mary called it a do over (probably because of the sunshine). I took a run down Sky Lark, which was also quite nice.

Temperatures in Killington look like snow making operations will continue around the clock for several days, allowing the resort to complete resurfacing and begin some terrain expansion(with luck!). In addition (shish) there is some cold weather event predicted for the north country starting Sunday that looks promising. Wether anything comes of it remains to be seen, but the local weather forecasters are beginning to get a little excited (so cross your fingers and dance the soles of your feet off!). I will believe it again when I can take a snow stake picture with some white stuff to measure with the ruler... But it will come soon enough...

Where ever you may be, keep cranking on your snow dances and aim them at Killington.

Let it snow!