Outer Limits at Bear Mountain at Killington lit up by sunshine.

Outer Limits at Bear Mountain at Killington lit up by sunshine.

Look... Up in the sky... it's a comet...er no ... it's a meteor...er no ... it's a UFO... er no ... ITS THE SUN! What tha....

For the first time in many weeks, Mary and I got a chance to ski in sunshine. Beautiful, radiant, warming, sunshine. And with temperatures in the low teens this morning, with winds to 20, the fact that the sun was shining brightly made the whole morning just seem more pleasant.

Ski conditions today, to use the vernacular, were "flat and fast". The thaw that took place earlier in the week has solidified into impregnable patches of hard pack requiring variable amounts of leg pressure to set a turning edge. Early morning groomed corduroy saw us doing many nice "high speed" cruising runs on Bear Mountain. Later in the day, after the surfaces had been worked over by Friday skiers and riders, we slid down trails like Superstar and Cascade wondering why we were not wearing our Bauer's. Ah.. but we take joy and great comfort in the challenge of meeting the variability of ski conditions presented in the East.

It's all the Bagels fault.

Ruts, The Bagel, and Chuckles swinging from the Sky Burst Quad.

The Bagel made his triumphant return to the Killington ski scene today after a trip to the powdered slopes of Breckenridge Colorado. And not a moment too soon either. As mentioned last week, several of us have been "chaperoning" Ruts in the Bagel's absence. It was an awesome responsibility gladly relinquished back to the Bagel. The Bagel reports that he experienced the hole gamut of conditions on his trip to Breck, just like at Killington. His first day saw -20 degree temperatures (sound familiar) with just a touch of light snow. Like we at Killington had over the last 2 weeks, he also had a nice 15 inch powder day. But never matter about that, he is back, taking his rightful place as Rut's wingman on the winter odyssey we call "Skiing at Killington".

With cold temperatures firmly locked in place for the weekend, the Killington Resort has announced that they will be turning their snow making system on once again this season. Snow making has been taking place this week on Great Northern from the peak down to Middle and Lower Chute. Tonight and for the rest of the weekend, Killington's snowmakers will be turning their guns onto Superstar to continue to build base. Killington is planning a long spring skiing and riding season this year with events on the calendar spread out through April and May. And with more snow in the forecast for the region next week, we are looking forward to many warm and sunny days of nice spring skiing on soft snow.

Let it snow!