Killington Peak from the Superstar base station

Killington Peak from the Superstar base station

A brilliant blue sky greeted skiers and riders in attendance today at Killington. In the aftermath of heavy weekend snow, today was a bluebird day to be out on the mountain.

Although the Weather Channel had been predicting single digit temperatures with winds of 15 to 25, they were wrong (are you surprised?). Temperatures at the peak may have been in the single digits, but they were nicely overcome by (what amounts to) copious sunshine casting shadows across the landscape.

We started our ski day on the Superstar Quad. When we arrived at the top, we noticed that there was no rope across Gateway leading to Bear Mountain. The resort has been working on Bear Mountain for the last week or so. Rumors abound about when it will open. While not expecting it to be open this morning, the open trail was just too inviting. It demanded investigation. We followed Gateway to the old Snowshed Crossover trail (which does not appear on the current trail map). Snow making operations were visible thru out the trails of Bear. Bear Claw, the Stash, Skye Burst, and Dream Maker all looked like they are almost ready to go. Probably, given the snow depths, a pass with a grooming machine would be all it would take. Unless there is an epic cataclysm, they will definitely be open for the Christmas Holidays.

As we were in the area, we did laps on the Needles Eye chair through Cruise Control, Needles Eye, and Bittersweet. Needles Eye and Cruise Control were soft and sweet with wall to wall fresh snow. Bittersweet, because of weekend traffic, was very slick in a few spots, particularly just above the old Bittersweet mid wall.

As we were in the neighborhood, Superstar reached out and grabbed us. Soft and beautiful all the way from top to bottom. And although it was not in sun, due to the angle of the sun in the sky this time of year, the light was more than adequate to allow one to rip it down the trail.

Soft snow and blue skies was the order of the day at Killington. Click again to resume rotation.

From Superstar, we went over to Snowdon for a few laps on the Snowdon Quad. Great Northern, Highline, Bunny Buster, Chute, and Mousetrap were all soft and pliable. If we were starting our day, it would have been heaven. But as it was we had taken a lot of runs by now, so the leg rest on the Snowdon Quad was somewhat welcomed.

The Killington Resort is really set up nicely for the upcoming holidays. Cold temperatures are forecasted for the rest of the week, allowing them to continue to make snow to open more terrain. Winter is off to a great start.

Let it snow.