Killington Resort at noon on March 15th, 2012 

My morning jog this morning took me out for a few runs at the resort. I had about an hour and a half open this morning, so off the the mountain I went.

As usual when I have a short time on the hill, I parked this morning at the Vale parking lot and skied out of the car. Lower Great Northern to Rams Head was well covered with soft, consistent, snow. It was a good start for a few quick laps around the mountain.

From the Rams Head quad, I took Caper down to the Snowdon Quad. Upper Caper was bumpy near the lift, the product of beginner skiers and riders churning up the surface at random. Middle Caper was loose and wet where the southern exposure was capturing the available dim sun light. The lower end of Caper near Snowdon was firmer, the by product of being somewhat shaded by the thick forest around the trail.

From the Snowdon Quad I observed Chute, Great Bear, Mouse Trap and Lower Bunny Buster. Although I skied none of these runs, I can report that snow coverage was holding up well on all of the trails with the exception of Great Bear, which had significant patches of exposed mud. All of the other trails looked in great shape, although some of the beginners I was observing on the trail were having some trouble pushing the wet snow around as they proceeded downhill.

I traversed down Killink to East Fall; making my way to the Canyon Quad. East Fall had large, somewhat regular, soft bumps down it's entire face. The bumps in the middle and skiers right were somewhat larger than on skiers left. The hard pack in the troughs was quite soft and cuttable, but there was a lot of sliding going on as well. I noticed some tele skiers were having a good time maintaining good pace down East Fall. Most of the regular skiers were picking off 4 or 5 moguls at a time then stopping to reacquire a new line.

From the Canyon Quad I traversed across the top of the resort on Launch Pad. Along the way I noticed several trails that were roped off that the resort must be reserving for the weekend. Upper Ovation was one of them. I skied down Cruise Control which had small soft bumps. Needles Eye was well covered. Bittersweet had a few skid spots in places. Sky Lark was bumping up, the product of all of the snow on the trail that the resort had made earlier in the season.

I finished up on Superstar. It was surprisingly flat, the result of the resort continuously grooming the trail compressing the snow into hard pack. Middle Superstar was the softest part of the trail, with medium sized bumps developing. The lower headwall was interesting. It was basically a loose wet surface over a hard base. It seemed like my skis were acting like giant squeegees. It was quite possible to set an edge, but there was also a lot of slipping going on. I would have preferred that there were some bumps on the lower headwall, but with the mountain mostly dominated by advanced beginner skiers this week, the resort was clearly giving people some bragging rights to take home from their ski vacations.

Overall, the mountain is well covered. If you plan on traveling to Killington this weekend plan on spring skiing and riding conditions. Clothing could be interesting. You will need to bring both winter kit and spring shells if you plan on being out on the mountain early. But then again, if you are here this weekend, you probably already know about the joys of skiing in the spring.

Let it snow!!!

Have a piece of Killington Pi 

To all my engineer, scientist, and technology friends in the world out there.... Happy Pi Day! For everyone else, enjoy this link to wikipedia.

3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989 3809525720 1065485863 2788659361 5338182796 8230301952 0353018529 6899577362 2599413891 2497217752 8347913151 5574857242 4541506959

I guess this is more fun than contemplating mud season?

Let it snow!!!

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!!!

News about Killington Vermont 

Congratulations are in order for the residents of Killington for turning out in high numbers to vote in the first Australian Ballot Killington Town Meeting.

From information provided by town government, 391 ballots were cast in the election. This represents a 60% increase in voter turn out from last years town meeting, at which 245 votes were cast in an open floor vote in March of 2011. For comparison purposes, from town reports, 241 votes were cast in 2010, 193 in 2009 and 242 in 2008 (source Town of Killington and Chris Bianchi). Yesterdays Australian Ballot voting clearly reached it's initial objective of creating a more participatory environment to engage Killington residents in town government.

Congratulations are also in order for all of the candidates who participated in yesterdays election. Your desire to volunteer your services to the community of Killington is noteworthy, whether you won or lost the elected position that you sought. Thank you!

Election results for can be found on the Town of Killington's website on the Election Results page.

Let it snow!!!

Killington Peak under an azure sky 

On a perfect day to head out to the mountain to ski, the registered voters of Killington are turning out to make history. By a wide margin at a special town meeting held last year, the voters of Killington decided to modify the existing Town Meeting procedures for from the floor voting, and move instead to a formal ballot using Australian Voting rules. Today was the first local election with the new rules in place.

While it is too early to proclaim that the switch to Australian Ballot for local elections is a success, early indications are that the people of Killington are responding well to the changes. Last night, the first part of the change took place with an Informational Town Meeting to review the issues before the voters of Killington. The meeting was attended by several hundred people to discuss issues presented to voters on the ballots to be cast today. A live stream video record of Monday nights meeting can be found online here.

if you are a Killington resident reading this blog, no matter what your point of view, I encourage you to get over to the elementary school on Schoolhouse Road today before 7:00 PM and cast your vote.

Chris Bianchi answering questions at the Killington Town Meeting held on Monday night, March 5, 2012. Click to enlarge..

The election is not the only activity taking place in Killington today. The beautiful blue sky and crisp late winter temperatures are driving residents and guests outside to play in the snow.

Before heading to the polling place to cast my votes in this years election, I made my way to the resort for a short jog around the mountain. By this morning, the resort had groomed out the powder that had fallen the last several days, resulting is surfaces that were noticeably firmer. Some moderate powder could be found on some trail edges, and along windblown areas prone to drifting snow. The woods today was not an option for me, as I was skiing with people who do not partake in the trees, but I would guess that tracked out areas would have also firmed up in the cold overnight temperatures.

Skiing today was back to primarily Super G conditions with flat and fast conditions underfoot. Trails that had minimal grooming had firm bumps under a small cover layer of powder. Lower Skylark is an example of the latter, with Sky Burst to Lower Wildfire being a perfect example of Super G downhill.

Spring skiing conditions are due to spread across the area over the next couple of days with temperatures reaching well above freezing. They should be nice days to grab your ski shells and sun screen and take a few laps around the mountain.

Let it snow!!!

Another powder day at Killington! 

You can't make this up!

All winter long we have been moaning about the fruits of Mother Nature... The last 2 weeks have certainly changed that tune!

Today was another in a series of Powder Days at Killington. 4 inches of beautiful, bright white, fluff draped the region overnight setting the table for another great day to be on the mountain. With temperatures in the low teens, the morning was set up for powder run after powder run all across the mountain.

From Bear Mountain, to Needles Eye to Sky Peak to Rams Head to Snowdon, to Killington Peak, everywhere we went this morning I was able to find untracked, or minimally tracked powder all across the mountain.

Mary and Nina in the powder at Killington Vermont, March 5, 2012 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

The mountain did have some character builders to it, however. The groomed cruisers (Bear Claw, Lower Wildfire, Sky Burst, Cruise Control, Swirl, Easy Street, Caper) were all set up with powder depths ranging from a dusting to 4 inches. You could just rip down these trails with powder flying in all directions.

The bump runs, (Superstar, Outer Limits, Needles Eye, Royal Flush, Highline, Low Road, Interceptor) all presented their own challenges. A weekend worth of skiers and riders created bumps on these trails ranging from a small sitzmark to Volkswagen Beetles. The larger bumps, with clearly defined troughs, while totally covered in powder, were clearly visible, allowing one to take either aggressive, or evasive, action to cope with the bump. The smaller bumps were virtually invisible in the freshly fallen snow. Hitting them at speed was a work out for the legs, which was not a bad thing as they could continue to be strengthened in preparation for this summers golf season.

I do have a couple of black and blues from catching tree branches along the sides of some of the trails. The powder along most trail edges was shin to knee deep. It is a price one has to pay on occasion to get the good stuff.

We have another cool day on tap for tomorrow (Election Day in Killington --- Don't forget to vote!) which should keep the mountain in perfect mid winter shape. After that it looks like we have a bout of spring skiing on tap with bright sunshine and warm temperatures. Don't forget your sun screen!

Let it snow!

We just did that? Garry and The Bagel look back at a cloud covered Thimble under the Skyship Stage 2 

I needed to leave the mountain today at 10:15 AM.

When I sat down and wrote yesterdays blog at 11:30 PM, I did not know that I had another 4 hours to go before getting to bed. It turns out a late arrival planted their car in a snow bank on Butler Road leading into the inn. By the time the tow truck pulled them out and they were settled into the inn, the clock had struck 3:30 AM. It is just hard to ski in the powder on 3 hours sleep after skiing all out the day before.

During my hour on the hill, I did manage 6 runs on wonderfully soft, if visibility challenged, trails. Yesterdays powder was moved around all around the resort last night by Killingtons grooming fleet, covering every trail with a thick coating of machine groomed lightly packed powder. Each turn yielded a sweeping cascade of snow as the skis carved into the surface.

In addition to the groomers, the resort had also left the sides of many trails filled with wonderful soft bumps. After a couple of runs, my sleep deprived legs were no match, unlike yesterdays outing on the snow. As my legs turned to rubber with each bump, it became apparent that my ski day would be short. So it goes...

Tonight the inn is full with almost the whole house due to arrive. The saga of traveling to Killington will be lived by thousands this afternoon and this evening as they head into town to enjoy a weekend in Vermont. The great news in my shortened ski day is that the snow has energized people to visit Killington, and stay at our inn. Plus the snow will also go a long way to providing Killington with a long and soft spring skiing season. I can sleep when the snow melts.

Let it snow!!!