Catching Winter at the Right Moment

The 2017-18 season has been a tale of at least two winters. We got off to a promising start with big storms in December that opened up trails, and the snow was preserved by a persistent and brutal polar vortex that lasted into the second week of January.

Then MLK weekend featured a devastating thaw with significant rain that devoured the eastern snowpack, and since then conditions have largely mirrored last year—extended dry periods with mild temperatures, punctuated by brief periods of heavy snowfall. Getting it while it’s good has required patience, luck, and a willingness to go the distance—sometimes even as far as Quebec.

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Killington: It’s Time to Go Skiing

I’m a firm believer in the “backyard effect” — the idea that people are more likely to go skiing if they see snow their yard. The reverse also holds, if they don’t see snow, it’s harder to motivate them to go to the mountain. I feel that way for sure.

killington early season

November can be gray and dreary. Driving past empty fields and dead-looking, leafless trees on an overcast day, it’s hard to imagine that there’s a completely different season off to the east. They’re running a ski race at Killington in less than two weeks, so I figured it would be a good place get some motivation.

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Killington: Long Live the King

The Mile High Club still eludes me, and I’ll never hit 500 home runs, not with all the steroids in the world.

killington the king of spring

But last Thursday, I joined the ranks of another exclusive set–this one of die-hard east coast skiers, and perhaps even more prestigious.

For the record I did it with Naked Viking Man, Girl in Bikini, and an army of green t-shirts that read “I like big bumps and I cannot lie.”

We scored a day of lift-served skiing at Killington in June. By The Beast’s own records, it’s been 15 years since anyone’s done that.

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