Killington is Awesome

I hadn’t been to Killington in a decade and some things hadn’t changed. Yea the access road was deserted and there was only one lift running, but the mountain still somehow seemed huge to me.

Killington the Beast

Some things had changed. I’ve done some skiing in the last ten years and I was ready to take on Killington’s expert terrain. Superstar, the storied trail was looking good from a distance and even better up close.

I met Riverc0il at the base of the quad at 9:30. Superstar’s bumps were a bit of a gut check for me, skiing after a six-week layoff.

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Killington, VT: 12/16/12


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If skiers are wondering if The Beast is back, the answer is a rousing “I have no idea what that means.” However, I did ski at Killington today and if it had been with William Faulkner he might have called his book the Sound and Sting of the Fury.

Early season isn’t my favorite time to ski, but because skiing is my favorite activity I’m compelled to take advantage. In turn, yesterday was the last day to take advantage of a 2-1 ticket deal from Ski Magazine. So a few motivated friends met up to make turns in the face of a cruel wind and the double-edged sword of an ideal snowmaking window before Christmas break.

As always, being out early sure helped. Visibility was tough all day, but empty early runs on Superstar accelerated the process of getting comfortable on skis again. You couldn’t see if you were about to ski into an erratic mogul or a falling skier, so it was important to use the force to feel the snow underneath.

Cascade was the trail of the day. A large and scary “Experts Only” sign up top yielded to a perfect bump line for brave skiers that could navigate the ice, loose rocks, and wind at the gondola terminal. It was pretty gruesome, but a clear alternative to the white ribbons that had become clutter with skiers by midday.

A couple of hours in, I noticed that it was actually snowing at a decent clip, too. That snow mixed in well with the man made, and made the afternoon very pleasant. It was a great day. Nothing beats skiing in falling snow because it holds in the air a promise of better turns tomorrow, and hopefully for all of us.

The Ski Season in Photos #2

First Tracks at Killington
Condor on Royal Flush • Killington, VT • October 28, 2011

While Killington has come under fire in recent years for a reduced commitment to the eight month season that created “the beast,” the fact remains that the mountain remains incredibly important to New York skiers.  The combination of convenient location, excellent orographics and an aggressive approach to October snowmaking puts Killington top of mind for many of us, especially in the early season. This past season half of all the trip reports posted in the NY Ski Forums in November 2011 were from Killington.

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