Do a Little Dance: Killington VT

It makes sense that a warm and underperforming winter would be followed by a cold and wet spring. I’ve been burying myself in work and household projects, but Killington just would not go away.

Riverc0il-superstar

Each time I peeked at social media or the Killington conditions thread, Superstar seemed deep and very top-to-bottomish. On top of it all I’d only used a week of vacation all winter.

I took off early Friday, and arrived in the early afternoon. Darkside Shaman loaned me his most awesome Stihl leaf blower and I dusted up the trails. Just as I was finishing cleaning up, the Son of Pitches showed up and afternoon MTB was on.

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Jiminy Peak: My First Time

Recently I googled “Jiminy Peak 1989.” I found an E-bay listing for an old booklet celebrating Jiminy Peak’s 40th anniversary, which turned out to be the 1988/89 season. I had to have it.

jiminy-triple-chair

I was 17 in February 1989. The day after a school dance my friends thought it would be fun to drive to Jiminy for some skiing. Most of us had never skied but we were fit and confident.

We schlepped our cooler full of food to the lodge, rented skis, bought lift tickets and headed out. In hindsight it might have been smart to take a lesson. I fell twice just getting my boots into my bindings. I figured out how to brace myself on my poles and got through the lift line on pure high-school-senior upper body strength.

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Spring 2016 Work Weekend

Every spring when the season is over, I head to the cabin to turn off the heat, stack the wood for next winter and get the trails in shape for summer. I’m productive enough, but really it’s just another reason to return to my favorite place in the world.

dogs-and-bikes

Traditionally the spring work weekend was in early May, before the black flies had their game on. But over the last ten years the bugs are emerging earlier and we’ve moved spring weekend into April. Even this year it hardly feels like the ski season is over.

I arrived Friday afternoon and took a quick walk of the yellow trail. It was dry and I was surprised to find little deadfall; small consolation for the thinnest winter in memory.

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