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.