A Pre-Xmas jaunt to Killington

With only 4 hours skiing at a half-open Seven Springs since Thanksgiving, we were ready for some serious action. Luckily early winter has been kind to New England, with cold weather and good snowfalls a recipe for a lot of open skiing. That’s why, on the Sunday before Xmas we found ourselves in the Snowshed Lodge at Killington having breakfast about 8.30. A bit groggy from the long drive and not much sleep, we were in no rush, as traditionally this wouldn’t be a busy day. We were spot on with that 😉

Another thing that was spot on was the excellently entertaining daily Killington snow report. The cover was good even in non-snowmaking areas, the open terrain was extensive, and there was some hootenanny skiing to be found. We explored all day, not skiing the same run twice. Skylark and Superstar provided fast, smooth warmups with some steep pitches to get the edge control in tune. We then found ourselves at Bear Mountain, where Wildfire was almost like warfare with the snowguns, but it made for some winding, bumpy, whale humpy action in the freshly blown pow.

Next we headed to Snowdon Mountain where Northstar was a beautifully formed bump run, firm and twiggy in places, but extremely fun. Ramshead was next for a high speed cruise in a 20 minute dumpage squall, before we headed up the K1 Gondola for lunch. I rarely mention food on here, but the Butternut Squash soup was worthy of a much more salubrious establishment. Nice lodge!!

For an after lunch warmup we headed off the back of Killington Peak and found The Jug. An old lift line with mostly gentle bumps all the way down until the steeper ‘Handle’ , it was a hoot. We almost felt lonely hopping over the mounds of round soft snow. A fabulous run.

Things got even better when we hit the gondola-served runs off Killington Peak. Cascade was a smooth, fast ripping steep run. Double Dipper was even better, with 1-day old bumps on a plunging  fallline. East Fall and Downdraft were nearly as good. This was seriously good skiing. Patsy’s, a tree run on Snowdon rounded off a day when it would have taken The World’s Strongest Man to remove the grin off our faces. In conditions like this, Killington in a very fine ski hill.

The same grey, cool weather persisted into Monday. This allowed the gunpow and groomer crew to work magic overnight. Gateway skied like Western style carvable butter, Cascade was so smooth and steep it reminded me of the great fronstside groomers at Schweitzer. The Canyon Chair was running, which gave access to Double Dipper, Lower East Fall and Highline without the hassle of the gondola. These runs were all in primo conditions. We were ripping!!

To slow down, we found blue-run bumps on Great Bear that were a smile-inducing delight. Conclusions was more precipitous and seriously challenging, and the trees of Tin Man were East coast-tight, but well tracked so that any explorer like me could follow the routes to a safe exit. This was actually really good tree skiing.

I hope this winter remains as cool and generous as it has been so far in New England. We’ll not be needing too many plane rides West if it does, as skiing like this is rather fantastic. Merry Xmas!!

Seven Springs 4000m vert

Killington: 8100m, 8300m vert

Season Totals: 9 days. 64,600m vert,

Thanksgiving in Colorado

The Snow Gods were smiling on us this ThxGiving. We scored cheap flights to Denver, a great schedule, and the storms rolled in just before we arrived bringing the best late November conditions in a decade. Like Tony Abbott reminiscing about the quality of life in 1954, we were as happy as pigs in the proverbial. We also scored a great deal on a condo at the base of Keystone, mere staggering distance from the Peru lift – our access to serious ski fun for the first two days.

A lot of Keystone’s terrain was open, but there were solid protrusions on anything that wasn’t groomed and was vaguely steep. We took a few rock hits on day one exploring the terrain on the front side as well as the Outback. The snow was in great condition luckily, just a little low. On Friday, with the wonders of East Coast style gun pow,  they opened North Peak early, with three runs in pristine condition. We headed straight to the new terrain, lapping furiously and expecting the hordes to arrive any minute. They never did. We racked up 6000m vert by 11.30. It was a ripping morning, requiring a tasty burger lunch recovery. Laps of Spring Dipper and Wild Irishman rounded off an excellent day under the big blue western sky.

Saturday seemed a good day to explore more hills, so the rental truck was pointed towards Copper Mountain, a mere 25 minutes away. The snow cover there was definitely better than Keystone, with the open runs well covered,  soft and carvey. It was a great roaming ski day, with killer bumps all over the mountain to test the legs. The threatened crowds never arrived, the sky stayed blue, and the day simply whetted my appetite for a mid-winter return when the full mountain was begging to be tested. I liked Copper a lot. And it wore out my early season legs.

About 10 years ago we spent a basically crappy day at Breckenridge in mid-February. Vail was covered in great snow – Breck was a rocky, loggy, wind-swept mess. This, along with the rumors of constant crowds, made me reticent to return. Ever. But this season Breck had more snow than Vail, and the reports from locals were good. So on Sunday  I headed over. The reports were not wrong.

The lower terrain at Breck is cruisy and high-speed fun, with a few bumps and gullies to explore. Once I got my bearings and found the T-Bar, this ski season cranked up a notch or three. No locals I rode the T-Bar with could remember it being open in November. From the top, one trail  led to North Bowl, where filled in runs like Forget-Me-Not were excellent.  Exiting left off the T-Bar led to  the wonders of Horseshoe Bowl. There were ribbons of rock bands to negotiate to get in, but with few people and excellent snow and visibility, the treasures below were worth the effort. Steep, wind packed lines were wide open. in fact, the substantial wind was blowing straight up the hill, proving vicious face-shots from any skiers who were turning below. Every single turn was a delight. From the bottom of the bowl, dipping, winding routes through trees led back to the T-Bar, a two-minute wait, and another lap of heaven.

I could’ve spent the day lapping Horseshoe Bowl, it was that epic. But with so much terrain open, exploration was tempting. And exploration turned out to be a good idea once I found the steep shots through trees off the back of Peak 9. Deserted, north facing, precipitous lines were magnificent, perfect for high tempo rolling turns down the fall line. This was great skiing. For November, it was remarkable.

I’m now so tempted to spend a few days at Breck, mid-week, mid winter, on a good snow year. I suspect Copper and Keystone might be pretty fun too. Let’s see what this season’s snow brings. You never know.

Keystone 7900m, 7900m

Copper 10,000m

Breckenridge 8.200m

Season Totals: 6 days. 44,200m vert,