A Farewell to New England

Skiing in late April and early May was not something I expected to do in New England very often. Not good skiing anyway. But this epic winter, while not the snowiest, had maintained its snow pack, making for serious Spring ski fun at several hills.

We started at Killington, where 12 bumpy runs turned our legs to tofurkey by 1pm. There was literally not a single flat turn to be had.

Then we avoided a multitude of moose on the drive to Maine, where the broad shoulders of Sugarloaf held deep snow and deserted runs. Excellent vertical, great early ‘ice cream’ groomers and with about 40 opens runs (some traversing needed), lots of fun to be had all day. A wet suit would’ve been appropriate for the 100m run out to the lift by noon, but apart from puddles there was little slowness and no glue. Sugarloaf for the second straight year offered west-coast standard Spring skiing.

We finished our road trip at Jay Peak’s closing weekend. Encroaching warm temps were doing some damage to the snow pack, but there was still a lot of terrain to play on. By late morning it was a corn-a-thon, with super quality bumps everywhere. There were even a few tree shots available to provide reminders of the real adventure that Jay Peak hides in it boney, bare, steep woods.

And on Sunday afternoon, that was it. The end of a fantastic New England ski season, during which Sugarbush and Jay especially offered up some amazing skiing. With our return west imminent, it’s not likely we’ll be out this way for a while. Exploring New England has been a totally enriching experience, opening our eyes to some of the tightest, steepest woods and bumps that we’ve seen anywhere. I hope we make it back out here one day. Ideally a deep powdery one with a firm base and mid week crowds. With New England terrain, that’s a recipe for a great ski day.

Killington 8000m

Sugarloaf 12,000m, 9200m

Jay Peak 11,400m, 6200m

Season totals: 56 days, 453,900m vert, 12 powder days

Killington and Sugarbush snowy goodness

Killington is a pretty decent ski hill any winter time. Add 4 inches of fresh, fluffy snow overnight, a stormy morning, and Friday ‘crowds’, and all the ingredients for a hellagood ski day were in place. The early dumpage was pretty wild, driven by a moderate winds delivering another 2+ inches of free refills. After a warmup on Superstar, with flying snowy roosters tails kicked up by the new snow, we headed to Bear Mountain for the morning. Wildfire was littered with small, soft bumps that made for fun, fast hoppy turns. Next we hit the groomed Outer Limits. It had a few firm patches, but on the whole held an edge just fine. The major danger was the other people crashing and burning all the way down. It was true carnage.

We gradually made our way, via some fast, wickedly fun blue groomers, back to the front side. Cascade was a snowy delight, loaded with wind-blown goodness. It really is a great run. Canyon was similar only ungroomed, and the Big Dipper trees hid big, well spaced bumps that demanded respect on its steep tree-strewn fall line. Unfortunately, 4pm came around far too quickly. Luckily, the weekend wasn’t over 😉

At 9am on Saturday morning at Sugarbush, the temperature was -8F at the base, and according to a ski patrol dude, -29F with wind chill. It was nearer -40F with wind chill up high. That’s around the temperature where the F’s and the C’s converge. I think this was the coldest we’ve ever skied in. It had its advantages though. There were zero lift lines, few people on the runs, and the fresh snow that fell overnight stayed cold and powdery. The only downside was the wind. It was strong and evil cold, stripping half the mountain of snow, and loading the other half with dreamy blower pow.

This created Jekyll and Hyde skiing conditions. If you found the Jekyll-y wind loaded areas, the skiing was quite wonderful. The left hand side of Organgrinder held 4-6 inches of chopped up goodness amongst the bumps, Paradise was steep and soft and bumpy, and a (unusually) groomed Castlerock was worth a mild dose of hypothermia to ski early. But if you ventured away from where the wind favored, the mountain’s My Hyde side revealed itself through remnants of New England’s glacial past. It kept us on our toes. And once or twice on our butts.

Bone chilling winds in the afternoon gradually closed all the upper mountain lifts. But there was still enormous scope for fun with piles of snow in the woods, making gentle runs like Eden, Sap Line  and Deeper Sleeper a hoot to rip down all afternoon. It was a frosty day, but a darn good one.

Sunday was almost tropical in comparison – a mere 1F at the base at 9am. Overnight the combination of the grooming crew and wind had transformed the mountain. The groomers now held an edge like Lindsay Lohan gripping a bottle of vodka at 3am. Glades like Gangsta Grotto and Lew’s Line had heaps of windblown pow to soften turns on the firm bumps below, and Paradise was so good I did it twice. We bailed at 1.45pm, having probably the best day of the weekend under our bases.

Sugarbush is very fine ski hill, and in these conditions, it’s terrain shines like a powdery diamond.

Killington 8800m, Sugarbush 9200m, 8000m vert

Season Totals 23 days, 170,500m vertical, 6 Powder days

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,

Ski Season 2013-14 is rolling

In November. In the Eastern USA. Cold weather is creating gun pow blizzards all over New England. We’ll take this new school snow any time, especially when there’s 500+m vert runs to rip down. A brief warm up and rain did a little damage before out first outing at Okemo, but we, and about 7 other people, cared little. Two long groomers, some dirt patches to dodge and skim, and soft snow is all that’s needed on Day One to shake the cobwebs out of the legs. Here’s one of those runs in its full, top-to-bottom and not really terribly exciting glory.

The temperatures dropped quickly overnight, and we awoke at Killington to some unexpected old school snow as well as blazing gun pow machines. And they blazed and blazed, creating blizzard-like skiing at times, and laying some surprisingly decent snow for the small crowds to carve up. Even with limited terrain, there was lots of fun to be had. By the time we left, the legs were loose, the feet nimble, the skis tipping and carving, and we were ready for another ski season. 2013-14 is truly underway. Wooohoooo 😉

The snow gun capacity in this part of the world is truly impressive. Here’s an homage to the Gun Pow Gods and their amazing work at Killington, along with a few clips of the skiing. Not bad for November. Not bad at all.

Stats:

Okemo: 6,300m

Killington 9,200m, 5700m

3 Days: 21,200m vert