Bromley VT 1/19, Magic VT 1/20, K'ton VT 1/21&22 and

[Cameron]

Bromley was 100% open on 1/19, the summit was in fog and had a fair sized crowd for mid week. Some of the naturalsnow trails were a little thin, but the mtn was in excellent shape. The bumps in the east Bowl were a challenge in the poor visibility. I was able to find some powder by poking deep into one glade and traversing to a run on the West side that was served by a lift that wasn't running. <BR> <BR>Magic was about 50% open on 1/20 and I was shocked at the lack of in close parking at 8:15. There was a race that attracted a lot of kids from Bromley, Stratton, Mt Snow & other places. The best runs were marked with thin cover signs, these seemed to indicated powdery trails with no groomeing. These had 4-5 inches of untracked or barely tracked powder. I did hit some dirt, a rock or two and a lot of pucker brush. <BR> <BR>We didn't duck any ropes, but skied lots of fresh powder for the entire day. The pucker brush is getting thicker on some trails and I managed a pretty good fall thanks to a snow snake. <BR> <BR>Killington was also 100% open, but their thin cover signs meant major areas of exposed granite. It has been a couple of years since I skied Killington and forgot about the navigation challenge the place poses. <BR> <BR>Sunday was fairly windy and the most comfortable skiing was in the lee of Skye and at Bear. The worst trail I encountered was the slick and hard surface of Super Star. There were widely spaced powder bumps, but the hard man made snow and the randomly spaced moguls was a diabolical mix. <BR> <BR>We did manage to avoid the crowds and find some fun trails. It was a strange contrast to ski Magic one day with loose snow on empty trails and be at Killington with lots of people on man made snow. <BR> <BR>Monday 1/22 was a beautiful day at Killington: sun, light winds and fewer people. The Killingto had consistant surfaces on all of their 'mountains' with the exception of Superstar and Ovation. The basin trails were in good shape and we had fun on some of the natural snow bump trails. <BR> <BR>1/23 was my first time at Pico and it lived up to the reports I had heard: uncrowded, minimal traverses and fun skiing. Only three licts were running, the two quads and a double on the teaching hill. <BR> <BR>Pico had much better snow conditions than Killington in my opinion. The groomed trails had much softer snow and I found no wind scoured surfaces. Pico's thin cover signs meant there might be an exposed rock, root or other plant life. The one exception was Giant Killer which had a fair amount of exposed rocks and plants at the top. <BR> <BR>I really enjoyed the terrain at Pico, especially the bump runs. The moguls were soft and the few thin spots were easy to ski around. The mountain is snow board friendly with no flat traverses and virtually no 'connector' trails. I now regret not trying pico earlier.