Killington, VT 10/25/99

Jay Silveira · Apr 17, 2000

(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 10/25/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.) Despite the fact that I've lived in VT for a great portion of my life (especially my adult life), I still get caught off guard by the magical snowstorms that sometimes hit the Green Mountains. I sat happily through our "rain" event in Burlington on Friday-Saturday, and while I can't say I didn't ponder what it would be like to have all that precipitation as snow, that's a bit of a dream when the calendar says October. Temperatures in Burlington were in the mid to upper 40s, so I didn't expect much more than a couple of slushy inches in the mountains. I first started getting suspicious on Sunday morning, when I clicked on my weather radio and heard a report of 11 inches new snow on top of Mt. Mansfield. Wha? I immediately thought of hitting the web and doing some more research for the day, but I had plans and it would have to wait until the evening. That evening, I collected my messages from SkiVT-L, and what appeared but reports of a foot of natural snow at Killington! That coupled with the snowmaking that had taken place over the weekend = !!!!!! I had already missed out on the 14 inches of natural snow that Jay Peak had received earlier this month... I was going in to work late tomorrow

As I headed south to Killington in the morning, clouds still hid most of the higher peaks, but blue sky started poking through in places and before long I could see that the highest peaks were PLASTERED with snow! The most remarkable thing about the snow was that on the smaller 2000' peaks, there was nuthin', just flat out nuthin'. This was a major elevation event if I've ever seen one. As I caught my first glimpses of Killington from I-89, it was nice to see, in contrast to the usual strip of white on a brown background, MANY strips of white covering the whole mountain. I was intrigued by this very tight snow line phenomenon (none of the smaller peaks anywhere near Killington had visible snow) so I kept careful track of the first point at which I saw snow beside the Killington access road. The first visible patches appeared at 2450', just as I neared the Killington Base Lodge. This early season skiing setup was the fourth transport variation I've seen at Killington in about as many years. You hopped on a truck right behind the Killington base Lodge (they checked you for a lift ticket to get on the truck), and they transported you up the Spillway trail to the bottom of the Canyon Quad. You then showed your ticket again, and rode the Canyon Quad to its terminus. From this point, you had not one, not two, but a luxurious THREE trail options. This is a treat for an opening day at Killington where you are generally restricted to a single route. From skier's right to left the options were Upper Double Dipper, Upper East Glade, and Upper Rime. Unfortunately, at the first crossover, you were forced from all trails to finish on Lower Rime, which along with upper Rime, had snowmaking in progress. Once you finished your run, you rode the Glades Triple Chair, which brought you back up to the top again. When you were done skiing, you downloaded on the Canyon Quad, and then they transported you by truck right back to the lodge. As I rode up the Canyon Quad, I observed that natural consistent coverage started out around 3000'. At that level, there were about 3-4 inches of snow, and by the top of the quad (approx. 4100' via altimeter), it seemed about 10 inches, but was difficult to judge. I'm not sure if they made snow on Upper Double Dipper, but I took one look at it and dove in. These were some of the sweetest first day turns I can remember, a nice packed powder base, with a couple of inches of loose snow on top. For all I know it could have been all natural snow I was skiing on? Not only that, but I had the trail virtually to myself since people seemed more plentiful on the other routes. These dreamy conditions ended all too soon and I was forced to cut left and merge in with Rime. Snow guns were blazing, and the snow was a bit heavier, but it was still quite nice and coverage was excellent. I made sure that I checked out each route before I had to go. Rime had guns blazing top to bottom, but I guess they are loading it to try and get through any warm spells. East Glade has similar conditions to Double Dipper, with perhaps a bit more use. I had my season's pass, but I checked the price and it was $25 for the day. I'm not sure if they plan to change that any time soon, but call to make sure. If the weather holds, hopefully Killington will be able to stay open from here on out, now we need to see... who's next? J.Spin

Garry · Apr 17, 2000

(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 10/26/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.) I felt pretty strange putting my board on my car Friday, as I headed out for the weekend. I wanted to be prepared to drive north instead of south on Monday morning. All the effort I put in on Friday (finding gear,packing the car) was rewarded Sunday when I called the K snow report to hear that there was some natural snow and that they would be definitely opening Monday. I arrived at KBL at about 930 and there were about 70 cars there already. I went into KBL but had to go back to Snowdon to get my pass. Got my pass after about 20-30 minutes and got to the top of the Canyon about 1030. Jay Spins'report of the snow conditions is right on. The coverage was very good for opening day, and in fact I would take those conditions all most everyday, except for the number of people on lower Rime. I would add that there were some sweet bump lines on Lower Rime that were finally visible when they turned off the snow guns about 2. I ended the day at about 3 and went down the access road. Outback wasn't going to open until 5 (Monday they have all you can eat pizza from 5-7). So I left K and stopped at Long trail for a sandwich and a double bag,where I check my altimeter watch. I only rode 11,000 vft but it took me 18 runs to do it. A great start to the season!

joe · Apr 17, 2000

(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 10/26/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.) I just wanted to say that I was over at Killington this morning (Tuesday) and the skiing was still good. I was on the lifts by 9:30 and out of there by 11:30 (had to be somewhere else at 1). Earlier reports still accurately describe what I saw up there. Of the three runs, one was groomed out pretty smooth (friends said there were nice bumps by Monday afternoon) and the other two were a little more natural. Definitely a great start to the season! joe http://EasternSkiing.com

Jerm · Apr 17, 2000

(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 10/27/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.) Others pretty much covered the open options. I was there as well and got to explore a few of the "restricted" options. Over the past few years my opening turns have been earned in solitude on natural snow. This year was the totoal opposite nothing earned, and far from solitude. But don't get me wrong, I had a blast and was happy to be on white stuff again, especially with some of the real stuff thrown into the mix. Gotta say that I'm jealous of those who earned turns at MRG and Stowe though, you guys won the real prize this weekend. I bet Nosedive was going off... Anyway, the lower part of Catwalk was a hoot, and the patrollers at the top didnt seem to get too huffy when I ducked the rope to it. Skiing on natural snow in October is a real treat, as I cant stand the sound of skis scratching hardpack. The lower half of East Glade was a challenge -- nature's finest breakable crust. The cover was excellent though, all it needed was a good bootpacking (whatever happened to the days of free tickets in exchange for a couple bootpack runs?). Same goes for the upper half of West Glade. Lower half was quite good due to a lot of groomer and snowmobile traffic. Since the Canyon Quad was going so slow I decided to continue down the cat track rather than go back up to go back down. That turned out to be a good decision. The skiing was pretty good down to the top of Bunny Buster, where it got choppy. I was still skiing though, and that was better than riding in a muddy truck. Snow finally gave out about 300 feet from the lodge but the speed I had accumulated allowed me to skip across the wet grass and stop at the K1 base station. Today I am back at my computer and feeling that familiar soreness that you only get after those first few ski days of the season. I love that feeling, it's a sure sign of a good day's skiing. I had a real hard time tying my shoes this morning, just couldnt reach them

Wont be long before we're in the trees and feeling like Jedi Knights again! I cant wait! Jerm

Killington, VT 10/25/99

Jay Silveira

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Garry

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joe

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Jerm

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