Killington VT 11/03/02

[Reeb]

My nephew, his friend, several thousand other people, and myself decided to <BR>ski at Killington on Sunday. The sun was shining and the temps were cold <BR>enough for the guns to run all day. Bittersweet, Lower Chute and Cascade <BR>were getting blasted all day. Cascade was beautiful soft bumps with the <BR>fresh snow from many guns. The bumps on the steeper section got pretty big <BR>from all the skier traffic. East Fall was wall to wall bumps and wall to <BR>wall people. It was like a pinball machine. Deep icy troughs from all the <BR>traffic. But it was nothing like Lower Bunny Buster. The only way back to <BR>the bottom. It was scrapped down to icy velvet with sporadically spaced <BR>mounds of snow. People were flying down it using the slower skiers as gates. <BR>Mouse Trap is loaded with moguls too. Killington has over a foot of natural <BR>snow on top of a thin crust. West Glade, Upper Royal Flush, and the Mountain <BR>Training Stations were open with all natural. Poaching was required to get <BR>the real good. Upper Chute to Great Bear had tons of powder. I never hit one <BR>rock. Northstar was also good but the steeper section was a little tricky. <BR>The second time I did Chute to Great Bear a patroller caught me coming out <BR>onto Great Northern and gave me the speech about getting hurt on a closed <BR>trail and I should be old enough to know better than to ski on closed <BR>trials. I told him I couldn't resist the powder and felt that the trails <BR>should be open. He let me go with a warning and didn't take my ticket. I <BR>stopped the poaching and stuck to Cascade and West Glade. I did poach Upper <BR>Flume too. Nice powder. The lift lines were very long on the K1 and Snowdon <BR>Triple. No line on the Canyon Quad because it required skiing mogul runs to <BR>get to it. Small line on the Glades Triple. The groomers were the usual ice <BR>patches with snow piled in the middle of the trial. It was a great day of <BR>skiing but there were just too many people on the trails. Poaching was the <BR>best because we had the trails all to ourselves. <BR> <BR>Reeb

 

[Lftgly]

Ah, but you are "old enough to know better" WHERE to poach and never hit one rock! Obviously he failed to appreciate your route-finding skills (or maybe not, since you got off with only the warning). <BR> <BR>But seriously, I suspect the ski patrol's own statistics would show there are far more injuries caused by collisions or near-misses on those crowded open trails. It'll be nice when more terrain opens up, allowing the skiers-per-acre to spread out. <BR> <BR>Saturday was great, and I would have gone back Sunday, if not for work. Glad to hear it was as nice (off-trail) as I imagined, and that they opened Cascade for you.