Killington Opens Vermont Ski Season with Mid-winter Conditions
Killington, VT (Saturday, October 29, 2005) -
Killington's K-1 gondola carries happy skiers and snowboarders on the opening day of the Vermont resort's ski season today.
Telemarker Steve Goldstein makes his first ski turns of the season at Vermont's Killington Resort today. |
Two snowstorms over the past week combined to bring Killington roughly 30 inches of snow cover at higher elevations, prompting management to open for the weekend ahead of its scheduled mid-November date. The skiing and riding was on true packed powder surfaces on groomed runs, and loose powder adorned the ungroomed terrain. Ample open trails dispersed the crowds that arrived for October skiing and riding, diminished in number by the announcement that only occurred yesterday around noon after supplemental snowmaking covered lower-mountain runs.
Those fortunate enough to make it to Killington today found what many locals were claiming to be the best opening day conditions in recent memory, especially considering the October date. Open terrain included runs off Killington Peak and Snowdon Peak, with the K1 Gondola, North Ridge Triple, Snowdon Quad, and Snowdon Poma providing the lift service. The skiing and riding started out on the usual early season suspects, such as the Great Northern, Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, and Bunny Buster trails, but quickly expanded to natural snow trails including Royal Flush, which was in much better condition than it normally is in January. Around 10 a.m., ski patrol dropped the rope on Great Eastern to Launch Pad, opening up terrain in the resort's Superstar region. Trails like Skye Lark, Bittersweet, and a portion of Superstar became available in what would be considered epic conditions for any time of the season.
Natural snow trails were filled with powder from side to side, and the dense snow allowed for the opening of trails with little base. The bottom foot or so of snow was very dense and heavy, while the top foot was significantly lighter allowing skiers and riders to rip the top powder layer without fear of hitting bottom.
Steve Goldstein and his young son, Joe, were out enjoying the powder conditions today. Both season pass holders, they did not want to miss the opportunity to make turns before their family heads off to a Florida vacation tomorrow. The elder Goldstein commented that if he knew Killington would be open with this much terrain with these conditions, he would never have booked the trip to Disney. Similar sentiments were echoed throughout the lodges, trails, and lifts, as visitors could not believe that they were skiing and riding lift-accessed powder before Halloween in Vermont.
The snow consistency and depth, especially in the Canyon area, led to rampant rope-ducking, with many trails that were officially closed becoming bump runs. Trails such as Cascade, Downdraft, and Double Dipper saw such high skier traffic that moguls of cut up powder formed in the afternoon. One on-duty ski patroller commented that management was expecting this as the day progressed and people got bored with the current trail openings, especially when the closed runs appeared so inviting. He continued to caution, however, that while ski patrol was keeping a passive eye on the situation, closed trails were usually closed for a reason and contain hazards such as unmarked snowmaking equipment and downed trees. Killington will likely consider opening some of these runs with a gated, experts-only entry tomorrow after they are able to mark the majority of the hazards.
Late arrivals like Steve Sanders called the mountain this morning, only to find out for the first time that the lifts would be turning. Sanders packed his car and drove 100 miles from his New Hampshire home to ski October powder before heading west next week for a grooming job at Colorado's Telluride. “It's amazing for October,” Sanders remarked. “These conditions would be amazing even out west.”
Killington will be open again tomorrow for skiing and snowboarding, then will close during the week as the mountain's options for next weekend are considered. Snowmaking is expected to take place this weekend at every available opportunity.