powderfreak
New member
Today we learned that sometimes you do get what you pay for. Gore is <BR>relatively cheap (I ski for $29) while Killington is a bit more expensive <BR>($43 with the Price Chopper deal). Gore doesn't know how to handle a <BR>thaw/freeze. Killington does. Killington knows how to make massive <BR>amounts of snow. With that said, I'll still ski at Gore, but Killington <BR>definately had a different feeling today. We rip on that place endlessly, <BR>but the more I go there, the more it grows on me. <BR> <BR>It felt cold, but that was probably because it has been so warm recently. <BR>There was no wind and since we basically rode the K1 all day, the cold <BR>wasn't a problem at all. Tomorrow and Friday might be a different story <BR>with temps in the -10 to -20 range with wind. The groomers were soft and <BR>chalky in the morning. Very pleasant surprise after the freeze. Many <BR>people I talked to that were there last weekend said it was the worst <BR>they've seen this year. <BR> <BR>Killington reported 3 inches of new snow, and I guess I'll give it to them <BR>since they have had drips and drabbles of snow in the past 3 days. Woods <BR>had a bomber crust with 4-6 inches of fresh on top. The base is a little <BR>low, but I did find some excellent stuff in Toliet Bowl. Anarchy needs a <BR>little more snow but the problem was the run out that it emptied onto; <BR>Escapade or whatever its called was grass, rock, and ice. With the crust, <BR>you could ski the woods pretty fast and occasionally get billowing powder <BR>around your knees on hard turns. The crust made it really easy to bang <BR>out a series of quick turns. <BR> <BR>Upper Ovation was sweet. Skiers left was old rock hard bumps but there <BR>was up to a foot of new drifted snow over there and if you skied in the <BR>troughs it was quite enjoyable. Superstar was getting blasted but the <BR>guns turned off late in the afternoon. That snow was again excellent. No <BR>ice to be found, just let 'em rip GS-style and most turns left a 10 foot <BR>powdery wake. Superstar glades were fun with the mademade snow drifting <BR>in there to form a very carvable surface that could be skied at very high <BR>speeds. Killington knows how to make quality snow. Same on Double <BR>Dipper. I skied 4 runs on DD off the K1 gondi between 3 and 4pm before <BR>they told me I couldn't load the lift again. Soft, soft, soft. <BR> <BR>Trails over by Bear were a little firmer, even a bit icy at days end. I <BR>didn't venture much in the Needles Eye area. Snowdon had some good stuff <BR>with fluff on top of unbreakable crust. I ventured into the Low Rider <BR>fusion zone and some other woods over there and found them to be in <BR>awesome cruising conditions. With only a few inches of fresh stuff on top <BR>of a crust, if you don't see something, chances are you won't hit <BR>something. Confidence was pretty high in the woods today. <BR> <BR>It was another great day at the "Beast of the East". Occasionally, you <BR>pay for what you get. <BR> <BR>-Scott