Killington, VT, 11/15-16

joegm

joegm

New member
K for mon and tues.... everything from the week before plus bunny buster, and high line.. mouse was on line as well. K 1 , glade triple and the poma were spinning..., i'm not gonna lie, 90% of our 2 days were spinng laps on the poma on bunny.. it was bumped t to b...eratic lines , no doubt, but it beat trying to play dodge ball on the main runs with the usual suspect crowd of racers and jackass snowboarders....by late tuesday the lines on the BB were pretty zippered for sure... rime and east glade were groomed out...... mouse had bumps t to b but they were rock hard and not good until late tuesday...GN sustaining good coverage... high line had monster bumps with surprisingly good coverage considering the lack of natural...that's one freakin steep trail for sure!!!!! they were blowing on the upper half of the hills day and night.. base got up to i would think close to 40, which we found amazing considering they were in fact blowing up top.. monday was bluebird.. tuesday was partly cloudy.. the 48 hr snow loss on bottom was minimal.. up top it was a gain ... p- fake - pow all around...not a flake of natural on the hill , even up at the top.. considering this, they have done a fine job. tuesday morning was very crowded.. not day one crowded but way to many people to enjoy... it seemed like a ton of 10 to 15 year old groups showed up.. cleared out after 1 though and by 2 us and about 4 other dudes owned the BB
analysis: bittersweet is covered t to b .. upper part of supa star is white but not sure if it is enough to ski... they were blowing the uppper star through tuesday afternoon... looks like they are trying to spread the filed and get the ss lift up and running for the weekend for bittersweet. did make it over to bear for a peak on mon afternoon because of darkness, but we were told that a dedicated rope tow is in place for the new bear pipe and a piece of the new park.... that is simply a great idea and one that i just can not understand for the life of me why every resort with a legit substantial pipe/boarder population, does not have.. it is a ridiculous no brainer.. especially for a place like loon.. it would benefit everyone. back on mon and tues again.. maybe loon maybe K... it's gonna be tough to ski loon if all they have is one trail off the q... driving out of lincoln on mon morning , the guns were silent , but one trail off the Q appeared to be covered:
aggravating anecdote: acquired a new pair of skis... head mad trix moguls with salomon s914 f.i.s bindings.. this inof in and of itself is not important to anyone i know except it sets up the following: you cannot buy moguls skis anymore in stores.. no one stocks them... i obvously don't agree with that, but that is neither here nor there... got into a pissing contest tuesday morning with some mid level manager at K becasue i was bringing my insanely overpriced $700 set up into the lodge... why?. becasue K did not feel any obligation to set up even one ( 1) ski key lock rack..u know , the ones that have the little round sliding rod that goes across and locks your skis in if you have the little lock .... ever since i got a pair of K 2 4's stolen a couple of years back, i always lock up the sticks... and this ski key rack is great.. it's quick , and easy and it works.... and it's great if you are working 2 pairs of skis on the same day.... i know for a fact that the ski key inventor ( met him at the boston ski show 5 years ago ) gave the racks to all new england ski areas for free, asuming people would outlay the 15 or 20 for the locks....... just about every area i have been to has at least one of them except stowe :evil: :evil: ...which i'm sure is about the money and the loss of a buck or 2 to lock your skis... fine... i can accept that, but read on to see who is not reasonable here... we were set up upstairs of the main level at the K1 lodge.. us and about 3 other people in that huge space... K mid level manager man bee lines us and starts in about, we don't allow skis in the lodge sir...i remained civil and engaged the young man... me-" let me ask you something. is it too much to ask for at least one of the ski racks to be put out in the sea of other racks that are out there..." K man " uhhh i'm not sure we have those sir" me- " uhhh yes you do .. u had em last year and i know for a fact you still do becasue they are stacked up over at bear... i saw them with my own eyes " K -man - " well i don't know about that sir" me-" listen, i had a pair of skis stolen from here a few years ago, and i don't think the request is unreasonable.. what is unreasonable is you not having anywhere to lock up skis that nowadays can run over $1000.00. ( the bump skis i got had to be ordered, not bought off the rack...this makes them rare and valuable one would think ) ... ' Kman_ " well we do sir, u can check your skis in at our locking area that we run "... me - " oh is see, i have to pay you to secure my skis.. all right that's fine.. take me to it' . K man - " uhhh well that is not open at this present time sir.. it's too early in the season "... get the picture of this conversation?... needless to say, the skis did not leave my sight. i told the Kman to bring up his boss and we will discuss it further... he never came back....memo to K management... get your heads out of your asses and smarten up and throw out a couple of locking racks
 
As always Joe, Great report!!!

Thanks for the bit on the skiracks (rock skis or new skis, :? ).

I am be tempted to go down one day (it's been so long), if I am in Montreal on the weekend?

Seems that Kmart might have the best conditions around THIS early season, ah yes... the 19% exchange rate also helps!!!
 
Joe, great report. I sent you a PM last week, did you get it? How were the Heads? I have the same problem buying bump skis. No cheap places to purchase them.
 
i feel like a total dope.. i had no idea of the PM accounts that we now have on this until sheahunter's post . 1) marc , i am sorry about not replying .. check your pm... sheahunter- r u married? i think i'm in love... a girl who likes to ski bumps on real bump skis :D :D :D .. i'll pm you with the 411 on the heads
 
I hear you about not being able to easily buy bump skis anymore. Because I'm more of an all-mountain skier, I prefer twintips and even these are sometimes hard to find, unless you are a Salomon junkie which I am not. I found a pair of new Dynastar Candides on E-bay and bought them for $169. These are my new skis for this season and I'm more than happy.
 
I would recommend a cable ski lock setup to joegm. It fits easily in a jacket pocket and I use it to lock skis to an open rack, fence post, tree etc.
 
tony, i know what you are saying.. but with all due respect, the 2 systems are not even close.. the ski key lock weighs about 3 ounces, is about the size of your pinky finger, and can be locked and unlocked in about 6 seconds.... wraping a wire bike lock around one's ski bindings about 10 times ( the only way to really secure em since most skis/bindings have no holes ) and watching them get bounced/kicked/stomped around an already overpacked ski rack is a real pain in the ass... especially when it's about 3 degrees out 8) .... and then at the end of the day, if one skis a full day till the lifts stop spinning, watching the resort staff drag the racks off to the side so the groomers can get by while your wire locked/bike locked skis are being dragged with the rack, doesn't seem like a pleasant proposition :roll: (don't laugh, i've seen it happen ) i'm not trying to be a wise guy, here... i'm just pointing out that it is not unreasonable to expect them to put out put out a few of these racks that were given to them for free
 
These must be regional issues. The only ski key lock racks I've seen are coin operated, and if you're going to pay a buck to lock up at lunch many areas have courtesy corrals. I've also never seen areas move ski racks around with skis on them. I'm more inclined to lock to a fence or stair rail anyway. And my cable lock has 2 pieces, one with a loop for poles that hooks around the waist of the skis between the bindings, and the cable itself that secures the first piece to the fence, tree, etc.
 
I always split my skis. At KMart's KBL, I put one in the rack and one up on the deck where it's visible from the window. These days, snowboards are the high theft risk item.

Oh, and a "courtesy corral" at Killington would be an oxymoron. ;)
 
tony, admittedly the only place i've ever been west of the mississippi is whistler, but they have the ski key lock racks... you have to look for em but they have em and are available for use... in the east they seem to be a little more in abundance than in whistler. it just seems like a waste to be talking about this becasue it is such a simple thing that the resorts should do... it sounds like you really are not familiar with this particular rack, but ask anyone who is and it is a very good idea... if you are a family with little kids and all the chaos that involves trying to keep track of kids and equipment, in addition to trying to keep track of 4 or 5 wire bike locks instead of 4 or 5 - 3 inch sized locks.. it just doesn't seem like too much to ask for...to me, it is just reflects a level of disconnect and not caring about the customer :evil: ...but whatever
 
When I was up at mss last weekend I think they had as many locking ski racks as they did non locking ones. And when I first arrived there were more skis locked in those things then on the regular racks. It made me kinda uneasy as I had forgot my cable lock. I just left them in such a way that it would be hard to run away with them easily and made my business in the lodge quick then never let them out of my sight after that. Not that some cheapo backcountry tele skis would disappear but I just like to be careful. I think I've seen atleast one of those racks at every place I've skied though. Kinda weird K doesn't feel the need to have em early season.
 
that was a great report. I am on my way up in early december and hope they have it up to par like they normally do. Are they looking on par or behind? I really can't tell and i also forget from what they had previous years etc etc.
 
cibit":2kk7deqm said:
Are they looking on par or behind? I really can't tell and i also forget from what they had previous years etc etc.
Click to expand...

Killington runs their snow guns 24x7 for the months of November and December as long as temperatures permit. Until 3 years ago, they had a water supply problem so they'd have to stop making snow when they sucked the snowmaking ponds dry. They added a pipeline to the Woodward reservoir that fixed that particular problem. It's temperature and humidity that dictates how much terrain Killington can open.

They're doing a few things differently this year:

* They're putting down a significant base. In previous ASC years, they'd put down the bare minimum and then go on to the next trail. This made them prone to meltdowns. Trails like Upper East Fall (formerly lower East Glade), upper Bunny Buster, and middle Chute have 10' base depths this year and are unlikely to melt down completely. Good news for spring skiing if they continue this strategy.

* They're making snow on more advanced terrain early. This is how Preston Smith always used to do it. ASC decided they wanted to put novice terrain online early so they focused on Rams Head and Snowshed too early. Those areas are lower elevation and prone to melting so they often blew snow only to see it melt away two or three times between mid-November and Christmas. They blew the Downdraft headwall up by the top of the K1 gondola in mid-November for the first time in maybe 7 years. They opened Highline in mid-November.

* I haven't driven over but they're running enough guns that they must have the compressors over at Bear Mountain running. Old Preston Smith Killington used to do this in early November but ASC-run Killington always waited until closer to Thanksgiving.

There's no such thing as "on-par" at Killington since it's so weather dependent. On a 20 year average, they're somewhat better than average.
 
that's some 5 star analysis by geoff.. everything he says appears to be true.. i did leave out the fact that the downdraft headwall was and is open with a substantial base... becasue it is the headwall only i think i just left it out, but it is a nice pitch with 3 distinct line options from what i remember.. we only skied of the G probably 10 times in 2 days so it wan't much of a factor, but yes it is open, for any upper level bumpers looking!!!! it certainly appears that the base on the bunny buster is higher than it was last year no doubt...and geoff may be able to add more perspective but i do not remember them blowing anywhere on the superstar so early in the last 2 years....is it possible all the complaining might be working?
 
woodi7259":4nn28nqb said:
When I was up at mss last weekend I think they had as many locking ski racks as they did non locking ones. And when I first arrived there were more skis locked in those things then on the regular racks. It made me kinda uneasy as I had forgot my cable lock. I just left them in such a way that it would be hard to run away with them easily and made my business in the lodge quick then never let them out of my sight after that. Not that some cheapo backcountry tele skis would disappear but I just like to be careful. I think I've seen atleast one of those racks at every place I've skied though. Kinda weird K doesn't feel the need to have em early season.
Click to expand...

I guess this reply could also be part of the Stuff Stolen discussion.

There is a reason why people lock they skis up at Mt St.Sauveur, I had a few time friends have there skis stolen there. All this while we had races (Colleges (CEGEP) Races were there in the 80s) or were training (CEGEP and University).

Geoff said:
I always split my skis. At KMart's KBL, I put one in the rack and one up on the deck where it's visible from the window.
Click to expand...

Some of the stolen ski where split AND in against the window :!: :!: :!:
 
Forgot to mention,

I am planning to be back at Killington after so many years away on Friday or Saturday (probably Sat.).
 
Tony: These are the locking racks:

skirack_large.jpg


And the lock/key for the rack that skiers buy:

skilocks_stacked.jpg


They don't work so well for fatter than normal skis, or skis with big risers, and they're about useless for skis with telemark bindings. But if you have "normal" equipment they work really well. Your poles get locked-in behind your skis too.

They're everywhere in the northeast.
 
I've seen the racks but not the keys. I notice a couple of snowboards at the end of the rack. They should have more of those, as my impression also is that theft is a much bigger problem with boards.
 
Geoff thanks for the excellent review of the ASC snowmaking etc. I guess i chose my words as far as on par wrong so sorry.

I usually ski killington early in the season rather then later and i know its always wether dependent and i was just wondering how they were doing since this week or so has been in the upper 30's-mid 40's as base temp
 
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