Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Day 43 - Killington

Out 8:00 to 11:45 with a KBL coffee break; 9° and snowing for first chair - clearing skies and windy by 10:00 - 2" fluff overnight; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 17 runs; 20,800 vertical; I had a very nice morning - Chute-Chute-Bunny, Great Northern-East Fall, and Double Dipper-Rim Run were velvety smooth first thing; Cascade was good, but a little chunky on the bottom; Superstar was good, but early traffic had scraped it clean by the time I got there; not sure many beginners had a nice morning - Caper was an abortion, crusty snowmaking over a horribly, chunky groom job and although Lower Great Eastern down to Skyeship Base was open it too was horrible; lots of people out, but I seemed to be able to avoid any lift lines today; skiing OK.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Day 42 - Killington

What a difference a day makes. Out 8:00 to 11:45 with an early KBL coffee break; clear and cold - 10° or so to start with a light breeze - seemed very cold anywhere in the shadows, like on the Canyon chair; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 16 runs; 15,100 vertical; nice and firm - Cascade, East Fall, Rime, and Upper Bunny were all good; watched as they closed an ungroomed Dip Dip this morning after a father and his two kids got stuck half way down - it took 3 chair rides for Ski Patrol to get them down; not near as many people today - never stood in a lift line all morning; rode the Snowshed Double II on the way out today - just because; skiing felt pretty good today.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, December 29, 2014

Day 41 - Killington

Holy mega-crowd Batman! Out 8:30 to 11:00 - quit immediately after a long KBL coffee break when I came back out and found huge lines at K-1, the Snowdon Triple, the Snowdon Quad, Ramshead, and Snowhed, so I just got on the shuttle and went home; some light snow up top with temps in the low twenties and a little bit of wind; 7 runs; 7,000 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers were nice and firm - Cascade and East Fall were real good, Lower Downdraft had been groomed, so I did 3 even though is wasn't that good; the crowd at 11:00 was as big as I can remember in quite some time - maybe tomorrow will be better.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Day 40 - Killington

Out 12:45 to 2:30; temps falling through the thirties after a hard rain last night; 7 runs; 8,900 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; soft snow, slush, wet spots, and dirt spots - ugly; no lift lines, but lots of people; Upper Vertigo had been groomed and was pretty good - Dip Dip was doable, but something less than OK - Rimefall was very good and got ROTD honors; woke up at 6:30 with the intention of getting out early, but heavy rain put me right back in bed.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Day 39 - Killington

Merry Christmas. Out 8:45 to 2:15 with a KBL coffee break and lunch at the Peak Lodge; last night's heavy rain ended just in time for first chair - overcast and windy with intermittent light flurries and temps in the low thirties; 25 runs; 27,800 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahmas; no crowd to speak of, but a few people did show up around noon or so - never enough people to create any lift lines; the rain took its toll - Header, Snowshed, and Lower High Road look really bad - tons of 'sink holes' on Cruise, Skyeburst and elsewhere - anything they groomed got pretty heavy by 2:00; practicing 'up and over' - think long, glidey transitions with what feels like a little upper body rotation into the fall line to facilitate 'the over', i.e. the edge change - think of the body moving as an inverted pendulum above the new ski during crossover; lead with the body - keep on or in front of your toes.

Here's a nice Up and Over sequence pulled from Tuesday's video:



#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Day 38 - Killington

Another rainy day. Out 9:00 to 2:00 with a KBL coffee break; rain with temps in the upper thirties; 21 runs; 24,250 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; lots of soft snow - but some icing and closed lifts and trails; nobody else on the hill; stayed relatively dry given the weather.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Day 37 - Middlebury

SL Training. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with a long lunch break to watch the morning's video; 3" of new snow overnight - on and off light rain all day, temps in the low thirties; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 20 runs or so - 3 slip runs in both the morning and afternoon, all others full length SL runs; great coaching and video analysis by Middlebury coaches Stever Bartlett and Abby Copeland; too high a line is a problem too - if you come up under the gate too much, you cross the hill and reach the rise line for the next turn too far above the next gate and have to drift, ie. slide, until you're in the correct position to pressure and make that next turn; so today's lesson: straighter and faster keeping forward pressure in the transition; timed runs in the afternoon - about 10 seconds back of the fast guys in a 40 second course - still slow.

Full video of today's runs on YouTube - Click Here

The best sections of today's runs on YouTube - Click Here



#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, December 22, 2014

Day 36 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 1:15 with a burger and a beer at the Long Trail Pub in Snowshed; increasing overcast with intermittent light snow and temps in the twenties; 17 runs; 19,100 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma's; pretty big crowd on hand after 10:30; lots of hard pack today; did lots of 'new' stuff today - Downdraft, Dip Dip, Skyeburst, Middle O, Old Superstar, and Lower Vertigo; did 2 non-stop Dip Dip's this morning - small to medium bumps, fairly soft snow; my skiing felt pretty good.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Day 35 - Killington

KSC Masters Training. Out 8:00 to 11:00 without a break; overcast with light snow and temps in the mid-twenties; skied the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; 9 runs; 10,200 vertical; full length GS on Highline; skied OK; comfortable is not fast.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Day 34 - Killington

KSC Masters Training. Out 8:00 to 11:00 without a break; clear and calm with temps climbing thru the teens; skied the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; 9 runs; 10,200 vertical; full length GS on Highline; skied OK; don't drift into the turn - get the skis up on edge early.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Day 33 - Killington

Ski Bum - 23.64 (19)    +3.34

i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 2 runs; 3,250 vertical.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Day 32 - Killington

Volume with Bud and Alex. Tom had to quit after falling. Brahmas. 20 runs. 24,000 vert.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, December 15, 2014

Day 31 - Killington

Excellent day! Out 9:00 to 12:30 with a KBL coffee break; cloud and temperature inversion with temps in the mid-thirties up high and in the upper twenties down low - light snow at some times in the cloud inversion; 14 runs; 15,100 vertical; skied the brand new SkiLogic Custom's; conditions remain stellar; Needle's for the first time this year - the bumps on Needle's Eye were very good; surprised Twister was so good - I did 3; not sure about the new skis - a little too much tail on the groomers, but they did a little better in the variable conditions on Needle's and in the trees.





#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Day 30 - Killington

NEMS SL - 42.12 (50)    40.65 (33)    1:22.77 (39)    +19.67

Out 8:45 to 12:30 with a quick KSC coffee break between race runs; mostly sunny with temps steady in the upper twenties and a persistent K Cloud; 6 runs; 6,600 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; conditions remain stellar; skied way too cautiously - today was the first time in a long while where I got to the bottom and thought, "why didn't I just ski faster?"; a little better second run.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Day 29 - Killington

NEMS GS - 43.70 (59)    DNS    -

Ugh!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Friday, December 12, 2014

Day 28 - Killington

ASRA GS - 44.02 (26)    47.11 (31)     1:31.13 (26)    +17.35

Out 9:00 to 12:30 without a break; overcast with temps in the mid-twenties; a couple more inches of new snow last night - storm totals in the mid-twenties :); skied the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; 7 runs; 6,500 vertical; soft pack everywhere; another poor result, but the first run showed a little promise - decent time even with a mistake that had to cost me 1 or 2 seconds; surprised that they did not reset for the second run since the soft conditions made even the first run bumpy - the second run was a rodeo ride; took out the finish corral fence - embarrassed.

#justgivemeagroomer

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Day 27 - Killington

Not quite a powder day :( - Out 9:00 to 12:00 without a break; 13" of wet, new snow overnight; 32° with low clouds and various kinds of frozen, non-frozen, or freezing precipitation this morning; snowing hard again now @ 4:00; 9 runs; 8,500 vertical; skied the Volkl Katanas; lots of groomed and ungroomed choices; initially the ungroomed trails were very difficult - 13" of untracked cement on Upper Rim Run made me feel like a beginner; once skied in, the ungroomed trails weren't too bad - my second time down East Fall and my only run down Cascade were OK; the groomed soft pack on Rime and Highline was very good; lifts were slow to open - only the Snowdon Quad and Northridge Triple were running at the opening bell, but later we unexpectedly got the Canyon Quad - I guess that was to compensate for no K-1 or Superstar; lots of people; taking tomorrow off in preparation for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday races.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Day 26 - Killington

Prepping for the BIG storm! Out 9:00 to 12:00 with a quick KBL coffee break; a dusting of snow overnight, but 29° with freezing rain at 9:00 changing to snow by 11:00 - snowing hard now at 1:00, maybe a foot by morning :) ; skied the brand new Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS; 17 runs; 17,300 vertical; horrible visibility until the change over to snow - you couldn't go 100 yards without wiping the ice from your goggles; I like the new skis - grippy and damp, very little excess vibration; skiing OK, right knee a tad stiff to start.



They made a little snow at the top of Lower Supe



My new GS boards!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Day 25 - Killington

KSC Masters Training. Out 11:30 to 3:00 without a break; yesterday's rain ended as 3" of snow; clear and cold today with temps dropping thru the low twenties into the upper teens; 10 runs; 5,300 vertical; skied my brand new 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; good training snow up on Bunny - firm and grippy; hard to tell about today's crowd - no line at Snowshed or the Snowdon Triple around noon when I started, but everything else we did was up on the Poma; slalom training - 2 short courses on Upper Bunny; when we pulled, I was surprised at how slick the snow looked - skiing the course it felt pretty grippy; a little bigger group today - we added Steve and another George; also added Bob S. as an additional coach; my skiing today wasn't horrible.



My new slalom boards!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Day 24 - Killington

KSC Masters Training. Out 8:30 to 12:00 no breaks; a little snow overnight, but rain this morning - hard rain till 10:30 then it switched to wet snow; 8 runs; 8,250 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; soft snow everywhere - coverage still looks good; huge crowd today despite the rain; same small group as previous years - Gil, Mick, George, and me - new coaches Jim R. and Pete D.; drills all morning; stupid wide stance and forward - on or in front of the toes, never on the arch or heel; a little pain in the right knee today - one more afternoon session then a couple of days off - that should help; used the Pinnacle West shuttle today - very convenient.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Friday, December 5, 2014

Day 23 - Killington

Killington Race Camp Day 5. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour for lunch; clear and cool this morning with temps climbing thru the teens into the low twenties and increasing clouds as the day wore on; 21 runs; 17,500 vertical; lots of gates on Bunny in the AM; free skiing as a group in the PM; great snow this morning on Bunny - groomed smooth, but firm and grippy; horrible snow this morning on Superlark - groomed death cookies; Cascade and Highline opened this afternoon; Cascade under the guns was supreme - I did 3; Highline under the guns not so good - only did 1; relearned some things about holding on the ice in a race course - don't be in a hurry to find that 'good position' when you start the turn, any quick or hard movements tend to break the edge loose - light and easy, just like driving on ice; took my first fall of the season today on Bunny in the gates - just got compressed or my tails slide out or both.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Day 22 - Killington

Race Day - 41.79 (9)    41.59 (10)    1:23.38 (10)    +5.96

Killington Race Camp Day 4. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour lunch; mostly sunny with temps in the low twenties and passing snow squalls; 15 runs; 11,300 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; lots of firm snow - Northridge, East Fall, Upper Bunny; lots of snowmaking - Cascade, Highline, Mouse Run, Upper Chute, and Lower Superstar; frustratingly poor performance today... ... ...



#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Day 21 - Killington

Killington Race Camp Day 3. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour for lunch; 1" snow overnight with just enough freezing rain on top this morning to make it crunchy; upper thirties with low overcast and wind this AM, then it started to rain and the temps dropped into the low thirties by 3:00; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 13 runs; 9,700 vertical; warm temps meant soft snow everywhere - OK, on Bunny, Rime, and East Fall anyway; gates in the morning; gates in the afternoon; skied well today - hopefully it will carry thru to tomorrow.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Day 20 - Killington

Killington Race Camp Day 2. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour for lunch; clear skies, temps in the upper teens, no wind; 16 runs; 11,000 vertical; light snowmaking overnight groomed in on Bunny; gates in the morning, gates in the afternoon - all on Upper Bunny; line - high and outside; don't spend all the pressure and angles all at once at the top of the turn, if you do you're locked in with nothing left to help finish the turn or increase edge grip if needed; conditions much better today than expected.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, December 1, 2014

Day 19 - Killington

Killington Race Camp Day 1. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour for lunch; temps dropping from 45°, but totally fogged in all day; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's - back fresh from a great patch and grind at Peak - thanks Mike; 15 runs; 12,200 vertical; large turn out for camp this year - maybe 75 people; drills all morning; some easy gates on Upper Bunny this afternoon; Polly S. is in our group - Polly says, 'Don't try, do.'; get low - make angles!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Day 18 - Killington

Sick as a dog, but hit the hill with Radvanyi and Company anyway. Out 8:00 to 12:00 with a Peak Lodge coffee break; overcast and warming into the mid-forties with significant wind; 12 runs; 13,000 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma's; conditions were stellar; Northridge and the Canyon got a B+, smooth and firm but softening nicely; Superstar was easily an A, soft and softer without being heavy or sticky at all; pretty big crowd today - nobody seemed to be leaving early; still feeling on top of things skiing wise.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Friday, November 28, 2014

Day 17 - Killington

Out 8:00 to 11:30 with a KBL coffee break; 20° and overcast with no wind; a light dusting of new snow overnight; 14 runs; 13,500 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's with the soft boots; it was empty early on, but the crowd really started to build by the time I left; skied all over the mountain today hitting 9 different lifts; Snowshed had a fantastic opening day - great snow on the slope down there - so good I did 2; Ramshead - not so good; East Fall - much better today; I've decided that the new boots are just cold - at first I thought my toes were just getting wet, but today they were cold and dry;



#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Day 16 - Killington

Happy Thanksgiving! Out 8:00 to 11:30 with a Peak Lodge coffee break; temps in the low twenties with a low, hanging overcast and little to no wind; 6" more new snow overnight - close to a foot total; 10 runs; 12,600 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma's with the soft boots; typical Thanksgiving holiday crowd - tons of people for opening bell, but it emptied out quickly; skied most of the morning with Mike and Tracy - Mike even let me ski his new Volkl Mantras - they're really nice; Ramshead came on line today, but I never made it down there; Skylark-High Road-Lower Bittersweet skied very well today, as did Upper Bunny; on the other hand, Lower East Fall was a total abortion - scrapped or chunky with heavy piles of sugar and chunks everywhere; shuttle service to the East Mountain condo loop started today - based on the shuttle passing by the condo on both my exit and return, the shuttle might actually be a viable option.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Day 15 - Killington

On this Thanksgiving holiday I'm happy to give thanks for the first real snowstorm of the season! Out 11:30 to 3:30 with a Peak Lodge coffee break; upper twenties with moderate to heavy snow accumulating to 4" by the time I left - up to a foot forecast by tomorrow morning; 18 runs; 16,000 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's with the soft boots; waited to hit the hill until the snow started; as the snow fell conditions changed from firm to grippy with loose snow and piles; resurfacing last night and today up in Northridge - those guns where getting turned off when I left - I couldn't tell where they're headed next; tons of people out today; the ski and boot combination worked well today - with the colder temps the soft boots didn't seem so soft; surprised that Lower East Fall remained closed today; claimed my old cubbie at the Ski Club today.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Day 14 - Killington

Overnight grooming made things look a little better today. Out 9:30 to 12:30 with a KBL coffee break; 40° mostly cloudy and windy; 12 runs; 11,100 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's with the soft boots again today; firm, firm, firm with quite a few extremely shinny spots, quite a few extremely chunky spots, and quite a few extremely bare spots; I hope they choose to resurface the existing terrain before going for expansion, but with the holiday coming and snow in the forecast I'm afraid they'll try to let mother nature take care of the resurfacing effort; fairly large crowd out today; met David and Mel on the hill today - they were passing through on their way to NH for Thanksgiving.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, November 24, 2014

Day 13 - Killington

This morning's rain really took its toll - the mountain looks just horrible. Out 12:30 to 2:30; very warm and mild; 60° and overcast with surprisingly little wind; 10 runs; 10,800 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's with the soft boots again today; huge puddles of snirt on Upper Great Nothern; surprised to find mostly firm moonscape on Skye and up in Northridge, however Lower East Fall was soft and creamy so I did 3; as you'd expect very few people; these soft boots have their uses, but I think I'll end up continuing to use my original Dobi 150's quite a bit.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Day 12 - Killington

Out sick last Thursday and Friday, so I braved a few weekend afternoon runs to make up one of the days. On the hill from 1:45 to 3:45; 45° mostly cloudy with a decreasing SW wind; 10 runs, 11,000 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's with the new soft boots (Nordica Doberman Pro 130 EPS's); no lift lines to speak of, but lots of people on the hill; skied East Fall, Skye-High-Sweet, and Skyelark all for the first time this year; the bottom of Lower Skyelark was all rocks in the troughs of the bumps - it should have been closed; all the warm weather and weekend traffic have left the hill looking pretty bad; with heavy rain and damaging winds forecast for tomorrow things don't look to improve soon; finally met the upstairs neighbors - Jill and Steve - although I did hear them move in Friday evening I never heard another peep the rest of the weekend.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Day 11 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a Peak Lodge coffee break; consistent light snow all morning accumulating to 1"; 15°-23° with a light, variable breeze; 17 runs; 15,400 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomed smooth overnight, but today's traffic exposed quite a few firm spots; new snowmaking on Skye Peak; rumor is East Fall tomorrow; tippy toes drill - as tall and forward as possible without letting the tails wash out; don't think of changing edges by moving the knees across (perpendicular to) the direction of travel, rather move the knees diagonally or forward and across simultaneously - "lever the knees over and forward into the new turn".



#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Day 10 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 1:45 with an extended KBL coffee break; 17° with broken clouds and a consistent 20 mph wind; 22 runs; 15,850 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; frozen and crunchy - hard groom after yesterday's rain and last night's freeze; K-1 closed till 10:30, so almost all fixed grip lifts today; skied hard - feel pretty good physically after all today's effort; I think I'm skiing OK - there's no such thing as too far forward; Lower East Fall, Bunny, and Caper under the guns today; skied with Bud, Tom, and Alex.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, November 17, 2014

Day 9 - Killington

Not quite the powder day I was hoping for. Out 9:00 to 11:15 without a break; 1" new snow overnight; 29° with freezing rain for first chair, 31° with a little heavier freezing rain when I left; skied the Blizzard Brahma's; 11 runs; 10,000 vertical; the snow was fantastic - Northridge was especially nice, it was buffed out with the new snow on top of last night grooming leaving a velvety soft, smooth surface; skied every open trail segment this morning; covered in ice and soaking wet when I finished; it was nice not having to walk the stairs; K needs to dig out some of the new low-e guns before tonight's hard freeze or they might have to remain in place till spring!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Friday, November 14, 2014

Day 8 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 until 10:30, hiked out when the lift line grew to about 5 minutes; 1" of new, dry snow overnight; mid-twenties today; the snowmaking and K clouds joined together and hung over Northridge, but otherwise a nice, mostly sunny day; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; just 8 runs and 4,750 vertical; yesterday's snowmaking got groomed into a fairly consistent, firm base; snowmaking has moved on to Snowdon - Middle Great Northern, Mouse Run, Upper Bunny, Middle Chute, and Lower Bunny are all getting blasted; should have top to bottom tomorrow - the good news here is, I've probably walked the stairs for the last time this year; all the early departures this week have left my legs feeling pretty good; new boots are in and the new SkiLogic Customs are now mounted - pictures to follow later when this year's quiver is filled.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Day 7 - Killington

Hard core resurfacing underway, guns literally everywhere. Out 9:00 to 11:00; 28° at KBL, 22° at the top, overcast with a steady NW wind; 11 runs; 6,500 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; totally variable conditions; a little diesel must have gotten into the air line overnight, the smell today was not quite overpowering; rode the lift with CM today; no real lift line, but lots of people again.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Day 6 - Killington

Perfect timing - the rain didn't start in earnest until I downloaded the gondola. On the hill from 9:00 until 12:00; 55° at KBL, but 38° at the top this morning; 20 runs; 12,000 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; the snow on Rime was stellar - kinda cream cheesey; Upper Great Northern is very thin in a couple of spots; way fewer people out today - thank god; everything felt pretty good - from my boots, to my legs, to my technique; had big plans to ski this morning and then go to the gym this afternoon, but now I'm not so sure.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Day 5 - Killington

Almost exact repeat of yesterday. On the hill from 9:00 until 10:30; 45° and sunny with a stiff breeze; 7 runs; 4,250 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; they groomed again overnight, but today we didn't get any chunks - it was soft and cutable, but a little wet and sticky; tons of people again - I left when the singles line grew to over 5 minutes.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Monday, November 10, 2014

Day 4 - Killington

Holy Monday morning rush hour Batman! Out 9:15 to 10:30 - left when it started to get weekend type crowded; 40°, mostly cloudy, little to no wind; 7 runs; 4,250 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; heavy grooming overnight combined with all the people lead to some serious chucks; KMS out for the first time this year - that helped contribute to the crowd; off to buy new boots.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Friday, November 7, 2014

Day 3 - Killington

Ready to go at 9:00, but K-1 didn't start loading until almost 9:30, walked back up the stairs at 11:30; the car was covered in a layer of slush this morning, but up top it was much colder so there were a couple inches of new snow; snow fell at a good clip all morning; 12 runs; 7,000 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma's; no grooming overnight, so the new snow got pushed into the remnants of yesterday's bumps pretty quickly; lots of people out today; for some reason today's variable conditions posed a problem for me with my boots buckled up tight - I ended up with the top two buckles open but still hooked and the Booster strap holding the top of the boot closed - this softened things up considerably and really helped my skiing - I think my new boots will definitely be a little softer than my current Dobi 150's; my legs feel a little tight after skiing today; snowmaking on Upper Great Northern and Upper East Fall when I left; it really felt like winter today!



#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Day 2 - Killington

On the hill from 9:15 to 11:45; Brightening overcast with a light breeze; Temps in the lower 40's; Skied the Blizzard Brahma's; 15 runs; 8,800 vertical; Since they groomed lightly overnight we developed a few chunks, but as it softened up they got skied in pretty quickly; A lot more familiar faces today - Bob S, Barb M, Dave M, Mike C ... ... ; Felt a little better on my skis today - concentrated on staying low, angulated, and forward; Still feeling good physically; Forecast is for rain starting this afternoon, changing over to snow with potentially a few inches by morning.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Day 1 - Killington

On the hill from 11:45 to 1:15; Windy with gradual clearing after early AM rain showers with temps in the upper 40’s ; 11 runs; 6,500 vert; Skied the Blizzard Brahma’s; Had to walk up and down the stairs – first time walking down – it really sucks; Only Rime and Reason are open – only skied Rime; Good cover – cut into small to medium bumps – soft, but not wet; Bigger crowd than I expected – never more than 10 or 15 people in line, but always a few; Felt a little rusty, but it's good to get on the hill again; Legs feel good – right knee feels good – right shin is a little tender; Looking forward to tomorrow

#justgivemeagroomer    

Thursday, September 4, 2014

New Address

Pinnacle F-8
255 Old Mill Road

#justgivemeagroomer

Friday, August 15, 2014

This Year's Ski Trip Plan

31-Jan-15  -  Tussey Mtn, PA
01-Feb-15  -  Seven Springs, PA
02-Feb-15  -  Hidden Valley, PA
03-Feb-15  -  Snow Trails, OH
04-Feb-15  -  Mad River, OH
05-Feb-15  -  Snow Creek, MO
07-Feb-15  -  Copper Mtn, CO
08-Feb-15  -  Copper Mtn, CO
09-Feb-15  -  Copper Mtn, CO
10-Feb-15  -  Park City, UT
11-Feb-15  -  Deer Valley, UT
12-Feb-15  -  Park City, UT
14-Feb-15  -  Las Vegas Ski Bowl, NV
15-Feb-15  -  Las Vegas Ski Bowl, NV
16-Feb-15  -  Mammoth, CA
17-Feb-15  -  Boreal Mtn, CA
18-Feb-15  -  Donner Ski Ranch, CA
19-Feb-15  -  Northstar, CA
20-Feb-15  -  Sugar Bowl, CA
22-Feb-15  -  Mt. Bachelor, OR
23-Feb-15  -  Mt. Bachelor, OR
24-Feb-15  -  Mt. Bachelor, OR
25-Feb-15  -  Sun Valley, ID
26-Feb-15  -  Sun Valley, ID
27-Feb-15  -  Sun Valley, ID
01-Mar-15  -  Bridger Bowl, MT
02-Mar-15  -  Terry Peak, SD & Mystic Deer, SD
04-Mar-15  -  Buck Hill, MN
05-Mar-15  -  Indianhead, MI & Blackjack, MI & Big Powderhorn, MI
06-Mar-15  -  Crystal Mtn, MI
07-Mar-15  -  Boyne Highlands, MI & Nub's Nob, MI
08-Mar-15  -  Boyne, MI
09-Mar-15  -  Holimont, NY

#justgivemeagroomer