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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:



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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.

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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



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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.

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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.



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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.

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Day 33 - Killington

Ski Bum - 23.64 (19)    +3.34

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



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Day 32 - Killington

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

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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.





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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.

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Day 29 - Killington

NEMS GS - 43.70 (59)    DNS    -

Ugh!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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... ... ...



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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.

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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.

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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!

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