Day 14 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a ½ hour coffee break in the Peak Lodge; mostly sunny with temps rising into the low thirties and a sustained 20 or 30 mph south wind; 18 runs; 16,750 vertical; skied the Fischer RC4 GS Cheater 18's; wind-blown, hard pack was the order of the day; skiing ok; legs are a little tired, but otherwise feeling ok; thinking these skis need much less base bevel - they're currently at 0.7

Lower Cascade



5" of "groomed granite" poking through Rime



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 13 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a ½ hour coffee break in the Peak Lodge; mostly sunny with temps in the mid-forties at opening bell, but a front blew in from the northwest leaving temps in the mid-thirties with light snow and a howling northwest wind; 15 runs; 15,660 vertical; skied the Rossignol Avenger 76 Ti's; spectacular conditions today - Upper Chute was gorgeous first thing - smooth and carvable; Lower East Fall was spectacular later - smooth and carable - see the pattern?; skied most of the morning with David and Mel again; skiing ok, feeling ok; these skis are still a lot of fun.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 12 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 12:45 with a 45 minute coffee break in the Peak Lodge; 30° with a high, light overcast to start, 40° with brilliant sunshine and a growing southwest wind when I left; 14 runs; 13,000 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; nice groomers everywhere; no crowd to speak of; skied with David and Mel all day; East Fall was better today - it was even connected to KBL today; skiing ok, feeling ok.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 11 - Killington

Oh the velvety softness of an inch of snow filling in the grooves of last night's corduroy! Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a half hour break at the ski club building; 15°-20° with a light snow falling and a stiff breeze out of the northwest; 16 runs, 15,000 vertical; started on the Fischer RC4 GS Cheater 18's and quickly changed to the Rossignol Experience 98's; very nice conditions this morning - first run on Chute-Chute-Chute was pure, velvety goodness - Upper Bunny was extremely good as well - although East Fall was groomed, it was a little chunky, scrapey, and inconsistent, it even required a little walking in front of KBL; very few folks out for opening bell, but some people did show up by 11:00 - no lift lines what so ever; skied the last 5 with Dave and Mel; with the soft snow and the early change to a fat ski I took it easy today; the legs were a little more tired at the end of my day than I would have expected after 2 days off.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 10 - Killington

Out 8:00 to 12:00 with an hour break in the car where I watched the World Cup Girls free ski Superstar; 29° cloudy and windy; 10 runs; 11,000 vertical; started on the Fischer RC4 GS Cheater 18's and switched to the Rossignol Experience 98's after break; this morning's corduroy got churned up into a deep granular pretty quickly; I was able successfully to run away from today's huge crowd and never got caught in a lift line; East Fall and the Canyon Quad today; skiing ok; pretty tired this evening as I write this.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 9 - Killington

Out 8:00 to 12:00 with a ½ hour coffee break in the car; 17°, sunny and a little windy to start - overcast by the time I left; no Ski Tracks today, so the run count and vertical are guestimates; 15 runs; 12,000 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; excellent conditions today - yesterday's soft snow was groomed flat and setup nicely overnight making everything extremely grippy today; big holiday crowd; skiing better the past couple of days; still feeling good physically; despite being 5 or 6 years old, I still love these skis.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 8 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 to 12:30 with a ½ hour coffee break in the Peak Lodge; mid-thirties with light rain in the parking lot and snow up top - all snow by the time I left; 16 runs; 13,100 vertical; skied the Fischer RC4 GS Cheater 18's; conditions were good - softer snow down low - temps dropping and conditions firming when I left; big crowd that dissipated pretty quickly as Snowdon came on line today; skied with David and Mel; feeling ok; skiing ok; the Fischer's were a lot of fun again.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 7 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 to 1:30 with a ½ hour coffee break in the Peak Lodge; sunny with temps rising into the low forties and a stiff wind; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; 18 runs; 15,800 vertical; mostly flat and firm with the latest snowmaking spots softening quickly; pretty big crowd - variable line at the triple, so I made quite a few Gondi laps; skied ok; feeling ok; skied with Mark and Barb.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 6 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 to 12:45 with a ½ hour coffee break in the Peak Lodge; 20° and overcast with a little wind; skied the 2012 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 21 runs; 15,500 vertical; flat and firm with lots of soft spots under the guns; good crowd, but never a lift line at the triple; more terrain open today - skied High Traverse, Upper Double Dipper, Lower Rim Run and Middle Chute for the first time this year; World Cup prep is coming along nicely - looks almost complete; lots of snowmaking on Snowdon - Upper Bunny, Killink and Upper and Lower Chute - shouldn't be too long till the Snowdon Quad comes online; snowmaking on Lower East Fall too - will probably be a few days before we get to ski it though; splicing the new cable on the Snowdon Triple this morning; skied several runs with Mark B. this morning - we switched skies for 4 or 5 runs - didn't like his Renouns too much, they felt a lot like Tom's old Volkl 5 Stars.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 5 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 until 11:15; the 3½" of new snow that fell overnight ended just in time for 1st chair - 17° with a stiff wind when we stepped off the Gondi - 25° with some sun poking through in the parking lot when I left; 15 runs; 10,000 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; large enough crowd today to create a short lift line at the triple (5-20 people) most of the morning; the new snow got chewed-in very quickly; Lower Rime got pretty rough; skied at about 75% all morning - I was a little tired with this being the 5th straight day to start the season; skied OK; other than being a little tired, feeling pretty good physically.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 4 - Killington

On the hill from 9:00 till 11:30; 33° with wet snow falling and an inch of slush in the parking lot when I arrived - 29° and snowing hard at the top when I stepped off the Gondi - 2" maybe 3" accumulated in Northridge by the time I quit - 37° and overcast in the parking lot when I left at 2 o'clock after doing some more skis; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; 19 runs; 12,200 vertical; conditions where pretty good - the new snow wasn't too wet and it got skied in pretty well without getting pushed into too many piles; good crowd for opening bell, but never a lift line at the triple - after KMS left, Northridge was empty; skied ok; still feeling pretty good physically; Killington got a positive snow control yesterday, so the World Cup is a go!

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 3 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 11:15; 33° and sunny with little to no wind to start, then some clouds moving in by the time I left; 16 runs; 10,425 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; flat and firm with a few rocks skier's right on Lower Rime after an over zealous groom job; nice crowd, but never a lift line up in Northridge; skied ok; feeling pretty good physically; dinged my skis returning to the ski club building; did three more pair of skis at the club before I left.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 2 - Killington

On the hill from 9:30 to 11:30; 24° with a thick, low overcast and very little wind; 14 runs; 9,275 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; flat and firm; fairly large crowd that thinned out nicely by 11:00; KMS out on the hill for the first time this year; skiing somewhere between bad and horrible.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 1 - Killington

A good start to the ski season. Out 9:00 to 11:00; 22° at the peak, snowing lightly, very little wind, 29° in the parking lot when I left; 12 runs; 8,100 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; groomed flat with good coverage up in Northridge, wet snowmaking on Mouse Trap and Lower Bunny on the way down; the snowmaking assault on Supe and Skyelark continue for the World Cup; skied till my legs started feeling a little shaky.



#justgivemeagroomer