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As always, I started off the morning with grand expectations of getting to the mountain at opening, which is currently 9 AM. Unfortunately, I slept like garbage, so I slept in until about 8 AM. I wasn’t too concerned, because I knew that it would be busy due to the holiday, that lines would decrease throughout the day, and that the storm would begin around noon, so conditions would ultimately be refreshed. I may be in the minority with this statement, but I would rather have slightly worse conditions than wait in a lift line to get fresh cord first thing in the morning. After snagging a coffee at our local market, I drove down to Killington and arrived in the parking lot at 10:30. Flurries were in the air and the temperature hovered around 28 degrees. All early season base operations are still out of the K-1 base lodge, but due to the construction of the new base lodge in front of the old one, a good chunk of the parking lot there is inaccessible and you can’t drive up the main road. I parked just off the access road on Vale road where there were shuttles waiting to shuttle us up to the base. Since the ticket booth is in the front of the old lodge, which is currently blocked by new construction, Killington setup a temporary ticket booth and stairs just below the new gondola cabin storage garage with a very nicely paved walkway all the way around it to the now heated K-1 Gondola lift corral. They really went above and beyond to make the temporary experience enjoyable. Since I already had a One Pass (Killington’s RFID card), I reloaded it online the night before and went straight to the lift. The K-1 lift corral was about halfway full, but I hopped in the singles line, and there were only about 15 people in front of me. Unfortunately, this happened to coincide with the same time they decided to remove a cabin from the haul cable, so the gondola was stopped, and the entire corral filled up behind me. After a ten minute wait, the gondola started back up and I was finally able to get through the gate. I was a little wary since it was the first time I had ever reloaded a lift ticket online, but I went right through without any issues. After unloading the gondola, I checked the thermometer at the peak, and it also registered 28 degrees. There was snowmaking ongoing at elevation, but it must have been about as marginal as it gets. There were intermittent snow showers and some freezing fog, so humidity had to be close to 100%. Killington was advertising 10 open trails today, but it is really only 5 distinctive trails at the top along with the Great Northern/Bunny Buster runout to the bottom. Downdraft was open, but since I didn’t walk around the unload at the top of the gondola, I missed it. Double Dipper was also open, but coverage was very shoddy and I didn’t want to beat my gear up unnecessarily. I mostly stuck to a combination of Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, and Great Northern. I was pleasantly surprised that coverage was decent enough that they didn’t need guns on open terrain, which really helped visibility, since I’m sure the guns were running quite wet. Rime and Upper East fall had very similar conditions. Slick down the middle, but tons of packed powder on the side with some small bumps. Reason is the new Woodward park and looked to have a great setup. There were tons of jibhonks. I usually don’t mind, but the bottom feature is basically at the intersection of Great Northern/Upper East Fall/Reason, so there were tons of jibhonks blocking the trail off the gondola so they could watch their buddies hit the last feature. Great Northern/Bunny Buster was probably the best run of the day. It’s the widest trail, is slightly flatter, and it has the freshest snow, so it had the best conditions by far. I was pleasantly surprised that Killington made the unprecedented decision (since the World Cup started) to suspend snowmaking on Superstar to get t2b. They knew they could finish the course with the cold weather coming this week, and they have an extra week for course prep, so they went for it. Kudos to them. Overall, I mostly stayed at the top of the mountain off the brand spanking new North Ridge Quad. The singles line was basically ski on all day. I think I had to wait twice. Once was a line of 7 and once was a line of 3. I made the mistake around 1 PM of switching it up and going t2b, and despite the NRQ being ski on, the gondola was mayhem. The entire corral was full and the singles line was about 15 minutes long. After 6 more runs at the top, I asked a skier how the line was down at the bottom. He told me that it was only 5 minutes long, so I decided to go down again. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no lift line and I was able to walk right on. I took two more runs up top and finished my day with another run to the bottom. Overall, I finished my day with 14 runs. 10 off the NRQ and 4 t2b. It was a great first day and my entire body is exhausted. My legs were really starting to feel it at the end. I really wanted run #15, but my turns weren’t crisp and I knew I was on the verge of pushing it too far. It started snowing in earnest around 1, but it only amounted to about an inch by the time I left. I would grade today as an overall B+. I have yet to have a bad early season day at Killington, and I’m glad that continued. I still think the North Ridge pod of trails is one of the best early season offerings in New England, especially if it’s not t2b. There is solid tree skiing, some good bump runs, and a good cruiser. I’m looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow. As usual, pictures are below (I’m sure GSS skipped right to them):

some pow porn.

So Saturday and Sunday I’m assuming. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Me after logging into PASR after a long day at work and and seeing that blue is opening this weekend

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM MONDAY TO 1 PM EST TUESDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches. * WHERE...Portions of central, northeast and northwest Vermont and northern New York. * WHEN...From 1 PM Monday to 1 PM EST Tuesday.

I’m pretty impressed with Mike Solimano. The previous GM just about ran the place into the ground and decreased skier visits from 1 million to 750k. Mike took over, extended the late season again, won back the pass holders, and re-established the reputation as the Beast. He has spearheaded the mountain bike expansion, the ropes course, and the mountain coaster to make the resort more year round. That money has been generously applied to the ski area in the form of two new lodges (peak and K-1), two new lifts (Snowdown 6 Pack and NRQ), the relocated Snowdon Quad to South Ridge, and a litany of traffic flow fixes (tunnels). I’ve been impressed with my experiences.

Just saw this. I’ll be there.

Heck yeah! Skiing and beach in 24 hours sounds like a great plan.

Probably not. Was thinking Colorado. Maybe to a place that rhymes with "Rested Flute". If I can't make that happen I have a few other things in mind. You coming to Elk day this year?

I’ll post a pic here from the MRV shortly. I’m on my way back to DE after a morning session at Killington. There’s not supposed to be a changeover here at Sugarbush, but Killington is south of the full snow line, so tomorrow AM conditions will be a tossup.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!! I showed him my biz cards, a letter from a Houlihan's VP after he got a raving customer review about my service, some newspaper articles about opening my bar, and a picture of me in the Inky food section bartending in 1986. Addit: Pic from 1986 Inky at the same bar I bought 22 years later.

Got the bartending gig. Sunday-wednesday nights.

Titty sparkles for dawn patrol tomorrow. Should be at least a foot or more.

I'll be in the lot around 8. Let's go!!!

Earliest opening ever.

Where is the dislike button?

I don't want to start a UT vs CO debate but Salty have you thought about UT since you're looking at conditions primarily? UT gets more snow on average I believe.

Wow back when you were a gaper.

Appears Friday is the day.

I'm sold on going to Steamboat this year. It sounds ideal - lots of intermediate runs, wide open slopes, dry fluffy powder, and a cool looking town. I'm not looking for extremely challenging terrain, just mellow blue runs with excellent conditions. Looking at the week of 2/24 if you're still going.

I texted edge but hes even more incommunicado than me. He just always just shows up

This is so fucking dank ! Can't believe turns and beers pre Thanksgiving I'm coming home Saturday so I can't be there but Sunday for sure. Can't wait to see you guys

That is ‘sick’

WTGAI

I just dropped $$$ on some Vans Infuse boots....

That was great. I didn’t even notice your suntan below your facemask.

I doubt he’d figure it out himself. He’s not on social media. You text him Toast.

Opening day forecast..sunny with temperatures rising from the 20s into the 30s..comfortable for most..facemask weather for Salty

Hey

Fuck yeah ski you there!

its official, opening saturday 9-9

Boner city.

Wow you must be having some crazy skiing withdrawals because you’re even quoting your own posts.

Nerd alert

Easier to access multiple areas too. When some are bad, others down another valley may be good. I love Utah.

I hope they open up this weekend because I won't be around next weekend to hit up azul el verdadero the weekend before Thanksgiving

Hey @saltyant at my work talk is of Radner and Paoli..I want to yell out,”what about Malvern”

Conditions vary from week to week day to day and hour to hour. Steamboat has a nice pod off to the left that has some mad river glen esque natural terrain. I only skied steamboat for two days in early April 2014...you can handle most of the single blacks there’s. It’s not a very tough mountain. Upper right is a whole pod of light blue trails and one block called Huervos Rancheros lol

It's dat champagne powder everyone is chasing...

I don't think Steamboat gets crowded at all, especially compared to the major Vail resorts. Obviously there is a bit of a confined effect during peak times, since there is nowhere else closeby really for tourists to spill over into, so when the town is full the mountain is full. Plenty of terrain to disappear into though. Up there with Telluride and Crusty Butt. If you want to see crowded, go to Breck on a weekend after 10am.

You're welcome and anytime!!

Honestly I'd love for Blue to open before BB. would be epic if that happens.

I think he's just stoked for us. Perhaps he's a selfless dude.

I feel an opening next weekend in my loins

Can you try that?

Stop. lets remember who you are dealing with here. Stop. lets remember who you are dealing with here.

No.