Killington 1-26-11

[Ride Delaware ?]

Today was a different kind of day for me. I got up a little late and didn't get on the slopes until 9:45. I started at Ramshead today and took several runs down Header, Swirl, Easy Street, and Caper. Swirl was ungroomed and was in excellent shape with little bumps of super soft and powdery snow. Here is a shot of Caper headed toward Great Northern:

 

 

I took Great Northern down to the Snowdown Quad and planned to hit up Chute, Mouse Run, Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap, and Frolic. The plan fell apart after Chute. Chute was groomed and had some hard pack, but was a pleasant ride. Here is a picture from the top:

 

 

On the way down Chute, I noticed Great Bear, a natural trail loaded with moguls. I didn't ride down it, but since I'm such a good guy, I took a picture of it for all you mogul freaks:

 

 

I decided to take my next run down Frolic. I had been scoping out the entrances to several tree runs on Tuesday, and I finally found one that had a couple tracks that looked legit. I entered the woods on an unmarked section that was tight, but I was still able to move. Come to find out, it wasn't a well tracked tree run, as Patsy's the actual tree run that I eventually ended up on, started later down the mountain. That left plenty of untracked soft powder that allowed me to make my own path through the woods. There were several times that I was boot deep. I hit some small trees popping out from the snow, and slid a couple of rocks, but my board suffered no damage minus some dulling of my edges, and it was well worth it. Here are some pictures from the Frolic/Patsy Glades:

 

 

 

After that run, I went back up the Snowdon Quad. While on the quad, I saw several people going through the woods right beside the Quad. I checked the map at the top and then proceeded to the Low Rider Glades. They were a little more tracked out than the Frolic/Patsy Glades, but I went to the skiers far left and found plenty of untracked powder with some great lines. Here are the Low Rider Glades:

 

 

After getting on the Snowdon Quad again, I saw my father get on the lift several chairs behind me. I waited for him at the top where he told me he was going to take Frolic to the bottom for lunch. Since I was already on the upper portions of Frolic, I decided to go back into the trees. Once again, I was richly rewarded with untouched powder.

 

Whence I was done in those trees, I decided to head over to the North Ridge Triple to hit some runs that are usually skipped over by the larger lifts. At the top of the lift, since I had no plan, I looked left and right to figure out where I shalt go. I wasn't really feeling Rime, so I decided to try out Ridge Run. However, in between Rime and Ridge Run is Powerline. It was a narrow natural snow trail, and it caught my eye. I decided to check it out, but before I did, I shot a picture for your viewing pleasure:

 

 

If you look in the back of the picture, middle left, you will see blue netting around a transformer. Just past the transformer I noticed a tiny trail heading into a very tight wooded area. Here is a picture from the outside of the glades looking in. I had to completely tuck to miss the branches above me:

 

 

Killington has an incredible elevation difference from base to peak, and it showed in snow totals. There was plenty of snow in Low Rider and Frolic/Patsy Glades, and those are lower in elevation, so the snow was much more bountiful here and it showed. Here is a picture of the entrance from the inside of the trees. It is a beautiful wall of white. You can see my board track in the foreground:

 

 

These glades are completely off the map and were the least tracked trees I hit. They really opened up about 50 feet down and were quite good. I had some of the longest tree runs without stopping I have ever had. There were a bunch of banked turns, some natural bridges over water bars, and boot deep powder. Very surreal and peaceful in there. I can;t wait to go back tomorrow. Here is a picture of the actual trees:

 

 

I came out of those woods onto Great Northern/Ridge Run. The first time I did these woods, I rode down Ridge Run to the North Ridge Triple. The second and third times, I cut back into the woods after about 50 yards, and that trail took me right to the base of the North Ridge Triple. To quote the liftie, "Where the Hell did You Come From."

 

I took the NRT to the top and then took East Fall to the Cascade Runout down to the K1 Gondola. I had to meet my father at the Skyeship Stage 2 at 2:30. I took Blue Heaven to Bear Trax to Skyeburst to Wildfire. I found out halfway through that I wasn't going to get to the Skyeship Gondola on this run. Bear Mountain was completely under the guns again still rebuilding from the Dew Tour. Skyeburst and Wildfire were partially under the guns and was very bumpy. It was fun, but I didn't come back. I hopped on the Skye Peak Express and took the Great Eastern to Cruise Control down to the Skyeship Gondola. My father wasn't there, and after a wait of 15 minutes, I decided to head to the top.

 

The only trail I didn't do off of the Skyeship Gondola yesterday was Needle's Eye, since it was closed for race training. Today it was open, and I decided to try it out. The top of the trail is for experts, and it was still in race condition. Mostly hardpack and some ice. It was definitely fast. The bottom half is for intermediates and was groomed. It had great snow with some fluffy powder clumps. I got to the bottom and my dad was waiting. We got to the top, took Great Eastern all the way to the bottom, and then came back up to the top to hit Cruise Control. After Cruise Control we decided to call it a day. I decided to try out the Whiffletree condo trail that splits at the very end to go toward Edgemont (which is right beside our condo complex) or Whiffletree. Unlike yesterday, the trail got flat at some points, but each flat part was followed by some decent pitch. I went straight across the front of the Edgemont condos and just had to walk about 20 feet to there the bus would have dropped me off. I will be taking that trail again tomorrow.

 

Overall, it was a great day. I got in 22 runs, 24,900 vert, never stopped for lunch, and got in 6.25 hours straight. Most of the runs through the woods were only 600 or so vert, but it was worth it. I'll be back out there again. I will try to keep tomorrow's report shorter. I was just so happy with the trees that I went picture happy. Hope you all enjoy and get some of your own tree pictures from this PA storm.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Ride Delaware ?

[RidgeRacer]

the trees look sweet!

[Ride Delaware ?]

the trees look sweet!

 

They were sweet. I was hoping for this storm to hit, and when it didn't, I was a bit skeptical. However, I was richly rewarded and will be back tomorrow. I am debating on Pico for trees on my halfday Friday. I'll see how it plays out...

[DiMe]

Great pics, that's my kind of riding!

[burton71]

Awesome. Probably heading up to Killington this weekend and this post just upped the stoke.

[OutCold]

Looks awesome.... Wish I was there