guitar73 Posted January 17, 2013 Report Posted January 17, 2013 tinymoose & i met up with a bunch of people from theskidiva.com to go skiing at okemo and killington this week. we drove up saturday, checked into our hotel (the summit lodge - a nice place, highly recommend it) and then went down to ludlow (bella luna resturant) for dinner and happy hour drinks with the group. we turned it in and we back to the hotel for a trip to the hot tub and pool. ski day #1 - okemo quick breakfast and then hopped into the car to meet up with the group at 7:30AM at the jackson gore base lodge. weather was weird. cool with fog and low lying clouds in the valley, summer time at the peak. snow was *very* soft in the morning and progressed to slush by the end of the day. we started on jackson gore peak, and then made our way over to the southface. stump jumper was pretty fun.....but most of all the other trails seemed to be the same to me..nothing really stood out. but it was fun times none-the-less. ski day #2 - okemo woke up to light r**n at killington. it quit by the time we got to okemo, thankfully. cover was pretty thin the first day, but half the mtn was brown the second. the morning was still pretty foggy, but as the day wore on a cold front pushed through and cleared away the clouds. the snow firmed up some what and the skiing was much better. run of the day was vortex.....the only trail on the mtn that we skiied which had any kind of pitch to it. ski day #3 - killington we were pleasantly suprised that the snow didn't turn into bullet-proof ice. the temps didn't get too cold and the wind was calm...so the groomers did a descent job prepping the trails. k-mart was blowing snow all over the mtn, so that was a good sign. base of operations was the K-1 lodge. from there, we took the superstar expresss lift and skied down the backside down to the skye peak express quad. took a run through the stash....it was nice, especially with almost no snowboarders on it. we eventually made our way over to the canyon area to hit up cascade and east fall. we made on trip down superstar right before lunch....it was soo crowded with gapers, kinda reminded me of a main street/burma road combo. run of the day was cascade. good groomed snow and was able to get some good carved turns in there. ski day #4 - killington SNOW!!! our last day was def the best. we started on the superstar express and down the backside once again. we took several laps on the skye peak express lift b/c the snow was so good. they claimed 2 inches of fresh stuff, but it was def more like 4"-6" in this area. we hit up needle's eye, cruise control, and a couple of others under the skyeship....few people and fresh snow yet again...awesome. after a quick pit stop in the K-1 lodge, we did a two runs down snowdon (great northern and chute) and then headed back to the canyon to hit up cascade, east fall, and double dipper. run of the day was double dipper, hands down. no ice, lots of snow, few skiers, steep lines....just good times overall. overall, we had a great time. okemo is ok....def wouldn't go up to vt specifically to ski it, but i wouldn't pass it down if i happened to already be up there for other stuff. we liked killington more than we expected. my favorite areas (so far) are the canyon and under the skye peak express quad. i like the terrain there, but stowe has all that plus a better vibe. we would def make another trip to k-mart again in the future. 1 Quote
guitar73 Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Posted January 17, 2013 Nice guitar! No pics? um, no pics...but i do have some video. weather wasn't all that clear for most of the time we were there....so i wasn't very motivated to take pictures, lol! i think tinymoose took some pictures. Quote
tinymoose Posted January 17, 2013 Report Posted January 17, 2013 I have two pics from my phone I can post later. I think they're both from Okemo? I was having too much fun at Killington and forgot to stop and take any on day 1 there. Day 2 at Killington I was too busy figuring out how to ski in actual snow. Quote
guitar73 Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Posted January 17, 2013 Okemo is very flat...I remember Okemo being nicknamed Slowkemo while Stratton was nicknamed Flatton. Were any of the glades at Killington or Okemo open? I remember at Irish pub right at the bottom of the Okemo access road that had free nachos at happy hour. Was pretty sweet. How were crowds? Nice report one thing they say about weather in Vermont is that if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes. slokemo is very accurate, lol! what's odd is that i think stratton has more pitch than okemo...and that's not saying much. none of the glades were open at either mtn: coverage was very thin and i suppose they didn't want to wreck up the glades anymore than ma' nature did already. the crowds really were not an issue at okemo or k-mart. monday was practically dead at okemo. some of the blue/green trails at k-mart had some congestion....but there were hardly any lift lines. we ate at that irish pub on tuesday nite....good times had there as well Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted January 17, 2013 Report Posted January 17, 2013 I am with you on your analysis Guitar. I wouldn't make a special trip for Okemo, but if I'm there, it's a nice change of pace. I like Killington, but I mostly go there now for the early season or off map off piste stuff. It doesn't surprise me that Okemo was showing a bunch of brown. If you watch their trail count early season, they stay up there with all the big guns, but their quality and quantity is thin. They are all about the "thin to win" mantra. Put down a marginal base and then move onto the next trail. They don't have the temps or elevation to keep up in early season trail count if they don't push it with the limited depth factor. Overall, not bad, but not somewhere I would go regularly. Thanks for the TR guitar. It's nice to know that some other people are up here enjoying the NE with me :-) 1 Quote
vinnyv11 Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 Always good to get up to VT. I need to figure out a time to head up myself. Haven't decided where yet thinking Stowe or Jay's Peak or something like that. You skiing anywhere this weekend guitar. Quote
indiggio Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 Okemo is a great mountain, if you have small children. I think it's geared towards them. A great beginner Vermont ski area. We'd been taking trips there with young ones for years. As expected, even they got bored with Okemo and since progressed to skiing/liking Killington far more. I believe the pub is Killarney's. There's also Tacos Tacos for some Mexican explosions (Woo did I get a bad dose of food poisoning from that place!). We want to venture to the more northern areas in the next few years. Just dread the extra travel time. 2 Quote
guitar73 Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Posted January 18, 2013 They are all about the "thin to win" mantra. Put down a marginal base and then move onto the next trail. i just flat out disagree with this approach....cover what you can with a thick blanket to insulate the ground, then move on. bear creek does the same thing. You skiing anywhere this weekend guitar. we're gonna take it easy this weekend. tinymoose and i will be at jack frost the following weekend. also, probably hit up bc mid-week next week once they blow more snow. Okemo is a great mountain, if you have small children. terrain-wise, yeah....but when we were there a lot of skiers/riders and the lifties were smoking a crap ton of pot....don't think i'd want to have little ones around that. I believe the pub is Killarney's. yup....that's it. just didn't remember the name immediately. Quote
guitar73 Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Posted January 18, 2013 Lifeties were smoking pot in front of the customers??? no, but you could def smell it on the way up Quote
Johnny Law Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 It's Vermont..prob one of the next states to go legal. It has been defacto legal for like 40 years. Walk down church anytime at night and if you look like you smoke somebody will ask you if you need. Slokemo and its brother who shall not be named with the massive fake ass village are lame. Though Stratton does actually have some pitch and surprisingly good tree skiing. Regardless the lower VT gem is Magic Mtn. No bullshit, steep, excellent tree's and an entire mtn that is connected but went out of business a long time ago. Its also not 1000$ a lift ticket, if you can ski and don't need your dick sucked check it out. Excellent taps and cheap. Sugarbush is where Dick Cheny would ski in VT. Regardless nice trip dude, any skiing in VT is a vast improvement over PA. 1 Quote
vinnyv11 Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 we're gonna take it easy this weekend. tinymoose and i will be at jack frost the following weekend. also, probably hit up bc mid-week next week once they blow more snow. Nice I think a bunch of PASR's are planning on being there next weekend. I'll be there Saturday with my family. 1 Quote
indiggio Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 no, but you could def smell it on the way up Hell, I smell it pretty much every ride up when at Blue! I've never had any issues with the lifties at Okemo, guys on South ridge are a trip, blastin' Reggae. Always pleasant. Perhaps it was more the skiers/boarders than lifties? Quote
guitar73 Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Posted January 18, 2013 Hell, I smell it pretty much every ride up when at Blue! I've never had any issues with the lifties at Okemo, guys on South ridge are a trip, blastin' Reggae. Always pleasant. Perhaps it was more the skiers/boarders than lifties? i know they smoke it up at blue as well...but i've never smelt it so obiquitously as i did at okemo. but i can understand the lifties doing it... with minimal crowds and more specifically at the lesser traveled lifts, why not? def more the skier/riders though... Quote
indiggio Posted January 18, 2013 Report Posted January 18, 2013 At blue people blaze right at the entrance to the lower park unless there just happens to be a lot of skunks. Haven't come across that as of yet. Have to be on the smellout. i know they smoke it up at blue as well...but i've never smelt it so obiquitously as i did at okemo. but i can understand the lifties doing it... with minimal crowds and more specifically at the lesser traveled lifts, why not? def more the skier/riders though... I don't doubt you. Bet it gets pretty boring on lift duty when there's no crowds. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted January 19, 2013 Report Posted January 19, 2013 i just flat out disagree with this approach....cover what you can with a thick blanket to insulate the ground, then move on. bear creek does the same thing. It is unfortunate that it's the way it happens, but I've been to Okemo several times, and it's always the same story... It doesn't make sense to blow so little just to call it open, get a small warmup, have it melt to the ground, and then lose the trail... When they do get around to making snow on it again, they are starting from ground zero... Okemo also touts it's grooming, but often times you'll see dirt tracks in their pretty grooming because it's just not deep enough... Regardless of that, I still like Okemo as a one or two day a year change of pace mountain... Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted January 19, 2013 Report Posted January 19, 2013 Okemo is also good for early season...I've skied there Thanksgiving weekend and there was over 30 runs open including some black diamonds...unfortunately none of the double black diamonds were open but I shouldn't be on extremely difficult terrain early season anyway. And all with about a 6 inch base... Quote
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