Much to the dismay of Killington pass holders, Killington die hards, and spring bump skiers everywhere, Killington recently announced that this would be there last weekend in operation despite having previously promoted that they would ski into May if conditions allow. As we would find out throughout the afternoon, conditions most certainly would allow at least one more weekend of skiing if not two more weekends with a little effort. Three weeks ago, I skied Killington and asked whether or not THE BEAST is back. In answer to the question I posed, Killington will write the words “Closed for the Season” in the new flowery and flowy script of Powd’r and not the big bold letters of the beast of old.
With a freeze overnight, we arrived at Killington shortly after 10 A.M. and went about booting up at a leisurely pace to allow the sun and temperatures to work their magic. Even as early as 11 A.M., some surfaces were still a little firm and variable. By by noon time, epic spring bump conditions arrived and it was game on for a great afternoon of bumps.
The center of Superstar was groomed which proved to be a disaster. The snow formed long well spaced out mounds of snow. Right and left sides had bumps but lines were fairly irregular though things did get better after noon. Upper Ovation was a narrow ribbon down skier’s left and I would be surprised if it was still open on Sunday. There is a 10 foot break in the snow mid-trail. Sensible folks were taking off their skis and down hiking but more adventurous folks, such as yours truly, just pointed the skis straight down the wet grass and went for it. The portage back to Superstar was short and not the problem.
Skyelark was definitely the best option of the afternoon after Upper Skyelark had bumped up. Really nice lines in places on Skyelark, especially Lower Skyelark. Bittersweet was sweet as well but had slightly worse coverage and fewer bumps.
Crowds were significant. You can’t tell me that Killington was not making money this weekend. The chair was never ski on and was as long as a 3-4 minute wait at its longest. When you stopped skiing on any trail, it took a little bit of waiting before finding a hole where you could merge. And once you got going, frequently your line would get cut off by other skiers on either side. If Killington only had enough snow to open Superstar, the crowds would have made skiing extremely dangerous.
As far as snow coverage, they have enough to go at least one more week, maybe two if they got creative. Upper Ovation is done but Superstar has has top to bottom and nearly edge to edge coverage excepting lower Superstar where the normal coverage creep is occurring. Lots of snow is stockpiled at the top of Superstar as you needed to traverse uphill to get to Skyelark. Skyelark and Bitter had three small spots that need some pushing around of snow and the run out and base area will need to get patched up. Essentially, there is way more snow than I expected and they are absolutely NOT closing due to lack of snow, not even close, not by a long shot. It is laughable that they would even suggest some warm weather and rain might wash them out by next weekend (and the forecast now suggests that they will not receive much rain in the next week).
Today was a great day of skiing and I am happy to end my lift serviced season for the year on a year good note. We liquid lunched in the parking lot and tail gated with some burgers off a grill when we were done. Life is great!
