It was nice to meet some of you this past weekend and particularly enjoyed showing everyone the great conditions on Escapade Saturday morning! The mountain really skied well this past weekend in spite of the warmer weather during the week.
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2022 New England Gathering, Killington Edition. April 1st through 3rd
- Thread starter KevinF
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Nice to meet you too.
That was your doing huh? To think we lost @dbostedo and @TheArchitect for that experience.
Yup, it was all me - my daughter and I sampled Escapade the run before (had a feeling that the Friday night wind would have blown the snow into the trail - so we waited at the top of the Canyon chair for the mass of humanity to assemble and I announced that Escapade was really good and it should be skied. Glad everyone enjoyed the weekend
Eh... I'm never lost. I'm just enjoying unanticipated terrain.
So that's where the rest of the group went.
As someone here likes to say, "The only way to ski with the group is to stick with the group." Or something like that.
It's deceptive. The tea parties go on so long you think there's time to drink a Manhattan and smoke a cigarette. But then suddenly everyone is gone. I get caught out by that frequently.
This was more like :
Skier 1: So we're meeting at Canyon?
Skier 2: Yep
Skier 1: Great... I'll see you there...
Skier 1 skis away heading for Canyon...
Skier 3: Hey, why don't we go ski Bear?
Skier 2: Sure, let's go
We're an interesting lot when it comes to organization and execution. Next time I hear half a dozen people all say "let's ski Highline and meet at the bubble" I'll know not to believe a word. Safer to wait until everyone skis off and be in the rearguard. Dave is usually the first to take off so he's screwed.
This was more like :
Skier 1: So we're meeting at Canyon?
Skier 2: Yep
Skier 1: Great... I'll see you there...
Skier 1 skis away heading for Canyon...
Skier 3: Hey, why don't we go ski Bear?
Skier 2: Sure, let's go
Oh yeah. All true.We're an interesting lot when it comes to organization and execution. Next time I hear half a dozen people all say "let's ski Highline and meet at the bubble" I'll know not to believe a word. Safer to wait until everyone skis off and be in the rearguard. Dave is usually the first to take off so he's screwed.
My wife was very deliberate-on Saturday after lunch "See you in the lodge. I'm going to do my own thing" (which she enjoys). She did great on Sunday hanging with the boys (and Jane) on Sunday.
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You can thank us for not going down Escapade with your Blossoms.Eh... I'm never lost. I'm just enjoying unanticipated terrain.
Top 3 trails of weekend:
1) Cascade - for a lot of it, if you turned in the right spots, it was powder. The long pitch into the turn had a lot of ice, but still sort of good stuff, and the ice wasn’t that solid. (Like Downdraft)
Bonus- not tons of people on it at once.
2) Needles Eye
Long sustained pitch with soft clumps that become your own luge track if you time the turn right. You could spend hours on this trail.
What’s not to like- people. Wish they’d blow snow on the whole trail to spread people out.
Bonus- Jerk Chicken at the bottom, Bratwursts at the top.
Bonus 2 - Gondola is there if you’re too lazy to put skis on right away after the break.
3) Superstar
Just a classic. From hard snow to soft, moguls to flat. Varied a lot. There’s really interesting terrain that you can ski up and down. Limits to that are due to traffic and random scuds. The wales side pitch varied from death chunks to soft. Fun, not necessarily always “enjoyable”. Good training - earn to ignore bouncing skis if they’re going the right way.
The icy traverse into the headwall makes you think about what you’re doing. The wind is usually blowing, it can be pretty scary at first. On Monday, we were there when two guys started taking off their skis in the traverse. Went over to tell them to not walk it in boots, as that likely at best will have them sliding down the headwall, at worst sliding off the side into a pipe or ice gargoyle. But they headed back, and in their limited English said, “Too scared”
Fri afternoon was probably the softest snow. Wales were great with sily soft snow, large moguls were soft. Hard to see.
Bonus- If the headwall is smooth, and the wind is blowing the right way, you can. nice sail across and end up at the traversing trail out faster than those who went around.
Bonus 2- it’s different every day.
Worst Trail -
Great Bear at Snowdon on Saturday.
Just had a feeling that thing was going to be bad so I took it slowly. It wasn’t very good before the bridge, then after it just disintegrated. Large blind bare section was just a distraction to thinly covered loose rocks. Required full stop and walking, side stepping. Below that was just bumpy, icy garbage. Trail should’ve been closed.
A few other notable mentions — Over on Snowdon, Mouse Run to Mouse Trap (Saturday)
Also, on Sunday — Mouse Run to Highline (which had been groomed on Saturday night)
Agree on Cascade and the Panic Button/Needles Eye combo as being good. Cascade was even better on Monday with less people and Cruise Control was a carvers' delight. Can't remember how it was over the weekend, but on I'll nominate Lower Skyelark as one of the the worst on Monday-snow clumps with boilerplate in between. We saw you and MDF at the bottom and no way were we catching you guys.
The important thing is to yell out your destination before heading off. That's guaranteed to at least get you a full chair to ski with at the next lift.We're an interesting lot when it comes to organization and execution. Next time I hear half a dozen people all say "let's ski Highline and meet at the bubble" I'll know not to believe a word. Safer to wait until everyone skis off and be in the rearguard. Dave is usually the first to take off so he's screwed.
Panic/Needle's is always good or good for you conditions, one of our favorites. It's actually several trails in one with the black upper, moguled entrance, groomed man-made left for carving and natural bumped right under the gondi.
Lower black Skyelark was unexpectedly bad this weekend. The Superstar pod of Bittersweet, Skyelark, and Superstar are usually still in good shape this time of year as the mountain retracts to that lift.
I skied it Saturday morning with some blown in snow... it was a weird mix of irregular ice in places, but parts of it were under ankle deep snow/drifts/bumps and looked potentially good... About halfway down I gave up trying to ski the untouched stuff that was hard to turn in and uncertain underneath, and skied where others had already gone and it was more regular bumps. Overall, would not recommend.
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On Monday we did 2 laps of Skyelark/lower Skyelark and a group of English kids had moved maybe 20 yards down. On the third lap most of the group was down, but some were still up with the instructor/chaperone.
Lower actually had widely spaced bumps. Would’ve been a great bump learning trail if not forthe ice sheets and random rocks.
Lower actually had widely spaced bumps. Would’ve been a great bump learning trail if not forthe ice sheets and random rocks.
Someone (I can't find it now) sent out some love for Wildfire in a previous post. I agree, with the proviso that it is "upper wildfire". Lower was a melt-out / mud / rock mess.
I skied upper when it was frozen and later when the surface had softened and I enjoyed it everytime. It had moderate-sized, well-spaced and nicely shaped bumps. I think it was the most "normal" bump run on the mountain. One of the Level 3 candidates told us they did the mogul skiing test there, and I think it was a good choice.
I skied upper when it was frozen and later when the surface had softened and I enjoyed it everytime. It had moderate-sized, well-spaced and nicely shaped bumps. I think it was the most "normal" bump run on the mountain. One of the Level 3 candidates told us they did the mogul skiing test there, and I think it was a good choice.
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We skied Old Superstar Sunday afternoon. It was really good until you had to decide just how much rock you were willing to ski...or not.
Had lots of fun picking my way through and then watching carnage while waiting for one of my friends to, perhaps wisely, take her skis off and walk the brown line down.
Had lots of fun picking my way through and then watching carnage while waiting for one of my friends to, perhaps wisely, take her skis off and walk the brown line down.
@James and I skied it on Monday afternoon.
There was a go-around past the melt out (you know, one of those narrow paths that loops into the brush and then rejoins below.) Unfortunately where it turned downhill was hidden behind a bush and it was completely melted out at that spot. So I had to retreat backwards till there was enough room to turn around.
There was still a ribbon of sort-of white along the extreme left side, but it was narrow and the landing zone did not look very clean. So we opted to walk down. Not so easy on wet steep grass.