Killington, Vt Ski Trip - Day 3

Killington revealed her best skiing of the week as

snow machines added over a foot of base last night

A day filled with snow machines, powder, and a few falls

Here lies Outer Limits, the steepest mogul run in the east.  I have paid homage to this great run for the past three years but have only ever conquered this beast once, two years ago.  We did three runs and it was all our legs could handle because it was some of the most physically demanding skiing I have ever done.  

We finally woke up to about an inch of fresh natural snow in the morning and it was nice to see on the slopes after two days of ice and bare spots.  The crews have not stopped making snow all week long and it all payed off as today was by far the best day of skiing, even though we were skiing in a cloudy mist for most of the day.  I have a video posted below of a snow maker up close, and what they do when ski gloves are put in their path.

There is nothing like Killington from back home (Seven Springs and Holiday Valley) as the run length alone being the ultimate fun factor.  Killington peaks out at just over 4,000 feet, so the runs are not even a mile long, but it will take full concentration and at least twenty minutes to get down runs like Outer Limits, as she just does not let you rest.  Mogul after mogul it never seems to end.  The Devil's Fiddle run lies to the left of Outer Limits and has a cliff drop on it if conditions permit. Two years ago I took probably the biggest crash of my life as I did not notice a dip in th snow and was shot straight up into the air and came down on the top of my skis perpendicular to the ground. I was moving fast but managed to pop back up right after in time to catch myself from going too far away from my long detached skis.  Killington also features a 6.7 mile long trail called Juggernaut (conditions permitting of course) which is just interesting to anyone who has never skied for over a half hour before.  As anyone who has been there before knows, all the runs from Springs and Holiday Valley can be done in five minutes or less.

Back to the trip at present, Bob and I started off bright and early this morning and found our way over to the Bear Mountain side of the mountain to find a few runs that had created natural mounds that accumulated from the snow blowers.  This made for very intense and powder like ski conditions.  It was not too crowded though as many were scared away from the mist that the snow blowers create.  Bob and I had to stop numerous times to wipe off our goggles, and he even resorted to going down without goggles a few times (which I thought he was crazy for) but he insisted it made it easier. Take a look at the conditions:

Bob and I saw this daunting rock on our first ride up.  Looks like it would be fun to ski if there was about two feet of fresh powder on it.

This picture is a testament to why Bob's goggles were fogging up all day, he never leaves them off.  If you put them up like that they will usually fog.  Although Bob did go down a few runs with the snow blasters on without goggles because they were so foggy.  Albeit stupid, it was impressive nonetheless.

This day was a complete 180 from day 1 and 2.

Good picture of the snow blasters.  They were the only thing preventing some of the trails from turning into straight ice but it sucked to ski through.  Then on the lift back up they get you again. Not much you can do though.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip because I was able to capture this eloquent lingerie tree on the lift up Bear Mountain.  These are common among ski resorts, the most impressive one I have seen calls home to Holiday Valley.  Go up the Mardi Gras lift for some of the most spectacular display of bras and panties a skier or border can find. 

Another shot of Outer Limits.

I stacked two pictures together for this photo (a nifty feature on my camera).  It gives you a better idea just how steep Outer Limits is

You can see how the snow makers were reeking havoc to everything today in this picture.

I took this of myself going up the longest tow rope I have ever seen.  It was over 5 minutes long and took us up some decently steep terrain.  Bob almost fell going up, but made a nice recovery.  Good job Bob.

The warning sign before entering the Double Black that we did on the front side towards the end of the day.  There were snow makers lining the entire lift, which killed our visibility, but we pushed on.  On our second run, Bob and I both ate some snow as I ran into deep snow and face planted losing a ski and Bob unknowingly skied into the iced moguls on the far right side and lost both his skis in a fall. 

This was taken fairly high up on the mountain and you can see how foggy it is.  It was like skiing in a cloud.  Here also you can see the gondolas that we rode up the mountain all week.

This was the view we were rewarded with after getting through the Double Black.  A lot of skiers and borders were here resting as the previous run had sucked  most of the strength out of the legs.

Bob and I after recovering from our falls at the bottom of the hill.

Ski patrol is on the way back up the hill in one of their many snowmobiles.  It would have been fun to have one out in the fresh snow we had today.  I have never snowmobiled (if that can be used as a verb) before, I hope that ends soon.

We saw these signs sporadically throughout the trails that basically say that outside this boundary lies back country that is not easily accessible, so either know what you are doing or turn back.  Two years ago, the snow was deep enough that we could ski out past these signs without too much danger.  We had heard some horror stories of people getting lost out here and forced to stay the night out in the cold.

This was the one small path that we found through the woods.  Bob and I think it was used mostly as a pit stop to light up a bowl because we found two boarders smoking pot close to the entrance.  It made sense because there were a lot of tracks for a trail that did not really lead anywhere, plus the trees blocked out the wind very nicely to allow for a very pleasant atmosphere

Bob and I took a break at some point to get an up close and personal look at one of the snow blowers.  Bob's glove was frozen for the next couple of runs to say the least.