Killington, VT 10/28/11

Snow in the forecast? Hell yeah! I wasn't sure where was getting how much, toyed with the idea of going to Whiteface for Toll Road v2.0, but it didn't make the cut. With reports of 12" new at Kmart, (and photo evidence from FIS) I figured I would head in for the blue light special. Turns out Condor had the same idea, except he wanted to head out a bit earlier because he had to be back in Saratoga by noon for work.

Debating which skis I wanted to cut my skins for (105 underfoot S6, or 93mm Line Anthems), I decided to go for the Anthems. They're centermounted, noodles, and beat to hell. I didn't want to take my primary skis out today with no base. I figured this is what I got the skins for, so I'm gonna use them. I guess they'll still work if I use them on the bigger ski, too. Just no wall-to-wall coverage.

Anthems lined up to S6.



Anthems it was. Time to get cutting.


Next up - Derusting the edges. I took an edge file to the skis to get most of the sidewall crud off, and a scotch bride pad to the rest to clean them up a bit.

Set the alarm for 5, planned on getting out by 5:30. Mission: Success.

Star shot while packing up the Car.



I left Stewart's at 5:45 with a full tank and some food - en Route to Killington. A bit later gave Connor a call to see where he was, turns out he was only about 15 mins in front of me. Cool. He stopped on the way for food, so he ended up getting there only a few minutes before I did. I pulled in the lot around 7:30.

 Rutland with a light low fog over it.


Vermont is Ugly*


*Sarcasm.

Target Acquired.


Connor and a few others we met in the parking lot heading up


Some TGR Mags coming down nice and early.
(they're the little black dots.)


Hiking up


Fresh Canvas


Connor might be a little stoked






There was probably 8 inches where we were. Obviously more in drifts and less where the wind was blowing. Bluebird day and temps just above 30. Pretty much perfect.  

Oh, wait, you want to actually see us ski?






There was plenty of this. Having a base would have been really nice. There was a lot of tall overgrown grass that liked to grab your tips and put you over the handlebars.




Connor left around 10:30. I sent him to drop off my camera at my car, and was gonna get some POV action. Unfortunately the mount came off my helmet while trying to put the camera on it. DOH!

I headed up the opposite side in the shade and followed two other guys a ways. They had the gondola running in prep for tomorrow. There were only 4 cars on them, but it was very taunting. I saw two people going up in one of them. I'm not sure whether they skied down or not, though.

Second run was a bit more successful at the top. I think I made 8 successive turns without falling! I was pretty stoked. It got bony again down towards the bottom.

From there I skied on out to my car, stopped by Sports Page to share the stoke with some of the guys there, and then headed home to get ready for my 8 hour shift at the Hotel. It was a hell of a day. Coming up on my 21st hour of being awake. Connor has a few shots of my on his camera. If I ever get those from him, I'll update the thread.

With Plattekill looking like this earlier this morning, and having a similar forecast from CBS, FIS, I think the Catskills (or maybe Berkshires: Thunderbolt, anyone?) may be a good call for Sunday. Trick or treat? I'll take both.

If anyone is interested in high-res photos, check out my Flickr photostream.

Awesome day fugative and nice pics, thanks for sharing!

We found the best skiing was on Snowdon's blue squares. Steep enough to get some speed but not steep enough that you needed to turn check your speed. Otherwise, it was total face plant city yesterday. We were just glad to not get injured on our first day. Full reportage over here. I've never done the Thunderbolt but I don't think it would be good skiing for this type of storm. Early season often has thick/damp/dense snow that requires good pitch for good turns. As I understand it, TBolt has some flatter spots typical of most CCC trails. I'd go with a ski area with decent pitch. Berkshire East would probably be ideal. Not sure about the Catskills. I'm staying local at Cannon if they get enough.

I'm going there tomorrow to give it a shot.  I'm far from the strongest skier on the mountain, I hope I'm not getting in over my head.

lifts are going to be running and open at killington this weekend

I'll be rippin the crap out of my living room.

fujative wrote

lifts are going to be running and open at killington this weekend

The big question is whether they will open more terrain with the new snow. I'd go to K tomorrow if I could ski natural all day rather than a WROD.

I'm going to take my chances.

Let's PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!

nice pics, fuj!

Great TR Fuj.

Way to get those early season powder turns!! Thanks for the stoke!

How were the roads? How was Rt. 4?

Rt 4 where you go over the short bridge (about half way between Rutland and Kton) was pretty iced up and the access road was pretty sloppy. Other than that, roads were fine.

Fuje - great looking TR, only now having the internet access to chime in.

I like the early morning light those shots from the ride over.
You still think Kmart was "bony" now that you skied Platty?

Question - is that the G3 skin cutting tool? I remember River telling me he liked a tool (the G3?) much better than the BD one I used on my skins on Saturday.  It looks like the tool you are using cuts the skin smaller than the ski by exactly the width of metal edges. I had to do a lot of futzing to get my skins right and they don't look as clean as the cut you have going in that pic.

fujative wrote

Harvey44 wrote

It looks like the tool you are using cuts the skin smaller than the ski by exactly the width of metal edges. I had to do a lot of futzing to get my skins right and they don't look as clean as the cut you have going in that pic.

Yup, the G3 tool overlaps the cutting blade by the exact preferred edge spacing so that just the edge is exposed. You just slide the tool along the edge of the ski and the cutting tool takes care of the rest. You don't need to remove and reapply the skin by "off setting" the other side. I actually bought the G3 tool (which comes free with G3 skins) even though I had bought BD skins. The tool is a slight bit of a PITA because it "lifts" the applied skin off the ski (and of course, the glue is brand new and very sticky) so you really need to use some muscle, especially if you haven't vice gripped the skis down.