Killington Vt: January 8-9, 2015

I decided to do a quick little trip up to Vermont this past week. I got a couple days in the Adk backcountry after the big December storm and a half day of skinning at Plattekill, but this was to be my first lift-served skiing of the 2014-2015 season. On my way up I stopped in the Catskills for a quick hike of Windham High Peak on Wedenesday. I've slowly been kicking away at hiking the winter 35, and this was #18 for me. It was an intro to what would be the theme of the trip: bitter cold and numb fingers.

I stayed at the Turn of River Lodge and I cannot recommend it more. Comfortable, clean accommodations and a beautiful ski lodge ambience all at a great price. I was hopeful that the extreme cold would keep the crowds away, and was correct. Other than a couple short (<5 minutes) waits for the main gondola I didn't wait in any liftlines. On Thursday, conditions were decent on most trails. Killington obviously puts a lot of money into snowmaking, and it showed with their large amount of open terrain. Most steeper trails were very windblown and icy, but Outer Limits was the exception. Surprisingly soft moguls made it worth lapping many times. No pictures from Thursday because of the extreme cold.

Thursday night Killington picked up a supposed five inches overnight. I thought it was more like 2-4, but it was certainly enough to spruce things up a little bit on Friday. Outer Limits was even better, and Double Dipper and Cascade skied much better than the previous day. Killington had a man-made blizzard going on on Superstar, which was fun to lap. I ducked into the trees of Big Dipper at one point, which I noticed people had been doing. My skis emerged unscathed, but I was constantly dodging rocks and scraping against saplings. Certainly not the most enjoyable experience. Later in the day I skied a glade on Snowdon which was a little better but still scratchy.





Saturday I only had the morning free, so I decided to hike Killington Peak from the other side. It was nice to get away from the commotion on the other side of Killington for a little bit. It was a very clear morning, which gave me some cool shots from the summit. Definitely a lot of cool stuff to ski back there with a bit more snow, next time I'm in the area I'll definitely devote a day to doing some touring.









I left a bit more time for the Killington hike than I needed, so on the way out I was able to get a quick jaunt up to the Deer Leap overlook in. By this time it had clouded up a bit, and the view was not as good as that from Killington. Overall a good little ski trip. Hoping for some more snow for the Adirondacks!

Excellent report and pics. The pictures of the summit and views are very cool, it is easy to forget that a resort called Killington is still a big mountain with a wild summit.

It was big time bitter there this weekend. We are skiing PICO for the season - the snow was actually really good considering the lack of it or that it has been machine made. Every time we made it to the top with our kids, they were ice cubes and had to come down and warm up. We spent most of the day on the lower mountain.  I would imagine hiking up you were relatively warm - though I am sure cold to some extent.  

Some great summit shots you have here.

Really nice.