Killington and The Great Escape, 10/27/13

Went to Killington to start the ski season early on 10/27/13.  They had skiing on 5 trails in the North Ridge area that skied more like 2 runs.  It also happened that The Great Escape amusement park was open on the same day and it was their last day of the season.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Rutland on Saturday night and drove to Killington in the morning arriving at about 7:10am.  It was still dark due to the time change not happening yet.


The lift ticket to prove that we skied this early.


We got on the K1 Gondola and the top of the mountain was under the clouds when we got there.  There was also lots of snow caked up on the trees.


Top of K1 Gondola.


Then we skied down Rime to the North Ridge Triple.  The snow was wet, but easy to turn in.


First ride up the North Ridge Triple.


Top of the North Ridge Triple.


Another shot of Rime


After a few runs on Rime we decided to try East Fall.  It was in terrible shape.  There were guns all over it blowing snow so wet that it felt like taking a cold shower.  There was also a lot of thin cover and moguls.  I couldn't get a picture of it.  

After that we decided to go down to the base and take a break.  The walk on the Peak Walkway was way harder than I thought.  Not loosening my boots first did not help either.

The Peak Walkway.


Another shot of the Peak Walkway.


Looking down the K1 Gondola.


After the Break we took the Gondola back up.


North Ridge area in the fog.


When we got back to the top we skied back to North Ridge.  On the way back I got these 2 pictures of the snowmaking on Upper Downdraft.  The chairs on the closed Canyon Quad were caked in ice because of the snowmaking.



After some more runs on Rime we headed back down the Gondola to the base to call it a day.  It was snowing pretty hard down there as well as at the top.


No snow on Superstar yet.


It was a great way to start the season early.  Conditions were pretty good considering that it wasn't even November yet.  Crowds were minimal as well.  Now we just have to wait 4 weeks for Hunter to open and we will be skiing on a weekly basis.  Even though our skiing was done, the day was not.  We left the parking lot at around 11am and had lunch at the McDonald's in Rutland.  Then we drove to The Great Escape in Lake George to ride some roller coasters.

The Steamin Demon from the Parking lot.


The Sasquatch from the parking lot

Gore stickers on the Sky Ride chairs.  Don't worry, that smoke you see was from smoke machines set up by the park for Halloween.  There was no fire or risk of it.


When we got to the park we headed for the Alpine Bobsled.  Unfortunately it was closed, so we headed to the Comet.  Both trains were running and it was a walk on.  We rode in the first row of the last car.  Then we went to the Steamin Demon which was running one train (it is only capable of one train operation) and rode it in the front row.  Also a walk on.  Then we went to the Canyon Blaster.  It ran one train as well (the second train has not been seen for years).  It was a 3 train wait.  We rode in the last row of the last car which was facing backwards.  They turned the last three cars on the Canyon Blaster backwards as a special for this season.  After that we headed back to the Comet for which the line had grown considerably.  We rode it with a 5-6 train (10 minutes) wait for the 3rd row in the first car.  We got right back in line and rode it in the last row of the last car with about a 5-6 train wait as well.  After that we decided to take it easy and go on the Sky Ride.  10 minute wait.  We skipped the Boomerang which looked to be a 3-4 train wait today.  Finally we rode the Turbo Drop side of the Sasquatch which was a walk on.  It was the last amusement ride of the season for us. Skipped the Space Shot side in the interest of time which looked to be a 2 cycle wait.  

Ride count:
Comet 3x
Steamin Demon 1x
Canyon Blaster 1x
Sky Ride 1x
Sasquatch (Turbo Drop) 1x

Today was a great day to start the ski season and do one last amusement park trip for the year.  Looking forward to the 2013/2014 ski season.  Will definitely do this trip again on one of the days this spring when Killington and Great Escape are open on the same day.

Nice report ... that's something you don't often hear about ... skiing in the morning and roller coasters in the afternoon ... pretty cool day!

whewww, glad you wrote a TR, felt very unmotivated after getting back from killington.

i was there 10 to about 1ish, it cleared up pretty good around noon. conditions were as stated above, but easy and forgiving. you are on crack if you think the crowds were "minimal". crazy...no, but you definitely had to be aware of your surroundings.




over all, i was just happy to slide on snow!!!

I was only there from 8 to 10:30 so crowds were minimal when I was there.

How many runs did you take?  Could not have been many with riding the Gondi and the walk way 4 times

How did you know when you had left KMart and entered the amusement park?

Noah John wrote

How did you know when you had left KMart and entered the amusement park?

LOL. Awesome.

Condor's picture + the line recaps at Great Escape make the two experiences look similar.

There's gotta be a better place to do this. Disneyland and Big Bear Lake? How far is Boston Mills from Cedar Point? I wonder where the best ski/coaster combo is.

mattchuck2 wrote

There's gotta be a better place to do this. Disneyland and Big Bear Lake? How far is Boston Mills from Cedar Point? I wonder where the best ski/coaster combo is.

Vegas, baby:
http://www.skilasvegas.com/winter/index.html

good on ya - that' s pretty cool! I always try to do  a "cali-day" every year early or late season, ski and mtb the same day. I know others who try to do ski/golf but ski and rollercoaster ride is a new one!

Noah John wrote

How did you know when you had left KMart and entered the amusement park?

There was snow at Killington, not at Great Escape.

Coach Z wrote

How many runs did you take?  Could not have been many with riding the Gondi and the walk way 4 times

I only took the walkway twice.  You could ski from the top of K1 to the north ridge, but not back.  I got in about 10 runs.

First TR of the Year =

Looks soupy!  I'd still take a crappy day skiing over the rollercoaster,

Does K hit you for an Adult Ticket?

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Nice tr, Snoloco.

Thanks for putting up with the knuckleheads in a mature way. Is your pass only at Hunter this year or will you be doing Belleayre and Mountain Creek as well?

gorgonzola wrote

good on ya - that' s pretty cool! I always try to do  a "cali-day" every year early or late season, ski and mtb the same day. I know others who try to do ski/golf but ski and rollercoaster ride is a new one!

I've been wanting to get a river and ski day in one, but haven't yet. Dang.

mattchuck2 wrote

There's gotta be a better place to do this. Disneyland and Big Bear Lake? How far is Boston Mills from Cedar Point? I wonder where the best ski/coaster combo is.

Canobie Lake Park in SoNH is close to a lot of small hills. Nashoba/Bradford to the south would probably be the closest, no more than 20-30 minutes. Though that might not be the "best" combo, it is probably one of the closest. But I don't think there is any time of the year that both operate at the same time. Northern amusement parks tend to close up shop after Halloween. I suspect Killington or Sunday River in October traveling to the closest amusement park would be the only option.

I bet Holiday Valley (or Bristol) and Six Flags Darien Lake are open at the same times out in Western NY...

Vegas is okay, but the roller coasters there aren't spectacular... I wonder if there are any decent amusement parks in Northern California that you could combine with Tahoe.