Awesome day. 4" powder which opened many glades and made icy spots edge-able (usually).
Observations:
- Snowguns were running all day at key intersections: the kind of snowmaking one would expect in November and December, but not March.
- Glacier on Superstar: Seemed smaller than last year. Hope this doesn't mean an early closing.
- Expansion for 2018-9 Season:
--- Apparently the Bear Mtn. Lodge was another pot of money than the $16M announcement.
--- The "new" South Ridge Chair will be the old Snowden Quad.
--- With the removal of the Upper Snowden Poma and the changing of the Snowden Quad to a 6-pack will increase skier traffic on Snowden by about 15% with no increase in downhill routes.
--- With the poma moved to Ramshead, the racing on Bunny Buster will be gone and will make an extra blue-square trail available to the general public
I figure the Poma was worth at least 1.5 seats. So with the Triple/Quad/Poma there was effectively 8.5 seats dumping off at the summit. Now with the Sixpack and Triple it will be 9. An increase of 5.9% ??
I think with the re-grading, tunnels & bridges, acreage gained from the Poma, things will flow much better on Snowdon, and with a better lift ride to boot. Yep, expect it to see more skier-miles laid down with the reduced lap times...
So the amount of people on the hill at any one time may not increase much, the amount of times that said skiers can lap the hill will increase.
I figure the Poma was worth at least 1.5 seats. So with the Triple/Quad/Poma there was effectively 8.5 seats dumping off at the summit. Now with the Sixpack and Triple it will be 9. An increase of 5.9% ??
I think with the re-grading, tunnels & bridges, acreage gained from the Poma, things will flow much better on Snowdon, and with a better lift ride to boot. Yep, expect it to see more skier-miles laid down with the reduced lap times...
So the amount of people on the hill at any one time may not increase much, the amount of times that said skiers can lap the hill will increase.
Good catch on my grammar mistake.
Here is my math:
Currently: the triple + the quad + the poma=7.5 +-
(Poma is very low capaciiy and is about 1/3 the vertical of the other lifts. Counting it as 0.5 might be generous)
To be: triple + 6 = 9+-
Nominally 15%
The triple will also probably run less.
The Triple is needed by KMS to get to Highline which is why they paid for the mid-station. So I suspect they'll run the triple when KMS wants it as well as busy times.
With minimal lift lines mid-week I was told they'll be able to get the same time on Highline even going to the summit so the Triple will run somewhat less.
I don't agree on the Poma, but whatever. It's a much faster lift(FPM) than the chairs. Not sure what the arrival rate is, if it is more or less than every six seconds, due to whatever the spacing is, but it it IS worth a value of at least 1, if not the 1.5, no matter of where on the hill it loads, it is still dumping up top every so many seconds along with the chairs. Steady line on it during busy times/weekends too.
With minimal lift lines mid-week I was told they'll be able to get the same time on Highline even going to the summit so the Triple will run somewhat less.
Yep, I'd make them ride the 6pack during the week too, no point in wasting the electricy during slow periods, when they only have to deal with a 4.5 minute ride.
The 26th was a 99th percentile day. Bumps, groomers and glades all were skiing nicely in an exceptionable bluebird day. The 27th was supposed to be similar, but 10 degrees warmer. While the day was pleasant, it was overcast and 5 degrees cooler.
Observations:
- From the top of K1, I took the short hike to the top of Catwalk for the first time in probably 30+ years. It has a great old-time feel to it, similar perhaps to Mad River's hike to get to the top of Fall Line. Upper Catwalk is narrow and natural snow only. No ice, but knife edge moguls and a good and challenging descent.
- The Superstar Glacier: A huge amount of snow has been added since my last visit. It appears that they made an extra effort in the area of the "S" curve to have a lot more snow to push in when needed. The summit area seems similar to previous years. The quantity of snow at the bottom of Skyelark looks deeper than recent years. Bottom line: June skiing is definitely a possibility.
Beautiful sunshine but day's high was 19º F. and the wind was vicious. Surfaces were nicely groomed in the AM but between wind and traffic, they were pretty bullet proof by 3PM.
Unusual for Killington to compress its open area when they have this much great snow. Snowdon west of Chute and all of Ramshead were closed, as was OL. April 9 and 10 never got warm enough to lose the winter-powder texture of the snow.
Most of the woods are closed (and I'm not a rope ducker), but I did find an unmarked opening to Low Rider and it was wonderful. Great bump runs included Low Road, Lower Vertigo, Upper Ridge Run and Conclusion. And the grooming on runs such as Cascade, Superstar, etc. was fantastic.
Killington goes to F-S-S ops starting COB May 6 and unless there is more snow, today (Apr. 11) may well be the last day of classic winter skiing for a while.
The superlatives for this April continue. Here is a view looking downhill from the top of Catwalk. (Unfortunately, the system is not letting me upload the photo.)
The superlatives for this April continue. Here is a view looking downhill from the top of Catwalk. (Unfortunately, the system is not letting me upload the photo.)
Yup, yesterday was about as good as it gets. Clearest skies I think I've ever seen there. Mt Snow's North Face looked much closer than normal. We stayed mostly on the gondola, rode that 11 times and only 1 ride on Superstar. Pretty sure that's my personal record for gondola rides at any ski area. South facing bumps were good to go from the start and the rest softened quickly. Stayed a little later than planned (almost to closing), but the ride home went smooth. Pic upload is working for me...
Jaytrem your girls gotta be darn near experts, great shot and looking forward to hearing about your trips with the girls!
Thanks, they're getting there. Style still isn't the greatest, but they're parallel in the bump/trees more and more each day. Skied all the double blacks at Killington with no problem, so it's real nice for me now. I've given them almost no instruction, just tell them to keep their hands out front every so often. Luckily they love it so far and like to ski from open to close (and then go night skiing if it's an option). So if they're any good it's probably due to the pure number of hours put in rather than any instruction or natural talent they might have. Just always tried to make it fun and took it from there. Good times!!!
The nasty weather really took a toll - almost as bad as the Jan. 10-11 meltdown earlier this year.
Woods are starting to get thin in places and the snow is beginning to rot in other places.
This may be the last weekend for the trails by Needle's Eye Express: Panic Button, Stitchline, Vertigo and the crossover trails passing above Snowshed.
Bittersweet, Skyelark, Ovation and Superstar remain pretty much unscathed in terms of snow depth, but it will take a few days and some traffic for the surfaces to heal a bit. If I were a betting man (and I'm not):
I skied K this afternoon. I say afternoon and not today as the SS lift was belly up all morning. Lift maintanence had to go to Pico and scavenge a part to fix it. (if what I was told was true). That said, it was a great afternoon and they kept the lift running until 5 due to the noon start. I skied everything open with SS, Ovation and Upper Needles eye(closed) to lower needles being highlights. Vertigo is done, as it was roped not long after open, and lower needles had a break by later in the day. I would think Skyelark, Bitter, and possibly Ovation minus the headwall will be in play this weekend. Anything else would be a bonus. Trails off the gondola are still deep, but the Canyon runout is fading fast, so if they run the Gondy, they would likely have to run the Canyon chair as well.....But not likely. Downdraft was well worth the short hike end of day.
Wow, looks great! I noticed on the webcam and in this photo that lower skier's left is a slalom course or something that looks man-made. I would like to jump into that.
Today was another bluebird day at K. Great spring conditions, but it is going fast. Skylarke was good top to bottom but getting thin in spots. SS is deep everywhere except the top where they didn't make a deep enough base. The very top of the headwall will be an issue going forward. Bittersweet is good but upper is thin. Ovation was a lot of fun, but it's toasted in a few spots. Walking required. A canyon hike to Downdraft provided the best run of the day but the runout is done. A couple pics, the first is Downdraft
Is this the first year in a long time Ovation got a lot of snowmaking?
Certainly in my memory. Usually, there is a strip along skier's left that can be skiable, but never this late into May with nominally full-width. Ovation in normal seasons looks more like skier's left on the Skyhawk Headwall.
For sure. I was hitting rocks at the top of the headwall Saturday. The pile up top was maybe half of what they blew the past 3 seasons. I'll give an update uf I make it back Friday as planned.
For sure. I was hitting rocks at the top of the headwall Saturday. The pile up top was maybe half of what they blew the past 3 seasons. I'll give an update uf I make it back Friday as planned.
I got a nasty core shot at the end of May at the top of the headwall last season.
Comments
I think with the re-grading, tunnels & bridges, acreage gained from the Poma, things will flow much better on Snowdon, and with a better lift ride to boot. Yep, expect it to see more skier-miles laid down with the reduced lap times...
So the amount of people on the hill at any one time may not increase much, the amount of times that said skiers can lap the hill will increase.
Here is my math:
The Triple is needed by KMS to get to Highline which is why they paid for the mid-station. So I suspect they'll run the triple when KMS wants it as well as busy times.
Very ironic
Jaytrem your girls gotta be darn near experts, great shot and looking forward to hearing about your trips with the girls!
http://www.killington.com/the-mountain/webcams/mountain/superstar-cam