Winter will not die this year, as I type this it is a cool 33 degrees and there is snow in the forecast and sunny skies predicted for this weekend.  I spoke with a few customers this week and evidently it’s been warm down in NY, NJ areas and the people I did speak to didn’t know about some of the events going on at Killington this weekend.  Saturday it is Customer Appreciation Day, the Basin and other shops will have tents set up and will be offering free demos to try, there will also be a brew fest and entertainment all taking place at the K1 lodge at the umbrella bars.  The mountain looks as if it is mid winter, plenty of coverage and excellent skiing to be had everywhere.  There is also a ton of snow left in the woods, last night I got to see just how much.  A bunch of us went to see Bo Thayer at High Altitude Adventures at Sunrise Mountain Village, I highly recommend this as it was a great time, about a half hour snowshoe in, excellent food and great music.  There was close to 2 feet of snow in some areas, that side of the mountain faces south so any north facing slopes will have more than that.  Come on up this weekend should be a great time.

Bret

Bret Williamson has worked at the Basin since 1993, he has worked every aspect from tuning to buying and is now the hard goods sales manager. Look for him on the hill with his son and daughter teaching them how to ski and converting his snowboarding wife to skiing. Shop Our Online Store

Looking up Lower O at 9:15am

Today was the best day of the season. With 12″ yesterday, 5″ overnight and another 3+” since then made today Big Wednesday. Light winds, light to moderate snow, and 22* at 8:50 in the Bay 3 parking lot.

Today was the day of days. 16″ down at 8:50am and still snowing now at 3:30pm. I managed to get out for nice runs from 8:40-11:30 today. My ROTD was Skyehawk>Mid-Supe> Lower Ovation.

I skied around a bit with a South Ridge run, down Pipe Dream, where I ran into Bret Williamson. I also did a run under the NEQ, which was good, but today was a day for Lower O. With a constant upslope wind on it, it just kept filling it every run.

Solid work with Killington today in getting the SDQ and NRT open and loading before their special powder day scheduled 8am time today.

Sorry, not many pics today as it wasn’t really a stand around and take pics kind of day, but more of a point and go kind of day.

The last two pics are of a Splitboard adventure that Matty from Out Of Bounds Snowboards is on at Pico.

Looking down Skyehawk at 9:30 this morning

Looks like a lot of people called in sick today. Powder flu is catchy!

Matty's adventure pt. 1

Matty's adventure pt. 2

Jonathan Celauro started skiing when he was four and still hasn't quite figured it out yet. After college, he moved to Killington and now 16 yrs later, each comprised of 100+ day ski seasons, he's still trying to grasp the whole skiing concept. At this point he imagines his best option is to just go with the flow. "I still find myself dreaming of big mountain lines and deep powder snow." J.C. Shop Our Online Store

This is yesterday’s report from quiet and calm Pico mountain, sunny light wind and unseasonably warm temps.  As usual I was helping herd the youngsters from the Pico Ski Club which is the highlight of my week.  I have to say having skied with these kids all last year and this season the level of improvement and skills these 5 year old’s and up have is unbelievable.  I did get my first taste of almost being left behind while skiing in the woods with a group of these daredevils.  Yesterday with the warm temps the snow was soft and I would have to say kids had the advantage which is why I may have gotten left behind a little while in the woods.  I was having trouble sinking into the soft snow but the little ones never looked back and wiggled there way through all the secret paths they were finding, i didn’t follow them in after that run.  The lower mountain was in good shape in the morning and started to soften up and we found the peak having similar conditions, although the kids were bummed that there were not enough jumps.  After lunch I think it was family ski day, we took Wren our 2 year old to Bonanza and ran into many other family’s doing the same thing, just a great day of skiing and was finished off with chocolate waffles in the sun out side the lodge.  Temps are going to drop this week and snow is in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.  Look for a Killington Report from today later this afternoon.

Bret

Bret Williamson has worked at the Basin since 1993, he has worked every aspect from tuning to buying and is now the hard goods sales manager. Look for him on the hill with his son and daughter teaching them how to ski and converting his snowboarding wife to skiing. Shop Our Online Store

Picture from upper Snowshed lot looking up towards K Peak

Let the pre ski season begin as Columbus Day Weekend is here! The Basin, as well as many other shops along the road, are decked out in preparation of the coming season and ready for sales. Hope you get a chance to get up here and check out the sales and views.

We have our tent set up in the parking lot and Bret and Christine are busy packing a truckload of stuff up to Snowshed for the Killington Ski Club Ski Swap that starts at 5pm. Come up and check out some great deals and some great foliage as well!

Looking up Snowshed Slope/Skye Peak

Peak foliage right now

Jonathan Celauro started skiing when he was four and still hasn't quite figured it out yet. After college, he moved to Killington and now 16 yrs later, each comprised of 100+ day ski seasons, he's still trying to grasp the whole skiing concept. At this point he imagines his best option is to just go with the flow. "I still find myself dreaming of big mountain lines and deep powder snow." J.C. Shop Our Online Store

Good looking bumps on OL

Overcast, peaks of sun and even a few very light sprinkles, 58*, light wing at 12:45

Today’s report is coming via others out there on the hill as I didn’t get a chance to get out today. My buddies have been texting me that it is skiing better than it looks with soft snow and not too rotten. There was a 15 minute sprinkle, but besides that nothing big Anything with a man made base is skiing decently. Anything with natural on top is too sticky to be enjoyable.

I’m hearing that there is quite a few people out there enjoying themselves which is helping with the surface. Seems than only the traverses were groomed last night which is helping the keeping the trails more soft than slushy. This has lead to my buddies telling me how good the moguls are today. Most notably OL. Well, there is also the fact that it has been like 25* above normal and the snowpack is starting to show it. I mean there’s good skiing, but 60* for an extended period will take its toll. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the temps at higher els are forecasted to at least drop below freezing, thus breaking this rotten snow and forming another corn cycle; from the looks of it, Thurs-Sunday. If we can at least get night time freezing, than skiing will stay decent at least. With 24 hr melting, it just leads to rotten snow and shrinking bases. But for now, things are still holding strong. Get up here if you can!

The below pictures of Jeff Miller:

Middle O

Extending down the backside and flexing the ski. I like it!

Shredding it up!

Ahh, the turn initiation. Looks like Bittersweet trail.

Middle O

The view of Killington Basin from the Superstar chair

Jonathan Celauro started skiing when he was four and still hasn't quite figured it out yet. After college, he moved to Killington and now 16 yrs later, each comprised of 100+ day ski seasons, he's still trying to grasp the whole skiing concept. At this point he imagines his best option is to just go with the flow. "I still find myself dreaming of big mountain lines and deep powder snow." J.C. Shop Our Online Store