This looks more like winter than it did during winter

Well as the old saying goes, “don’t like the weather wait five minutes”. The day started blue bird, then cloudy with, you guessed it, snow squalls. Light wind, 38* at 11:45

Well today marks the end of daily snow reports for this year. I have enjoyed writing them and I hope you all have enjoyed reading them. After three days of charging hard in dense snow, I was feeling pretty sore and tired. Yes, I know, I’m a wimp. That and the fact that it was still chilly at noon and others were saying that the top half of K Peak side was still set up, it made my decision easier to stay on Superstar chair. I figured lower elevation and softer snow conditions.

So today was a day for ripping up fast groomers. I skied Superstar and Bittersweet, which skied very nicely. Upper Bitter wasn’t groomed, but with skier traffic and warmth it softened up. Same with Superstar. The headwall was bumped up, but the rest was primed for some fast carving. All and all a good day and some fun runs. Tomorrow and Saturday look GREAT. Sunday calls for a chance of showers, but I’m sure there will be a window of opportunity to get out there. As they say up in Mad River Glen, ski it while you can!

A quick snapshot while I boot up

High Road, Bittersweet and Old Bittersweet

Camera hog

Then a snow squall moved in

A little Day Glo on Mid-SS

Looking down Lower SS

Bittersweet with Higline and Conclusion in the background

Highline and Conclusion from the Superstar chair

Shot of Killington Basin side

Up the Superstar chair for the last run of the day

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

First run down Great Bear on Snowdon at 12:15 or so

Light snow in the morning to more moderate snow in the afternoon, 32* at 11:00. 18″ at K peak, 10-12″ at KBL and oh yeah, it’s still snowing

Wow. I’m going to go ahead and say it. Today was the best day of the season.  Sure the snow was damp below mid-mountain, but the terrain that was accessible, which is pretty much all of K basin, Snowdon and anything above the Snowshed crossover is all ungroomed  and few and far tracks between. Also, I had the pleasure of hiking,  ripping  fresh lines and most importantly laughing my ass off with some good friends. There was actually a point in the hike up Kilink to get to Snowdon that I had to stop walking because I could breathe as I was laughing so hard. That was just one instance. There was a few of those today.

I got there at 11. Went up the Superstar chair and skied Skyehawk>Superstar. Then it was game on as the K1 loaded around 11:20. I only skied seven runs today, but it took me over three hours. Every run off the K1 was on Snowdon. Nothing off the K1 is groomed, so proceed with caution and use common sense. There’s 18″ up top and less as you made your way down. Since the snow was somewhat dense, you either needed to find untracked or something totally cut up. The in between stage was kind of jerky and threw you off balance. There was still plenty of fresh everywhere when I left at 2:15 and it was snowing harder when I left than it has been all day. Tomorrow is going to be yet another good day. Seriously folks, get up here!

Every now and then I can put together something decent

Murray McGrath from the Inn at Long Trail.

Murray on Great Bear

my Buddy Owen about to go over the falls on Northstar

There's a reason Murray was on the Pico trail map this season

The bottom of Northstar

This was a missed action shot. Still worthy though

Freshie fresh

Woods anyone?

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

It was pretty tasty in spots

Moderate to heavy snow, 31*, some wind. Basically, a honkin’ snowstorm at 3:30

April 9 or January 9? Well what ever the calendar reads it’s snowing. Heavy. Today was definitely a legitimate powder day.

In all honesty, I had a heavy work load today and didn’t expect to ski. By 3:00 it was piling up high and I knew that I had to make a break for it.  I would say 8″ at Superstar base and 10″ at the top of Skye Peak. The snow changed below tower 4 as it was wetter and denser;  like Sierra Cement or Killington April Chowder.

Since the snow was dense, it compacted easily. Any line fresh was good. Anything that was skied has the moisture squeezed out of it and left a huge divot. It was best to avoid anything skied. No matter as there was tons of fresh avail. It’s still snowing as I look out the window now at 6pm and it’s supposed to snow all night too! Tomorrow’s going to be a good day. Ski off Superstar first, than get some fresh on hikes to K Peak!

Yes indeed!

High Road. Looked a bit different today than yesterday.

Lower Skye Hawk. This was bare ground yesterday.

This is right smack dab in the middle of Upper Skyelark at 4:15pm

Looking down at Superstar

Pow turns abound on Lower SS. Right below this it turned heavy

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

Nice sized crowd for an Easter morning.

Cloudy with flurries and light snow. 31* at 10:00

Decent morning out there. The terrain changed by the run. It started off as groomed, but with in three runs, it had become more granular. It never became any more than granular by time I left at 11:15. Granular is fun. Especially with any modern ski with a waist above 85mm. I wouldn’t particularly like cruising down lower Superstar in deep granular conditions on an old school straight ski or mogul ski, but  lots do.

The limited terrain that was open skied well and by the looks of the forecast isn’t going anywhere soon. Looks like it’s supposed to snow Mon-Tues and rain and snow on Weds-Thurs. National Weather Service is calling for plowable snow accumulations above 1500′ by Tuesday morning. Lets hope. That would be nice. Happy Easter and Happy Passover everyone!

Easter Bunny was here!

Superstar at 10:10

Upper Skyelark

This could be called middle skyelark I suppose

High Road

Lower Bittersweet

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

Lots of people seem to have wisely taken a three day weekend

Again, seasonably cool, mostly sunny and 31* at 11:00

Busy up there today as it’s a nice day and that it is Good Friday so many are skiing Fri-Sat with family obligations on Sunday. The skiing once again was really, really nice. Skier traffic cut up the grooming some, but Superstar was still skiing nicely when I left at 12:45. It never got bumped, just became more granular. This weekend though with warmer temps forecasted there should be  some bumps and softening conditions on Lower Skyelark.  Don’t just limit your activities to skiing. As a matter of fact, I rode the lift with someone this afternoon who was excited to ski in the morning, golf the front nine at Green Mountain National golf course and go for a bike ride in the afternoon.  Now that’s what I call getting after it.

I just poked a look at the long range forecast and next week looks cool with a chance of rain/snow showers Mon-Weds. Cool temps even if it is a little showery will definitely keep the snow pack. How ironic? Winter never really started, now it doesn’t want to leave. I however have no problem with it. I’m sure the groomers of Skyelark>Bittersweet and Superstar will ski very well next week too. Speaking of weather, I stumbled across this from the Nation Weather Service which summarizes the historic march warmth of 2012. I found it pretty interesting, alright, actually downright depressing and shocking, but interesting.

A rare moment when no one was on Lower SS

Some smooth turns on Lower SS

Skyelark>Bittersweet skied better today than the past few days for some reason. Must of been the grooming in combination with skier traffic

Skyelark>Bittersweet skied better today than the past few days for some reason. Must of been the combination of grooming and skier traffic

More of Skyelark

High Road connector skill holding on strong and skiing well

Superstar as it becomes more granular

A bunch of us skied in retro gear today. On snow antics are always fun!

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