Monday, 01/22/2024 Report

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: Had a great day out there although still had to work around some lift issues.

Why no Canyon Quad today? No South Ridge either, but I wasn't expecting that. Had something going on with Skye Peak Quad through the day butt it was running when I made it over to Bear 2:00 or so. Needle's Eye still down [yes, I know, not new news]. Some issues with Stage II through the day. Saw lift mechanics "looking at it near the top" later in the day. Something was up with Stage I when we went by it about 12:45; lift stopped and large group of people waiting for shuttle bus. Just heard some facebook posts that people were stuck on it over an hour [and sounds like something similar last Thursday]. Lastly, on our next to last ride up SD6, was running on diesel generator; OK, might have been testing / excercising it, so not worried. Then, on our last ride up, two very sudden "lurches" followed by hard stop. Now, back to the skiing portion of the report.

Warmup, and calling it ROTD, Royal Flush. Figured it still had sun on the left side and mighta softened up a bit. Shot Score ! Not spring, and still some ice, but great. Do-over.

Ridge Run not as good as coupla days ago, but still very good. Same for Jug -> Breakaway or Pipe Dream and down to Bear.

ROTD Contender: Upper Stash [yes, it's open] -> O.L. -> Devils Fiddle. Icy, yes, but very good. Do-over.

Thimble decent -> Needle's Eye. NE gondi line was disappointing butt the main groomer was really good including Lower Stitch Option.

Escapade [sort of] -> Flume very good [Eastern Technical Skiing]. Flume Exit not the most fun I had all day but the cover is good.

Mouse Run in great shape -> Conclusion still great. Bit of a glacier on the flat before the entrance to Lower Conclusion, then mixed bag of ice and pow rest of the way down. Helps knowing the trail.

Final run, Low Rider, disappointing. Must have taken a beating over the weekend. Even the off the beaten path lines were mostly scraped down to the ice. Not too bad mind you, but I couldn't ski down it like I wanted to.

[skiadikt]

wow captain beat me by 5 minutes

not as windy as the weekend, but still quite breezy. after a cold start, temps did warm and the sun came out of hiding for a spell. clouded back up when i left. pretty much a ghost town. encroached on the captain a bit w a 9-2 shift.

the usual highline start and the usual highline firm & fast conditions. upper bunny good. trap slick lower down. the prevailing condition was pockets of powder and wind strafed. LEF was better than highline. early rotd was escapade. lots of blown in pow skier's left. upper flume was actually pretty good. there were wind blown spots but easy to follow the powder. the runout on the other hand, was filling rattling. double dip roped. probably set up and wind polished.

claw was good. lower fire a bit slick towards the bottom. stash woods variable. lower burst good again w some windblown sections. dream hw skied ok. just had to negotiate the rock outcrop section. wish they would bury it again. lower dream very good under the guns. however those guns seem rather low output. cruise the usual.

both supe & lark skied surprisingly well especially considering how wind scoured other sections were. conclusion a mix bag. the steep dropoff was icey but snow elsewhere. low rider also mixed with lots of icey bumps. you could find snow skier's right but expected more. breakaway skier's right good but jug was pretty strafed.

[daytripper]

Ramshead quad went down towards the end of the day too, definitely were a lot of lift issues today.

[rogman]

The sun played peek-a-boo, but was it was definitely sunnier at Bear. Gusty winds; benign at the bottom, sometimes howling at the top, but aloft the contrails hung together. Weird. Got out about 9:15, Skyeburst was perfect, and the skier I saw on OL looked like he was kicking up some snow so I decided to chance it. Big nope. Chalky and firm. Not sure what I was expecting (actually, it's exactly what I was expecting). Anyway, it was fine, just required paying attention, and really not a do over. Superstar restored my faith, really good early. Later in the day it appeared to have reverted to form as viewed from the lift. Lazied my way down Bunny Trap and took a break at the peak. Really on my game here...

Post peak, hit Helter Skelter to Escapade, which was really good. The payback was an extremely slick Cascade. By this time the wind has scoured it clean, and made me appreciate my Black Dog Tune for the second time of the day. Probably should have taken Flume. Headed back to Bear, skied all the trails skiers left of the Bear Quad (SPE down) including under the guns of lower DM. A tad damp, but the snow was good. Finished up about 1:30.

Overall, some good, some not so good, but a good day on the whole.

[SPORE]

Report of someone stuck on Stage 2 for 85 minutes today. No coincidence to the “Wind Hole” yesterday. Nothing to see here.

[Grmmtnhkr34]

Skyeship is having a lot of problems this year. The electrical and computer systems that run it are archaic. It should be replaced or completely gutted and refurbished! I ran is in the early 2000's and it was problematic back then!!

[newpylong1]

They aren't going to replace it, but it is due for an overhaul.

[skiadikt]

They aren't going to replace it, but it is due for an overhaul.

certainly overdue - maybe what they did with the K1 back in 2018 when they rebuilt and replaced the cabins. the skyeship is older though doesn't have the "miles" the K1 has.

while replacing superstar is all well & good. a bubble six on rams and a skyeship overhaul would top my priority list but it ain't my resort.

[newpylong1]

Agreed. Skyeship is still my go to base but it's very apparent the secret is out for people who want to avoid the Basin, it's far more utilized than 5 years ago and is a vital link. They gotta put some money into it at some point.

[Eddytheyetti]

Skyship is older now than the old killington gondola when they replaced it.


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[snoloco]

Absolutely inexcusable the number of lift problems yesterday. Ramshead, then Skye Peak Express, then Skyeship, and then Ramshead again. The bubble never closed but it seemed to be having spacing problems, where there would be massive gaps between chairs, and then a bunch of chairs very close together.

[fdskier56]

What does the MT do for people when they are stuck on a lift for 85 Minutes?

[CRR321]

What does the MT do for people when they are stuck on a lift for 85 Minutes?

Free lift ticket. Great if you paid day of prices. Not so much if you’re a passholder.

[KingsFourMan]

I'll tack my weekend report onto Monday since that was the day I skied Killington.

Saturdays are for the sleds when the VAST trails are in good shape which they are. Steller shape especially so give that 3 weeks ago they were nothing but mud. Stayed pretty close to home for frequent warm-up breaks but managed to make it up the CCC Road to the Shrewsbury Peak area with a pit stop at Chloes to re-fuel on the way home. Snowmobile clothing is a lot thicker and heavier than ski clothing and with heated hand grips it wasn't all that bad and the condition of the trails made it well worth it. Came across a young female moose in Plymouth and accidentally got uncomfortably close to it as I came around a bend and was surprised by it. By the time I slowly backed up and got my phone out, it had meandered off the trail and into the woods but I managed to a get a picture of it through the trees. I'm guessing she was a young 2 year old and was about the size of a smallish horse. The bulls are massive and I would not want to get anywhere near that close to one of them. I didn't want to get that close to her either.

Sunday, K4Woman and I went up and licked the Bush again for the 2nd time this year. I never thought I'd see the day, but I think I've made a Bush licker out of her. She now loves the Bush as much as I do and it gets me really excited to see her getting after it there. Only bummer was that her bum knee flared up again and she had to quit a little early. She went to the Orthopedic this morning and got a Cardazone shot and a script to help with the pain and the swelling. A knee replacement is in her future for sure. The Bush was great but windy and a bit wind scoured in places with some lifts on wind hold. No Slide Brooke chair either due to the cold and the fact that they want more snow under it in case of an emergency for rescue sleds...so we were told. Castlerock was open and a bit firm but fun nonetheless with it's classic New England steep, narrow, winding trails. Very light crowds at both north and south and not a yahoo in sight all day. I've noticed that there are a lot less snowboarders up there too, it was like 95% skiers both days that we've been there.

Yesterday (Monday), I skied Killington solo since K4W is now on the IR for a few days. Parked at Bear and was on the SRQ just after the bell. Didn't take long to encounter my first yahoo as some Franz Klammer wannabee blew by at the entrance to Wild Fire and then proceeded to cut off some woman who had to slam on her breaks to avoid him. There were several other Franz yahoos over there as well. Bear was fast aND firm and a bit slicker than it looked so I headed over to Sup for a few runs there. Everything there skied great except Prestons which was a bit slick. From there it was the K1 for a Cascade run and then moved left to right from North Ridge, to Snowdon and then Rams Head.

This was my first day at Killington so far this year and I thought the mountain was in great shape base coverage wise, especially considering that on New Years Day 3 weeks ago it was a total sh*t show. Thought the snowmaking effort yesterday was pretty solid as well. Header on Rams Head was lit up top to bottom, Great Bear was lit up top to bottom, Dream Maker had lots of guns going, and there were several other spot guns going here and there. Outer Limits had been hit and so had Double Dipper. All of which far exceeded my expectations. Managed to avoid all of the lift issues except at Rams Head which was down when I got there.

Left around 2:00 and saw the stranded crowd down at the Rt 4 gondola base.

[Big Bob]

I went for my first sled ride on Sunday, did about 31 miles round trip. Snow was a little thin down where I parked, but got deeper as I climbed in elevation and got further north. A few sleds on the trails, but never anybody in front of me. Need more snow! New Durham, NH to Moose Mnt, a NESLB ski area.