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it's never a bad day when el sol graces us with her presence. windy, brisk start on the north side - bubble down. inversion was in effect w the summit in the low 30's mid-morning. bear was relatively calm and temps did warm by quiting time. decent crowd. 9-12:30 shift.

at the bell opened on LEF which was flat, fast & rather hard. thought it was better yesterday. the snowdon main line skied well but the winds were scouring some sections and refreshing others. followed up w a couple highlines. soft bumps. will call it rotd though the guns were wetter today. by my final run at 12:30 they were very wet and right side had some rocks and ice.

seeking warmth, over to bear. the run skied very well except for the pit which though it's no longer brown, was like a luge run down the center. gun was on the right, so that's where to ski. making snow on lower cruise - again on the damper side on top of a very solid surface. mid supe good though it and lark featured a number of icey sections. snowmaking on lower bitter rather damp so stayed far right.

Yes, el sol was nice - somewhat brisk, but enjoyed the Gateway to Skyburst - the taupe color was almost gone but some hue still showing. I found a lot of chunky monkey - only stayed Sup to Bear. Quiet early, then seemed like manygroups arrived! Sorry, Snowshed ROTD - had to do over;)

Not sure if Killington Resort is still running College Week now that they are out of the condo management business, but there were a lot of college kids out today.

Afternoon Report: For the most part, the early birds got the better worms. I was expecting it to be better than it was after enjoying yesterday. With that said, not much wind when I was out. I think temps shifted around a bit as well.

ROTD: Late day Supe HW -> Cruise Control. Guns off on Supe HW and great chalky snow mounds for that "partial" run. Decent getting over to the main lower pitch of CC and then pretty good the rest of the way down with a section or two with some small bumps. Coverage is much better than past few days but still needs more loving. Looked like they had about every other hydrant working.

The Bear run pretty good though flatter and faster than it has been. Center of the pit, top half, was very icy followed by slide and slam "bumps". Peeps having a hard time with it. Butt still a decent run and worth a do-over.

Disappointed with Highline. Something changed since yesterday re: snowmaking "goodness" and the lights were out [later in the day + return of the K Cloud]. Peeps really having a hard time with it. Not a do-over. On the + side, Full House getting to it was better than yesterday.

Supe / Skyelark / Lower Bitter meh. Guns still on Upper Bitter but not open yet. High Road OK down to Needle's Eye.

LEF very fast!

Agree seemed like way more peeps out on the hill than I expected for Tuesday after New Years day.

Sorry Loco - Didn't see many guns on at all except for Bitter and CC.

10 minutes late, but the lighter crowd meant first chair wasn’t a priority. The Bear route continues to get better. No guns anywhere along it, except the last 200 yards before the pit. Guns were a grab bag special, an older HKD tower, the new semi-automated tower a little lower, a few stand guns, and in the middle on the right side of Viper Pit was a 3 headed Ratnik. Didn’t that thing use to be 3 K3000’s? Looks like an “I’ll bet you can’t put 3 guns together”, “Hold my beer” summertime welding special. There was also a fan gun near the bottom.

Over on the needles run (GE to Cruise), there were 21? guns below the GE fork off. In the colder morning temperatures they were dry and skied well towards noon they were wet. It appeared they hadn’t been on long. Lost in my early morning reverie, I Jerried into the corral and up to the gate. Realizing my mistake, I beep beep backed up, and off’d my skis, but not before I was spotted by laughing friends.

Snowmaking was moved from the upper part of Upper Bittersweet to lower part of Upper. Still closed. Lower Bittersweet was undergoing an assault as well. Over on Highline, guns were still roaring, with a strong breeze pushing it back onto the guns. Navigating it was tough: slick spots, weird bumps from a days worth of skiing/riding. Far skiers right had a thin cover over the rocks which I carelessly ventured into. My skis were not happy. My wandering mind took me places I shouldn’t go today. Not a do over, it was work, and I felt like dogging it.

Lower east was slick and fast, as were most of the other trails I skied that did not have snowmaking on going.

rogman wrote: ↑Jan 2nd, '24, 18:21 and in the middle on the right side of Viper Pit was a 3 headed Ratnik. Didn’t that thing use to be 3 K3000’s? Looks like an “I’ll bet you can’t put 3 guns together”, “Hold my beer” summertime welding special.

There's also a 5(?) headed one they have for Superstar HW.

Love Highline before it becomes a race trail.

For the number of hours those guns have been on on Highline that is some curiously poor production. Unless looks are deceiving.

newpylong1 wrote: ↑Jan 2nd, '24, 20:35 For the number of hours those guns have been on on Highline that is some curiously poor production. Unless looks are deceiving.

That’s a curious picture. There is a lot of snow on Highline, just not on the very far right.

newpylong1 wrote: ↑Jan 2nd, '24, 20:35 For the number of hours those guns have been on on Highline that is some curiously poor production. Unless looks are deceiving.

I've had the same thought for a number of trails at different points during this season, with the only impressive rollout being the Bear run. Guns spent loads of time this season on UEF, Skylark, UBS, and more with what has amounted to seemingly disappointing output. I'd have blamed it on the crappy low-e garbage they've been using on the hill so far this season, but with a fair amount of air hogs being used out there, production still appears limited. Something's definitely up this year in the snowmaking department...is it just the weather proving low-e sucks or is this the new standard?

Yeah I don't think it's a Low-E vs hog thing, they are spending considerable time on trails with the hogs too.

IMHO they've been on HL, CC and Bitter for enough hours now to do them twice over. Hopefully they're onto something by now.

not seeing the whole picture if you're judging highline by that foto. there is a lot of snow on that trail. trail was closed at the bell as they shut down skier's left and wired and then fired up skier's right. when they reopened it, skier's left was a thing of beauty.

it's amazing that folks are busy counting guns, comparing acreage, bemoaning the worst snowmaking system in the world - skiing was quite good today. if any of that bs impacts your enjoyment, then you're skiing for the wrong reason ...

Or like me not skiing there but 3 times a year anymore and living vicariously through you folks . The epitome of armchairing. I'll be quiet.

skiadikt wrote: ↑Jan 3rd, '24, 13:56...it's amazing that folks are busy counting guns, comparing acreage, bemoaning the worst snowmaking system in the world - skiing was quite good today. if any of that bs impacts your enjoyment, then you're skiing for the wrong reason ...

Quite good today you say? Now which is it?

LEF which was flat, fast & rather hard. thought it was better yesterday. the snowdon main line skied well but the winds were scouring some sections and refreshing others. followed up w a couple highlines. soft bumps. will call it rotd though the guns were wetter today. by my final run at 12:30 they were very wet and right side had some rocks and ice.

seeking warmth, over to bear. the run skied very well except for the pit which though it's no longer brown, was like a luge run down the center. gun was on the right, so that's where to ski. making snow on lower cruise - again on the damper side on top of a very solid surface. mid supe good though it and lark featured a number of icey sections. snowmaking on lower bitter rather damp so stayed far right.

Newpy, don't be quiet - you offer too much info here;)