St Patty's weekend at Killington!

Leslie McLaughlin

So Killington's spring pass, the Nor'Beaster, activated on Friday March 16th, meaning you can ski on any day for the rest of the season, which continued on last year until June 1st. Also they got 30 inches of snow through the week, and the whole mountain is still open, so taking a well-earned four day weekend and heading to Killington seemed like a reasonable plan. We took our time getting there on Friday and stayed at the Highridge condos, one of the resort properties. It was about -10C or less when we got there, and we settled in, built a fire and feasted on BBQ chicken and salad, with a taste of Starborough. Part of what makes our ski trips amazing is our dedication to delicious meals, so we love the condo setup!

I'm not a functional morning person, and the mountain can be pretty glacial in the morning anyways, so the following morning started out with a brunch before heading to the mountain. I stopped in at Guest Services to say hi to Sharon and pick up my pass, then headed to the K-1 gondola. In the afternoon, it was steady but not overwhelmingly busy, I didn't wait that long in the line. I was stoked to see the trees at the peak so weighted down with pow! I started out my afternoon on Bear Trax thru SkyeWalker to Gateway, catching Great Eastern to the Vista Deck. Did you guys know they have a Brat Haus there with bratwurst?! I was sure stoked to learn this. Next I headed down Cruise Control to meet the 2:30 crew - a bunch of snow pirates with a buried treasure of Jameson and Fireball. I linked up with my friend Nathan and we stuck to Cruise Control and Bittersweet for a while, before heading over to Skyelark, High Road and the delightfully bumpy Lowroad. Conditions were delightfully powdery on the cruisers and bumpy af on the ungroomed trails. I overheard someone comment these conditions were as good as west coast and I can definitely think of some runs down Zig Zag on Blackcomb that were similar in nature. Nathan mentioned that their crew had spent the morning on Pico - it's closed Tues-Thurs, and the lift they were on was only open weekends, so they hit beautiful untouched powder first thing in the morning. Apres at the Umbrella Bar was relaxed compared to the St-Patty's party in the K1.

Later that evening, I hit the Highridge sports center hot tub and had the pleasure of meeting the Killington Ski Team - a group of women from a number of States who were raised skiing at Killington and now compete with the team! What a pleasure to meet these skiers! Our evening feast that followed was bison burger with a beet & goat cheese salad paired with Reserve, an Okanagan Pinot Gris, and we spent the evening watching Star Trek: TNG (Killington is a television time warp. It hasn't left the 80s!).

The next morning after brunch and mimosas, I headed up K-1 and this time hit Blue Heaven, which took me to Pipe Dream, where my work was cut out for me. Bumps!! So many bumps. I decided to take it easy following that and stuck to Bear Trax and Bear Cub, a meandering green that hits the mid point of the Skye Peak quad. I then checked out The Stash, Bear Claw and Skyeburst, and took the Skye Peak gondola back up. Eventually I made it back over to Cruise Control and then to Skyeship, to cap off my day on the Superstar quad (it's never to early to practice for spring!). The evening apres consisted of oven baked wings and a reprise of our beet and goat cheese salad paired with a Signos di Origen chardonnay.

Our final morning I was determined to check out Snowdown peak, and headed up the K1 gondola to Great Northern, following it all the way down to the Snowdown quad, and back up to Mousetrap, Great Northern and Bunnny Buster all the way back to the K1. Heading back up, I hit Bear Trax again, my goal being to take it easy and follow Great Eastern all the way to the base, only I missed the turn so kept to Bear Claw and Skyeburst, taking the the Skye Peak quad back up. This time, I followed Great Eastern, a long and lovely green cruiser, all the way to the Skyeship base. Only do this if you have a lot of time to kill in the gondola ride back to the peak, as there is a mid mountain stop. I spent the end of my day on Skyelark and Bittersweet, with a quick tour of Nivis.

All in all, an absolutely perfect bluebird weekend! Can't wait to do it again. Side note that the Vermont Brewers' Festival is this Saturday at Killington, and is well worth the drive down. I'll just add that while I'm not feeling the mid season bumps or glades, there is plenty of that for those who are down!