Skiing: Days 8 and 9 Killington

My family and I had two incredible days of skiing at Killington over the weekend. The mountain had snow every day and we skied our brains out. Outer Limits, Double Dipper, Downdraft, and Cascade all had great bumps so we skied them a bunch. One of my biggest issues with the people who ski Killington is that they tend to slide into the bumps which makes the troughs incredibly wide and icy. Come on people you need to learn to make turns around the bumps instead of sliding into them.

Skiing: Day 7 Watterville Valley

Lori and I skied Watterville Valley last Sunday and had a blast! I have not been to Watterville Valley in the last three years so it was nice to ski it again. We only had time to take a day trip so Watterville was the perfect place to go. We spent most of the day skiing off the Sunnyside Triple. We liked Gema, True Grit, and especially Bobby's Run. The video below has some shots of us skiing the bumps on Bobby's Run. My run looks a little rough due to the size of the moguls, but we still had lots of fun!

Skiing: Day 6

Yesterday some friends and I skied at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire. Lori and I won free lift tickets from WFNX, a local radio station, as part of their Snow Riders program. This was my first trip to Bretton Woods, but unfortunately unless I win free lift tickets again, it will probably be my last.

Although the mountain's snow quality was actually OK for an East Coast resort - a little icy in spots, but overall pretty firm and flaky due to the very cold temperature, the bigger problem that I have with the mountain is just lack of terrain. Bretton Woods just does not have the enough vertical drop. All of the runs are very short and the steep sections are even shorter. For example, in the "bump" runs I considered myself lucky to find more than four moguls in a row - just too short to really start having fun. I will give the resort props for all of the gladed terrain available (unfortunately much of it was closed due to lack of snow), although I am pretty sure that even this is not enough to get me to return at $64 per lift ticket.

So thanks again to WFNX for the free lift ticket and the chance to explore this new mountain. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Skiing: Days 1 - 5

This pas week, I had the opportunity to travel to Vancouver, B.C. for some meetings at my company's headquarters. While there I spent five days skiing at Whistler. Both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains had fantastic conditions. I usually gripe about Whistler's wet snow, which tends to become very unless they constantly have new snow, but last week, even though they did not have a ton of new snow, the colder than usual temperature kept the snow soft and flaky.

My favorite runs on the Whistler side were the Whistler Bowl going into Shale Slope, and certain sections off the Harmony Lift. On the Blackcomb side, I liked the Sunburn run off the 7th Heaven lift, and especially Outer Limits, which is a steep gladed run that holds snow incredibly well.

Skiing: Days 10 and 11

As I rode the lift at Killington on Sunday, I realized that I should have blogged this entire ski season so that I would have a record of fun.  Well I am starting now better late than never…

I skied Saturday and Sunday at Killington in Vermont.  This was my third trip to Killington of the year, and contrary to my expectations it was the most fun.  Saturday was pretty rough with cold weather and lots of ice, frozen after a week of 60-degree weather.  On Sunday, however, the resort had great conditions after about 4 inches of snow on Saturday night.  I spent the morning lapping the mogul run Outer Limits.  They were making snow the entire day so the bumps stayed soft, although some parts got a little icy due to the number of people who had the same idea that I had.  

In the afternoon I took a couple of runs with my family on the greens that my mom likes and then on a couple of blues for my dad before returning to Outer Limits for the low point of the day.  That occurred at about 3:15 when I decided to take a couple of last runs for the day.  I bombed down about 85% of the hill before I had a spectacular crash.  I tweaked my MCL a little bit (ok a lot) and that pretty much ended my day and maybe my season.  

So, unless I am able to squeeze in another day on the slopes before the snow goes away, I am looking at 11 days of skiing this year: 5 at Whistler; 4 at Killington, and 2 at Stowe.  I also had two days of snowboarding at Jay Peak, which is a great resort that I am defiantly going to return to next year.  

Ski Selection

A while back I mentioned that I was looking for a new pair of skis for this season. Well I may be a little late in providing an update, but better late than never. For the past couple of months I have been riding Dynastar's Legend 8000. They are really a great ski for the style of skiing that I enjoy most i.e. able to make quick turns across the fall-line or through a mogul field but also able to float in the power. I really got a good chance to learn about my new ski's performance in the powder while skiing in Whistler, BC. They had a ton of fresh powder three of the five days that I was out there. Although the 8000's did not float as well as a true powder ski they held up very well and certainly will perform better than any powder ski in New England ice! I highly recommend these skis to anyone interested in a great all mountain ski.

Ski Shopping

Summer has ended, fall is here and I am looking forward to the winter ski season! This winter I plan to buy a new pair of skis to replace my ten year old Rossignols, which have served me well but take quite a beating in the process. I love to rip through the moguls and the powder (when available). I am used to a pretty stiff ski and I love to make short snappy turns. The only problem is that at many of the New England mountains, where I usually ski, many of the runs are steep, flat, and icy so my perfect ski has to allow me to deal with longer faster turns. Also, I want my new skis to have twin tips so that I can learn take jumps backwards.

Over the next couple of months I will be shopping for skis and hopefully trying a few out when the first snow comes. If anyone has suggestions please leave them in the comments section. As I narrow down my choices I will publish my comments in subsequent posts.