Saturday marked my 5th ski day this season at the biggest mountain in the Northeast, Killington. It also marked my first full-day ski trip this season. I woke up bright ‘n early and hit the road by 7:30. I arrived just after 9 and was on the slopes by 9:30. I made the mistake, however, of parking at Snowshed mountain, one of Killington’s five base lodges at the mammoth resort and the only area that has nothing to offer non-beginners. It took me an hour to get somewhere good — K1 Peak — where I spent the rest of the morning skiing, mostly on the Canyon Quad. Big Dipper was a powdery, moguly delight that took me through the trees adjacent to the run and was a hell of a workout.
Heather and Saahil were in town from Hoboken, so we all met for a slow lunch (it was crowded and the service was sluggish) at the K1 lodge. In the restroom of said lodge was a condom/Advil machine in the men’s room. The condoms had a questionable brand name: Hot Fudge.
Saahil and I enjoyed the rest of the windy, snowy day skiing the diamonds and double diamonds of the K1 area. At times, the wind was so intense that even my face protection wasn’t quite enough. There’s also a strange triple on which we ended up at one point in the Sunrise mountain area that was more like a carnival ride — it actually turns left at one point and jerks you around so hard you’re lucky not to fall off.
Overall, I had a great day and enjoyed the much larger mountain to the previous weekend’s trip to Pico. The crowds and the commercialism of Killington — the Mountain Dew flags, the Chevy trucks, the loud music at Snowshed lodge — really made me appreciate Gore that much more. Gore is like a slice of Killington without the crowds and the commercialism. And it’s less than an hour away. A season pass at Gore just might be in my future next season.
Friday night before skiing Jen and I met up with Alex and Cati and friends in Albany for a night of movies and wine. We first saw the Oscar-nominated Match Point, which, given that Crash stole the Best PIcture award from Brokeback Mountain, should have won the Original Screenplay award instead of Crash — a great movie, but it wasn’t the best of the year.
