Paul Jones (aka Buzz) and I had a great time yesterday skiing the new powder at Killington until tragedy struck in the early afternoon. Before recounting the bitter tale, I'll tell you about the sweet part of the day.
Until this past Wednesday, almost no snow had fallen in VT over the past few weeks, so conditions had been hard and bony. Between Wednesday and Friday morning, Killington reported that it received 10 inches of new snow, although we found much more new snow than that when we got to the mountain yesterday.
When we arrived at 8:00 AM, the winds were blowing hard and many lifts were on wind hold. The K1 Gondola was running, however, and with temps about 10F at the summit and windchills well below zero, we did not mind the 5-10 minute lift line there. The wind had blown a lot of the powder off the trails into the woods, so that is where we skied. (A few of the groomed runs I skied were devoid of any soft snow.) The powder in the woods was well over my knees in places where it had drifted.
Buzz wanted a nice easy warm-up run to start the day but somehow we skied Big Dipper for our first run.
This was probably the most challenging run of the day as there was a lot of heavy powder on top of icy bumps. For our next few runs we skied the trees below Racer's Edge to skier's left of Royal Flush (some call this Toilet Bowl). The powder was light and deep at the top but grew progressively heavier as we neared the bottom of the run.
Toilet Bowl
Buzz in the Toilet Bowl
After an icy cold ride up the Canyon Quad, we skied untracked powder in The Throne, which is where we found the best snow of the day. I found that the quality of the snow was highly elevation dependent. The lower down the mountain, the heavier the snow got. A few times, I was launched head first out of both skis when I buried my tips beneath the heavy powder.
Before taking a break at the K1 lodge, we skied Anarchy, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the condition of the runout on Flume was horrible - vast patches of ice, grass and frozen ruts. We would have spent more time on Anarchy if the runout had not been so bad.
Buzz on Anarchy
The tragic part of the day occurred around 12:30 PM when an iron pipe and tree conspired to end Buzz's day skiing - and perhaps his life. We were attempting to ski The Throne again, but this time, from a higher elevation near where Great Northern and Racer's Edge meet. Buzz went in first at a good clip. Immediately after his second turn, I watched him collide, with a loud, sickening thud, into a good sized Birch tree.
The offending tree
Buzz was hurt pretty badly (back, hip and groin) and had to be taken down the mountain on a sled. At the medical clinic, they took X-rays and, fortunately, did not find any broken bones. The cause of the crash was a 2 inch diameter iron pipe sticking up out of the ground that was hidden under the powder. His ski had hooked onto the pipe and redirected his path straight into the tree. Buzz was lucky to not have been killed or seriously injured.
Buzz told me this morning he is feeling less pain and is eager to get back on the slopes. Take your time Buzz. There is plently of snow and it is not going anywhere soon.
