# Killington early season



## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

Went to Killington yesterday for some early season riding. An absolute blast! We arrived at the K1 lodge for opening at 9:00a and rode the gondola to the summit. From there, we followed the Great Northern trail (the only option open from where the gondola stops) down to the base of the North Ridge chair lift, from which the rest of the trails were accessible. The only catch was that to get from the top of the chair lift to the Peak lodge for lunch or to catch the gondola to get back down the mountain (the open trails don't come anywhere close to the base of the mountain) required trekking up the new Peak walkway, which we counted as about 240ish steps. Still, it was well worth it to be riding in early November in New England!

Just to qualify this a little, my son and I are still fair beginners since we just started riding early January last season so this was our first early season riding anywhere, as well as our first time at Killington. We did bring my son's friend Kalie who has been riding for 4 years and skied for two years prior to that. We were all surprised by how good the snow was given that it had been a fairly warm week. The condition was mostly loose granular, although there were some icy patches that seemed to become more widespread as the afternoon wore on. I was expecting it to be like the end-of-season slushy stuff, but it wasn't at all, even though it had to be close to 50 degrees there yesterday. We actually hiked the Peak walkway and rode the gondola down just to shed clothing. For afternoon we were all riding in fleece or sweatshirts and single layer pants only. We stayed until closing around 3:45. It was a great day overall.

Here is a video clip of one of our trail rides. Please note, as mentioned in the video description, this is just us riding groomers, nothing exciting happening i.e. most people will find this extremely boring. I just posted it to show conditions and a sample of the trails that were open.

YouTube - Killington - Veteran's Day November 11, 2010


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## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

Thanks for posting. I was wondering.


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## --bigtime-- (Sep 10, 2010)

Awesome, thanks for the update.
Have been hearing mixed reviews of Kmart's early season so far.
Glad you all had fun.
Heading up there first weekend in Dec. for an early session before hitting it on New Years.
By then I'm hoping they will be running a few more lifts.
Fingers crossed for some more natural freshie fresh soon.


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## AngryHugo (Oct 8, 2009)

A couple of my friends went up opening day, and it looked like a total shitshow. Conditions look really good, especially for early November. I'll most likely make a run up soon, too.


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## Atules (Feb 10, 2009)

Great post! Thanks!


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## Towkin (Oct 14, 2010)

Nice Vid. Not trying to be a prick, but you contributed to the trails becoming icier by scrapping half the snow off the top yourself. You gotta point the board down hill and ride! Glad you and your son had a great time though, that's awesome.


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys!

Towkin, if you're referring to the person shooting the video, it was my 9-year-old son (I'm the kook in the dark-green and gray jacket waiting by the "SLOW" sign).  For what it's worth, he was only sideslipping to try to keep the camera steady and he only did it for two runs. He normally does turns. The reason I used his video was that it was quite a bit steadier than any of them I took because I just rode as I normally do when I recorded. Though if you were referring to my skidding turns, well, I'm working on them.  I don't think we did too much damage since most of the ice seemed to occur in the shadows on the surface at edges of the trail where people traveled.


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## --bigtime-- (Sep 10, 2010)

Bro. Ride however you can ride. You and your son certainly did not ruin all of Killington. And thank you for posting the video. It was exactly what I was looking for and way better then a mountain cam shot from Kmart's website. 
Keep ripping it, and if you're up there first weekend of Dec we can def shred a few runs.


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

--bigtime-- said:


> Bro. Ride however you can ride. You and your son certainly did not ruin all of Killington. And thank you for posting the video. It was exactly what I was looking for and way better then a mountain cam shot from Kmart's website.
> Keep ripping it, and if you're up there first weekend of Dec we can def shred a few runs.


Thanks man, I appreciate it. We'll definitely try to get up there again by then, sounds good.


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## Towkin (Oct 14, 2010)

herzogone said:


> Thanks for the replies guys!
> 
> Towkin, if you're referring to the person shooting the video, it was my 9-year-old son (I'm the kook in the dark-green and gray jacket waiting by the "SLOW" sign).  For what it's worth, he was only sideslipping to try to keep the camera steady and he only did it for two runs. He normally does turns. The reason I used his video was that it was quite a bit steadier than any of them I took because I just rode as I normally do when I recorded. Though if you were referring to my skidding turns, well, I'm working on them.  I don't think we did too much damage since most of the ice seemed to occur in the shadows on the surface at edges of the trail where people traveled.


I was talking about the recorder, and again, their was NO cruel intention meant in my comment. I thought it was you being an "old" cautious dad, lol. I have kids too and I can not wait to get them on the slopes, let alone recording runs. Your son did an excellent job! Looking forward to more vids and enjoy the upcoming season!


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

Towkin said:


> I was talking about the recorder, and again, their was NO cruel intention meant in my comment. I thought it was you being an "old" cautious dad, lol. I have kids too and I can not wait to get them on the slopes, let alone recording runs. Your son did an excellent job! Looking forward to more vids and enjoy the upcoming season!


No worries, no offense taken  Although I definitely am an "old" cautious dad, I just had to clarify that we're not quite as slow or limited as the video might suggest :laugh: Thanks for the feedback, hope you have a great season also!


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## Mr. Polonia (Apr 5, 2009)

cool video man...thanks for the update...looking forward on calling out sick at work in early dec and driving up there. 

You also gotta keep into consideration that all of the east coast is at killington right now so conditions will worsen at a faster rate....especially if there are only a few trails open. Regardless, i would take that anyday over sitting at home staring at my new setup


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

I almost went up today but didn't want to have to deal with the weekend crowd. I'm thinking about heading up this week. Looks way better than I anticipated. Thanks for the post.


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## skatebanana101 (Dec 2, 2009)

Extremo said:


> I almost went up today but didn't want to have to deal with the weekend crowd. I'm thinking about heading up this week. Looks way better than I anticipated. Thanks for the post.


I went up yesterday and it wasnt all that crowded. it was also SICK especially for new england november.


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## --bigtime-- (Sep 10, 2010)

Mr. Polonia said:


> cool video man...thanks for the update...looking forward on calling out sick at work in early dec and driving up there.
> 
> You also gotta keep into consideration that all of the east coast is at killington right now so conditions will worsen at a faster rate....especially if there are only a few trails open. Regardless, i would take that anyday over sitting at home staring at my new setup


Hey bro. I'm with you as far as jonesing to get my new gear onto some frozen white. 
I'll be going up first Sunday, Mon, Tuesday of Dec if you were serious about takng a sick day or two.


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## snowbrdr (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks for the video.. I am living vicariously through it - just wanting to get on a slope. What kind of video camera were you using? I am looking for something small and helmet mountable


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

snowbrdr said:


> Thanks for the video.. I am living vicariously through it - just wanting to get on a slope. What kind of video camera were you using? I am looking for something small and helmet mountable


 Thanks, nice to hear, I can't wait to get out again. The camera is a GoPro HD Hero. This was my first use of it (I got it last Tuesday), but so far I love it! There are several helmet cameras to choose from, it is just a question of which features you care about most. The other ones that seem to be quite popular are the ContourHD and the Drift HD170.

Here's my own quick comparison of features:

*GoPro HD Hero*
Pros:

Arguably best color saturation
Waterproof to 60m right out of the box
Good availability of accessories, mounts, and replacement parts, including lenses
Cons:

Funny looking, like a point-and-shoot still camera on top of helmet
No way to line up shots other than pointing camera

*ContourHD*
Pros:

Arguably nicest physical form/size (unobtrusive side of helmet mount)
Lasers for lining up shot
GPS available on new model (for extra $)
135 degree field of view means less distortion, more like human vision than Drift or GoPro (both 170)
Cons:

135 degree field of view captures less area than Drift or GoPro (both 170)
Not truly waterproof without purchasing additional case, then only to 30m

*Drift HD170*
Pros:

LCD screen for playback, lining up shots and easy settings adjustment
Remote for easy recording start/stop
Cons:

No 60fps @720p, unlike GoPro and Contour (needed for slo-mo and improved smoothness of action shots)
Only waterproof to 0.5m
Largest size, although lightweight

In my case, I wanted it for SCUBA diving also, which ruled out the Drift (only waterproof to 0.5m) and requires buying an extra case for the Contour. Between the Contour and GoPro, I like the color saturation better on the GoPro and also decided I wanted the wider field of view (170 degrees vs 135).

Also, in case you haven't already seen it, here is a current related thread:

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/equipment-reviews/30626-video-camera-snowboarding.html


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## NYCboarder (Jan 26, 2008)

herzogone said:


> In my case, I wanted it for SCUBA diving also, which ruled out the Drift (only waterproof to 0.5m) and requires buying an extra case for the Contour. Between the Contour and GoPro, I like the color saturation better on the GoPro and also decided I wanted the wider field of view (170 degrees vs 135).
> 
> Also, in case you haven't already seen it, here is a current related thread:
> 
> http://www.snowboardingforum.com/equipment-reviews/30626-video-camera-snowboarding.html


Hey herzogone... I see you wanted it for scuba... I dont know if your aware of the Flat lens case made specifically for the gopro to improve the quality of underwater shots... check out this website. GoPro Hero Authorized Dealer - EyeOfMine Multimedia


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

NYCboarder said:


> Hey herzogone... I see you wanted it for scuba... I dont know if your aware of the Flat lens case made specifically for the gopro to improve the quality of underwater shots... check out this website. GoPro Hero Authorized Dealer - EyeOfMine Multimedia


Thanks NYCboarder! I was actually aware of the flat lens case (from the link to that site on the other thread), but I hadn't seen that video (or any using the flat); now I might have to order that after all!


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## Edp25 (Dec 27, 2010)

Has anyone been up to Killington in the last few days? Wondering about crowds and conditions. Thinking of heading up tomorrow. Thx!


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