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Trip report - Killington, Vermont - 22 Dec 2003
I skied today at the Mountain Meadows cross-country ski area in
Killington, Vermont. Conditions were generally good, with the exception of the trail on the pond, where the 2-3" of snow was getting blown away. At least I didn't fall through the ice. Elsewhere the grooming was pretty good, with just an occasional water feature or other obstacle here and there. All the trails were open except the "brown trail." I have to take issue with the system of trail measurement at Mountain Meadows. They claim a total of over 55 km of trails. (More specifically, they claim 55.75 km, a degree of overreaching in precision exceeded only by the Blueberry Lake ski area in Warren, Vermont, which gives trail measurements in meters.) The problem is that they mark their trails in loops, not segments, and then add up all the loop distances, even though many of the designated loops overlap. Mountain Meadows isn't the only cross-country ski area that does this. Mt-Ste-Anne in Québec does this, big time. Today Mountain Meadows is claiming over 30 km of trails open, but my GPS-odometer is showing 10.1 miles, which, at today's exchange rate, is close to only half of what they're claiming, considering that I did some backtracking to ski all the open trails. Now that I have that off my chest, Mountain Meadows is a very pleasant place to ski. The trails are mostly intermediate, with only a few flat sections of trail aside from the pond. The trails were intelligently laid out, and offered a nice variety of scenery: deciduous forest, coniferous forest, some mountain views, a little bit of river, and, as I said before, pond. One unusual detriment, though, is the unusually loud road noise from nearby U.S. route 4. Mountain Meadows does snowmaking on the 1.5 km "white trail", which is also slightly wider than the other trails, having two tracks plus a skating lane. One unusual practice at Mountain Meadows is that they list the trail difficulties only at the touring center, on the theory that the difficulties may change as does the weather. It's an interesting theory, but I'm not sure that I buy it. Their map is accurate and shows 20' contour lines, which is unusually good. It takes a little while to get used to their convention of using letters both for trails and trail junctions, e.g., the W (white) and Y (yellow) trails intersect at junction C. At least, I think they do. One very useful practice is that the trail signs indicate the distance back to the touring center. Craftsbury does this, too, but their overlapping loops are indicated by numbers, so that Craftsbury is like skiing the IRT, whereas Mountain Meadows is like skiing Candyland. The town of Killington ("Heart of the Green Mountains", although I noticed on the drive home that Rochester, Vermont also thought up the same slogan) was renamed Sherburne (not to be confused with Shelburne, which is a suburb of Burlington) in 1800, after Colonel Benjamin Sherburne, one of the original grantees. But, after almost 200 years as Sherburne, the town renamed itself back to Killington, not so much in respect of history as for the convenience of tourists seeking the town's most prominent feature, the Killington (alpine) ski area, formerly known as "Killington Basin Ski Area", and now popularly known by Vermont skiers as "Kmart". As I said recently, cross-country skiing in Vermont subsists in the shadow of alpine skiing, and this is especially true with respect to Killington, the largest alpine ski area in eastern North America. Mountain Meadows (you remember Mountain Meadows?) benefits, presumably, by using the Killington alpine for its Telemark lessons. Also, there are lots of restaurants and nightlife in the area, so this is a good area if you like that sort of thing. Lew Lasher Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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Trip report - Okemo, Vermont - 21 Dec 2003
I'm not quite as quick as Lew to get my report out...
I skied the snowy golf course known in the winter as Okemo Nordic Center. They claim 26/28 km of trail. Though their one off the course 'backcountry' trail didn't seem to be open. My observations we 1) Their skating trails seem narrow. They have a (new) machine that sets two traditional tracks, with a skating lane in-between. With the width of the groomer... this makes the skating lane ~6 ft wide, which for my big legs/reach seems really narrow? How normal is this? 2) The trails are pretty twisty around trees, up down (like going over bunker bumps)... not that I don't like excitement, but it made it tough to get some cadence going... and made it pretty difficult to get, and maintain a decent target heartrate. One local I met commented that "since none of the people who work here ski, they don't realize how to set tracks to make the skiing better". Anyway... the facilities (clubhouse) were more than I can imagine for a xc-ski place. Mt Bachelor and Mt Hood barely had shacks. Nice gear shop. Changing rooms etc. I had fun on the 'practice loop'. I tried poles and no-poles, and will post that report separately. I'll be checking out graften ponds and Mountain Meadows and Woodstock Inn next. -- Mark Frost Bedford, NH, USA "Lew Lasher" wrote in message ... I skied today at the Mountain Meadows cross-country ski area in Killington, Vermont. Conditions were generally good, with the exception of the trail on the pond, where the 2-3" of snow was getting blown away. At least I didn't fall through the ice. Elsewhere the grooming was pretty good, with just an occasional water feature or other obstacle here and there. ... |
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Trip report - Okemo, Vermont - 21 Dec 2003
Anyway... the facilities (clubhouse) were more than I can imagine for a
xc-ski place. Mt Bachelor and Mt Hood barely had shacks. Nice gear shop. Changing rooms etc. Golf courses tend to have nice facilities. I think the Woodstock ski touring center is also their golf clubhouse, because the easy trails at the bottom of Mt. whichever are on their golf course. Something to look forward to. I'll be checking out graften ponds and Mountain Meadows and Woodstock Inn next. I skied once at Grafton Ponds, this past January. It seemed smaller than the other two you'll be going to, but not as well maintained. Another ski area afflicted with One Big Hill syndrome. Some interesting backcountry trails on their map that our group didn't get to, although not sure that you'll be wanting to go for ungroomed trails with the upcoming weather. There was also a local cheese company in Grafton that I didn't try out, but other people said their cheese is good. Lew Lasher Stowe, Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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Trip report - Killington, Vermont - 22 Dec 2003
"Lew Lasher" wrote in message
... I have to take issue with the system of trail measurement at Mountain Meadows. They claim a total of over 55 km of trails. (More specifically, they claim 55.75 km, a degree of overreaching in precision exceeded only by the Blueberry Lake ski area in Warren, Vermont, which gives trail measurements in meters.) The problem is that they mark their trails in loops, not segments, and then add up all the loop distances, even though many of the designated loops overlap. Mountain Meadows isn't the only cross-country ski area that does this. Mt-Ste-Anne in Québec does this, big time. AFAIK they all exaggerate. Royal Gorge claims over 300k - HA! I have an orienteering map in front of me and every trail that I measure is listed at about 30% longer than it really is. I enjoy skiing RG but they do the same double counting (e.g. Big Ben is really 1.1k. They count it as 2.8k out and back to the lodge). Not that it matters. They have quite a few more km than I can ski in a day. Bob |
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