Skiing at Killington - Some call it the Beast of the East. Others call it K-Mart. I call it one of the reasons I decided to move out West. While locals who know the private, secret stashes may love the place, I believe that Killington represents everything that is wrong with the mega-resort ski areas. As you approach Killington, you will find it hard to believe that you are really in Vermont. The huge charm less condos look more like prisons than they do ski lodges. Now, let’s talk about the terrain. Narrow connectors bring you from trail to trail. Unfortunately, Killington attracts a rude, aggressive, crowd, so a lot of collisions occur on these trails. The rude, uncaring staff does very little to control these collisions. My husband was hit by a snowboarder. An instructor, a mountain guide and a ski patroller passed by and did nothing. When my husband reported it later on, he was told that it was part of the “Killington Experience.” Although I’ve taken lessons all over the country, for the most part, I found the instructors at Killington to be impatient and uncaring. One of them even smoked on the lift! Lisa Mercer 06'

Skiing Killington - I’ve only been to Killington once, and it was after a few weeks of warm weather, then it got cold overnight. It was on a Monday, and there were only a few hundred people there, spread out among all the peaks. I’ve heard it described as a Zoo on weekends, but on this day, there were no lines and the runs were almost empty. It was snowing and they were making snow. The wind was ripping, and there were near whiteout conditions at times. Most of the manmade was being blown into the trees, and the trails were hard and crusty with chicken heads everywhere. (Chicken heads are balls of hard snow or ice left by the groomer….anywhere in size from, well, a chicken head to a baseball).

Boilerplate ice was showing through on some of the trails, and we didn’t stay long. What a pity I’m not tougher or a better skier, but there comes a time when you need to assess your skills and conditions together and just bag it. I played on the milder runs till I got the start of frostbite on the only exposed skin on my cheeks, then said, “Well, it was a good day, nobody died!”

I definitely want to go back, as this is ONE HUGE BEHEMOTH of a mountain. It reminds me of the mountains out west, and that’s a VERY good thing if you live in the East. Bonni 05'