Ten FSC skiers signed up to join the Columbia Ski Club’s sanctioned trip for Killington’s Raceweek. Reports of November snow in the New England area had us excited about the possibilities of groomed trails for our early ski season trip. Leo St. Jean and I drove up on Friday, the 4th, to ski the weekend and warmup our ski legs in anticipation of the raceweek to follow. We were a little concerned about the snow conditions we’d find in Vt. because of the Spring-like weather in our area. Our concern deepened as we arrived in Rutland, Vt., the weather was still warm and there was no snow anywhere, not even on the mountains surrounding the Killington Resort.

Leo, Robert LaChance and I tried skiing on Sat-AM but it wasn’t much fun. Limited trails, poor snow conditions, mud, mud, rocks and weekend crowds made skiing a bit too risky. Leo and I left Robert to ski with a friend he met on the slopes and we spent the afternoon getting our boots adjusted and hoping the conditions would improve. On Saturday evening the Resort was still determined that Raceweek would begin on Monday even though they weren’t able to blow snow and weren’t sure when they would. On the bright side, Killington has great pubs and restaurants so evenings were never boring. We found a great restaurant on Rt. 4, the road leading to the resort. The Catamount Grill & Tavern serves gourmet food, great drinks and the owner/host entertains patrons with interesting stories from his life as a bartender in Clyde’s of Georgetown.

On Sunday, Dec 6, the Resort placed flyers at all their sale windows and information booths stating that “...skiing depends on the weather. Unfortunately, Killington has experienced a prolonged spell of unseasonably warm weather that has not been ideal for snow or snowmaking...we are sorry to say that we are unable to provide you with the amount of skiable terrain that we would like to at this time of the season...”

By Sunday noon the Resort decided to allow Raceweek participants to cancel for refunds and credits but the resort was still going forward with Raceweek in a limited format for those who wanted to stay. All the FSC members canceled. Only Leo, Robert and I made the trip to Vt., the other seven were scheduled to travel by airplane on Sunday but canceled their flights early and took a chance on the Resort’s cancellation policy.

All participants will be refunded the $282 they paid for lifts and lessons, in addition, they’ll all receive a credit of $150 for use at the Pinnacle Condos good for 12 months starting on Dec 6, 1998. The trip leader, Tom Neff from the CSC, will be in contact with us as soon as he gets a check from Killington and has the details on how we can redeem the condo credit.

Killington Mt. reported that December 1998 was their worst early season skiing ever but the previous year was the best. I’ll be happy with something in-between next year but I wouldn’t mind setting a new record for the best Raceweek ever.. Hope to see more club members trying it with me next year. Happy New Year and enjoy the rest of the 1999 ski season.

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