Snowflea
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Date: Tuesday, 8/12/14
Trails: "C" (Warbler) up, "E" (Wildlands) down
Conditions: "C" was a gravel access road with some loose rock. "E" was more of a singletrack route through the forest that crossed a 3 or 4 ski trails. Trail was in pretty good shape, with no muddy sections. Some of the ski trails we crossed were being mowed on this day.
Comments: Continuing the theme of last week's Mt. Ellen ascent, we decided to climb Killington via the ski area. I have climbed Killington many times, but my last actual summit visit was over 10 years ago when Robert Williams, Jeffrey Silveira and I climbed all 5 of Vermont's 4k'ers on one winter day. Since we started off with Killington at O'dark thirty, the "view" from the top was nonexistant. Suffice it to say, I had not seen the view from the summit in a long time.
We were well aware that this would be a ski area experience and not at all like the approaches via the LT/AT or Bucklin Trail. What we were not prepared for - and what made for an interesting day - was "Williamsburg comes to Killington": throngs of hasidic jews visiting the mountain. Most had taken the gondola up and were hiking the last little bit to the summit. Most seemed uncomfortable on the steep, rocky terrain, and many were carrying infants. After the ride up, some were hiking back down - impressive given most of the women were wearing ballet flats on the loose gravel.
Trail "C" was an easy 2 miles and 1600 feet up. After ascending the "Peak Walkway" (wow, that is quite the staircase) and tagging the summit - the view was lovely - we headed down for a peek into the summit lodge. Much to our surprise we found for sale not only a few varieties of wine but also of Prosecco. Hah! Since this was Chris's last Vermont 4k'er - ooh, a reason to celebrate! - we decided to splurge on a bottle.
Chris picked Trail "E" as our descent route. This trail was described on the brochure as "a true wilderness experience." I'm not sure what kind of wilderness the author was referring to, but I'd have to disagree with his/her summation especially with the helpful signs pointing out various names of trees, a spring, an upturned tree with exposed root system, etc., also a downed tree with "SPARTAN RACE" chiseled into it, and crossing ski trails that were being mowed as we walked by.
We finished off the day with cheeseburgers at one of my favorite eateries in these parts, the Inn at the Long Trail. Now onto the Maine 4ks for Chris...
Trails: "C" (Warbler) up, "E" (Wildlands) down
Conditions: "C" was a gravel access road with some loose rock. "E" was more of a singletrack route through the forest that crossed a 3 or 4 ski trails. Trail was in pretty good shape, with no muddy sections. Some of the ski trails we crossed were being mowed on this day.
Comments: Continuing the theme of last week's Mt. Ellen ascent, we decided to climb Killington via the ski area. I have climbed Killington many times, but my last actual summit visit was over 10 years ago when Robert Williams, Jeffrey Silveira and I climbed all 5 of Vermont's 4k'ers on one winter day. Since we started off with Killington at O'dark thirty, the "view" from the top was nonexistant. Suffice it to say, I had not seen the view from the summit in a long time.
We were well aware that this would be a ski area experience and not at all like the approaches via the LT/AT or Bucklin Trail. What we were not prepared for - and what made for an interesting day - was "Williamsburg comes to Killington": throngs of hasidic jews visiting the mountain. Most had taken the gondola up and were hiking the last little bit to the summit. Most seemed uncomfortable on the steep, rocky terrain, and many were carrying infants. After the ride up, some were hiking back down - impressive given most of the women were wearing ballet flats on the loose gravel.
Trail "C" was an easy 2 miles and 1600 feet up. After ascending the "Peak Walkway" (wow, that is quite the staircase) and tagging the summit - the view was lovely - we headed down for a peek into the summit lodge. Much to our surprise we found for sale not only a few varieties of wine but also of Prosecco. Hah! Since this was Chris's last Vermont 4k'er - ooh, a reason to celebrate! - we decided to splurge on a bottle.
Chris picked Trail "E" as our descent route. This trail was described on the brochure as "a true wilderness experience." I'm not sure what kind of wilderness the author was referring to, but I'd have to disagree with his/her summation
especially with the helpful signs pointing out various names of trees, a spring, an upturned tree with exposed root system, etc., also a downed tree with "SPARTAN RACE" chiseled into it, and crossing ski trails that were being mowed as we walked by. We finished off the day with cheeseburgers at one of my favorite eateries in these parts, the Inn at the Long Trail. Now onto the Maine 4ks for Chris...
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