Skiing Killington in JULY!!

As I drove down East Mountain Road to Bear Mountain this morning, I could barely contain my excitement. My heart had started to race as I packed my skis and boots in the car. I couldn't believe this was really happening...



As I got closer to the parking lot, I started to second guess myself...I hadn't looked at the patch since I hiked up there last Friday, what if there wasn't any snow left? I took a deep breathe as I drove around to my viewpoint... And there it was!! There was SNOW at Killington in July and I was going to ski it!!


Walking across the Bear Mountain Parking Lot, I felt my smile gettting bigger and bigger. I was so filled with childish excitement, that I had to remember to just breathe. Every step was bringing me closer and closer to having another story for my personal ski history...


Skiing in July would mark the 10th month I have skied Killington - only August & September left!! And to have to walk through wildflowers on my way to ski was just amazing. I've walked through trillium and fiddlehead ferns, but never bright summer flowers :)


And then, there it was. The patch of snow that I was claiming as a ski day. I laughed out loud. It all seemed kind of pathetic for a second, but then again, it was JULY, Damn It!! I had ski boots on, skis on my shoulder and I was gonna rip this patch up!



And then all I could do was stand there. After a while, Vespi looked up at me like I was crazy. With each deep breathe, I could feel the energy from the snow embracing me, flowing up from my skis to the enormous grin growing on my face. Ever so slowly, I felt light and happy and free... then I released my edges...and I was making my first ever turns in July!!


The snow was one giant slalom turn long, three regular size short radius or five Scott Schmidt style hop turns. The most turns I could fit in was eleven. Vertical, Horizontal, Diagonal: every possible single inch of space was skied. I have no idea how long I skied, how many "runs" I took, how many turns I made or how much I sidestepped. I was SKIING :)


But I do know that as I walked back down to the base lodge and through the parking lot to my car, I jumped up and clicked my ski boot heels together - several times! Idiotically, I kept punching my ski poles into the air and whooping with joy.

And I still haven't taken the shit eating grin off my face :)


See you on the Mountain,
FemaleSkiBum :)

Location:Lower Bear Claw, Bear Mountain, Killington Resort, VT