Killington Opening Day 2015 with Tucker

My big brother and 200+ day skier, Tucker, was definitely feeling the stoke of Opening Day in North America this season ... so here is his version of opening day madness:

Killington Opening Day 2015

                   this season opener in vermont was not to be missed. With all the talk of some mountain in Maine possibly opening before the Beast!?!?! Let the poker game opening day bluff match begin!! That mountain in Maine came out last week and claimed they were going to open on Monday 10/19 and the game was on, all their chips were on the table as the whole world could see. As a retort Killington raised the bet and went in with 10/18, high noon. Then the bluff game got serious... There were whispers that the competition may have a full house and be able to backdoor The Beast, the hype suggested they may open at 9 am... The Beast waited till gameday and went all in on 9am as well. The Beast called that mountain in Maine's bluff and walked away the champion of not only the east coast but the first in all of North America to open first! A hefty merit of awesomeness for the whole ski industry.

                    9am Sunday was eeriely calm at Killington for not only a weekend but for opening day, apparently everyone partied too hard at Jax the night before thinking they could sleep in to catch the Noontime gondi. It ended up being a few people who were somehow up in the wee hours to find out the real deal...9am. No pushing, no shoving, no bad attitudes and a total of only 6 people on the first gondi of 2015.  Lots of smiles and fun ensued.

                   We got off the gondi and did the hike down the stairs, got to the top of the North Ridge Triple and just started high fiving and thanking everyone down there, everyone who worked their asses off to get it done. Corporate dudes, snomakers, liftys, parks homies and ambassadors alike all got high fjves and big smiles. When it came time to ski it was a pleasant surprise, lots of wet guns but great coverage and although a little sloppy, truly great snow.  The parks guys (soaking wet from being in the guns all morning) got a few rails set up and a smooth little park open  by Noon on Reason which was much appreciated by the jib contigent.

                Rallied out at about noon  high fiving and welcoming everyone , many who we haven't seen all summer while  hiking back up and out on the stairs, everyone was ecstatic and super stoked to be back on the hill. Headed in to the peak lodge for a couple "Pammy's" a taller more Grand Marnierey version of the mimomsa (hey, it was a Sunday after all).  The Beast also bought every seasons pass holder lunch, had beer specials and a raffle at the end of the day. All in all an awesome opening day at The Beast! It truly amazes me what they can do up here in such very little time. At 7pm Saturday night there were no guns on lower Rime, by 9am that whole section of trail was not only skiable but really well covered, side to side. A lot of hard work on  short notice went into this showing of east coast capability and snow power, Killington went all in, called that other mountains bluff.... We are all so very happy that they did!

Cheers, 

Tucker Adirondack Lange