My wife and I are looking into going to Killington for a week in early Dec. and we are looking for guidance from someone who has been there. Is early Dec. too early? Will there be snow or just ice? Best places to stay? Any info would be helpful since Killington's web site doesn't give much info.

I like Killington a lot and have made about 7-8 trips there over the last 30 yrs. You won't see Kill at its best in early Dec, but crowds and costs should be less & it will probably have as much or more terrain open than anywhere else in the east at that time. If we get any kind of cold snap the conditions on what is open probably won't be too bad. But your dates are a crapshoot: early Dec 2001 was terrible throughout the east, early Dec 2000 was probably quite decent. I've always thought the Sunrise Village Condo area would be a neat place to stay on the backside of the ski area because of a more natural setting, but it may not have usual convenient ski-in, ski-out access in early Dec. and may be far from the nearest open slope/chair. For that reason you may want to stick to one of the many condo units (Pinnacle, Wiffletree, etc) near the main base area and Snowshed beginner area. Regardless of snow, a short shuttle bus ride is often necessary to get from those condos to the slopes. The Kill reservations folks can probably guide you on that. There are also a ton of independent motels on the Kill access road leading to main base. If the Skyeship gondola and trails it serve are open all the way to base station there are some slightly cheaper mom&pop motels near its base. I took a family trip to Kill in Feb '01 and wrote a story about it which you can find on this website. I stayed at a very affordable Hampton Inn 25 miles away at White River Junc, but that was cost driven and might not be your cup of tea. Since terrain may be limited to only 1/4 (wild guess) of normal total, 2-4 days in early Dec might be enough rather than a full ski week. My favorite time at Kill for good snow&weather and smaller crowds is late Feb after GW Birthday weekend, can you switch timeframes?

I have also been to Killington about 5 or 6 times and enjoy this ski resort very much. I have never visited Killington in December, however in I know in January and February the conditions are great. I have skiied on a couple of slopes that had ice, however, not much. You can see they groom the trails nightly. If you stay at one of the townhouses/condo's at the base of the mountain, there are shuttles to the mountain and run pretty much on time. It is also rare that you would have to wait on a lift line.

I also went to Surgar Bush in March. That is about 2 or 3 more hours north of Killington and the conditions were great for early Spring skiing. Enjoy your trip.

December in Vt. is a total crapshoot. Last year Killington only had four trails open until as late as the 16th. The year before was the opposite and they had tons of snow.

If you want to go cheap, stay in a motel in Rutland and drive up to Killington. It is a 20 minute drive and that early in the season you can probably get a deal. Beware of renting a Killington condo for early season, getting your money back if you cancel can be tough.

I go to killington every Thanksgiving. Every year it has been great except last year. Only 25 trails were open!! Conditions just depend on the weather. Hopefully it will be nice this DEC. But Rutland motel/hotel is the cheapest way to go. I sayed there for $120 3 nights with 4 beds!!!! I would play it by ear if you want to go in DEC. Lattazzz

Make sure you ride the lift that goes around the corner. Its almost as exhilarating as the slopes themselves.

that'd be south ridge triple chair

I rode it once in January when it was 10 degrees and there was a 20 mph wind. I will never do that again....

killington blew some fake stuff last night. temps are trending down quite nicely.

http://old.killington.com/OpeningWatch.html

It doesn't look like they blew much...Kind of looks like a bad frost...

here is a picture of snow at killington:

http://www.rsn.com/camsize/0,,type_of_image=camimage%5ersnname=killton,00.jpg

Picked this post off the skivt-l:

"Just heard again after a Killington executive meeting today - not opening
tomorrow, but pushing for Thursday or Friday at latest, in order to open
with top to bottom skiing and avoid the trucking (and liability and
marketing stigmas). Weather looks good to support that, and to keep it
open continuously after that."

It's official Killington will open this Frdiay with top to bottom skiing.

with an "early season terrain park" as well. how long is that drive from dc again?

Drive? What "drive"? SouthWest to Manchester...you can be on the slopes before noon!

They also now claim that they received 2-4 of natural:

http://www.rsn.com/cams/1,1051,DETAIL=1146,00.html?rsn_ref=VMC

looks like more freshies in the forecast. guess i will have to dig out my tire chains for this weekend.

one foot of freshies overnight at killington! they now have 48 trails open, and will have 60 for the weekend.

http://www.killington.com/Winter/SnowReport/SnowReport.asp?sec=1

I could jinx things by just thinking about it, temps going higher this weekend, but so far the ski season is off to a heck of an early start in North America.