Killington, Vermont is ideally located for long weekends from NYC. Only a 4.5 hour ride away, the resort is a great place to escape the city and have some snow fun. A few weekend ago, in honor of Martin Luther King and the long weekend he gave us, I trekked out there with a group of friends. House rented, hot tub heated, food and beverages supplied- we were in for a great three days.

the mountain

Luckily for us, it had dumped the night we got there and Saturday morning began with 13 inches of fresh powder. With six mountains, 140 trails and over 70 miles of terrain, there were plenty of runs for us to ride.

I pride myself on being a decent skier, not a great one. I can get down any run it may just not be so pretty. Or so I thought. I made this statement at lunch and my friends decided they would take me on the perfect run. “Light and fluff” they said, I would certainly love it. Slightly apprehensive, as the boys are more daring then I tend to be, I decided to follow anyway. It would be fun right?

gondola ride up to the top

Up the gondola and looking at the trails below, I felt my confidence grow. I could handle what the two of them would throw at me I decided. The first few minutes went as planned. Following the boys on their boards we cut through a few trails to get to their secret spot. The trail was a closed one, but not technically out of bounds so under the rope and down the trail we went. Within about a minute, I knew I was in trouble. “Light and fluffy” had really meant three feet of powder. On my five foot frame this was quite a feet coupled with the fact that I have never skied such powder before, nor know how to. Thirty seconds later, I tumbled down a decent portion with my skis flying in the air. O.K. I thought, “get them back on and get yourself down this run”. Turns out when you’re five feet tall and sinking into three feet of snow, getting skis on is quite the challenge. This clearly wasn’t going to work, so I tried to scoot down to a shallower spot. Whoops, there was none. After what seemed like an eternity, the boys patiently waiting, I got my ski boots snapped into the bindings. Up we go and 30 seconds later down I went. This routine continued for the next 20 minutes and a nice lady even stopped to help me out. Unfortunately, I needed more then her help and before I knew it, ski patrol came to the rescue.

my "poacher" recreation- I had to scratch off the original scribble to use my ticket the second day but you get the idea

Though they came to help, the patrol frowns upon skiing out of bounds. With a quick whip of a Sharpie, I had the word “poacher” scribbled across my pass. The nice young lady that stopped to help me did too. The boys who had gone down and up again to help me also got stopped and branded poachers. Clearly I was not making it down the mountain with boots on skis, so the patrol skied them down as I walked. Walked down the entire trail. Walking down a trail and having ski patrol help would generally be embarrassing enough. Did I mention it was a lift line run? Yeaaaaaa.

The only upside to the whole ordeal? Walking down a mountain in ski boots and through three feet of snow turns out to be a phenomenal work out.

Fortunately, the rest of my weekend was without a hitch and turned out better than planned. Check it out for yourself below…

our house- view from the loft

enjoying the hot tub

sushi yoshi hibachi extraveganza

party at the pickle barrel

The details:

If you are looking to plan your own trip out to Killington Mountain vrbo.com, homeaway.com and killingtongroup.com offer great up to date calendars and rates for rental homes. The resort website is another great resource for hotels in the area though they do tend to book up quickly, especially on major holiday weekends.

Lift tickets to the mountain cost $86 per day for adults but discounts are offered for groups and advance online purchases. Costco is also running a great promotion for tickets to the mountain.

Killington is a fun town with plenty of restaurants to take advantage of. Dinner favorites include Sushi Yoshi for a fun hibachi experience, the Wobbly Barn offering classic Americana (and a fantastic salad bar) and the Ledgewood Yort for an upscale dining experience. For breakfast, Johnny Boy’s for pancakes is a must (their breakfast burrito and hash also win rave reviews).

For those wanting to go out on the town, the Wobbly Barn and Pickle Barrel are the spots to check out. Though covers are a bit steep (about $20/head on peak nights) the live music and vibrant crowd make up for it. Once in, the drinks are also thankfully on the cheaper side.

Enjoy! And if you’re there over President’s Day Weekend let me know. I think I’m heading out that way again and this time staying fully in bounds.

Killington Mountain, 4763 Killington Road, Killington, VT, 802 422 6200 

Ledgewood Yort, call 802 422 6998 for reservations and operating dates. 21+

Sushi Yoshi Chinese Gourmet, 1807 Killington Road, Killington, VT, 802 422 4241

Johnny Boy’s Pancake House, 945 Killington Road, Killington, VT, 802 422 4411

Wobbly Barn Steakhouse, 2229 Killington Road, Killington, VT, 802 422 6171

Pickle Barrel, 1741 Killington Road, Killington, VT, 802 422 3035