Rutland County High Point Trip Report

Killington Peak

Date: June 15, 2002
Author: Jim Buchanan

We drove up from western Massachusetts to climb Killington on a rainy Saturday. We were pleasantly surprised that the base lodge was open and the gondolas were running, as we bought one-way tickets for the ride down. They cost $9 each. We went up on trail 'C', which was actually a dirt road. It rained the entire way up, which took us about an hour and a half, since we aren't spring chickens anymore. We each found a quarter on the walk, and only saw two people riding mountain bikes down the mountain the entire trek. At the very top of the mountain, the wind was HOWLING, and the rain seemed to be almost hail. (It was 50 degrees at the base of the mountain.) There was absolutely no view, since we had been up in the clouds for most of the hike. The wind was actually quite scary the way it blew through the two towers that loomed over the highpoint. It had a constant roar to it, unlike anything I'd ever heard before. We took the gondola ride down. The operator at the top looked at us, two men in their 50s who just hiked up Killington Peak in the rain, and said laughing "You guys are nuts!" That actually made us feel good! Employees at the base lodge said the elevation rise was 1600 - 1700 feet from there to the top.