While driving back from Vermont on Sunday, Mike and I discussed whether or not you can do a day trip to Killington, Vermont from Hartford, Connecticut. The answer is yes, but you will be exhausted. Most people who do this are part of a school, church, or civic group. The typical drill is that you meet the bus at 6 a.m. or some other un-Goldy early hour on a Saturday, depart for Killington, arrive at 9:00 a.m. or so and then, as a herd, rent your skis, get your lift tickets, and have at the mountain until you meet the bus again at 4 p.m. for the ride back. We guessed around noon you’d be feeling pretty exhausted, both from getting up early and from the actual act of skiing.
Mike actually did this trip a few times as a high-schooler departing from way, way Eastern Connecticut and “hated everyone around me at 6 a.m.” because, as a teenager, he hadn’t yet discovered the magical powers of coffee. But even with coffee, it’s a long day.
A better alternative is to go in with a group of friends and rent a house for the weekend. The best alternative is to have a friend who owns a ski house. Which, lucky for me, I do. As I have mentioned a few times here previously, my friends from college have been renting houses in Killington pretty much since we graduated from college, and about six years ago, I got in on the rentals. We would rent a house for the entire season and split the cost of the rent, wood delivery, utilities and we’d share some food and alcohol. This was a great way for us to all spend time together after college. Some friends drove up from Boston and the rest of us did the 5-6 hour drive from New York City. This past year the house we had been renting was sold, and no one felt like doing the necessary work to find a new location, so we kind of scattered. One friend bought a condo and Mike and I stayed there with her for New Years, and one friend happened to find a boyfriend with a killer house.
This is why I am calling this post, A Day Trip in Killington, Vermont. You could do it in a day, but you’ll enjoy a weekend more.
A few tips for traveling to Killington, Vermont
|| Don’t go up to Killington on a three-day weekend unless you are willing to practice some patience because the bars and restaurants are not set up to handle the extra crush of people.
|| In general, be prepared for slow service. Remember that this is a resort town set up for service four months a year and they do not hire large staffs. No matter how much you wave your credit card around, you will just not be seated as quickly as you’d like, served as quickly as you’d like, or given the check as quickly as you’d like. It’s a good place to practice some mindfullness.
|| No one wants to hear how much better the conditions are out west. If you want to ski out west, go out west. Yes, it’s icy and cold in Vermont. Because it’s Vermont. Deal with it.
|| Rent a house. Like any resort town, the hotels are over-priced. Rent a house so you can cook your own food and make as much noise as you want. We have rented houses through FlipKey and have had great experiences.
|| Packing for a ski trip is stressful so here is a packing list and some of my best tips.
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