Holding onto a frozen steel bar while standing in the back of a pickup truck at 6:45am with a collection of shivering skiers and snowboarders isn't normally the way most people get their first turns of the season. But since it's October 8 and the lifts at Killington, Vermont, won't be turning for a few more weeks, this is as good as it gets.

"You may want to hold on with two hands because we don't want you falling out the back," warns Kim Jackson, the news bureau director for the mountain. Under dark, heavy skies, our truck and the one in front of us which also has a full load, bounce slowly up a rutted, snowy mountain road on the way to Upper Cascade for the unofficial first day of the 2001-2002 ski and snowboard season.

The snowmakers at this central Vermont resort shock "leaf peepers" every fall as they test their equipment by laying down a thin patch of snow, through which peaks orange, red and yellow foliage. This annual event is affectionately known as "blowing out the mice." Although, as we arrive at the trail where 16 guns are blasting, winds are gusting and the temperature is a bone-chilling 18 degrees, mice, which supposedly nest in the snowmaking pipes, are nowhere to be found.

"I've told people we've seen them fly 150 feet in the air," says Snow Surface Manager Dave Lacombe with a chuckle and a nudge.

Just below the summit, a 200-yard strip of snow awaits our group of 15 local riders with a 10 to 16 inch base of wet glop. As everyone unloads from the trucks, skis, boards and arms flail in every direction. The race for first tracks is on. Some jump-turn down a ways, others clamber like it's their first time on skis, while some instantly catch an edge and fall flat on their faces.

"It's snow and that's good enough for right now," shouts local skier Matt Windt over the roar of the guns. Some choose to wait it out, observing the carnage before diving in. "It looked a little heavy so I decided to watch a few people go down first," says skier Jennifer Fox.

Despite the conditions, the group starts hiking toward a small knoll near the top of the trail, which offers the chance for air and wipeouts, both of which are in great supply.

Over the years Killington has consistently touted itself as being the first East Coast resort, and sometimes the first in the country, to make snow, the first to open, and the last to close. This year, Colorado's Copper Mountain got the jump on Killi by making snow Oct. 3. While other resorts in the East got snow Sunday night, including Vermont's Jay Peak with 14" and Sugarbush with 2", and Maine's Sunday River, with a dusting, Killington was officially the first resort in the East to begin making snow in the '01-'02 season.

"We watch the weather very closely during the early fall, searching for a high pressure system that will bring us the cold temperatures that we need to make snow," says Lacombe. "While it's exciting to be the first to open, having a premium snow product is extremely important to us."

The resort doesn't plan to officially open for business to skiers and snowboarders until later in the month, since warmer temperatures in the region are predicted. Killington usually has 20 or so runs open by Thanksgiving and in the past has had as many as 80 (out of 200). When ideal snowmaking weather returns, the snowmakers say they can cover an entire trail with one to three feet of snow in less than 24 hours.

After three or four runs on Upper Cascade in blowing snow and frigid temperatures, the group calls it quits, is quickly herded back into the trucks and heads back to the base, now eagerly awaiting the official start to the season.

— Jack Morris, MountainZone.com Correspondent