To the skier’s right of Outer Limits is the ugly step sister of Outer Limits, known as Devils Fiddle. Outer Limits is a perfectly manicured trail with immaculate split grooming that allows for super-fast skiing on one half, but still has mega bumps in all the right places that allow for some of the best bump skiing in the world. Which is all accessed via a quad chair that runs up the right side of the trail. Whereas, Devil’s Fiddle is a wide trail, with an irregular curve and is complete with two scars – a large rock ledge in the middle of the trail and the remnants of a quad chair. But, don’t let the looks fool you Devil’s Fiddle has a great personality.
A Devil’s Fiddle is an old European novelty musical instrument. The instrument is a stick with a single string attached to it with various bells, horns and other noise makers attached to the stick. To make music, the stick is pounded against the ground, which activates the rattles and bells. However, Devils Fiddle at Killington is no novelty, it has the ability to pound you against the ground and rattle your bones and ring your bell; in fact, the trail has the goods to author worldly evil against even the best of skiers.
While Outer Limits is the more famous of the two trails, an argument can be made that Devil’s Fiddle is the more difficult trail. While Outer Limits is the steeper of the two runs at a sustained pitch of 29.2 degrees to Devil’s Fiddle, still impressive 27.1 degrees. However, Devil’s Fiddle has a number of rock ledges that spread across a substantial portion of the trail that will be encountered approximately half way down the descent. In addition to the cliff, the trail is peppered with moguls, that can reach titanic proportion. So, while there is a bailout option from the cliff (e.g., ski around them) it only gets you in more moguls.
Devil’s Fiddle, Killington, VT with very little snow, but showing the rock ledges
From 1983 – 1994, Devil’s Fiddle was accessed via its own quad chair (Killington’s first). The chairlift was dismantled in 1994 and nowadays is accessed via the Bear Mountain Quad. The trail rarely receives snow making, so in order to ski it, plan your trip to “The Beast” post New Year’s on a snowy season.
Devils Fiddle does everything to reinforce the cultural connection between the Devil and the Fiddle – this is a bad ass trail that will make you question your skills. If you ski Devil’s Fiddle you need to go over the cliff to say you've really skied the trail, otherwise it is tamed, to some extent, and becomes a less steep version of Outer Limits. While that still makes it a big, bad trail, the cliff band is the signature of the trail.