Message from the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington Vermont

Message from the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington Vermont

What a wild 10 days it has been in Killington since our last message.

Again: thank you to all of our guests and friends for your support and encouragement. The entire Killington community has seen an unbelievable outpouring of goodwill as we have mounted our recovery efforts from Hurricane Irene.

As the situation stands, Killington is no longer an island. Currently it is a peninsular, connected to the outside world via Route 4 to the East. Every now and then, a virtual drawbridge is raised as a flagman stops traffic to allow construction equipment to work on road repair. While the road is still officially closed by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT), travel since Thursday has been unrestricted. Local residents are still being encouraged to restrict travel to early morning and early evening hours to allow road crews to complete repairs. But overall, travel restrictions to the East have now been eased and vehicle traffic is now unimpeded except for road delays where construction crews are finishing repairs.

To the west of Killington, miracles are taking place. The AOT committed publicly yesterday afternoon to have Route 4 to the West of Killington open for 2 way public travel by next weekend. From the pictures we saw of the road destruction, and from first hand reports of people we know living near Route 4 in Mendon, the work by road crews to repair this vital east-west transportation corridor in the middle of Vermont can be viewed as nothing but heroic.

To our north and south, work is also taking place rapidly to restore travel on Route 100, America's Fall Foliage Highway and a vital winter link to the ski resorts of Vermont's Green Mountains. Route 100 to the south of Killington to Ludlow was re-opened on Thursday. Work on Route 100 north is continuing, with travel allowed to Pittsfield Vermont.

The bottom line to all of this. . . it will only be a matter of days before unrestricted travel to Killington will be restored in all directions. There may be some delays as crews continue to repair the damage to the roads caused by Irene, but getting to Killington to visit with us at the Birch Ridge Inn will not be a challenge.

All in all, we were very fortunate that the inn received minimal physical damage. That has allow us to put our business activities aside and help out our neighbors, who suffered greater impacts from Irene, by volunteering our personal time and what ever materials we had at the inn. Over the last few days, that work has significantly declined and we have been able to return our attention to the inn to prepare to welcome guests back to Killington.

The staff at the inn has continued to be on hand to both volunteer in the community and tend to the needs of emergency personnel staying with us. We made a decision last week to keep food service available to the community with a bar menu our chef created based upon the supplies we had on hand. We will probably run with that limited menu one more week, before returning to full dinner service in Mid September.

As the road situation has become clearer, we are now accepting reservations again for fall foliage season. The leaves on the trees are beginning their annual color change. Next week we will start to post the progression of fall colors with our daily Fall Foliage Picture of the inn on the blog. Whether it is a scenic get-a-way for fall foliage season, or a winter ski trip to Killington, we invite you back to Vermont to enjoy a beautiful time in the Green Mountain State.

There are a lot of great activities that have been planned at Killington for this years fall foliage season. More on that in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your past business and your continuing support.

Bill, Mary, and the staff of the Birch Ridge Inn.