Killington Peak - the season is starting to change.

Killington Peak - the season is starting to change.

Another fall weekend in the Hurricane Irene condensed fall foliage season has come to a close. Thank you to all of the nice guests who have visited with us these last few weeks.

Some random thoughts and observations as the seasons change at Killington...

On the fall season : Hurricane Irene really "knocked the wind out" of the early fall season, as expected. But the message that Vermont was being quickly repaired; that Vermonters were very resourceful and resilient; and that Vermont was back open for business, was very well received by the traveling public. Because of the worldwide news coverage of the hurricane, Vermont got an incredible amount of attention in the media. And that attention has translated into guests in Vermont over the last several weeks. Hopefully Vermont leaders have finally understood that the state needs to be actively promoted if it is going to depend on the tourism sector as a major contributor to Vermont's overall economy.

On the global economy : Many of our inn guests the last few weeks have been international travelers on extended vacations. Last week was almost exclusively guests from countries of the British Commonwealth including the UK, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand. Reading the tea leaves is always fraught with danger, but the uptick in International visitors returning to Killington could bode well for the winter season.

On the national economy : Too soon to tell from visitors to Killington.... During the summer prior to Hurricane Irene, it looked like a "new normal" was being established. One must remember that 9% unemployment translates into 91% employment. (I know... there is under employment and people stopping looking for work... but there are still a lot of people who are collecting a paycheck.) Hurricane Irene's damage went up much of the I-95 corridor; right where most of the visitors to Killington call home. It only makes sense that as people spend time repairing their homes that they would not be traveling. The international travelers helped out in the last couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see the geographic distribution of early ski season bookings over the next 4 to 6 weeks.

On the upcoming ski season : The resort is continuing it's preparations for the upcoming ski season. Hurricane repair seems to be taking place at an accelerated pace. Snow-making compressors have started to appear. Early winter promotions are out on the internet. A new Killington Magazine has been published and is out for distribution. We even had a little white stuff fall from the sky over the weekend. Now we need Mother Nature to cooperate; give us a few days of cold and dry conditions to allow the ground to chill down; then give us a dumping of white to "get the party started". We have already started our pre-ski season conditioning programs...have you?

On the new iPhone 4S We have had a weekend with our new cell phones. Many times technology companies over-hype and under-deliver. Not in this case. First impressions of the iPhone 4S is that it out performs in many ways. Of course it is a cell phone... So far I have not had a dropped call at the inn on ATT's network (unlike our prior experience with Verizon cell phones). The camera delivers. The last 2 days of fall foliage pictures at the inn were taken with my iPhone. Of particular note was today's picture with the blue sky showing in the trees to the left of the frame. My Cannon point and shoot rarely captures that, as the sun is usually shining just above the frame to the left (which is why there always appears to be clouds above the trees in the left side of the frame). Yet the iPhone's camera was able to focus thru the sun glare. And then there is Siri...The beta software still has some kinks, but it works incredibly well overall. It has the potential to be a game changer in how people interface with technology just like the mouse and the touch screen before it. While it is too early to know how the iPhones will integrate with our work flow at the inn, they do look they will become a valued addition to our technology tool kit.

Fall season is definitely winding down at Killington. Guests at the inn over the weekend were reporting nice colors on their driving loops to the south and east of the area. Several of our guests reported nice colors on their visits to the Vermont Country Store in Weston, and Grafton Village Cheese in Grafton. If you want to catch the last of fall colors, now is the time before the onset of the winter season. We at the Birch Ridge Inn look forward to greeting you when you visit.