Birch Ridge Inn Network Design

Birch Ridge Inn Network Design

Cold weather has finally returned to Killington. Of course the real question is will it stick around. But at least today we have returned to more seasonable temperatures worthy of a ski resort in December.

After an early season thaw, accompanied by non-crystaline precipitation (NCP) at the lower elevations, most of the snow in the region below 3000 feet is now flowing through Vermont's Irene enlarged river system headed towards the Atlantic. Killington had suspended top to bottom skiing and riding for a couple of days while they focused their snow making operations on the upper elevations. But the return of cold temperatures has allowed them to make snow on the lower elevations and resume skiing and riding all the way to the K1 Base Lodge today.

Around the inn, under the theory that the more we get done now, the more time we will have for skiing later, we continue to work to get ready for the winter season and the Christmas Holidays. The last couple of rooms had their carpets cleaned today; Chef Frizzie has been working to create the menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; and I have been working on all things internet.

Yesterday I completed the "Winterization" of birchridge.com and our mobile site m.birchridge.com. The work on our web sites never really stops, but changing out the looks for the seasons in just something I feel needs to be done to help represent our inn online.

I have also been spending a fair amount of time working to tune the inns communication network. A major redesign to the inns Internet Network has been completed with the addition of a new DSL line, and new routing and wifi equipment. Birch Ridge, of course, offers Free Wifi to our guests over our network. As more of our guests arrive at the inn with internet connected devices, we have had to continuously upgrade and refine the network topology and capacity to meet demand. The new design is actually transitional itself, as we prepare to have fiber brought into the inn by our telecommunications provider (Vermont Telephone) next spring.

Of course, Mary has not just been standing around either. She has made really good progress on decorating the inns 15 1/2 foot Christmas tree. About the top 8 feet of the tree is decorated. With a tree that large, it needs to be decorated in stages with multiple ladders moving around the tree. She took a well deserved break today to visit Boston to celebrate her fathers birthday. Tree decorating resumes tomorrow, and will continue through most of the weekend.

The return of cold temperatures to Killington means the resort will be continuously making snow on the slopes. Mother Nature has both giveth and taken away during this years early ski season. Hopefully she settles down, keeps temperatures cold, and gives us lots of the white stuff for the rest of the season.

Let it snow!!!