We just did that? Garry and The Bagel look back at a cloud covered Thimble under the Skyship Stage 2 

I needed to leave the mountain today at 10:15 AM.

When I sat down and wrote yesterdays blog at 11:30 PM, I did not know that I had another 4 hours to go before getting to bed. It turns out a late arrival planted their car in a snow bank on Butler Road leading into the inn. By the time the tow truck pulled them out and they were settled into the inn, the clock had struck 3:30 AM. It is just hard to ski in the powder on 3 hours sleep after skiing all out the day before.

During my hour on the hill, I did manage 6 runs on wonderfully soft, if visibility challenged, trails. Yesterdays powder was moved around all around the resort last night by Killingtons grooming fleet, covering every trail with a thick coating of machine groomed lightly packed powder. Each turn yielded a sweeping cascade of snow as the skis carved into the surface.

In addition to the groomers, the resort had also left the sides of many trails filled with wonderful soft bumps. After a couple of runs, my sleep deprived legs were no match, unlike yesterdays outing on the snow. As my legs turned to rubber with each bump, it became apparent that my ski day would be short. So it goes...

Tonight the inn is full with almost the whole house due to arrive. The saga of traveling to Killington will be lived by thousands this afternoon and this evening as they head into town to enjoy a weekend in Vermont. The great news in my shortened ski day is that the snow has energized people to visit Killington, and stay at our inn. Plus the snow will also go a long way to providing Killington with a long and soft spring skiing season. I can sleep when the snow melts.

Let it snow!!!

The run home - Highline to Interceptor 

It has been a very full day.

As I sit down to write this installment to killingtonblog.com, the clock has just struck 11:30 PM. My legs feel like Picaso's famous painting The Scream. They are talking to me...no yelling at me. And they are a bit wobbly as well. A day of rodeo riding beautiful powder bumps on the slopes of Killington followed by several hours behind a 9 horsepower, rattle your bones till the ache, snowblower will do that.

In short.... it was a great day to be in Killington!

I can't go into the details of everywhere we skied at the resort today. We did many of the usual suspects....Wildfire, Bear Claw, Cruise Control, Bittersweet, Skylark, Superstar. We traversed across the mountain for runs down Cascade, East Fall, Rime, Reason, Great Northern, Chute, Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap, Great Bear. And then we also did some bush whacking, some reserved runs through the trees, some places where knowing where you are does not mean you know where you are going.

It was a great day to be in Killington!

If you subscribe to the resorts newsletter, The Drift, you will read in the morning about feet of snow falling on Killington the last few days. You may be enticed to visit Killington to play on the mountain, and by all means please come to Vermont and stay with us at the Birch Ridge Inn. But that does not tell the half of what it was like on the trails today.

The morning started with snow, glorious snow. To the resorts credit, they did not over groom the place last night, letting the snow build up on the trails so skiers and riders could enjoy the experience of being in fresh powder. All morning long, the resort was experiencing a 1 to 2 inch per hour snow fall, so virtually every run was an opportunity to find fresh powder on the trail. You did not need to look far. Many times it was right down the middle of what ever trail you were on at the time. Of course, we rarely stayed in the middle of any trail for long. Like blood hounds in search of a scent,if the best powder was right, we turned right. If the best powder was left, we turned left. At least in the first 30-45 minutes, we tried not to cross each others path. We tried not to ruin it for other skiers and riders and restricted our turns to graceful swiggles in the snow, verses large arcing cross trail traverses. But by 10AM, all bets were off.

It was a great day to be in Killington!

Several thousand people turned out to Killington today to play in the snow. There were no lift lines. There was no rowdy behavior. There was a lot of ear to ear grins. And by 10 AM there were a lot of bumps.

The bumps were like Forrest Gumps box of chocolates. Some were ephemeral, vanishing into a cloud of fluff as you hit them. Some were like a goose down pillow, obediently and softly giving way when lovingly manipulated by your skis. Some were powder sugar coated hard candy, causing audible grunts when they were hit as your legs were pushed into your chest forcing all the air out of your lungs.

On some of the wider trails, where most days the careful grooming by the resort causes local skiers to experience a fog of boredom, the bumps were the most forgiving. Carving at speed was your friend with broad smiles at the end of the trail for the next lift ride up. On the narrower trails, the "natural trails", the trails not touched by human hands or tilled by GPS coordinated machines, the bumps became a wild bucking bronco rodeo ride. Speed, and momentum, and inertia, and flying powder, all came into play with even bigger smiles of self satisfaction in the next lift line.

It was a great day to be in Killington!

I have one more check in tonight to go before I go to bed. I hope they get here soon. I want to do it all over again in the morning!

Let it snow!!!

An overcast Killington Peak awaiting the approaching storm 

Just when you through it was safe to reserve your spring tee times at Green Mountain National Golf Course, Mother Nature has decided to give the Killington Resort a Leap Year gift.

A winter storm warning has been posted for Vermont. The first elements of the storm are already entering the area with high overcast and occasional snow flurries. Currently, the National Weather Service is predicting 6 to 12 inches of snow in Killington spread fairly equally between tonight and tomorrow. Usually, based upon past history, snow fall totals on the upper elevations of the mountain tend to trend to the higher amounts.

Ahead of the storm, we had guests arriving last night as late as ~3:00AM to position themselves to take advantage of the advancing powder. Ski house friends have also called to tell us that they are in motion this afternoon; heading to their ski houses in Killington to seek out the pow on Thursday. Bookings at the inn have also followed suit, with just 1 room left available for the coming weekend as I write this blog. It looks like this years poor to date snow fall has created strong pent-up demand in the North East ski community for some good skiing before calling the season to a premature close. With the second multi-inch snow storm predicted to hit the area in less than a week, it looks like Mother Nature has finally responded to the call.

And remember.... March is usually the snowiest month of the year in Killington!

Let it snow!!!

Howie, Billy B, and Dale with Mary on Cruise Control 

Todays adventure out on the slopes of Killington featured an overcast sky and lots of soft surfaces of machine groomed packed powder. The overcast is the next storm system moving into the area with more snow predicted. The soft surfaces were the product of the weekends snow storm, combined with the work of Killington's fleet of groomers covering and combing the mountain with a nice powdered sugar coating.

The overcast conditions and a shortened ski morning kept us on the Bear Mountain side of the resort. Bear Mountain was filled with black and double black trails this morning masquerading as graceful cruisers. All of the trails featured a nice soft surface which was a mix of machine groomed granular combined with soft powder. It gave the surfaces a nice soft feel which was compliant under foot without requiring razor sharp edges to hold ones turns.

Steeper terrain, like the upper headwall on Sky Burst, Outer Limits, the Viper Pit, and portions of Wild Fire were slightly firmer, but even there the requirement for hard edge turns was minimal. Outer Limits this morning skied relatively soft with only a couple of areas of exposed hardpack. And even then the hardpack areas were very small. Wild Fire, Bear Claw, Lower Dream Maker and Sky Burst were edge to edge soft corduroy, satisfying both the need for speed, and the desire to work the legs with sweeping turns.

Off of Sky Peak, more of the same was the rule of the day. Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, and Upper Sky Lark were groomed flat. Lower Sky Lark had some vestigial bumps left over from the weekend. The Upper Headwall and middle sections of Outer Limits were very soft. The lower headwall was narrow and firm, the result of bumps on skiers right and left intruding into the middle of the trail

The weekend snow really dressed up conditions at the resort. Light snow is in the forecast for tonight with a more serious snow storm predicted for Wednesday and Thursday. With luck, March will come in like a lion and blanket the area is more of the white stuff.

Let it snow!!!

Ruts and The Bagel on the top of Bear Mountain on a bluebird day 

Pow!

No... we are not talking 70's Batman striking out at the Joker.... We are talking Powder at Killington.

While the storm that hit the area the last couple of days does not rate "Epic", it did provide the best skiing of the year today at Killington. Over the course of 2 days, almost 6 inches of new snow had fallen around the inn as measured at the snow stake. Much more fell on the higher elevations of the Killington Ski Resort. Because of winds associated with the storm exiting the area, most of the ski trails on the mountain were groomed flat, with vestigial amounts of soft snow primarily wind blown along the trail edges. But the woods were a different story...shin deep in most places... and it was nice, soft, fluffy powder.

The ski day today started at 8:00 AM... which is a stretch for me on a Sunday morning after a busy Saturday night at the inn. But the 6 inch rule was in effect, so off to the mountain I went to meet the boyz. They were a little surprised to see me, as I had not made it to the hill the previous 2 days. Late Presidents week guests were "enjoying" the Great Room selection of spirits at the inn till the early morning hours, keeping me on mattress mountain on Friday and Saturday morning. But my alarm dutifully went off at 7:10 this morning, so off to the mountain I went.

Snow scenes from around Killington Vermont, February 26, 2012 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

We started the day with a tactical error, for a powder day. We headed out the Superstar Quad to Bear Mountain. All of the trails at Bear Mountain were basically groomed flat. We did the requisite number of runs (Outer Limits, Wild Fire, Bear Claw, The Stash, and Sky Burst), most of them a couple of times, before we said enough was enough and started searching for some softer stuff. We first found some on Old Needles Eye.

Mind you, I have not skied Old Needles Eye in probably 15 years, it being the site of my first shoulder separation skiing on another powder day a long, long, time ago. The entrance on the right of Old Needles was wind scoured clean. Ruts was the first to dive in, giving us a nice slip boom to watch to help build our confidence. But the entrance on skiers left was filled with the nice, soft, "good stuff"; making the way into the trail a delight. I followed a line down the left side, close to the tree line. It was nice, soft powder, over some residual crusty bumps. Actually, a lot of fun!

From there we did some laps on Cruise Control, Bitter Sweet, and High Road, as Needles Eye was closed for racing. By then we had had enough of the groomers, so off we went in search of some more pow.

We traversed across the mountain to some select woods that The Bagel knew about. The entrance was very tight. I might have missed it totally, if they had not stopped to enter single file. In the trees, the storm had dumped 10 inches of powder. Most of the time the snow was mid shin deep, with some deeper shots in some of the troughs. This is why we ski all winter; for a few runs in the powder in the solitude of the trees. Needless to say, the tree runs were do overs. The entrance was sufficiently hidden that we were the only people in this particular stash at that point in the day.

After a lower tree run near the Snowdon Quad, and a run down Great Bear (which was also filled with powder), we called it a day with a last run down Upper Royal Flush to Highline. Just a magnificent day of skiing in bright sunshine and fresh snow. With luck, we still have many more days like this to go in this strange ski season.

Let it snow!

Snow predicted over a wide swath of the North East 

All Presidents Week we have had typical New England Weather. Some sun, some wind, some snow, some r@!n, some ice.... all in moderation mind you, and not enough of anything to get excited about. But this morning when I got up, something magical was being spoken of on the boob tube...A major snow storm (by this winters standards) is set to hit the North East starting tonight and lasting through Saturday morning.

Now...is this just "The Weather Channel" hype to keep us glued with their continuous informercial? Or is this the real deal? A local weather forecaster last night was calling for 4 to 6 inches across Vermont with the potential for a "Snow Bomb" to hit ski resorts in the higher elevations of the Green Mountains. I stayed tuned and watched the commercials during that newscast as well. The word "Snow" can be such a tease this time of year.

It is impossible to know, of course, until the predicted storm moves through the area. But we can keep our fingers (and other body parts) crossed for luck. We can get our equipment ready to head out onto the slopes. We can get our "Gone Skiing" signs made up in anticipation.

What we can't do is go back to bed for a lazy mid-morning nap. Even though bedtime last night came at 3:00 AM, the hype created by watching that 10 minute forecast this morning has the heart racing with anticipation.

In reality, how much (if any) snow we may or may not get is anyones guess in this virtually snowless winter. But one thing is for certain, the Snow Stake at the inn on Saturday and Sunday mornings will be closely watched. For how much is on the ground is really all that matters.

Let it snow!!!

High thin clouds filter sunshine over Killington Peak 

Presidents Week usually signifies a turning point in the ski season at Killington. And this year will be no exception.

The winter doldrums give way to the imagination of spring. The sun, which has been hiding behind the mountains all winter due to it's low angle on the horizon, now proudly rises giving light to the whole resort. The reappearance of the sun also chases away the winter cold, making time spent on the slopes more about skiing and riding versus keeping warm.

Being the eternal optimist in this strange winter, I can find solace in the fact that March is usually the snowiest month of the year at Killington. The change in seasons usually sweep in coastal storms across the northeast, yielding liquid precipitation on the coast lines but feet of snow in the mountains. Will that happen this year is of course a matter of debate, but given that I have only used my snow blower around the inn a couple of times this winter, we are long overdue.

The resort has been taking advantage of the cold nights we are still experiencing to make snow in many high traffic areas around the resort, and to stockpile snow on Superstar, Skylark, and Bitter Sweet. Our lights dim each night when the starter motors kick in to turn over the big fixed compressors still remaining on the mountain to support late season snow making. We will be sitting in the Great Room each evening socializing with guests, and all of a sudden the lights will dim then return to normal. It is a sure and comforting sign that the resort is still doing their best to make up for the parsimonious behavior of Mother Nature.

Skiing at the resort has continued to be more of the same. Our intermediate guests are generally having a ball on the slopes; a byproduct of the flat and fast conditions is a strong ego boost for slightly advanced skiers and riders.

Expert skiers and locals like ourselves are still getting out on the slopes to take our laps. Getting and keeping the legs in shape to enjoy spring skiing is a major activity this time of year. Warming temperatures over the next several weeks should create some opportunities to soften the slopes, yielding beautiful little bumps down the sides of many trails. While not quite providing the same exhilaration of skiing in the trees, little soft bumps can do a great job at getting the heart racing, while breaking the monotony of high speed super G runs up and down the mountains for advanced skiers and riders.

And one more thing as we contemplate Fat Tuesday...there is still a lot of winter left in the ski season at Killington.

Laissez les bons temps rouler...... Let it snow!!!