Snow guns burying Lower Skyburst in man-made blizzard 

It only took 4 days but now I can officially say that I skied in 2012. The end of the world as we know it may occur this year, at least as predicted by 2012 doomsday wonks, or not... but I can proudly say that I buckled up my boots, clicked on my skis, and once again enjoyed throwing myself down a mountain verifying the law of gravity and validating Newtonian Physics along the way. And we call this FUN!

Today started a little late, the product of the bone chilling cold and a warm blanket. By 10:00 AM, I was up at Killington's K1 base lodge, waiting for some friends who were also skiing for the day. A fairly large line of college students were queuing for the K1 Gondola, so we decided to go the southern route via the Superstar Quad and head towards Bear Mountain.

In a season bereft of copious natural snow, the resort has been spending their snow making resources covering Skyburst. It's a smart strategy as it gives the resort access to the Bear Mountain base area and the high speed Skyburst Quad. It also plays into the hands of the Dew Tour, which is scheduled to visit Killington in 3 weeks. Upper Skyburst was flat and fast. Lower Skyburst, in the snow guns, was soft and bumpy. Huge mounds of snow are everywhere, the product of multiple days of continuous snow making. Snow making was also occurring on Lower Wildfire, but that was still closed off to skiers and riders.

From Skyburst, we then headed into the Needles Eye area with a run down Cruise Control. Upper Cruise was well covered but thing, with many rocks churned up by snow groomers littering the trail. Lower Cruise Control was the proverbial flat and fast run. Snow coverage across the trail was good, with the trail being significantly firmer in the middle, versus down the sides. Ominously, on the ride up the Needles Eye Quad after Cruise Control, we noted that the resort has not made any attempts as yet to make snow along Needles Eye. Hard to say exactly why (all those guns going at Bear?), but it will be a while before we are skiing and riding down Needles Eye unless Mother Nature delivers a monster dump in the near future.

From the Needles Eye Quad, after another loop on Cruise Control, we headed down Bittersweet. Upper Bitter was scratchy in multiple places, with a lot of hard pack on skier left and down the middle. Skiers right had a thin coating of loose snow, the product of skiers and riders sliding down the middle of the trail, but it was only covering more hardback underneath. Lower Bittersweet on the other had had nice snow all the way down skiers right to the junction with Skylark. Because of the cold, we decided to skip another ride up the Superstar Quad for a few runs over on Snowdon.

At Snowdon, we took a traverse from the top of the Snowdon Quad over to North Ridge. Rime and Reason were both skiing well, as was Great Northern. Mouse Trap was seeing constant snow making from the tower mountain fan gun, leaving the surface soft and creamy. Lower Bunny Buster was also soft, but there were a few places that were skied off, creating some skid zones in heavy skier traffic.

Overall, it was a nice day to be out on the mountain... But getting your snow dancing shoes out is in order.

Let it snow!!!

K-Cloud drapes Killigton Peak 

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We at the Birch Ridge Inn wish you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year in 2012.

Let it snow!!!

Heavy snow falling around the K1 Base Lodge at Killington 

It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature...but for the second time in as many weeks, Killington has dodged a bad weather bullet when the heavy r@!n that was predicted to fall across the region late yesterday and last night failed to materialize. While the area did see an extended period of freezing r@!n in the early evening, followed by intermittent showers, cold air on the back side of the weather system infiltrated the area ahead of schedule preserving snow surfaces in its wake.

The cold air is now in the process of squeezing moisture out of the atmosphere in the form of heavy snow falling across Killington. Wind driven snow is being pushed into the Green Mountains from the west, depositing the white gold onto Killington in its path. Temperatures are due to get colder through out the day, setting up a situation where the Killington Cloud can continue to drop white across the region. It's about time!

Let it snow!

Mary walking the Killington Golf Course with Skye Peak in the background 

Late night dinner guests at our restaurant on Christmas were greeted with light snow as they made their way home last night. Atmospheric instability dropped anywhere from a dusting to a couple of inches of light fluffy snow across the area. At the inn, the snow stake recorded about 1/2 inch of new snow, which is helping to keep the area nice and white for holiday visitors.

Snow making operations on the mountain are continuing today to improve on the paucity of snow provided by Mother Nature. Snow guns were clearly operating on the Rams Head Mountain, allowing the resort to open more beginner and easy intermediate terrain for the Christmas week.

Let it snow!

The Santas of the Birch Ridge Inn

Where ever you may be.... have a very Merry Christmas....

Let it snow!

Birch Ridge Inn draped in early morning snow. 

Killington skiers and riders were having their Christmas wishes answered early today as the area has been blanketed in a coating of snow.

Generally from 2 to 4 inches has covered the area with slightly larger amounts being reported at higher elevations. Snow started falling across the area late last night and has continued sporadically all day.

Forecasters are calling for snow showers to linger in the area for the next several days as a winter cold front descends upon the area from Canada. Temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid 20's, providing perfect conditions for Killington to re-fire their snow making system and expand skiable terrain across the resort.

Snow scenes from around Killington Vermont, December 23, 2011 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

With just 2 days left until Christmas, the snow fall across the region is a welcomed gift from Mother Nature. Now if we could only have a couple of feet or more before heading into the new year...or maybe I am asking too much...

Where ever you may be as we head into Christmas weekend, have a happy holiday.... Let it snow!

Before and after pictures of the Killington Resort 

In the run up to the Christmas holidays, the Killington Resort dodged a bullet last night weather-wise. Yesterdays warm temperatures and r@!n showers decimated what little natural snow there was around town, but continuous snowmaking operations at the resort the last week appeared to have paid off.

Before and after pictures of the resort show that skiing and riding is still fully underway on a mix of beginner, intermediate, and expert terrain. From Snowdon to Snowshed, it looks like the resorts snow making plan from the last several weeks was enough to establish a stable base for skiing and riding over the upcoming holidays.

Temperatures in Killington today are slowly dropping, allowing any residual water in the snow pack some time to drain out before the onset of freezing temperatures this evening. Various weather services are predicting 2 to 4 inches of snow overnight. When combined with the snow that will be made by Killington's snow makers, one would expect that the terrain Killington has worked so hard to open over the last couple of weeks should be refreshed and ready to go for Christmas weekend. The current forecast calls for below freezing temperatures for the next week, which the resort should be able to put to good use to continue to make new snow.

Let it snow!