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.

Message from the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington Vermont 

Several moments ago, I sent the following message to our email list. For those of you not on it, here it is:

Over the last several days, we have received countless messages of support from guests who have stayed or dined at the Birch Ridge Inn. Thank you...thank you...thank you.

Your words of encouragement are truly gratifying. They have reaffirmed our decision 15 years ago to become innkeepers, and they also are very uplifting to our staff as we all face the uncertainty thrown our way these last few days.

As you have probably seen in the news, Hurricane Irene hit Vermont particularly hard. Fortunately, across the state there was minimal personal injury. Amid very sporadic telephone and internet service, our first priority over the last couple of days has been to contact all of our staff to make sure that they are ok. Those who live in Killington and Mendon have been to the inn and are working with us to continue to service guests and the community. Several of our staff found themselves stranded outside of Killington, but they are safe and that is all that matters.

At the inn, we survived the storm with minimal damage. We have been hosting guests stranded in Killington, and emergency personnel coordinating the response to the storm, since the first rain drops over the area. The only damage of any consequence that we sustained was to drainage ditches purposefully built behind the inn, and beside the driveway at the inn's entrance, for just such a storm. Our restaurant has been open as normal during the evening, serving dinner prepared by Chef Stephen "Frizzie" Byrne. Our restaurant will continue to operate, at least for the next few days. After that, we will be evaluating the situation day by day.

Killington became an island as a result of Hurricane Irene. Major road damage was sustained along both Route 4 (the east-west corridor thru Vermont) and Route 100 (the north-south corridor). Temporary, single lane, roads have been bulldozed through the debris to allow emergency vehicles to make it to Killington. In the Sherburne Flats area of Killington, where the Roaring Brook breached Route 4, this was done by a local excavator who decided it was easier to get forgiveness than receive permission. Countless other stories abound about Vermonters getting the work done versus standing around waiting for help. Yesterday, a convoy of cars was organized, with police escort, and sent on Route 4 east to Woodstock Vermont to evacuate guests trapped in the area as a result of the storm. One daily convoy in and out has been established at this time to maintain access to the east of Killington.

Relief supplies are being delivered into Killington from Rutland to the West Another local resident has arranged a convoy of trucks which goes to Rutland each day at 6:30AM and picks up product at the Home Depot parking lot from various suppliers. The Vermont National Guard has delivered water and MRE's (meals ready to eat) to Killington via helicopter. In the middle of all of this, there are signs that normalcy will return. For instance, yesterday, much to our surprise, our trash contractor stopped at the inn to empty our dumpster.

In Killington, the situation is currently stable. Most of the town has electricity, with Central Vermont Power trying to bring everyone back online by the end of the week. Phone and Internet service are problematic. These services are provided to Killiington by Vtel with fiber cables running alongside Route 100 and Route 4 to access the global communications network. Initially, these lines were damaged when the roads were cut by water flowing off the mountains from the hurricane. Vtel has been repairing the lines, but as you can imagine, heavy equipment deployed to make emergency repairs to roads in the area are accidentally cutting the cables several times each day at random locations. This has made it very hard for reliable communication out of the area, but we expect that service will improve day by day.

The net of all of this is that overall we are doing well. While the pictures seen on television are stark, we and our staff are all safe and actively planning to greet you when you visit us again in the near future. While hosting guests the next few weeks will be problematic due to the conditions of the roads in the area, we are still planning to host fall foliage guests in late September and October. Planning is fully underway at the Killington Resort to open for the ski season in late October according to schedule. We will stay in touch to keep you updated.

Again, thank you for the many messages of encouragement and support. Many have asked "is there anything we can do?" The simple answer for the Birch Ridge Inn and it's employees, and for the people of Killington in general, would be to plan to return to the area to visit with us in the near future. Whether it's a trip to see fall foliage colors, or a winter vacation for some skiing and riding at the "Beast of the East", we hope to see you in Killington very soon.

Thank you for your past business and your continuing support.

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

A very quick update. Our phone and internet connections have not been reliable, so I am keeping this short. I will provide a more detailed update with pictures in the coming days.

The Birch Ridge Inn survived the hurricane with minimal damage. The physical building is ok. We still need to do roof checks, etc, but first pass is good. Landscaping around the inn is going to take some time to clean up. On the plus side, the system of drainage control ditches we installed behind the inn during construction in 1997 did the job they were designed for and protected the building from the torrent of water washing down the mountain. On the minus side, they sacrificed themselves, dumping a lot of silt into the landscaped area behind the inn, which will require a some work to repair.

The driveway to the inn now has a drainage canal instead of a drainage ditch. The little ditch, which for years has successfully coped with spring runoff, is now a chasm about 6 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet deep alongside the driveway. Otherwise, except for intermittent power, telephone, and cable, everything else at the inn is fine.

From a staff side, we have spoken with most of the people who work for us. Communications is difficult, but everyone we have contacted is ok. We are all very lucky.

Around Killington, not so good. While most structures in town are fine, many along the Roaring Brook, and the Ottaquechee River have been severely damaged or destroyed. All roads leading into Killington, Route 4 East and West and Route 100 North and South are cut. Bridges are out around the state. Culverts used to carry little streams under roadbeds are now big fissures. It is quite stunning the power of rain water.

We do have some nice guests at the inn who have managed quite well though the last few days. Over the next few days, as communications out of the area stabilize, and after we have finished helping our neighbors, we will be reaching out to guests who have bookings at the inn in the near term to figure out travel plans.

While we survived Hurricane Irene, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been less fortunate. The people of Killington Vermont are resilient. We will all get through this!

Driving the ball on hole 12 at Green Mountain National Golf Course. 

Just a beautiful day in Killington for a round of golf. Temperatures in the low 70's, a light breeze, and a sky filled with puffy white clouds capping the mountain tops. We have a few more days like this left this summer.

After some brief but torrential rain storms yesterday, today was just perfect for a round of golf. The rain left the course damp, so there was not a lot of roll. But it also left the greens soft, allowing plenty of opportunity to challenge todays pin placements.

You can definitely tell that the season is about to change. Temperatures last night dipped to the low 50's, resulting in the heat coming on at the inn for the first time in several months. At the golf course, Dr J, the starter, looked like he was dressed for winter. When comments were made about his wardrobe, he replied that he was at the course at 6:30 AM to get it open. There was not "frost delay" but it was "pretty chilly". Of course, most of us in Killington will take "chilly" over "hot and humid" any day.

Where ever you may be, keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sun screen!

Visit the full Birch Ridge Inn website at birchridge.com.

Over the last week, I have completed the system wide redesign of our inns website, birchridge.com. The prior site architecture was designed about 5 years ago, which in the world of the internet is about 2 lifetimes ago. While being very robust (I am a degreed software engineer after all), the design was showing its wear around the edges, especially as visitors to birchridge.com use more devices than just their personal computers to access the site. The new site is architected to take advantage of emerging HTML5 standards, and to be very adaptable to end user devices, be they smart phones, tablets, netbooks, laptops, or pc's. Bottom line, if a person is interested in discovering information about the Birch Ridge Inn, our web site needs to be able to adapt to their device, not the other way around.

In the intervening time since the last change in site architecture, web design practices have changed dramatically. In the old architecture, as in the architecture of this blog you are reading, much of the custom scripting I designed and implemented directly. Because of the widespread proliferation of devices and standards, I based the new architecture on a "Frameworks" to help isolate the software written for the site from the devices displaying the site. I did not make the leap all the way to using a standard "Content Management System" as I wanted to continue to maintain flexibility over the design. I did investigate a number of CMS's prior to starting the redesign effort. While I would seriously consider developing websites for clients using them, I found using a javascript frameworks was a better approach for this go around in the design.

Some of the new features of the site are interchangeable access between the full site and our mobile site, m.birchridge.com., direct access to this blog, and to our Facebook page. Custom drop down menus are carried over from the old architecture and supported on most pages. A "breadcrumb" feature, just above the drop down menus, was added to help guests navigate around the site. Custom photo galleries, like the photo gallery on the home page, can be supported throughout the site. I have also tried to make it easier for guests to check availability at the inn. After all, the purpose of the whole exercise was to help people book rooms and dinner at Birch Ridge, not just to make a pretty web site.

I have many more weeks of work on the site as we swing into fall foliage season and get ready for winter. But, even though today was a rain out in the morning in the mountains, we will also make sure that we get outside often for day hikes; and probably chase a little white ball down some fairways for a few more weeks while the weather permits.

Where ever you may be, keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sun screen!

Killington Peak - basking emerald green in the August sun. 

....thinking about what to do this weekend?

There really isn't any other choice... Killington and the Green Mountains are just resplendent in August. And there is a lot "to do". On the mountain, the "Cooler in the Mountains" series features Vermont based jam band Twiddle. The concert starts at 3:30 on Saturday at the K1 Base Lodge.

The Circus is also in town.....no not the clowns who represent us in Washington. Thankfully they are all in Iowa this weekend. No it's "Circus Smirkus" at Pico Mountain with shows on Sunday and Monday. "Circus Smirkus", now in its 23 year, is a traveling youth circus designed to inspire young people to engage in life-changing adventures.

This weekend is also the 50th birthday of "Art in the Park" hosted by the Chaffee Art Center in Main Street Park in Rutland. The Chaffee Art Center was built by George Thrail Chaffee, the eponymous great grand father to the skier Suzy Chaffee. "Art in the Park" brings artists from all over the north country to Rutland to show their work in a juried exhibition. Roughly 80 artists working in all different types of media and materials will be on hand for "Art in the Park".

And of course, if you want something a little more participatory than attending a concert, a circus, of an art show...the mountain with its peaceful hiking trails awaits. Or you can chase the little white ball down the fairways on any of the 18 golf courses within a 30 minute drive of Killington...or paddle a kayak on Kent Pond...or...

So much to do... so little time. Where ever you may be, keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sun screen!

Are you spartan tough? 

About 2000 competitors are heading towards Killington this weekend to participate in the first of its kind "Spartan Beast Race" at Killington.

For a little background, the Spartan Race Series is an offshoot of the popular "Death Race" held each year at Aimee Farm in Pittsfield VT. The concept is for competitors to be challenged by a obstacle course where personal injury risks are non-zero. In theory, it requires physical endurance, plus some brain power, to solve the course.

How the Spartan Race will play out at Killington is anyones guess as it is the first time for the event. Race officials are creating obstacles which are visible all over the mountain. Ranging from simple barriers to mud pits and more, modern day Spartans will be in for a challenge just running up and down the slopes of Killington.

In addition to the Spartans taking over the mountain, the "Cooler In the Mountains" Concert series features "Badfish, a tribute to sublime" this weekend. The concert starts at 3:30 PM at the K1 Base Lodge.

It all should make for an interesting weekend at Killington.

Where ever you may be, keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sun screen!