First snow of the season drapes the Birch Ridge Inn 

While not having anywhere near the impact on Killington as it had to the south of us, the noreaster that clipped the coast coated the Killington region overnight with 1 to 3 inches of snow. The grounds around the inn are lightly snow covered. How long it will last is anyones guess, as temperatures are due to rise over the weekend. But it is nice to see snow again and declare and end to 'Twig Season'.

All week long, snow makers at Killington have been able to take advantage of favorable conditions. Killington goes into the weekend with 9 trails open forming 5 runs. Most of the snow making has taking place at the top of Killington Peak in the North Ridge Area. However, the resort has also made snow on Great Northern and Lower Bunny Buster, allowing top to bottom skiing and riding. As conditions are variable, they are saying that some walking may be required on the top to bottom runs, but in an era of a warming climate, that is to be expected this time of year.

I, unfortunately, have not been able to visit the mountain for an on slope report. The knee injury I sustained during this summer has not progressed as desired, landing me in a MRI machine at Rutland Regional Medical Center this afternoon. I will know more later next week after I consult once again with the orthopedics people.

At the inn, we are working hard to get ready for the winter season. The outside work has basically been completed for the season. I was able to get all of the lights on the trees on the front of the property. Mary has been able to get all of her gardens into their winter sleep mode. Our chef, Steve, has been busy harvesting the trees that fell over as a result of Hurricane Sandy to use for firewood next season.

During the pre-winter season the Inn is open every day for lodging. We are serving dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings for the next few weeks before returning to our normal schedule.

Where ever you may be, aim your snow dance at the mountain. The ski season is on!

The new snowstake at the Birch Ridge Inn awaiting snow. 

After six seasons of service, the time has come to rebuild the snowstake at the Birch Ridge Inn.

The snowstake at the Birch Ridge Inn is a simple affair. A 2 by 4, 2 aluminum yard sticks, some sheet metal screws, a little high gloss white spray paint, and a black sharpie are all the components. Throw in a post hole in the ground in an area of the yard that is not impacted by humans, yet close enough so you can snap a picture with a camera and read the rulers, and you are done. Actually pretty simple.

Over time, however, Mother Nature takes it's toll. The wood mellows to a dark gray. The ruler marks fade into obscurity. Insects enjoy the tasty wood of the 2 by 4. Curious visitors push and pull it in the post hole as they stand with it for pictures.

The project to build the new snowstake was not overly complex. I actually started the task last weekend, fully intending to have it erected in the yard by mid week. Of course a minor ruckus caused by a lady named Sandy blew those plans away like so many leaves on the lawn. The new snowstake was all prepped and painted, sitting patiently in the shed beside the inn waiting for a pleasant day to be planted in it's post hole.

Today, obviously, was the day. Firmly in the grasp of "Twig Season", the Killington region today is covered in a dull gray overcast with temperatures in the chilly low 40's. With the potential for snow to arrive in the area any day now, it was the perfect day to spend some time outside planting the snowstake for the winter season.

Building the new snowstake for the Birch Ridge Inn Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

While I was preparing the new snowstake for the inn, the Killington Resort is busy making snow on the mountain. The resorts current plan is to re-open for skiing and riding on Great Northern and Rime on Monday, November 5th. This is all predicated on being able to make enough snow on the mountain to cover the trails properly. While the weather on the mountain has turned colder, the last few weeks up to and including Hurricane Sandy have been wet in Killington, causing the rivers in the area to flow swiftly (for this time of year), and the relative humidity to elevate. If you follow the science of snow making, you know that right behind warm temperatures, humidity is the enemy of the snow maker.

Snow making operations underway on the upper elevations of the Killington Resort.

Stay tuned as we follow the progress of the resort as it reopens for the 2012-2013 ski season.

It's time to "Think snow" at Killington.

Tree down on the front lawn at the Birch Ridge Inn 

With everyone on a heightened state of readiness, and memories of last years catastrophe called Irene, the Killington region and the state of Vermont for the most part dodged a bullet with Hurricane Sandy. Numerous trees are down in the area, and there have been sporadic power outages, but in general Hurricane Sandy presented itself to Vermont as a mild rain storm with some gusty winds.

At the inn we lost 3 trees to the wind. A small tree momentarily blocked our driveway, until it was removed by a guest coming to stay the night with us during the storm. In the morning, we found a large tree behind the building and another tree across our front lawn that had both succumbed to the wind gusts of Sandy. The wind gusts during the evening were also strong enough to break the line holding the flag on the flag pole in front of the inn. But in comparison to other storms we have experienced at Killington during the last 15 years operating the inn, Sandy was relatively benign to us in Killington.

However, the images we are seeing on television about the devastation that took place along the Atlantic sea coast are truly disturbing. Many family members, friends and good guests of the inn live in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. While we have started to hear from many of them, through various means, we know from our experience last year that the images we see on TV probably don't tell the half of it in terms of what people are really experiencing on the ground. Our thoughts are with all of those who were in the middle of the storm, and who are just now struggling to make sense of what has happened to their homes.

The storm that was Hurricane Sandy is still causing intermittent rain across the Killington region. Throughout Killington has been on the warm side of the storm. Once it passes, we can hope that cold air gets pulled down across the region; and with the cold air that we see a little snow.

Where ever you may be, stay safe.

High Overcast drapes Killington Peak 

I never thought that my next blog post would be about a hurricane coming up the northeast coast in late October. I should be writing about snow covered mountains and excited skiers and riders. Instead, everybody is getting ready to hunker down for what could be an uncertain night.

Preparations are going on all around Killington in advance of the arrival of hurricane Sandy. Vermont's governor, Peter Shumlin, has already declared a state of emergency across the state. The combination of an election year, the ghost of Irene, and the weird nature of the impending storm has brought the early action to help mobilize resources across the state. Unlike Irene, which brought damaging floods due to a tremendous amount of rain, wind damage is the expectation from Sandy. Forecasts posted by the National Weather Service are calling for 40 to 60 MPH wind gusts with higher speeds on mountain peaks.

In Killington proper, town officials are mobilizing. Emails were sent out yesterday to all residents, undoubtedly using the mailing lists accumulated during last years Irene crisis. Residents have been asked to make sure that culverts in their area are clear, and to secure their structures; removing lawn furniture and other loose items which could become potential missiles in the high winds. If there is significant power outages across the region, the town is prepared to open the Killington Elementary School on School House Road as an emergency shelter.

Being political season, with election campaigns in full swing, political candidates are also getting into the act emailing constituents (and potential constituents) about storm preparedness, The big thing here, in a true demonstration that weather has the upper hand, has been a call by all of the candidates to remove their political yard signs less the become airborne in the wind.

Thus far at Killington, the immediate impact in the early morning hours of Monday has been minimal, as one would expect from a storm that is still 500 miles away. We have had a series of mountain hugging fogs the last couple of days, as temperatures have inverted somewhat with the approaching storm. Late yesterday afternoon, the wind in the area changed to the northeast, as expected. But with the worst wind impacts not expected for another 6 to 18 hours, completing final preparations ahead the storm is the assignment of the day.

Where ever you may be stay safe through the storm. It will get cold on the storms back side. Then I should be able to write about more pleasant adventures, like snow covered mountains, and skiers and riders playing in the snow.

Killington Peak awaiting skiers and riders this morning. 

Taking advantage of some natural snow that fell on Thursday and 20 degree temperatures on Friday, the Killington Ski Resort has opened for the 2012-2013 ski season. The opening today was a "soft opening" available as a "Season Pass-Holder Appreciation Day". In spite of being announced very late in the day on Friday, several hundred skiers and riders were in attendance this morning, while I was on the mountain taking pictures.

Weather conditions on Killington Peak this morning were just beautiful for an opening day. A beautiful, sunny, blue sky was offset by temperatures cold enough to allow the resort to continue to operate snow guns. Snow guns on upper Rime were still operating when I hiked off the mountain around noon. Still nursing a knee injury, I did not ski this morning. But I was granted lift access to Killington Peak to enjoy the festivities.

After taking the K1 Gondola to the peak, the Rime trail was accessed by the Killington Peak walkway, also know as the "Stairway to Heaven". Installed 2 years ago, it allows the resort to offer early season skiing and riding in the North Ridge area of the resort, without use of access trucks or complicated lift downloading procedures. One end of the walkway ends at the upper lift terminal of the K1 gondola. The other end terminates at the top of the North Ridge Triple chair lift.

Arriving at North Ridge, snow guns were in continuous operation, depositing several feet of new snow around the lift terminal area. To stay out of the way of skiers and riders, I hiked down PowerLine parallel to Rime, popping out on the trail about a hundred feet below the top of the lift. Rime was well covered with soft, ungroomed, snow. Many of the water bars on the trail were bumping up, allowing those who dared the opportunity to catch a little air.

I walked down the trail along the snow gun line, taking pictures as I went. Snow at the edge of the trail behind the snow guns was ankle deep. Snow on the trail, being produced by the snow guns, was significantly deeper.

Killington opens for skiing and riding, October 12, 2012 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

(Thanks to FemaleSkiBum for one picture of her and chef. Merisa will be behind the bar at the inn tonight, and Frizzie will be cooking in the kitchen if you are in the area and are looking for nice evening out.)

About 3 quarters of the way down Rime, I traversed off of the trail at the Pump House to Great Northern. On foot, I took Great Northern back around to the base of the North Ridge Triple, before beginning my walk off of the mountain down Racers Edge. While I probably would have enjoyed my time on the mountain more if I had had skis on, it was really nice to be on the top of the mountain and out in the snow once again.

Below are a couple of Youtube clips I took during my walk about. Nothing fancy, just people having a good time on the first day of skiing for the season at Killington.

The resort is reporting that they will be making day to day decisions about continuing operations. With weather that will not be favorable for snow making due to enter the area tomorrow, it will be problematic. No matter... Kudo's to the resort for taking advantage of a spell of cold weather and getting the resort open for many of us to enjoy.

"Think snow".

First real snow of season falls on Killington Peak today. (Click to enlarge for a full panorama.) 

The Killington Resort has announced that it will open for skiing and riding for the 2012-2013 season tomorrow, October 13, 2012, at 10 AM. Killington will open as a Season Pass-holder Appreciation Day. Skiing and riding will be for season pass-holders and express card holders only. Express card holders will be charged $25 for skiing on Saturday. No single day lift tickets will be sold to the general public.

Hours of operation of Saturday will be from 10AM to 5PM, conditions permitting. Killington will be running the K1 Gondola and the North Ridge Triple. Hiking down and up the "Stairway to Heaven" between Killington Peak and the North Ridge Triple will be required.

I was told by a representative of the resort that people who held Chamber of Commerce merchant passes for last season will be receiving a separate email with instructions on how to take advantage of skiing and riding on Saturday. If I receive more information on this in the next few hours, I will update this blog post.

Congratulations are in order to the Killington team and the new Killington Resort President, Mike Solimano, for making a bold decision to push to get the resort open as early as possible.

At this point, skiing and riding will only be supported on Saturday. Continued operations are day to day based upon weather and snow conditions. As is said "Stay Tuned for More Information" as the early part of the 2012/2013 ski season kicks off in Killington.

Think Snow!

!!! 6:00 PM Update !!! The Killington Resort has posted a special event page for tomorrows Pass Holder Appreciation Day. It can be found by following the link!

Think Snow!

Home page for Birch Ridge Inn winter website 

The leaves on the trees in Killington are just about done. Snow flurries have been spotted in the air. The Killington Resort is making snow on the upper elevations. The Birch Ridge Inn winter website was launched early this morning. We are getting ready for winter and the coming ski season in Killington.

Over the last few weeks I have been working on upgrading the website for the inn. It is a continuous process of incremental change punctuated with a major change in the spring to attract summer visitors, and a major change in late fall to attract winter guests. Much of the work is cosmetic; changing web colors and photo galleries for instance. But some of it can be very serious; like search engine analysis and optimization. A big part of the winter task is getting ski package information loaded into our online calculator. Fortunately, I was able to get that done a couple of weeks ago, before most of the fall foliage guests arrived in Killington. There are still a few tasks to complete over the next couple of days before the first pass of the winter site is totally complete. But the bulk of it is now online for guests to use to help plan their winter trips to Killington while staying at the Birch Ridge Inn.

While we are on the subject of winter, the resort has been trying to make snow on Killington peak the last couple of days. They have committed to open as soon as is practical this year, aiming for the middle of this month. Whether or not they succeed is almost irrelevant. It is just great to see people in Killington get all excited about being able to go skiing and riding again in our very near futures. If you want to follow the resort's progress on getting the ski slopes open, you can take a peak at their facebook page. It is loaded with pictures of todays snowmaking operations, and of the new president, Mike Solimano, hiking on Killington peak with rock skis over his shoulder.

Where ever you may be keep it in the fairway, pack some hot hands, and start thinking about snow! It's time!