Snowmaking push on Killington Peak for top to bottom skiing and riding underway. 

With the intermediate weather forecast calling for an extended period of great snowmaking weather, the Killington Resort has put their snow making system into overdrive. A serious push is underway from the top of Killington Peak all the way to the K1 Base Lodge to bring early season top to bottom skiing and riding to a fruition. Major snowmaking activities are visible up and down Great Northern through Bunny Buster to lay down a base of snow. With continuing cold temperatures and the pace of snowmaking taking place, a top to bottom trail from Killington Peak should be open any day now.

While the imminent start of top to bottom from Killington Peak is exciting, snowmaking operations elsewhere on the resort point to a rapid expansion of skiable terrain in a few days.

In a clear vote of confidence that favorable conditions for making snow will persist for a while, the Killington Resort has begun snowmaking operations on the top of Skye Peak.

Snowmaking operations underway on Skye Peak

Snowmaking operations are taking place at the top of the Superstar Chair along upper to Skye Lark leading towards Bittersweet. Significant snow is visible on Upper Skye Lark. The comparison between Upper Sky Lark and Skye Hawk is quite apparent, clearly indicating that the resorts snow makers have been busy on the top of Skye Peak.

Snowmaking taking place across the Killington Resort

Kudo's to the Killington Resort for taking advantage of weather conditions to make the push for top to bottom skiing and riding before Thanksgiving. Mother Nature is cooperating by giving us cold temperatures. Now if she could give us a little more help with maybe a snow storm or two... that would really seal the deal.

Let it snow!

Recent bonfire for Ullr 

While it may seem like there is a lot of hanging around this time of year waiting for winter to really begin, it is actually quite the opposite. Living on the fringes of the Green Mountain National Forest has it's own rewards most of the year. But this time of year is a little different. The annual blizzard of falling leaves heralding the arrival of Twig season brings with it a certain "je nes sais quoi" that only arises after several multi-hour outside sessions with a rake. Oh if only the crunchy remnants of a brilliant fall could be magically transformed into a carpet of fluffy white snow...

Finishing up yard work is but one of the many tasks that take place to get the inn ready for winter. Raking leaves provides hours of work in the physical world, but the virtual world we live in also needs a lot of attention at this time of year as well.

Our friends at the Killington Resort are always busy this time of year finalizing their cooperative marketing programs. Providing hotels and inns with access to their systems to allow us to purchase ski packages directly for our guests is one of the big things they do.

Several weeks ago, as the leaves began falling, multiple PDF files totaling 80 pages of information arrived in my inbox. While ski ticket pricing at a ticket window may be straightforward, $80 dollars or $89 dollars depending upon midweek or weekend, ski package pricing is more esoteric. We all know that airlines price their seats based upon the expected volume on any particular day. Well ski package pricing follows much the same paradigm.

For several years now I have taken Killington's ski ticket pricing and programmed it into the web. I do this to allow our staff working the front desk and visitors to birchridge.com to accurately determine how much a ski vacation to Killington at the Birch Ridge Inn would actually cost. In addition to the "airline pricing paradigm", Killington also offers a myriad of other discounts, hence the 80 pages of information. Programming it all into a usable web calculator is an interesting exercise. But coming from a heritage of all night coding sessions, its good to get the cobwebs out of the brain by writing some complex software once and a while.

Birch Ridge Ski Package Calculator on birchridge.com.

Programming for the web theses days is becoming more complex in it's own right. In addition to the ski package calculator for our standard desktop web site, new this year is a ski package calculator for the mobile web. The underlying algorithms for the desktop and mobile ski package calculators are shared, but the human interface is quite different.

Birch Ridge Mobile Ski Package Calculator on birchridge.com for mobile.

The mobile ski package calculator runs on any javascript enabled smartphone. I have tested it on Iphones and Android devices. (Whenever an inn guest shows me a new smart phone at the bar, I am always asking them to go to birchridge.com to make sure the mobile site works with it.) I have yet to see a Window's Mobile device at the inn, but it should work on that platform as well.

Of course, being able to use your computer system or mobile phone to figure out pricing for your vacation in Killington is all well and good, but if you want human interaction in the loop, we will be glad to work with you directly by calling the inn (800.435.8566 or 802.422.4293). Now if we could just get all the leaves up, turn the temperature down just a bit, and get Mother Nature to bring down some white stuff....

Let it snow!

Snow covers the ground at the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington VT 

Snow!! Well a dusting anyway.

Overnight, Killington received it's first legitimate region-wide snow fall of the nascent ski season. Accumulating snow fell throughout the Killington Basin area. Accumulation was very light, on the order of 1/2 inch. However, the significance of the accumulation should not be overlooked --- the ground is now cold enough in general to hold snow.

First accumulating snow at the Birch Ridge Inn of the 2013-2014 season.

The long range weather forecast indicates that we will be experiencing a general chill down next week, after the cold front with leading r@!n transits the area. It's time to start your snow dances!

Let it snow!

Opening day at Killington has it's rewards! 

It was not the longest of ski days, but it is great to be back out on the mountain on the snow! Kudo's to the Killington Resort for getting the resort open again for skiing and riding in October! And, I, along with everyone else who participated in todays opening, scored a nice hat to celebrate opening day. Way to go Killington!

Skiing and riding today, and for this foreseeable future, is limited to Rime and Reason. A blanket of heavy wet snow has been laid down on both trails. Skier and rider traffic are compressing the snow and building small bumps in the process. While the resort is open for skiing and riding, conditions are really for intermediates and above, as there is NO BEGINNER TERRAIN available.

That being said... "it was Glorious!"

Access to the terrain, at least for this weekend, is via the "Stairway to Heaven". A combination of construction activities for the New Peak Lodge, plus snowmaking focus to lay down good snow on real ski trails, have made it necessary to walk down the stairway to access the North Ridge region, as well as walking back up the stairway to get back to the K1 Gondola to down load to the K1 Base Lodge at the end of ski time. From personal experience the walk down is very easy. It did require more than a few deep breaths for me to make the hike back up in ski boots with my ski's over the shoulder. (Mary blames it on me getting older... I blame it on the altitude.) Never matter, the walk on the stairs is quite manageable if you are in the mood to air out the ski legs and make a few turns on the early season snow.

Overall ski conditions today were highly variable on mostly packed man made snow. Rime was probably groomed top to bottom, but there were still places where water bars created deep troughs. Conditions were actually perfect to re-awaken ski legs that were reshaped by a summer of golfing. While some people were straight lining the trails, most people on the slopes were enjoying their turns. Between the hike out and the bumps, it was a nice morning work out on the mountain.

Below are some pictures from today on the mountain. Enjoy!

The "Stairway to Heaven" at North Ridge on Killington Peak

Our assistant, Shelly, buckling in for the first ride of the season.

Looking up Rime towards a cloud draped Killington Peak.

The view down Rime towards the intersection with Great Northern.

Snow guns on Grea Northern at Reason.

Looking up Rime below Great Northern.

The view towards the Killington Basin area and lower Rime.

The Hat! Thank you Killington!

Let it snow!

Ski's in the car and ready to go. 

it's still twig season. But....IT'S ALSO SKI SEASON!!!!!!

Snow makers have been busy at work making snow on the upper elevations of Killington peak. So much so, that the resort will "Officially Open" on Friday October 25th for the 2013-2014 ski season. Friday's opening, at 9:00 AM, will be for season pass holders only.

The general public is invited to enjoy skiing and riding at Killington starting on Saturday October 26th at 8:00 AM.

Skiing and riding will be limited to the upper terrain on Killington Peak in the North Ridge area. Skiers will be uploaded using the K1 Gondola. Hiking up the "Stairway to Heaven" at the top of the North Ridge chair will be required to get back to the K1 Gondola will be required to download from the top of the mountain.

The resort was going to "drop the ropes" early this afternoon in a flash opening for locals. Our assistant was heading out after completing her morning shift to take her first rides of the season. I plan on trying to be on the mountain tomorrow morning (assuming I can find all of my kit scattered around the inn).

With luck.. this will be the start of a long and "glorious" ski season.

Let it Snow!

Snow making operations have begun on Killington Peak 

Sometimes winter seasons have false starts, so maintaining a modicum of composure is always a wise move. But I am excited about the near term arrival of the ski season. If I am ready... that's another story..

Start with the obvious.... the season's pass to Killington... Been there... done that... picked it up last week. That's of the list.

Around the inn...

Winter marketing programs in good shape. Transitioned our main website birchridge.com and mobile m.birchridge.com to winter.

Loaded all the winter season data into birchridge.com's Ski Package Calculator. Birch Ridge's proprietary ski package calculator will compute the cost of any ski package at the Birch Ridge Inn, taking advantage of all of the Killington Resorts' various ski ticket discount programs. It is a great place to start to plan your Killington winter ski vacation at the Birch Ridge Inn.

Birch Ridge Inn wifi network redesign completed. Waiting for last fall foliage guests to depart the inn this weekend before implementing. Our guests wifi demands have increased every year (and since I came out of the computer networking business, it is a fun personal project to keep my skills sharp.)

Improvements finished to Audio system in restaurant and Audio/Video system in the Great Room. Another fun project completed.

Wine show season underway. Attended a distributors fall show this week. Another one planned for next week. Making selections to add to the Inn's wine list for winter. How can you not have fun sampling wine all afternoon...

Outside yardwork... let's not talk about that one... still needs work.

Ski equipment... Clothing, boots, ski's, etc to be brought out of storage imminently.

Golf clubs... still in the car...

Killington Peak with the first signs of snow making visible

With the winter season just around the corner, there is still plenty of twig season work to finish.. Now if ski season begins before the twig season work is completed... so it goes..

Let it snow!

The last leaves of fall clinging to the trees near the Carriageway at the Birch Ridge Inn 

The party's over.. Let the new party begin!

Twig season , the denouement of summer, has arrived at Killington. Like Mud Season in the spring, when thoughts in Killington turn towards summer warmth and chasing little white balls down verdant fairways, Twig Season brings with it high hopes for the quick arrival of cold weather followed by copious amounts of snow. It all serves to tweak the souls of those of us who enjoy throwing ourselves down mountainsides in the cold New England winters.

Twig season is a time of reflection and preparation. We were fortunate this year to be able to play plenty of golf. We had a summer full of nice guests staying at the inn. We have a great team of employees to help us conduct the business of the inn in a professional manner. We have continued to work to improve the inn to better serve our guests going into the winter season.

Birch Ridge Inn entering "Twig Season"

Winter will be coming to Killington very soon. Daily I am asked "when will the ski season begin?"... or "When will it snow?" The answer is always with a measured amount of a wishful thinking "Tomorrow!" And it will be here soon enough.

"Twig Season" heralds a time of change. As the leaves of Killington hit the forest floor, we all know that soon a blanket of white will follow.

....And it will be glorious!

Let it snow!