The Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree 

On Monday November 26, 2012, a group of us left the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington in search of the 2012 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree.

Although it may sound easier than it seems, Mary has identified several defunct Christmas Tree farms in the area which have overgrown trees suitable to fill the Great Room at the inn. This years tree stands, at the top of the star, 16 feet with 15 and 1/2 of that being a majestic Vermont grown Fraser fir.

This year the tree is decorated in traditional colored lights and colored glass ornaments. Thousands of strands of tinsel, each one hand placed by Mary, adorn the tree. The tinsel dances with the air currents in the Great Room causing the christmas tree to come alive.

After some editing, this years Christmas Tree video was posted this afternoon on Youtube. You can click on the player below to open up a window to play the video.

Special thanks for helping us hunt down this years tree goes to Walt, Peter, and Howie. They have now become old hands at the annual search, having gone with us for several years now on our annual trek. Thanks also go out to Christmas Tree Monday new comer Ed. While we have gotten trees for Ed and his wife in the past, this is the first year that Ed has officially joined the hunt (and enjoyed breaking egg rolls with the group at lunch!).

In a little bit of Killington news for today, the resort is continuing to hammer the slopes with round the clock snow making. Cold temperatures have settled over the Killington Region, allowing the resort team to continuously make snow. And it looks like (shish...don't tell anyone you might jinx it) that Mother Nature may be sending Killington an early Christmas gift next week. Stay tuned....

Where ever you may be, aim your snow dance at Killington. Let it snow!

Superstar getting "Hosed" 

if Mother Nature brings you cold weather, it's time to turn on the snow guns!

In response to the immature snow which fell earlier in the week across the mountains of Vermont, the Killington Resort "hosed up" and once again is making a major move to make snow across their open terrain. And it is glorious!

Mary and I started skiing today at the rather leisurely time of 11:30 this morning. Temperatures across the mountain were in the mid to high 20's with the "Killington Cloud" dimming the sunshine overhead. We parked right at the Snowdon Quad, donned our boots, and were on the chair in less than 10 minutes from leaving the inn, ready to explore the mountain.

Immediately we noticed that the resort was actively making snow over much of their open terrain. Resurfacing operations were taking place on Mouse Trap, Great Northern, Cascades, Superstar, Sky Lark, Rams Head, Caper and Snow Shed. In addition, snow guns were making snow all around the Rams Head, Snow Shed, and K1 base lodges, with the K1 Umbrella Bars getting heavily coated by the lower fan gun on Superstar.

We started skiing up in North Ridge. Rime, Reason, East Falls, Upper Double Dipper, and Down Draft were all well covered. Firm spots prevailed, so sharp edges were appreciated. But there was also plenty of loose granular on most of the trail edges to provide some soft goodness to support turns on aging knees.

Snowmaking operations resume at the Killington Resort, December 12, 2012. Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

We skied out down Great Northern. It was nicely soft in many places from the large number of snow guns deployed along the trail. Mouse Trap and Lower Bunny Buster featured much of the same. While snow guns were not running on Lower Bunny, the large Fan Gun on Mouse Trap was blanketing the Mouse Trap, Great Northern, Chute intersection with loads of snow.

From Lower Bunny Buster we traversed over to Superstar. Snow guns were running from top to bottom to resurface the trail. Superstar was open from the top to the High Road cut off. It looked rather undulating with vestigial water bars present, so we decided to bypass it. Bitter Sweet was nicely covered, and also in beautiful sunshine. Mary called it a do over (probably because of the sunshine). I took a run down Sky Lark, which was also quite nice.

Temperatures in Killington look like snow making operations will continue around the clock for several days, allowing the resort to complete resurfacing and begin some terrain expansion(with luck!). In addition (shish) there is some cold weather event predicted for the north country starting Sunday that looks promising. Wether anything comes of it remains to be seen, but the local weather forecasters are beginning to get a little excited (so cross your fingers and dance the soles of your feet off!). I will believe it again when I can take a snow stake picture with some white stuff to measure with the ruler... But it will come soon enough...

Where ever you may be, keep cranking on your snow dances and aim them at Killington.

Let it snow!

The Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree 

....if you live at a ski resort.

But as they say... "when life gives you lemons... you make lemonade!"

The early winter season is now upon us. As is usually the case this time of year we are actively getting the inn ready for the Christmas Holidays and winter ski season. While we wish Mother Nature would drop some snow across the region, we are using the time that we would have spent with the snow blower on other activities around the inn.

Mary has basically completed decorating the inn for Christmas. The tree is fully up in the Great Room. This years tree features old fashion multi-colored lights and colored glass ornaments. The march of the animated toys has also begun. Guests over the weekend were serenaded by the usual culprits included the "Dancing Snowman".

Behind the scenes, I have been having fun once again upgrading the inn's internet network. While we are waiting for Vermontel to upgrade our network connection from 2 load balanced dsl lines to fiber optic service(next summer??), I have been working on the internal network to squeeze out as much bandwidth as possible for the inn's use and the use of our inn guests. Over the weekend I re-cabled our back building (with rooms 5-10) and installed a new wifi node. For the techies out there, that building is now covered by full 802.11N service in both 2Ghz and 5Ghz bands.

Business owners all around town are doing the same. With a stiff upper lip and an eye to the sky, the town is being primped to greet the arrival of holiday visitors over the next few weeks. For their part, the Killington Resort is putting up a fight, taking advantage of every opportunity available to make snow. And with cold weather settling over the area for the week, it looks like they might be able to make some progress.

The restaurant at Birch Ridge begins its regular winter schedule tonight. Once again this winter, our regular winter schedule features dinner in both the restaurant and the Great Room lounge Tuesday through Saturday night starting at 6:00 PM. With winter "officially" set to begin next week, all we need now is for a little cooperation from Mother Nature to make things right.

Where ever you may be, aim your snow dance at Killington. Let it snow!

Snowmaking operations on going around Killington Resort 

Sunny days and precipitation at night. Most people would be thrilled with that kind of weather pattern. However, earlier this week the material falling from the sky was of the non-crystaline form. Immature snow by another name. Not the best for a ski resort heading into the winter season. But the Killington Resort has barely skipped a beat.

Last week, in anticipation of a brief warm up this week, the resort let loose their snow making system to cover wide sections of terrain across the mountains. With so much terrain covered by so much snow, the resort has been able to provide good skiing and riding to early season visitors all week. And with the return of low temperatures last evening, the resort responded again with another round of aggressive snow making to resurface open terrain.

Killington knows snow making, and today saw the resort shrouded in a man-made blizzard. It is a lovely sight to see!

Snowmaking operations at the Killington Resort, December 6, 2012. Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

Generally this time of year, the Killington Resort continues snow making operations as long as favorable conditions for making snow persist. We have our fingers (and toes) crossed!.

Where ever you may be, keep cranking on your snow dances and aim them at Killington.

Let it snow!

Superstar getting top to bottom snow making. 

Last night saw a lovely light blanket of snow fall across Killington; making today a beautiful day to ski!

Depending upon where you were in Killington last night, and your elevation, an inch or three of new snow fell across the landscape. With temperatures near the single digits, the snow was definitely prime powder. While enough of it fell to provide freshies on several early runs, it was not quite enough to declare a "Powder Day". But for November 30th, in an age of global warming, skiing today was quite nice!

We left the ski lodge well before 9 to get in line at the K1 gondola. Ruts from RI was up for his first day of the season on the mountain. We scored the 4th cabin of the day, all but assuring untracked powder for our first run off Killington Peak. At the peak, the sun was covered in a mottled sky. With the thermometer reading a crisp 9 degrees fahrenheit, as we started our first run we quickly realized that finding all of the zippers on the ski clothes that were opened at the end of last season was a priority. The icy pokes through what were supposed to be warm jackets was an interesting addition to the first run.

The first run was a lovely cruise down the top of Great Northern to Upper East Fall. 2 to 3 inches of light snow covered the trails kicking powder tails in every direction with each turn. Yet the man made surface underneath gave one a feeling of authority as turn after effortless turn carved into the freshly fallen snow. We quickly hopped onto the North Ridge Triple and enjoyed the same experience all over again with a run straight down Rime.

After several loops down Rime and Great Northern we headed off to the other side of the resort with a boost up the Superstar Quad. Superstar itself, while not open for skiing yet, was being blasted from top to bottom by snow guns. The resort was putting on an impressive display of the power of their snow making system with the number of snow guns operating on Superstar.

Skiing Killington on November 30, 2012 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

From the top of Superstar, we traversed over to Bittersweet, While the fresh covering was well skied, the surface was generally soft and pliable. The constant light snow that Killington has received all week was really noticeable. Plus with the woods starting to turn white (not enough snow to poach yet so don't even think about it!) the resort just looks like winter, casting a nice feng shui across the ski slopes.

We did several loops from the Superstar Quad on Bittersweet from top to bottom, and Sky Lark from the top to Lower Bittersweet. Lower Sky Lark, while open, was covered in hard monster whales that looked like they were swallowing whole any skier of rider that tempted fate. We decided to save that for another day and struck out for the Snowdon Triple for a few more runs before calling it a day.

Overall, with the fresh snow, it was just a beautiful way to end the month of November on the slopes of Killington.

Let it snow!

Killington Resort showing a patina of snow from snow making and days of snow flurries.

Is this it? Has winter finally gained a toehold in Killington?

The Killington Resort has been blessed this week with favorable snow making conditions allowing them to plot a strategy to rapidly expand skiable terrain. Combined with a constant snow flurry that has been falling from the "K Cloud" atop Killington Peak; it sure looks like winter has finally established itself at the resort.

Neither Mary or I had a chance to get on the slopes this morning. Mary is busy decorating the inn's 16 foot Christmas tree in the Great Room... I had another session in the physical therapy room at Vermont Sports Medicine at Rams Head. But our Chef Frizzie did have the opportunity to take a few turns. He reported that conditions were continuing to improve all across the mountain as more snow accumulates across the resort. Frizzie will be back in the kitchen tomorrow. The inn's restaurant will be serving dinner on Friday and Saturday night this week with seating available both in the restaurant and at the bar in the Great Room.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak from the top of Snowdon 

A constant light snow fall, combined with round the clock snow making operations, has left Killington Resort in great shape for early season skiing and riding. While light conditions this morning were flat with a snow falling continuously, all of the trails we skied this morning were fairly soft and covered with several inches of freshly fallen fluff.

Today was not a crazy day on the mountain... just an early season tune up. We started in the Vail parking lot, skiing down to the Rams Head lift. Snow making was taking place all over Rams Head as the resort is clearly making a push to open more beginner terrain. From Rams Head we cruised down Caper to the Snowdon Quad. Caper had nice coverage. Fresh snow was to be found on every turn down the right side of the trail. While not a "powda day" by any stretch of the imagination, the nor-incher that has been blanketing Killington left several inches of nice snow to practice graceful turns while making the traverse to get to steeper terrain.

Boosting up the Snowdon Quad, Chute seemed nicely covered but eerily empty. We did not see a rope, but as I was trying out a knee brace for the first time on the slopes today, we decided to head to easier terrain. At the top of the quad we hung a left to make tracks down Bunny Buster to get to the K1 Gondola. Bunny Buster was well covered, however there were a few spots on Upper Bunny where the grooming machines tilled a little deep. It is early season, so this is to be expected, but it is just a reminder that one needs to pay attention out on the slopes and not get captivated by all of the beautiful snow falling down all around the mountains.

New exoskeleton for the left knee

On the K1 Gondola ride to Killington Peak the scope of the resorts snow making operations was on display. Just like at Rams Head, snow guns were pounding on Highline, clearly getting the trail covered to allow it to open soon. East Fall was well covered. From the gondola cabin, it looked quite skiable; but without the Canyon Quad spinning, the run out back to the K1 Base Lodge still needs some work. You can tell it will be soon!.

From Killington Peak we skied down into North Ridge. Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, and Upper Double Dipper were all in great shape. We did multiple laps on the North Ridge Triple, picking up the pace and pushing the knee a little harder each time. I found that my leg muscles seemed like they were in Mid-March condition (thank you Brie at Vermont Sports Medicine!), allowing me to push off pretty hard on each turn if the mood fit. While the first few laps with the knee brace took a little getting used to, overall it seemed to be doing a good job in keeping the knee joint pain free. Of course, this is just the early season. It will be interesting to see how it reacts in mid winter when cruising through some bumps on the back side of the resort.

Overall, it was a really nice morning on the slopes. It's good to be skiing again!

Where ever you may be, keep doing your snow dances aimed at Killington. Let it snow!