Ruts and the Bagel scanning Needles Eye 

Oh boy! What a day...

3 to 5 inches of new fluff on the mountain, plus some strategic, and not so strategic snow making, and Killington was a brand new resort this morning. The crust of yesterday was lurking like a great white shark just below the waves, but if you were able to keep on the bumps and away from the troughs, it was a beautiful day to ski at Killington.

Here's what Ruts and the Bagel are looking at....Needles Eye in all it bumpolicious glory! Click to enlarge..

Our first run brought us down Bear Claw just after the lifts opened (officially). For some reason, it was pretty skied off, which had us a little suspicious that there may have been a few early morning "practice" runs for competitors at this weekends Dew Tour. Upper Bear Claw had some scratch between small snow bumps. Exiting on to middle Wildfire, we found some pure delight. 4 inches of prime fluff over a flat base. Just enough to check speed and keep from bottoming out on the hard pack at the same time. It was a great start to the day. Lower Wildfire was under the guns. A soft velvet was accumulating on the trails. We would see later that inexperienced skiers and riders would take theses bumps like rodeo riders on a bull, but the first run down in relative solitude was just a blast.

Upon arriving at the base of Bear, we hopped on the Bear Mountain Quad to the top of Outer Limits. Snow guns were covering the top 3rd of the trail in a man-made blizzard. The rest of the trail looked groomed, so off we went. OL provided the perfect study in contrast for the day. The area under the guns, other than a very active ice slime by one of them, was just a delight. Lower OL, being groomed relatively late in the night, was a mix of the light fluff interspersed with golf ball sized chunks. While it was the proverbial "adrenaline rush" it was not a do over.

One more boost up the Bear quad brought us to a full top to bottom run on Wildfire. Sweet. Upper Wildfire, once you made the turn around the entrance, was beautiful powder. Because the surface was flat underneath, you knew that you could hit the building snow bumps with abandon, causing them to break apart in a poof of snow all around you. Really nice!

By this time, the Dew Tour Village was bringing in a lot of people of different abilities, making the junction of all trails at Lower Wildfire "interesting", so we decided to do Upper Skyburst to Dream Maker to Cruise Control. Upper Skyburst had the same chunk as OL. Dream Maker was not groomed, so the nights fluff was everywhere. Cruise Control was, shall we say, a low energy high speed run to the bottom. For some reason, I kept thinking of Sonny Bono on Cruise Control. Not good to have your mind wander from the task of skiing the trail at hand.

From the bottom of Cruise Control, we saw Needles Eye. Beautiful, bumpy, deceptive, alluring, lit by bright sunshine, all in one. The first run down was justifiably tentative. The entrance was just knarly. You had no idea on the first run if the snow was going to be soft, rock hard, slabtastic, or what!!! We all headed towards skiers right, where it looked like untracked powder... Oops... not enough base under foot... not good. So we headed back towards skiers left to where snow guns running all week left what looked like huge slabs of snow. Slabs they were, but soft and velvety as well. A total fake out from what we saw from the lift.

The second run down Needles Eye was just fun. Now being able to read the snow, we knew to drop into the trail on skiers left. Beautiful snow had blown in between the whales created by snow making. The little windblown crust on the top smoothly broke to reveal beautiful soft snow underneath. The bumps on Needles Eye were a sharp contrast to the groomed boredom of Cruise Control. Once a very physical rhythm was established, Needles Eye was just a delight to ski. It was a leg burn well worth the effort.

After Needles we did a few more runs off of Sky Peak including Bitter Sweet, High Road, and Skylark. They were nice, broad boulevards of snow, but they also seemed devoid of the character of the trail we had just challenged.

Having only gotten 4 hours sleep last night (a guest arrived at the inn very late at night or very early in the morning depending on your point of view), I broke off for the day and headed back to the inn. The boys ventured over to the Killington Peak side of the resort. I look forward to their tales of glory this evening at the inn around the fire in the Great Room.

The weather forecast is calling for snow tonight and tomorrow at Killington. If you are coming up to ski/ride or see the Dew Tour competition... be safe...

Let it snow!!!

Superpipe at Bear Mountain for the Dew Tour 

"it's not ice if there are no fish under it" - F.I.S and Birch Ridge Inn Bartender - Merisa....

There were no shades of blue or green visible today, except in the perfect azure sky. But that did not mean that the ski surface presented on the mountains today was beautiful soft powder. We should be that lucky.

Wednesdays brief warm up provided an opportunity for ski surfaces to experience a mid January softening. Wednesday nights sub-zero temperatures, locked the trails up tight. While Killingtons fleet of groomers tried to modify the terrain, and you did not want to be on a trail that was not groomed today, all they could do was create mere scratches in the hardpack allowing the sun to reflect off of faceted surfaces, instead of a shiny mirror.

With a great pair of edges on my skis, it really was not half bad today.

We started the day meeting some friends in the Vale parking lot at 10:00 AM. After boosting up Rams Head, sliding down Caper, boosting up Snowden, and sliding down Killink, we took the North Ridge Chair and traversed across the resort on Launch Pad. Our ultimate destination was Bear Mountain to see the final preparations for this weekends Dew Tour.

Instead of traversing to Wildfire, we headed to Cruise Control and Bearly. Both had been groomed well and were covered with a loose frozen granular. As we were flying low, all I could think of was walking these same trails in the summer months. A distance that was a 2 hour hike in the summer, was no more than 5 minutes on skis as we cruised down to Bear Mountain.

At Bear Mountain, the preparations for the Dew Tour are impressive. The Superpipe is gigantic. The mounds on the lower part of the freestyle course, the only part of the course visible from the Skyburst chair, are huge. It is just incredible how much snow the resort has made at Bear Mountain for this weekends event.

After a quick lift up the Sky Peak Quad, we took Sky Burst down to lower Wildfire for a hot chocolate in the Bear Mountain Base Lodge. Sky Burst was more of the same frozen granular, but lower Wildfire had snow -- glorious snow... The product of operating snow guns draping the area in a fine white powder in the low teen temperatures. In addition to Wildfire, snow making was also taking place in the Stash. While the Stash was not open, we did hear from some "poachers" that the man-made base depths in that area are huge. I am guessing that the resort will try to open the Stash for this weekend... but you never know.

After a warm up in the base lodge, we did several loops on Cruise Control, Bitter Sweet, Sky Lark, and High Road, before finishing our morning on Superstar. If you enjoy 'Super G" skiing, today was your day. I was a little bored, until we hit some more soft snow under the snow guns on Superstar.

Overall the mountain was in a finely manicured state. The candy coating on the trails created by Mother Nature with a little assist from the snowmaking and groomer crews, will provide hours of entertainment for the assembled masses that will visit Killington this weekend. Just make sure to bring your edges... you will be glad you did!

Let it snow!!!

Boys day out... 

Well...maybe it was more like a ski hour and a half instead of a whole day... but it was interesting all the same.

There was an element of foreboding driving to the resort this morning. Clouds were hanging low over the resort. The weatherman on the radio was talking about a wet storm front passing through the area this afternoon. The parking lots at the resort were virtually empty; the product of the timed escape of visitors to the area for MLK weekend, escaping back to the real world away from the mountains.

But the gang, and then some, was in the base lodge, in their "assigned spots" ready to face what ever Mother Nature, the Resort, and last night grooming team had to offer.

With the low clouds hanging over the resort, we headed towards the Superstar Quad, figuring visibility would make skiing improbable off the K1 Gondola. (We later learned from others we encountered on the slopes that we probably made the right choice in the early morning, as Killington Peak was totally socked in.) Skye Peak had its share of low lying clouds. The traverse across the peak from the K1 to Skylark focused us all on paying attention fairly quickly. Skiing was basically by feel alone. But so it goes.

It was not a long morning on the slopes. We did Superstar, Sky Lark, Bittersweet, Cruise Control, Bitter Road and Sky Cruise. Upper surfaces were frozen corduroy, the product of the clouds laying down moisture into the snow surface. Lower surfaces were generally soft. Coverage was good, with the possible exception of a ledge outcropping here and there that had been uncovered by grooming crews the last couple of days. When the cloud deck was above the trail, every trail we skied was a groomed cruiser. When the cloud was on the deck, the grooming did not matter. Little dips and swhales became troughs and bumps when you could not see them.

After an hour and a half of skiing the same terrain over and over, Howie called "Johnny Boys" and the ski day came to an end. Over a Belgian Waffle and a cup of tea, we all traded stories of ski greatness, preparing ourselves to head out on the slopes for another day in the very near future.

Let it snow!!!

Killington Resort Today 

In classic MLK weekend fashion, below zero temperatures descended upon the Killington Region overnight. I say MLK fashion because for some reason MLK weekend seems like it is a binary... temps are either below zero for a January Freeze, or above 40 for a January Thaw... this year it is the freeze.

Let it snow!!!

Birch Ridge Inn blanketed in new snow 

Has the curse of Irene been broken?

Since early Thursday, 9 inches of new snow have blanked the Killington area. Light, fluffy, bright white, beautiful snow!

Conditions today are seasonably cold with a bright blue sky to contrast with the freshly fallen snow. High winds overnight raised havoc with travelers coming to Killington for the MLK weekend. Blowing and drifting snow covered most roads. When we woke this morning, the Carriageway at the inn was filled with 2-3 inches of snow, the handiwork of 50 MPH wind gusts which descended upon the area as the snow storm pulled away.

We are not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. A couple of hours behind the snow blower this morning, had the inn was back in shape to receive guests later in the day, and this evening for dinner service.

On the mountain, work is continuing to take place to get ready for next weekends Dew our. The resort is taking advantage of cold temperatures today to make snow in many places around the resort. Snow guns in operation are visible in both the Needles Eye area and on Highline. Individual guns in high traffic areas are also dotting the resort as they compliment the work of Mother Nature. It is great to finally see all the snow around the area.

Let it snow!!!

The Umbrella Bars at K1 light up the fog at Killington 

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not trobled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet..." Matthew 24: 6-8

Today was a day filled with contrasts at Killington. From the weather at the resort, to the resort personnel, to the lifts, to the conditions of the trails, if you were a glass half empty person you had a terrible day...if you are a glass half full person, today had moments that were "glorious".

The weather today has sort of set the stage. In the space of the morning we had calm, 40 MPH winds... we had clear skies, we had fog, we had freezing R@!n, we had ice pellets, we had fluffy light snow, we had driving hard nasty wet snow....and as I look out my office window as I write this blog we have sunshine!

The weather, of course, translated into the resort in unpredictable fashion. Around the base lodges we had parking attendants that were just miserable trying to direct traffic. We had people shoveling and snow blowing heavy, wet, crusty snow. But then you go to bag check, and the guy taking the bags is bright and friendly... you go to the Bear Mountain Chair (more on that later) and you would think that the girl scanning the passes was at a party, she was so happy to see people coming through her line.

The lifts could not make up their mind... were they going to run, or were they going to stay home for the day. The K1 Gondola was moving before 9:00 AM, but in the wrong direction. All of the cars were being pulled off the cable and brought into the barn. In the early morning, the Sky Burst Quad and the Needles Eye Quad seemed to be suffering the same fate. They were moving, but they did not load until well after 10:00 AM. But never matter, between the Superstar Quad, the Bear Mountain Quad, and the Northbrook Quad (aka "The Chair to No Where") maneuvering around the mountain was achievable (if you overlook skiing under the tuna nets on the old Snow Shed Cross Over to get back from Bear Mountain. The nets had spots in the middle which were tied up, creating a hole to ski thru. Not sure if the holes are officially sanctioned, but they were there...And it was the only way from Bear Mountain to the rest of the resort when the Sky Burst Quad was not loading..).

The weather also created some interesting ski conditions. Visibility was always being challenged be it fog, ice, or wet. Groomed surfaces were initially quite loud, as the grooves created by the grooming machines glazed solid overnight. Un-groomed surfaces initially were a mish mash of chunky, crusty, soft bumps, slick booms. Skier traffic after the first hour or so took care of all of the surface flaws to reveal a nice, soft, generally compliant surface caused by yesterday snow mixed with the stuff coming out of the atmosphere today.

We spend the morning on the Sky Peak side of the resort. Upper Sky Burst was groomed flat and fast, with the aforementioned loud grooves. Lower Wild Fire was nice and soft, with some small bumps developing. Upper Wildfire was somewhere in the middle. It was groomed flat, but it did have some surface features which prevented mindless cruising. People were skiing Superstar. Not sure if the ropes were down or people were just poaching. It did not look fun. We won't talk about the Snow Shed Crossover....

Cruise Control was set up nicely. I did find a nice, soft, small bump line on skiers right on Lower Cruise Control in an area left untouched by last nights groomers. Out of necessity, we did several loops down High Road on the Chair to Nowhere. It was soft, but at times it was also choked with skier traffic.

Bittersweet was cum se cum sa. If you could see, you could find lines with small bumps and soft snow. On those times when skiing by braille was required, I found myself getting bounced around a lot going down Bittersweet. So it goes.

Skylark was generally very nice from top to bottom. I think because of the lift situation, not many people were using Skylark this morning. The upper part was a nice cruiser with some areas of small bumps (really turn spots) kicked up by skier traffic. Lower Skylark had good soft lines down both skiers right and left.

Superstar was not groomed and looked, shall we say...interesting. I think if it were a beautiful sunny day, we would have gone down Superstar, but as the picture of the Umbrella Bar taken from the Superstar Quad highlights, there was a lot of fog in the base area which kept visibility down.

Yesterdays storm at Killington saw 4-6 inches of snow fall over the area. The forecast for today calls for a similar amount, with the majority falling overnight. If you are planning on coming to Killington this weekend, have a safe drive. You will be rewarded with a mountain that is continuing to improve with every snowflake falling from the sky.

Let it snow!!!

Early morning snow covers the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

A long overdue winter snowstorm has swept over the Killington region blanketing the area in a carpet of bright white snow.

Snow started in the early morning hours. At 10AM at the inn, the snow stake showed 2 inches of new accumulation. Blowing and drifting snow was deeper in some areas (and of course wind blown bare in others).

Snow is continuing to fall in the area at a rapid rate and is expected for most of the day. In addition, another storm is due to hit the area late tomorrow, hopefully adding to the new snow totals.

Let it snow!!!