Snow guns covering Superstar with snow in the morning sun. 

At Killington we tend to think differently. I could have gone Christmas shopping today, but when I got up this morning there was a beautiful blue sky. Temperatures were in the low 20's with a "slight" breeze. Knowing that the resort has been making snow with the Christmas Holiday season fast approaching, it was the ideal day to go out and make some turns on the slopes.

The calendar says that winter officially starts at the end of this week. That means that historically this is the darkest week of the year, in terms of sunshine falling on the trails, of the winter season. And today lived up to that challenge. Arriving at the resort you were presented with the surreal man-made blizzard covering the area in fine, powdery, snow. With the sun just barely above the mountain peak, the shadows created a moody feeling. The faint of heart might have trepidation, but anyone who skies Killington regularly knows that the chaos the image paints just means that the resort is going all out to make as much snow as they can while they have the right conditions.

Snow at Killington Resort on December 19, 2011 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

We started the day with a boost up to Killington Peak. Wind gusts at the peak were quiet strong, bouncing the gondola cabin a couple of times as we arrived at the upper terminal. The sun was shining brightly with nary a cloud in the sky, yet light snow was raining down, being swept up to the top of the mountain by the wind carrying the product of hundreds of snow guns working their magic around the resort. The North Ridge area, scene of basically all of the early season skiing and riding at Killington, was soft and velvety. Upper East Fall, basically in the shadows the whole way except for far skiers left, was nicely consistent. There were a couple of "death cookies" in the middle of the trail; their origin however was a puzzle since there were not any visible craters from which they could have erupted. Rime under the lift was the best it has been all season. Light skier traffic this morning did not erode the surface. We did it several times in the early morning, and then later in the day. Every time it was nice.

On the Skye Peak side of the resort, Superstar is seeing aggressive snow making from top to bottom. A very strong downslope wind was present at the top. Mary briefly thought she lost me on the traverse over to Sky Lark as I appeared to dip below the horizon of the upper Superstar Headwall on my traverse across the top of Sky Peak. I explained to her that I was doing an old sailing trick, tacking into the wind, to propel me across the mountain. It took her a minute, then she realized I had my arms spread apart with my jacket like a sail when she last saw me on the headwall, so it sort of made sense. (All I know is that it works!)

Upper Sky Lark was very chunky, the product of a snow groomer cutting up the crust left by wet snow guns last week. A couple of more grooming cycles and they will be all broken up, leaving a smooth surface in their place. Upper Bittersweet still was roped off, although there looked like there was adequate snow cover for skiing and riding. I would guess the rope will drop on Upper Bittersweet in the next couple of days, if not sooner.

The run of the day was probably Lower Bittersweet. Lower Bittersweet was very dark in the shadows cast by the mountain, but the snow surface once you got below the junction with High Road was beautifully soft. It was a definite do over.

Killington is continuing their snow making operations full bore as we prepare for the Christmas Holidays... Now, how do I find time for Christmas Shopping? Let it snow!

Ruts and the Bagel on their first 2011/2012 ski day at Killington 

With the warm wet weather we had yesterday, it was with much trepidation that I agreed to go with my friends, Ruts and the Bagel, on their first ski adventure at Killington for the 2011/2012 season. After a few runs, we were all surprise at how well the mountain was skiing. Below you will find a video on Youtube with a little vignette about our adventure...Enjoy!

......Let it snow!

Roof repairs being completed at Birch Ridge earlier this week. 

Mother Nature pulls on the string all the time. We all like to think we can control her. The Killington Resort continuously makes snow when Mother Nature comes up a little short. I spend hours behind my snow blower when Mother Nature throws those of us lucky enough to live at the ski resort a bone. In the end, it all hopefully balances somewhere between the "Around the World" and "Sleeper".

Today is not a bluebird day at Killington. Temperatures at the inn are running above freezing, and it's a little damp. At least it's not r@!ning at this point, although there is the occasional sprinkle of NCP (Acronym refresher - NCP non-crystalline precipitation). Today's warm up was predicted (hey - the weathermen got one right!). It will be interesting to see if the prediction for colder temperatures for the next week that was in the same weather forecast holds true. Assuming it does, then the resort, with its enormous snow making capacity, should be in good shape going into the Christmas Holiday week.

Around the inn we are continuing final preparations for Christmas. The decorations are pretty much set. The Christmas tree is just slurping up water, as freshly cut trees tend to do. The last of the Hurricane Irene damage has been fixed (I think). We had some latent roof damage that was discovered 2 weeks ago when the roof was covered with snow. Thank you to the brave roofers who went up on the icy roof to locate and repair the damage. So we are in good shape. Now if Mother Nature will just cover the roof again with snow! What's a few hours behind a snow blower between friends.....

Let it snow!!!

Dr Lyons coaxing the ivory keys for some Christmas Carols. 

You know you are blessed when people who were once complete strangers are now good friends.

Mary and I were reminded once again last night that moving to Killington many years ago was the right choice for us. We had the pleasure of attending our good friends, Dick and Noel Gluck's, annual Christmas party with a lot of mutual friends from the Killington community. With Dr. Lyons on the piano leading the group in Christmas Carols, it was a nice night with delicious food, a few tasty "adult beverages', and great company. It is always a great party to lead into the holiday season.

Let it snow!!!

Killington Peak, sans the old Killington Gondola Station/Restaurant 

There is something about Monday mornings. In a resort it means that the weekend is over and the majority of guests have departed for home. But even before we moved to Vermont full time almost 15 years ago, staying over Sunday night to ski on Monday held a special place in our psyche.

This morning it was just spectacular to be on the mountain. Of course we could use more snow, what ski resort couldn't. But this morning the sun was shining brightly, the trails were relatively empty (at least early), and the temperatures were quite favorable. In fact, the temperatures seemed to be in the goldilocks region. Cold enough to allow the resort to continue to make snow, while warm enough to ski without a neck gator and have the coat collar unsnapped.

The Killington Resort has flipped their snow making operation into high gear. Most of the action today has been concentrated on Skye Peak along Upper Superstar, Skye Lark and Bittersweet. Snow Guns and the Fan Gun were also operating at Snowdon in the Chute area and at the base of Mousetrap. Clearly the resort is taking advantage of every window of opportunity to lay down snow cover on as many trails as possible, as quickly as possible.

Conditions were similar to what we experienced on Friday with the exception that snow surfaces were a little softer and the snow guns we skied under were a little drier. Clearly the resort is still making some snow in the North Ridge area to refresh conditions, and it shows. There was a lot of nice, soft snow to make turns on this morning.

All in all, a really nice Monday morning to be on a mountain top in Vermont.....Let it snow!!!

Great Northern "Killink Bypass" under the guns 

It is not mid winter. There is limited terrain open. There are snow guns pushing out water with consistencies varying from "light fluff" to "5 alarm fire hose". There are ski teams race training everywhere. There are herbs and herbettes(is that a word?) playing hooky from work. There are lift lines. Can I say anything else bad...

Now for the good...

There is skiing on real snow! There is clean fresh air. There are beautiful blue skies with thin wispy clouds. There is that great feeling of being on top of the mountain. There is the crunch of snow under the skis. There are the tight turns under the chair lift. There are the sweeping turns on Upper Great Northern (or West Glade if you have skied at Killington for years). There is the feel of new ski boots. There is camaraderie in the base lodge. There are new people to meet on the chair lifts and in the gondola. There are lots of happy people all over the resort with smiling faces. There was a late breakfast at Johnny Boys with good friends.

In otherwords.. it was just a great morning to take a few runs skiing at Killington.

Now for the conditions...The resort today was basically skiing from the K1 Gondola, the North Ridge Triple, the Snowdon Triple and the Snowdon Poma. Upper terrain on the mountain was in great shape, with nice mid winter quality snow in most spots. Thinness will easily develop down the middle of each trail as skier traffic wears the surface, but skiers right and left on all the trails I skied on where nice soft snow with plenty of coverage to make some nice carving turns.

From the peak we were for all practical purposes limited to skiing Rime and Great Northern to the North Ridge Triple. Ski race training was taking place on Upper East Falls. Snow guns were going on sections of Great Northern, especially at the high traffic merge spot at Killink.

Lower sections of the mountain, other than the last part of Lower Bunny Buster, still had snow making operations ongoing when we skied down off the peak. Snow guns at the lower elevations were very wet with considerable body sliming taking place as we passed under the guns. Surfaces near the snow guns were also very wet, as one would expect given the high water content being expelled by the guns.

Crowds at the mountain in the early hours was solid. Many ski teams were on the mountain either officially training, our out for some runs. The hooky factor also seemed pretty high with people taking the day off from work to make a few turns.

All in all, it was a pretty morning to be out on the mountain. Hopefully there are many more to come in the next few weeks.

Where ever you may be this weekend....Let it snow!!!

White creamy goodness all around Killington 

Killington Got Snow!

Alright... contain yourself. We don't want to get Mother Nature or Ullr upset by wild displays of irrational exuberance.

The warm air pattern which has held sway with local weather for the last week at Killington broke last night with a cascade of 3 to 6 inches of heavy wet snow falling around the region. Although the weather service had been predicting that the heaviest snow would fall on the eastern side of the Green Mountains, anecdotal evidence from people coming to Killington from Rutland and points west indicated that snow totals were probably slightly higher on the western facing slopes. But again, we are talking small differences.

The weather pattern in Killington the last few weeks has been fairly predictable. For the last 5 weeks we have had a period of snow, followed by a warm up. It started in late October with the warm up reaching the high 60's and low 70s. Each week since, the warm up had dropped 10 degrees into the 60's, 50's, 40's, before this week when highs reached the upper 30's on Monday. You can see that winter is approaching..Is the cold air here to stay is anyones guess, but if the pattern holds true one would guess that it will. And of course that would mean that winter is establishing itself in Killington.

This weekend at Killington you can enjoy the Killington Holiday Festival produced by the Killington Chamber of Commerce at the Killington Grand Hotel. Mary is up decorating the Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree at the Grand this morning as part of the "Festival of Trees". The Festival runs Friday and Saturday and is great for "children of all ages".

With some luck, we will be starting to get out on the mountain for some skiing in the next few days. It has been a couple of weeks since I got my new ski boots from Surefoot. I was beginning to think that I had jinxed the season, as snow conditions at the area have not improved since I got the boots. But,last nights snow fall has belayed my fears. It's time to get on the mountain and get into a winter schedule.

Where ever you may be....Let it snow!!!