Break bread with friends at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington. 

After a quick break from the fall foliage season, the restaurant at the Birch Ridge Inn re-opens for the winter season this evening.

For the next 4 weekends, through December 14th, the restaurant will be serving dinner to inn guests and the general public on Friday and Saturday evenings starting at 6:00 PM. As usual, dinner will be served in both the dining room and the Great Room. Starting on Tuesday December 17th, the restaurant will move into it's Holiday schedule, serving dinner nightly thru January 3rd.

Chef Steve "Frizzie" Byrne is in the kitchen now with his crew preparing this weekends opening menu. If you would like reservations for this weekend, give us a call at the inn at 800-435-8566 or 802-422-4293. If you prefer, you can always make our reservation online at birchridge.com .

Let it snow!

Long shadow from the top of Bittersweet looking North towards Killington Basin. 

This time of year, the sun barely gets over the ridge line between Killington Peak and Skye Peak. With the sun low on the horizon, long shadows are cast by the trees at the edge of open ski trails. Their shadows are like giant hands, poised to grab any skier or rider who intersects their darkness.

But that darkness, holds the key.

The minimal sunshine falling around the mountain lowers the ambient temperature. Force thousands of gallons of water and air through miles of pipe. Create a pinhole in the plumbing at the tip of a fixture to generate an aerosol when you combine the two. Spray the mixture into the shadow assisted cool air....and Voila... you have snow where Mother Nature is expecting bare ground.

The Killington Resort has been very busy making snow. Lots of it. So much so that they are able to open 3 of the 6 mountains at the Killington Resort including Skye Peak, Killington Peak, and Snowdon. In addition, snow makers have been at work on Snowshed, and it looks like Upper Rams Head.

Killington Peak to Skye Peak from Snowdon

Today the resort was offering skiing and riding from 5 lifts including the K1 Gondola, Snowshed Quad, North Ridge Triple, Bunny Buster Poma, and Superstar Quad. Conditions were generally machine groomed packed powder. Light was definitely dim as the sky was covered in a high overcast and the sun, as previously mentioned was fairly low on the horizon.

Highline and Killington Peak from the Superstar Quad

Bittersweet and Skye Lark were nicely covered with a very nice surface. The Upper headwall on Superstar was also open. Most skiers and riders were able to make nice carving turns down the steep slope. Off of Killington Peak, the North Ridge Pod is continuing to function as the anchor set of trails. A terrain park is set up in Reason for those who want to enjoy some rails. Great Northern down to Snowdon and Bunny Buster was skiing well. Chute under the Snowdon Quad was open with some areas of thin cover.

Attendance at the resort today was higher than I expected, although I was able to park within 100 feet of the Snowdon quad and never waited in a lift line. Lots of people from down south up for the weekend to get some pre turkey day runs in before the holiday shopping season begins.

The forecast is calling for temperatures to warm up a bit, For those planning on skiing and riding this weekend, that is all good, as it will soften up the surfaces a little. Next week, it looks like the deep freeze returns, which means a restart of the snow making system and (hopefully) more terrain open for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Let it snow!

New carpet being installed at the Birch Ridge Inn 

Work continues around the inn to prepare for the coming winter season.

This week, new carpets are being installed in the foyer, sitting room, hallways, and stairs around the inn. It is hard to believe but we have been running our property as the Birch Ridge Inn for 16 years now. We installed the carpet being replaced (now the old carpet??) when we converted the property to become an inn. Just amazing to think how quickly the years have gone bye. The good news is that we (still) love being innkeepers, have a lot of pride in our business, and are continuing to invest to keep our inn in great shape for our guests.

The inn will be out of commission thru Thursday this week while the carpets are being replaced. The inn will be open for lodging this weekend. Our restaurant will re-open for the winter season next weekend, on November 22nd.

Stay tuned for more updates on improvements we are making to Birch Ridge going into the winter.

Let it snow!

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!