High Overcast drapes Killington Peak 

I never thought that my next blog post would be about a hurricane coming up the northeast coast in late October. I should be writing about snow covered mountains and excited skiers and riders. Instead, everybody is getting ready to hunker down for what could be an uncertain night.

Preparations are going on all around Killington in advance of the arrival of hurricane Sandy. Vermont's governor, Peter Shumlin, has already declared a state of emergency across the state. The combination of an election year, the ghost of Irene, and the weird nature of the impending storm has brought the early action to help mobilize resources across the state. Unlike Irene, which brought damaging floods due to a tremendous amount of rain, wind damage is the expectation from Sandy. Forecasts posted by the National Weather Service are calling for 40 to 60 MPH wind gusts with higher speeds on mountain peaks.

In Killington proper, town officials are mobilizing. Emails were sent out yesterday to all residents, undoubtedly using the mailing lists accumulated during last years Irene crisis. Residents have been asked to make sure that culverts in their area are clear, and to secure their structures; removing lawn furniture and other loose items which could become potential missiles in the high winds. If there is significant power outages across the region, the town is prepared to open the Killington Elementary School on School House Road as an emergency shelter.

Being political season, with election campaigns in full swing, political candidates are also getting into the act emailing constituents (and potential constituents) about storm preparedness, The big thing here, in a true demonstration that weather has the upper hand, has been a call by all of the candidates to remove their political yard signs less the become airborne in the wind.

Thus far at Killington, the immediate impact in the early morning hours of Monday has been minimal, as one would expect from a storm that is still 500 miles away. We have had a series of mountain hugging fogs the last couple of days, as temperatures have inverted somewhat with the approaching storm. Late yesterday afternoon, the wind in the area changed to the northeast, as expected. But with the worst wind impacts not expected for another 6 to 18 hours, completing final preparations ahead the storm is the assignment of the day.

Where ever you may be stay safe through the storm. It will get cold on the storms back side. Then I should be able to write about more pleasant adventures, like snow covered mountains, and skiers and riders playing in the snow.

Killington Peak awaiting skiers and riders this morning. 

Taking advantage of some natural snow that fell on Thursday and 20 degree temperatures on Friday, the Killington Ski Resort has opened for the 2012-2013 ski season. The opening today was a "soft opening" available as a "Season Pass-Holder Appreciation Day". In spite of being announced very late in the day on Friday, several hundred skiers and riders were in attendance this morning, while I was on the mountain taking pictures.

Weather conditions on Killington Peak this morning were just beautiful for an opening day. A beautiful, sunny, blue sky was offset by temperatures cold enough to allow the resort to continue to operate snow guns. Snow guns on upper Rime were still operating when I hiked off the mountain around noon. Still nursing a knee injury, I did not ski this morning. But I was granted lift access to Killington Peak to enjoy the festivities.

After taking the K1 Gondola to the peak, the Rime trail was accessed by the Killington Peak walkway, also know as the "Stairway to Heaven". Installed 2 years ago, it allows the resort to offer early season skiing and riding in the North Ridge area of the resort, without use of access trucks or complicated lift downloading procedures. One end of the walkway ends at the upper lift terminal of the K1 gondola. The other end terminates at the top of the North Ridge Triple chair lift.

Arriving at North Ridge, snow guns were in continuous operation, depositing several feet of new snow around the lift terminal area. To stay out of the way of skiers and riders, I hiked down PowerLine parallel to Rime, popping out on the trail about a hundred feet below the top of the lift. Rime was well covered with soft, ungroomed, snow. Many of the water bars on the trail were bumping up, allowing those who dared the opportunity to catch a little air.

I walked down the trail along the snow gun line, taking pictures as I went. Snow at the edge of the trail behind the snow guns was ankle deep. Snow on the trail, being produced by the snow guns, was significantly deeper.

Killington opens for skiing and riding, October 12, 2012 Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

(Thanks to FemaleSkiBum for one picture of her and chef. Merisa will be behind the bar at the inn tonight, and Frizzie will be cooking in the kitchen if you are in the area and are looking for nice evening out.)

About 3 quarters of the way down Rime, I traversed off of the trail at the Pump House to Great Northern. On foot, I took Great Northern back around to the base of the North Ridge Triple, before beginning my walk off of the mountain down Racers Edge. While I probably would have enjoyed my time on the mountain more if I had had skis on, it was really nice to be on the top of the mountain and out in the snow once again.

Below are a couple of Youtube clips I took during my walk about. Nothing fancy, just people having a good time on the first day of skiing for the season at Killington.

The resort is reporting that they will be making day to day decisions about continuing operations. With weather that will not be favorable for snow making due to enter the area tomorrow, it will be problematic. No matter... Kudo's to the resort for taking advantage of a spell of cold weather and getting the resort open for many of us to enjoy.

"Think snow".

First real snow of season falls on Killington Peak today. (Click to enlarge for a full panorama.) 

The Killington Resort has announced that it will open for skiing and riding for the 2012-2013 season tomorrow, October 13, 2012, at 10 AM. Killington will open as a Season Pass-holder Appreciation Day. Skiing and riding will be for season pass-holders and express card holders only. Express card holders will be charged $25 for skiing on Saturday. No single day lift tickets will be sold to the general public.

Hours of operation of Saturday will be from 10AM to 5PM, conditions permitting. Killington will be running the K1 Gondola and the North Ridge Triple. Hiking down and up the "Stairway to Heaven" between Killington Peak and the North Ridge Triple will be required.

I was told by a representative of the resort that people who held Chamber of Commerce merchant passes for last season will be receiving a separate email with instructions on how to take advantage of skiing and riding on Saturday. If I receive more information on this in the next few hours, I will update this blog post.

Congratulations are in order to the Killington team and the new Killington Resort President, Mike Solimano, for making a bold decision to push to get the resort open as early as possible.

At this point, skiing and riding will only be supported on Saturday. Continued operations are day to day based upon weather and snow conditions. As is said "Stay Tuned for More Information" as the early part of the 2012/2013 ski season kicks off in Killington.

Think Snow!

!!! 6:00 PM Update !!! The Killington Resort has posted a special event page for tomorrows Pass Holder Appreciation Day. It can be found by following the link!

Think Snow!

Home page for Birch Ridge Inn winter website 

The leaves on the trees in Killington are just about done. Snow flurries have been spotted in the air. The Killington Resort is making snow on the upper elevations. The Birch Ridge Inn winter website was launched early this morning. We are getting ready for winter and the coming ski season in Killington.

Over the last few weeks I have been working on upgrading the website for the inn. It is a continuous process of incremental change punctuated with a major change in the spring to attract summer visitors, and a major change in late fall to attract winter guests. Much of the work is cosmetic; changing web colors and photo galleries for instance. But some of it can be very serious; like search engine analysis and optimization. A big part of the winter task is getting ski package information loaded into our online calculator. Fortunately, I was able to get that done a couple of weeks ago, before most of the fall foliage guests arrived in Killington. There are still a few tasks to complete over the next couple of days before the first pass of the winter site is totally complete. But the bulk of it is now online for guests to use to help plan their winter trips to Killington while staying at the Birch Ridge Inn.

While we are on the subject of winter, the resort has been trying to make snow on Killington peak the last couple of days. They have committed to open as soon as is practical this year, aiming for the middle of this month. Whether or not they succeed is almost irrelevant. It is just great to see people in Killington get all excited about being able to go skiing and riding again in our very near futures. If you want to follow the resort's progress on getting the ski slopes open, you can take a peak at their facebook page. It is loaded with pictures of todays snowmaking operations, and of the new president, Mike Solimano, hiking on Killington peak with rock skis over his shoulder.

Where ever you may be keep it in the fairway, pack some hot hands, and start thinking about snow! It's time!

Light snow compliments fall foliage on Killington Peak 

As if right on cue to bid farewell to fall foliage visitors to Vermont on Columbus Day Weekend, Mother Nature deposited a gossamer coating of faerie dust on top of the mountain peaks of the Green Mountains. Guests woke up this morning to golden hued valleys accented with snow topped peaks.

At Killington, to give Mother Nature a boost (and claim some marketing cred), the resort pressurized their snow making system and made snow for the first time this season. At roughly 9:15 last night, the lights in the Great Room at the Birch Ridge Inn experienced a severe power dip; a telltale sign that the resort had hit the switch and turned over a bank of compressors to blow snow. (The only time the power dips regularly at the inn is when the resort makes snow. The correlation is virtually 100%.) Sure enough, when we woke up this morning, the Killington Resort was reporting snow making operations were underway.

With mild temperatures in the forecast for the next week, it will be a while before the resort can turn on their snowmaking system and leave it on. But the signs that winter is coming to the mountains are all around us. We should be skiing soon.

Where ever you may be keep it in the fairway, pack some hot hands, and start thinking about snow! It's time!

Looking across the Roaring Brook Valley towards the Birch Ridge Inn (Click to enlarge for a full panorama.) 

The fall colors in Killington, highlighted by a brilliant blue sky, are stunningly beautiful today. After many days of damp and dreary weather, todays clear sky was a fitting complement to the cacophony of color painted across the landscape.

Columbus Day weekend at Killington is upon us. The unofficial start of the ski season, at least from a retail hard/soft goods perspective, takes place this weekend. The Killington Ski Club will be holding their annual ski swap and sale at the Snow Shed Base Lodge at the Killington Resort starting tonight and going strong during both Saturday and Sunday. In addition, all of the ski shops at Killington typically kick off the season with an early season sale. If you need new skis or a new ski outfit, this is a great weekend to come to Killington and shop.

The crescendo of fall colors will be on display all weekend on Killington Peak. The Killington Resort will be running the K1 Gondola for scenic fall rides all weekend. After exiting the terminal at the top of the gondola, guests can take a very short walk to the very peak of Killington, which at 4241' makes it the second highest peak in Vermont. Of course many of us locally are starting to itch for a little snow on the top of Killington. Who knows.... with the every changing weather in New England anything is possible. (wink... wink... nod... nod...)

If you can make it to Killington this weekend, we will be serving dinner nightly in the restaurant and Great Room at the Birch Ridge Inn. Stop in and say hello.

If you can't make it to Killington, where ever you may be keep it in the fairway, pack some hot hands, and start thinking about snow! It's time!

Killington Peak in it's fall finery (Click to enlarge for a full panorama.) 

Last week, the Killington Pico Ski Resort and it's owner, Powdr Corporation of Park City Utah, announced senior management changes at the Killington Resort. Chris Nyberg, who was hired by Powdr to run the Killington Resort when it was acquired by Powdr, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer for all of Powdr's Resort operations. Mike Solimano, a 12 year Killington Resort employee, has been promoted to be the new President and General Manager of the Killington Resort.

A little background before going into the changes. When Powdr purchased the Killington Resort in a deal with SP Land Corporation and the American Skiing Company (ASC), it had a fair share of problems. Yes, Killington was (and still is) the largest ski resort in the eastern United States. Yes, Killington attracted the most skier and riders in any demographic versus any other ski resort in the eastern United States. However, many years of financial difficulties with the then parent company, ASC, had left the resort starved for resources, including a proverbial boatload of differed maintenance and capital improvement projects.

Like many businesses in the same financial situation, the Killington Resort was ripe for a turnaround. Powdr Corporation, recognizing the potential for Killington, purchased a controlling interest in the resort and installed Chris Nyberg as the president. Like many presidents brought into troubled companies, Chris set about the task of rationalizing the resort, identifying what needed to be done, and evaluating where capital purchases would improve the product offered by the resort. Like many first presidents in a turnaround situation, Chris's unstated job was to right the resort and get it on a sound footing for the future. With that job accomplished, it is appropriate for Chris to move on, setting the stage for a new manager to begin the next phase of the resort. That new manager is Mike Solimano.

In the short week that Mike has been president of the Killington Resort, he has been making the rounds through the Killington community to outline a series of initiatives he intends to follow to move Killington from it's recovery phase into a growth phase. I, along with several other members of the business community, had the opportunity to meet with Mike early this week. Mike also participated in an interview with the local newspaper, the Mountain Times. They published information from that interview in the Mountain Times available at newsstands this afternoon. (My presumption is that it will also be online at mountaintimes.info when their website is updated with this weeks news.)

In the conversations with members of the Killington community, Mike has emphasized that he wants to return Killington back to the basics which made it the largest, most popular, ski resort in the East. To accomplish that, he said that the resort under his direction would return to Killington's roots of being the first ski resort to open and the last to close. He did caveat that, of course, in his discussion. We all know that there has been some substantial changes in the local climate at Killington in the last 20 years. But Mike did say that their plan is to aggressively make snow when weather conditions were favorable to both foster early skiing and riding, and keep the ski season going into the spring.

Mike also spoke of several other initiatives which will being smiles to the Killington faithful. The planned change to turn lifts on the weekends starting at 8:30 AM instead of the historical 8:00 AM which was announced with the sale of season passes earlier this year will be changed. While all lifts will not turn at 8:00 AM, the resort will run the K1 Gondola to give the Killington regulars access to the resort at their normal hour. (I can say from running an inn that most of our guests hit the slopes around 10:00 AM. But I am personally happy with the change to run the K1 at 8 as it will give me a chance to get some runs in during the early morning hours before going to work for the day.)

In his discussions, Mike also said that he was very much aware that skiing is all about fun. To that end, he plans on bringing back the "Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge" in the spring. Mike want's the end of season party to return. He was at the resort when the party was a fitting celebration of skiing in the spring in Killington. He wants to do what he can to make that spirit return.

From the conversations, and from published reports, Mike is ready to take on the reigns of the Killington Resort and move it to the next level. Mike has lived in the community and been a member of the Killington team for years. He understands the impact that the Killington Resort has on the region, and the impact the resort has on the ski industry on the East Coast. Mike also understands, and has demonstrated by his first series of meetings since being appointed president, that the Killington Resort and the Killington community need to all work together to satisfy the guests who visit the region. In the meeting I attended, I found Mike's openness about the resort and the community working together to be very positive.

Chris Nyberg had to make some very hard decisions when he arrived at Killington on how best to first save, then repair and rejuvenate the resort. With those hard decisions now in the history books, Mike Solimano can take charge of the resort as it enters an up cycle, returning the Killington Resort to it's roots of being one of the worlds premier ski resorts.

Thank You Chris for turning around Killington. Good Luck as you move into your new position in Park City.

Congratulations Mike Solomano as you take charge of the Killington Resort. We all know that skiing is a business, but it is also about having fun. Killington has always been an interesting place to live and play at. We wish you well as you embark on putting your imprimatur on the resort, congratulate you on your initial series of changes, and look forward to see what other initiatives you have in store to improve the Killington Resort.

Where ever you may be as you read this, keep it in the fairway, pack some hot hands, and start thinking about snow!(I want to go skiing now!... alright.. some time in October!)