Tree down on the front lawn at the Birch Ridge Inn 

With everyone on a heightened state of readiness, and memories of last years catastrophe called Irene, the Killington region and the state of Vermont for the most part dodged a bullet with Hurricane Sandy. Numerous trees are down in the area, and there have been sporadic power outages, but in general Hurricane Sandy presented itself to Vermont as a mild rain storm with some gusty winds.

At the inn we lost 3 trees to the wind. A small tree momentarily blocked our driveway, until it was removed by a guest coming to stay the night with us during the storm. In the morning, we found a large tree behind the building and another tree across our front lawn that had both succumbed to the wind gusts of Sandy. The wind gusts during the evening were also strong enough to break the line holding the flag on the flag pole in front of the inn. But in comparison to other storms we have experienced at Killington during the last 15 years operating the inn, Sandy was relatively benign to us in Killington.

However, the images we are seeing on television about the devastation that took place along the Atlantic sea coast are truly disturbing. Many family members, friends and good guests of the inn live in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. While we have started to hear from many of them, through various means, we know from our experience last year that the images we see on TV probably don't tell the half of it in terms of what people are really experiencing on the ground. Our thoughts are with all of those who were in the middle of the storm, and who are just now struggling to make sense of what has happened to their homes.

The storm that was Hurricane Sandy is still causing intermittent rain across the Killington region. Throughout Killington has been on the warm side of the storm. Once it passes, we can hope that cold air gets pulled down across the region; and with the cold air that we see a little snow.

Where ever you may be, stay safe.

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!