Ceremonial removal of the Vacancy sign at the Birch Ridge Inn 

Boom!

Sometimes you miss... sometimes you score. Killington scored big the last couple of days with a big snow storm to bring holiday cheer to skiers and riders alike.

A foot of fresh snow fell at the inn, with 19 inches being reported from the top of Killington Peak. Snow shoes were required footwear today as we took down our vacancy sign for the inn to align with all of our rooms being sold out for the weekend.

Even though it is a holiday week, I ventured out into the storm yesterday for a few runs at 8:00 AM, meeting up with Ruts and "The Bagel" at the K1 base lodge. In the early morning, wind gusts to 50 MPH had the K1 Gondola on wind hold. The tried and true fixed grip Snowdon Quad got us up for the first run of the day, down Upper Royal Flush to Highline. Conditions were, shall we say, life threatening for those who were unprepared to deal with the wind and the blowing and drifting snow. But in our all terrain gear we were more than warm and toasty as we negotiated the wind blown whales littering the headwall on Highline.

With the Superstar Quad opening while we were coming down Highline, we decided to go further south to Bear Mountain. Our first runs were on nominally tracked fresh powder down Sky Burst. Even in the height of the storm, the resort was making snow on Wild Fire. We did a couple of loops, including one interesting run through the Viper Pit, before I needed to leave the boyz to get back to the inn and a days worth of snow removal. I finished with a run down Skylark. Except for extremely poor visibility in blowing and drifting snow, the run was still relatively pure, with ski tracks from previous skiers and riders being filled in quickly by the blowing snow.

Yesterday was not a picture day, as the conditions in the early morning hours were not good for camera work.(I am sure some people got some nice shots in the afternoon as the wind started to die down). But to show you what conditions were like, I did shoot one short video clip which I have posted on Youtube. You can click the box below to see it.

Where ever you are, Mary and I hope that you are having a nice holiday week.

Let it snow!

Snow Stake from December 18 to December 25 

Winters slow start appears to have been broken. For the last 7 days the Killington region has been blessed with snow from Mother Nature....the perfect gift to celebrate the holiday season.

Snow had not started falling across the region in any meaningful amounts till December 16th. Everything has changed since that time. This morning, there was over 8 inches of snow covering the grounds around the inn, with many more inches at higher elevations covering the ski slopes of the Killington Resort.

And, if you have your Christmas to New Years trip to Killington already planned, check out the National Weather Services forecast for the area on Wednesday night and Thursday. (eh em.. bring your powder skis)

White Christmas at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington.

Where ever you are, Mary and I hope that you are having a very Merry Christmas.

Let it snow!

Beautiful snow on Upper Chute as seen from Snowdon Quad. 

Not bad... Not bad at all....

As far as ski days go, today was ok. Not a bluebird powder day... not the day after the mountain has been slimed by freezing r@!n. Today was more of a testament to the people who work at the resort. To the snow makers who have worked many long hours to make snow, and remake snow, and remake snow during this early season. Today was a working mans ski day. You had to make your turns, you had to skid a little, you had to put up with "la poussi�re sur la crožte"..."Staub auf Kruste"....and you also got to play in some nice soft snow. And it was many places to be found....

We started off the K1 Gondola for a few runs through Rime and Reason. Great Northern to Upper East Fall was well covered. There were a couple of skid patches where there were significant pitch changes, probably the result of people checking their speed on the terrain. But other than those few places, the early runs were nice cruises.

Great Northern back to Lower Bunny Buster was in excellent shape. There was a little "Dodgem Car" feeling in a few places, as there were many representatives of PSIA on the mountain doing their ski training at Killington this week. But, even then, the crowd was no more so than on a normal early season weekend.

We did the traverse over to Superstar off of Killington Peak down Launch Pad. It is nice to see the resort opening up the interconnect trails between Killington Peak and Sky Peak, as this makes it really easy to move around the mountain without getting on a lift.

From Launch Pad with picked up Upper Sky Lark to Lower Bittersweet. Upper Skylark was covered with relatively soft snow and small bumps, making one pay attention and make turns. Lower Bittersweet was more "dust on crust" with significant loose granular "beach sand" accumulating at the bottom; the result of many hard grooming sessions breaking up Mother Natures handiwork.

Superstar was "interesting" I went down the upper headwall and made a turn right into an ice trough. It was like riding in a r@!n gutter...not turning.. just along for the ride. I literally traversed from the Top Right to the Mid Right, before coming to rest, still standing, by the rope underneath the Superstar Quad. Such a nube... The end of the trough was a nice hump of loose granular.. A simple hop turn and I was on my way.

Once off the headwall, Middle Superstar was quite nice. Lower Superstar, as observed from the lift, was rock solid bumps, so I bailed at High Road to Lower Sky Lark, which was also quite nice.

All in all, a nice day to ski, on Killington's magnificent peaks.

Let it snow!

Covered Carriageway draped in new snow. 

Mother Nature can be a pretty fickle lady. But for the 3rd day in a row the ground is covered in white at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington. Does that make it a trend?

Wintry mix has blanketed Killington the few days covering the country side in a sugar white coating. For the 36 hours prior to last night, light snow fell across the region. Over 3 inches were recorded at the snowstake at the inn on Monday morning. Last night, with a forecast that was awful at best, I went to bed thinking we would be back to a lush green around the inn. But at 2AM when I retired for the evening, the precipitation falling from the sky was a mix of little white styrofoam ball style snow capsules to a light freezing r@!n.

Cleaning up the mess this morning was, of course, a blessed event. While the moisture content was very high, the ground was still nicely covered in snow. The measurement at the snow stake only fell a 3rd of an inch to 3 inches. And, assuming it gets cold behind the storm, with any luck a good base has been laid to build a foundation for future storms. The resort, while it has been working valiantly to remake snow over existing trails, has to love the mix that has fallen from the sky because it will form a perfect base to allow terrain expansion for the holidays, once the humidity goes down and the wet bulb measurements allow for snow making operations to resume.

Birch Ridge Inn dressed up for the holidays in snow.

With any luck, twig season is now a thing of the past. And with more white precipitation forecasted for this weekend, it looks like good ski conditions will prevail for next weeks Christmas Holidays.

Let it snow!

Snow falling in the forest behind the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington. 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Which ever road you may take in this strange world of ours...make it good and make a difference!

Let it snow!

Skiing into the shadows 

All around the area, residents and guests alike were pointing to the fiery orb in the sky. It is a rare ski day in December when there is perfect sunshine at Killington; and today was the day.

We started several hours earlier today than on Wednesday, catching the Snowdon Quad from the parking lot at about 9:10. The temperatures were in the mid 20's. Once again the Killington Resort had snow guns working all across the resort. But with sunshine bouncing off my face during the ride to the top, it was clear that it was going to be a beautiful morning to make some turns on the snow at Killington.

We started out fairly easy with a run through the terrain park on Mouse Run. I looped over a couple of the features; no air yet cause the knee is still on the mend. The undulations in the park were just the right "kick in the pants" to get the juices flowing for more.

After a quick trip through the singles line on the K1 Gondola and the ride to the peak, we skied down to the North Ridge Area. Great Northern was getting a little "sandy"; the residual effect of nightly grooming of the frozen packed powder man made surface. Upper East Falls was very nice. A touch of a slide 2/3rds of the way down in the middle, but there was plenty of nice soft goodness all over to support some sweeping carves down the fall line.

Looping down Rime and Great Northern completed the cycle. East Falls (proper) was open, but Mary is still working on her ski legs. It was either that or a few runs off the Superstar Quad, so off to Superstar we went.

At Superstar, the resort is still pounding it with snow making. Snow Guns have been left to continuously operate on Superstar. After a grooming run or 3, it looks like Superstar will be opening again from top to bottom soon.

Sky Lark was nice machine groomed granular. We did it over a couple of times. Upper Bittersweet was a wind blown skating rink. The turn at the Needles Eye Quad Upper Station was particularly treacherous, as not only was it wind blow hard, but the lights went out as soon as you crested the down hill side of the trail. But so it goes.... nothing ventured nothing gained. No harm not foul. (Fill in the blank with your favorite self loathing phrase... Bittersweet was not a do-over!)

The resort is continuing to make snow in advance of the Christmas season. Now if Mother Nature can keep things cold and give us a little help... all will be right with the world.

Where ever you may be, aim your snow dance at Killington. Let it snow!

The Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree 

On Monday November 26, 2012, a group of us left the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington in search of the 2012 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree.

Although it may sound easier than it seems, Mary has identified several defunct Christmas Tree farms in the area which have overgrown trees suitable to fill the Great Room at the inn. This years tree stands, at the top of the star, 16 feet with 15 and 1/2 of that being a majestic Vermont grown Fraser fir.

This year the tree is decorated in traditional colored lights and colored glass ornaments. Thousands of strands of tinsel, each one hand placed by Mary, adorn the tree. The tinsel dances with the air currents in the Great Room causing the christmas tree to come alive.

After some editing, this years Christmas Tree video was posted this afternoon on Youtube. You can click on the player below to open up a window to play the video.

Special thanks for helping us hunt down this years tree goes to Walt, Peter, and Howie. They have now become old hands at the annual search, having gone with us for several years now on our annual trek. Thanks also go out to Christmas Tree Monday new comer Ed. While we have gotten trees for Ed and his wife in the past, this is the first year that Ed has officially joined the hunt (and enjoyed breaking egg rolls with the group at lunch!).

In a little bit of Killington news for today, the resort is continuing to hammer the slopes with round the clock snow making. Cold temperatures have settled over the Killington Region, allowing the resort team to continuously make snow. And it looks like (shish...don't tell anyone you might jinx it) that Mother Nature may be sending Killington an early Christmas gift next week. Stay tuned....

Where ever you may be, aim your snow dance at Killington. Let it snow!