Howie (on right) and I at "Johnny Boy's"

Howie (on right) and I at "Johnny Boy's"

Last night when I retired around 2:00 AM the temperature was a brisk -15 at the inn. On the mountain, there is a code for morning activities, so before I went to bed for the night, I left Mary a note telling her that if my friend, Howie, called, that Mary should find out where breakfast was going to be held. At 8:00, Howie called. He was heading out of the house to go to the mountain, so I started to put on my ski clothes. At 8:05, Howie called again and said the code words "Johnny Boy's". Breakfast was on!

Over the last several years, Johnny Boy's has become a local institution for breakfast on the mountain. Located in a small building in front of the Comfort Inn and beside Surefoot, on the Killington Road, it is a place where many locals go for breakfast in the morning, before or after skiing or golf depending on the season. This morning, the place was packed with people who were in various stages of denial about their desire to go skiing and riding today. Of course, Howie and I had no guilt at all about our decision. A county omelet was headed my way.

Killington Peak in a wind whipped cloud of snow

This morning when I headed out of the front door of the inn, the temperature was a balmy -9F. I drove up to the mountain to take a peak before breakfast. The wind on the hill at 9:00 AM was just howling. Snow was being kicked up from everywhere into a massive fog over the mountain. The K1 Gondola, Snowdon Triple and Quad were all running, virtually empty. The Superstar chair was not even prepped for operation; the chairs still encrusted with snow blown on them during the night. It was not a very pleasant sight, but it reinforced our decision to forgo skiing and do breakfast instead. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

One final note as a follow up to a posting from last week... this mornings Rutland Herald had a very nice article about Howard "Howie" Zack. It's worth a read.