Killington Peak in the sun.

Killington Peak in the sun.

The Killington Resort reopened for skiing and riding this morning under a beautiful blue sky. Mother Nature, of course, also left skiers and riders with a little reminder that she is in charge...the sunshine was filtered by a haze most likely caused by humidity entering the area in advance of a weather event predicted for tonight.

The resort has stated that with todays reopening, that they will try to keep open for the duration of the ski season. From my on slope observations, they have made copious amounts of snow on the trails in the North Ridge section of the mountain. They also seemed to have taken a different tact on the lower trails leading to K1. More on that later.

Skiing and riding today were supported by the K1 Gondola and the North Ridge Triple. Full top to bottom skiing was provided with no walking required to reload the gondola. Upper trails including Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, Upper Double Dipper, Upper Great Northern, and Ridge Run were covered in soft snow with little evidence of the firm base which must be lurking underneath. Other than an occasional Cat track, surfaces were groomed smooth with small bumps forming due to skier and rider traffic. I did hit one Cat track by surprise on Ridge Run leading back to the North Ridge Triple. My legs were in better shape than I thought as I was able to stay upright and ski through it.

Snow on Great Northern stayed relatively soft until the junction with Highline. At that point, in what is probably an effort to maintain the base and shed any non-crystaline precipitation that may be headed out way, the resort created a packed powder candy coating on the trail. The hard pack was maintained through Middle Chute and Lower Bunny Buster. Clearly the resort wants a base on these trails so they can cover them with snow quickly for the coming weekend.

Lights are up on the Christmas Tree. Click to enlarge.

In addition to the open terrain this morning, there was evidence of snow making visible on upper trails of Snowdon. A resort spokesman said last night at a Killington Chamber of Commerce mixer that the resort intends to open the top of Snowdon this weekend, with the Snowdon Quad. Of course this was wrapped in weather caveats, so we will have to wait and see.

The weather Forecast for the area does not look good overnight. After that, it appears that we are due for an extended cold stretch, which should allow the resort to rapidly expand terrain. Mother Nature may also give us some help on Saturday, if the Weather Channel is to be believed. (Usually I don't most of the time, by we need a break here..so shop your forecasts wisely!)

Christmas Tree Update: Mary is making good progress decorating the inns Christmas Tree. White lights have been strung on the tree. (This years motif is the Crystal tree.) The ornaments have been brought down from the attic. They are queued up all over the Great Room waiting to be hung on the tree. With luck it should be all done for public viewing when we open our restaurant this Friday evening.

......let it snow!