Ruts, Ed, and the Bagel push off Skye Peak on Gateway headed towards the Stash and Bear Mountain.

Ruts, Ed, and the Bagel push off Skye Peak on Gateway headed towards the Stash and Bear Mountain.

The thermometer said -10 (thats right MINUS 10) this morning when my alarm went off. But the boys made their Thursday trip to Killington from various parts of southern New England... so that made today a ski day... and what a ski day it was...

The snow stake at the inn has jumped almost a foot in the last week. Translated on to the mountain.. that means a whole bunch of soft, beautiful, did I say soft, snow to play on. Combine what Mother Nature has dished out with the unbelievable efforts of the Killington Resort snow making team, and you could not ask for better skiing and riding. On top of all the new snow, and in the face of another round of snowmageddon later this weekend, the Killington snow making team was pummeling Superstar and Gateway. I have skied 4 days this week. The amount of snow the Killington team made overnight in sub-zero temperatures was just mind boggling. What was a simple push from the Superstar chair off the back of Skye Peak yesterday turned into a steep climb today. Just unbelievable.

But I digress.

Snow conditions on the slopes were phenominal. Many trails were groomed out last night leaving a very soft corduroy to play on this morning. The trails that were not groomed were set up with soft mounds of sweet bumps. Upper Wildfire on skiers left, Needles Eye on skiers right, and Vertigo were all beautiful soft bumps. I felt like I could have stayed out till 4:00 PM today, but duties at the inn called me back after only a couple of hours on the snow.

Slow roasting braised short ribs being prepared for tonights dinner service.

At the inn we are in week 2 of our new chef. In the front of the house, customers who have dined with us are raving about the the food in the restaurant. We had an aggressive start up last week with a targeted soft opening. I needed to turn people away on Saturday evening as the number of diners who wanted to join us for dinner during the soft open was almost double the number of diners we had planned for.

In the back of the house, we are continuing to solidify the operation. Chef Craig is getting a handle on the kitchen. We have ordered for him several new pieces of equipment he requested so he could take take our menu to the next level, as Mary and I requested. Staffing has come together as well with the hiring of a sous chef, a dishwasher, and (hopefully when you read this) a second server. In late December when we did not know when the restaurant would re-open, we outplaced the restaurant staff so they could make some money over the Christmas holidays. We have now reeled back most while also agressively hiring to fill openings in some of the skilled areas which we needed to build. We think we have put together a solid team which will push the restaurant foward, and allow us to do some very creative culinary things at the inn in the near future.

If you get a chance to visit Killington in the next few weeks, stop bye and say hello. In the mean time, with the weather forecast for the east coast calling for some more of the white stuff, keep your snow blower gassed up and your snow shovel handy and....

Let it snow!