Killington Peak open for skiing and riding

Killington Peak open for skiing and riding

Dear Mother Nature :

Thank you for the wonderful weather you have given us in the North Eastern United States over the last 10 weeks.

Our Fall Foliage season here in Vermont was long and strong. So strong in fact that we got a little behind in doing all of the outside yard work that needs to be get done each year before the onset of winter. But you took care of us...Thank you Ma!

Instead of hitting us with a debilitating hurricane in September or October, you gave us nice comfortable weather. Just great to allow the trees to gracefully change from the summer green canopy to their magnificent pastel hues.

And as the leaves were falling from the trees like they do every year, instead of whacking us with a heavy snow storm burying the leaves till next summer, you gave us a stretch of beautiful weather to allow all of the summer yard debris to be picked up. Thank you also for a few very windy days... It sure is a big help to blow a lot of those pesky leaves off of the lawn directly into the forest... Way to go Ma!

While we are at it, thank you for providing Killington with many warm days and cold nights. The cold nights have been great to allow the Killington Resort to make snow on many of their trails so some of us could go skiing. And the warm days have meant that if we ventured out on the mountain, we did not need to bundle up like Eskimos to stay warm while we were enjoying the resorts snow....Nice Job Ma!

But while you have been giving us generally brilliant weather, we are starting to hear from our friends in the western part of the United States. They have been sending us private emails and posting pictures on Facebook telling about all of the terrible snow storms they have been having the last few weeks. While we understand that they need the snow pack to be able to fill all of there reservoirs in the spring with melt water, you have trained them over the last few years to not expect this much snow so early in the snow season. Their shoulders are just not strong enough to shovel all of that snow off of their sidewalks at their homes (those that don't have heated sidewalks of course... but you have a special place for them anyway.) We are hearing that the ski shops out west are also suffering. Much of their early season business revolves around repairing core shots caused by skiing over rocky terrain. Maybe they have made up some of that lost business selling more equipment, but it is hard to know.

We are also very concerned about our friends. We are hearing rumors of face shots taking place at an accelerated rate. Most of our friends are used to playing golf this time of year at lower elevations. Risking hypoxia so early in the ski season at the higher elevations of the western ski resorts, combined with the burning cold of powder snow covering their faces, limiting visibility, and just plain making it dangerous to their health and safety, has us out east very worried for our friends.

It is just so unfair of you to have all of the brutal snow storms taking place out west, putting our friends at risk. Out east, we are more than happy to "take one for the team" to help protect our western friends from the early onset of winter.

So Mother Nature... think about this. Over the next week, as you prepare to hit our friends out west once again, we are hearing reports from the Weather Channel that you are thinking about sending some of that cold wintery air and snow out east as well. That's ok with us. We are used to snow and cold during December. We thrive on it. Our friends need a break so they can plan for their Christmas and New Years holidays. You have given us good weather for so long, that we are ready for the holidays. We can take a few days of hard work shoveling, snow blowing, and plowing snow so our friends out west can share in the holiday spirit. We are more than happy to suffer through the hardship of finding the ski slopes covered with foot deep freshies, if our friends out west can be spared the horror of it all.

So while you are finishing putting together your naughty and nice lists to text over to St. Nick for his Christmas Eve ride-about, remember that we are nice. We are loving and caring towards our friends out west. Spare them their misery by moving the storms a little east. We are all adults here... we can take it....and you, Mother Nature, can make it so...

Thank you Mother Nature for all that you do.

Your humble servants, the innkeepers at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington

And to our dedicated readers...Where ever you may be, we hope your holiday preparations are going smoothly. Think Snow!