Cold and wind blown Killington Peak on New Years Day 2009 

Mary and I wish you a very Happy New Year.

The holiday weeks are always a very busy time for us at Killington. These last 2 weeks have been no exception. When I am writing the blog from a stream of consciousness style into my computer screen, it is sometimes hard to comprehend how many people take the time to read about our experiences at Killington. But every day these last two weeks we have greeted new friends who are visiting Killington for the holidays who stopped by our inn to say hello. It is all very gratifying and we thank you.

Killington today is very cold and blustery. Temperatures have fought to reach the low single digits. A brisk breeze is blowing the light snow that fell yesterday back up into the air creating a light haze over the landscape. Inn guests today were pretty evenly divided between snuggling in for New Year's Day and heading out for a few runs. From what I can tell, both camps have been equally satisfied with their decisions, although the snugglers have been decidedly warmer all day.

From a brief visit to the mountain this afternoon, the resort is continuing to make snow over many sections of the mountain. The wind seems to be playing with both the snowmaking and some of the lifts, but thats the nature of the game. Bright, sunny skies have helped somewhat moderate the personal impact of the wind. Our guests who went to the mountain, while cold, all appeared to have had a good day on the slopes.

Where ever you may be have a very Happy New Year!.......Let it snow!

Light snow fell overnight at the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington VT. 

The return of cold temperatures yesterday spawned some brisk snow flurries overnight, coating the Killington Resort and the surrounding town with a blanket of white.

Overnight we saw about 2 inches of light snow accumulate around the inn. Today the snow is being blown around by moderate winds. For guests skiing and riding on the mountain today, the good news is that the chill brought on by the wind is being offset by bright sunshine and beautiful blue skies.

Snow flurries and more moderate snow are predicted for tonight and tomorrow. That would be a nice gift from Mother Nature to skiers and riders as we head into the new year.......Let it snow!

Snow making operations resume on Killington Peak. 

Finally....its cold again!

Normal cold temperatures returned to Killington overnight. Temperatures overnight fell into the mid 20's. Today they are hovering right at the freezing point.

The Killington Resort is taking advantage of the change in weather to resume snow making operations across the mountain. At 1:00 PM this afternoon, snow making was visible on Killington Peak across Great Northern and down Cascades. Snowmaking was also visible on Chute under the Snowdon Quad at the junction of Great Northern. From the base area, I could not determine if snow making was taking place along all of upper Chute, or only at the junction area.

Inn guests returning from skiing and riding this morning reported firm conditions on the Killington Peak side of the resort. Conditions at Bear Mountain were reported as being softer. It sounded like there may have been some snow making at Bear Mountain overnight, based upon guests descriptions, but I cannot confirm that this was the case.

Snow making also appears to be taking place at the top of Pico, based upon what is visible from Killington.

The local weather forecast is calling for below freezing temperatures for the rest of the week with intermittent light snow. It sounds like perfect weather to allow the resort to use the worlds largest snow making system to replenish some of the snow cover melted away by the warm temperatures of the last few days. It should result in nice conditions for skiing and riding over the New Years holiday later this week.

......Let it snow!

Storm clouds hang over Killington 

Ugly...that is all one can say about 55 degrees and a hot wind on December 28th in the mountains of Vermont. Natural snow is rapidly melting all through the mountains, causing local streams to fill up as the water heads down hill to points south. With any luck, we are experiencing the infamous January Thaw a little early this year.

Inn guests returning to the inn this afternoon are reporting that ski conditions on the mountain are holding up fairly well. The Killington Resort made and incredible amount of snow on the trails in early December when temperatures were unseasonably cold. It is serving them well now that we have unseasonably warm temperatures in the region. Snow conditions are being reported as soft and spring like, which is understandable given the thermometer was reading 57 degrees at the inn at noon today. The only problem at the mountain was a wind hold on the Superstar Quad. High winds have been buffeting the area all afternoon. Evidently the resort needed to close the Superstar Quad because of the gusts.

Cold weather is due to overspread the area later tonight. I am sure that the resort will resume snow making to resurface terrain damaged by the last couple of days high temperatures. It would be nice if we got a little natural snow to help. We can hope.......Let it snow!

Father Christmas. One of the many gifts Mary and I received this year for Christmas. 

A belated happy holidays from Killington Vermont. Mary and I hope that you and yours have had a good holiday and are looking forward to the New Year.

I have not posted a blog the last couple of days as I have proven once again that the most dangerous place at a ski resort is a sidewalk. Just after posting the snow stake picture on Christmas day, I decided I would take a walk. It was quite ugly overnight with a combination of NCP, freezing NCP and light snow. In my walk, I fell backwards on some ice, splitting my head open in the process. I am not exactly sure where this took place, as the only thing I remember is being in our dining room with our sous chef getting me a cloth to apply pressure to the wound. Head wounds can be rather messy. This one was no exception.

As the Killington Medical Center was closed for Christmas Day, we made the best of it during the evening. A few inn guests staying with us over Christmas night knew what was going on, but most of our dinner guests were not aware of my injuries. I did go through 3 different shirts in the course of the evening...but a little hair comb over work by Mary hid the nasty cut from all but the most observant.

Yesterday I went to the Killington Medical Center first thing in the morning. Dr. Russell cleaned out the wound, putting 4 staples in my head to close it up in the process. He said based upon my symptoms (not being aware for multiple minutes) that I had a concussion. Other than watching the wound for infection, he told me that I cannot ski for the next 7 days. I actually find that ironic, as if I were skiing, I would have had my helmet on and probably would not have been injured. But given the holiday, it will be pretty easy for me to follow his advice.

Over the next couple of days, as time allows, I will be posting holiday updates. In the mean time Mary, myself, and our staff at the Birch Ridge Inn wish you a very happy holidays........Let it snow!

Trees on Rams Head covered in snow and silhouetted by deep blue sky. 

Deep snow, cool temperatures (some would think its cold), a deep blue sky, and full sunshine. A nice day to ski!

Mary and I went out for a short loop today. We were out at mid day for about an hour and a half. Mary wanted to go over to Bear Mountain for a ride on the new lift. While we were there, I took her over to the "Stash" for her first taste of the trees.

Unlike yesterday when I was on ungroomed trails, today was all groomed cruisers. The Stash, Bear Claw and Sky Burst were all groomed flat. Under a beautiful blue sky, there were nice, easy cruisers.

We also looped down the new Great Eastern to Cruise Control. Just below the junction of Great Eastern and Needles Eye, the resort has carved a new boulevard from the side of Sky Peak to make the trail easier for beginners. It was perfectly groomed, providing a nice easy ride down the mountain.

All in all, a beautiful couple of easy hours on the slopes......Let it snow!

Larry after auguring in on his board chest deep on Dream Maker 

What a day. 6 runs in 3 hours.....and we skied right on to every lift with no lift lines, wind holds, or any other delays...

Only 6 runs you say!... Yup...6 of the craziest runs ever in some of the deepest snow I have ever experienced at Killington.

Snow depths across the mountain went from boot deep to neck deep, and everything in between. Of the 6 runs, none were on groomed trails, other than the first cruise down the Stash. Even that had very deep powder along skiers left. The six runs included "The Stash", Wildfire, Dream Maker, Needles Eye, North Star, and High Line. (The boys did High Line. I did the training run to Chute to lower Bunny Buster. A bum shoulder was acting up.)

Skiing and riding today were not for the feint of heart. I do not think that there was a run where all of us did not do a major tumble. Most of the falls were due to variations in snow depth caused by wind blown snow. A few were outright falls into crevasses. Lower Wild Fire and Dream Maker had some that were better than shoulder deep. And then there were the tumbles on the back side of bumps where the surface went from wind blown hard pack to over your head powder in less than 5 feet. Every tumble took major effort to haul yourself out of the deep snow to a place where you could right yourself and continue on. And none of us have anything to complain about...it was just a very crazy (good) day of skiing!

Of course, we could have skied nicely groomed trails. We probably would have gotten 20 runs in during 3 hours if we had gone that route. But why would we want to do that with all this powder around to play in?

.....Let it snow!