Fall Foliage colorfully silhouettes bridge across Snow Shed pond at Killington. 

Peak fall foliage colors are near at Killington. While it is impossible to say exactly when it will occur (it's one of those things you know when you see it!) there is no doubt that the base of the mountain is showing full color. Continued cloudy and cool weather over the next couple of days will push the few remaining green trees to begin the fall transition. It should be a very colorful first weekend in October at Killington.

Mary and her "Baby" on it's Swan Song for 2008. 

Against a brilliant backdrop of fall color, Mary took her "Baby" for one last spin this morning, before putting it away for the winter. If the changing colors on the leaves all around the inn were not reminder enough, the annual trek of Mary's 1973 Ford Mustang to it's winter garage is surely a sign that summer has come to a close.

Folliage colors in the higher elevations on the eastern slope of the Green Mountains (ie Killington and Route 100 North) are coming out more each day. Mary's Mustang is garaged for the winter north of Brandon VT on Route 7 on the western side of the mountains. Colors along Route 7 north of Rutland to just south of Middlebury VT were not nearly as developed as in the Killington area.

Based upon what we saw this morning, fall foliage colors in central Vermont appear to be developing this year along the traditional fashion. Visitors to the area should be able to find colorful fall foliage drives for 3 or 4 more weeks in central Vermont, prior to the onset of twig season in the region.

K1 Base Lodge at Killington decked out in fall color.
Click for larger image 

Killington dodged a bullet with Hurricane Kyle sliding off to our east over the gulf of Maine. While weather in the area is damp as tropical moisture has crept into the area, overall it has been respectable weekend. The heavy rains which were initially forecasted departed the area on Friday. In their place we have had occasional very light showers with some low clouds/fog as a companion.

The fall foliage colors around town are great. The lack of sunshine over the last few days has accelerated the color shift. Mary and I went for a "Fall Foliage Drive" today around town. The base of Killington is absolutely on fire with color, as you can see from the panorama I chose for today's picture. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain is covered in a dense low cloud, so it is hard to tell what the rest of the scene looks like. However, we have not had very much wind the last couple of days, so I would guess the leaves on the trees at higher elevations are still intact.

Bill with his group (Mike, Ann and Tom) at the KMS golf tournament on Friday (Click to enlarge.)

Since mid week, we have had a very nice group of people stay with us who participated in the Killington Mountain School Golf Tournament this past Friday. The Killington Mountain School is a high school program to train elite skiers and riders who may potentially choose competitive snow sports as their vocation. While many students attend KMS with their parents paying tuition, many students also receive financial assistance to help offset some of the costs. This year marked the 21st year that KMS has held a fund raising golf tournament. 34 groups teed off Friday morning in a driving rain storm to support the efforts of the mountain school. Our group was -1, which give the conditions, was pretty respectable, but as they say, out of the money...so it goes.

Howie walking to the white tees on the 16th hole at Green Mountain National 

I had the good fortune to play golf yesterday at Green Mountain National Golf Course with some good friends. I have not played in a couple of weeks...preparing the inn for fall foliage guests does take some time after all. So it was just nice to be able to get out and "chase the little white ball".

Fall colors in this part of the Green Mountains are now coming into their own. Everywhere on the golf course the trees in the surrounding mountains painted an every changing picture. The local maple trees are displaying a deep, crimson, red hue. When combined with the burnt orange tones that the oak trees are beginning to reveal, the whole area is erupting with a warm glow, helping to salve the cool temperatures we are starting to experience as fall descends upon Killington.

Golf at Green Mountain was just great. We have a few more weeks (about 5) left in the golf season at Killington. Hopefully I have several more rounds left this year before putting the clubs away for the season.

Mary on Sky Peak with Killington Peak in background. 

High clouds have settled in over Killington this afternoon, displacing the crisp blue sky's that the area has enjoyed the last few days. The cold temperatures of the last few nights have started to accentuate the fall colors. Several trees around the inn, which had been rather muted last week, are not popping bright red. It should be a great show to watch as it develops over the next 20 days or so.

Fall colors on display looking east from Highroad trail at Killington Ski Resort 

No doubt about it. With the cold overnight temperatures and the cool bring sunny days, fall foliage season has definitely started at Killington.

Colors in many of the trees around town are starting to show, particularly in the higher elevations. Many of our weekend guests hiked up on Killington Peak today. They were rewarded with great visibility from the peak aided by cold temperatures. All reported needing to don warm outer wear when at the peak, as the temperature was significantly lower than at the Killington base lodge. I don't have an official temperature at the peak, but one guest estimated temps in the low 40's (based upon a jacket thermometer). Temperatures at the inn were in the high 50's/low 60's during the afternoon.

With cool temperatures predicted for the week, fall colors will better develop each day. It is always a beautiful show to watch!

Fall colors light up Snowdon, Rams Head, and Pico Peak as seen from Upper Ovation at Killington 

The last couple of days at Killington have been beautiful. Nearly 100% sunshine with mild temps in the low to mid 60's followed by progressively cooler nights. Tonight we are expecting temperatures in the low 20's for the first hard freeze since last winter.

Mary and I hiked up Killington this afternoon. We followed the Snowshed Crossover to get a look at all of the construction taking place on the mountain. (I was really torn between posting a picture of muddy, torn up real estate, versus the beautiful picture of fall foliage around the mountain. I will save the muddy work related pictures for another day.)

Skiers and Riders will be happy to know that there was a huge amount of work going on all around the mountain. Earlier in the day a helicopter was positioning lift pulley assemblies on the tops of lift towers at Sky Peak. Excavation work was going on in earnest at the top of Sky Peak to prepare for the new lift terminal. Blasting was taking place to cut a new green trail around the top of Sky Peak as part of the process to eliminate the Snowshed Crossover. Workers were doing excavation in the new "Stash" terrain park. Preparations also were underway to do blasting on Great Eastern to widen and smooth out some of the trail.

Of course, all of this was taking place on the Sky Peak/Bear Mountain side of the resort. On the Killington side of the resort, it was just a beautiful fall day. The trees are really starting to pop their colors. The next couple of weeks at Killington will be beautiful.

On a side note, following up on the saga of the Covered Carriageway at the inn, yesterday, our chef Steve and I got the fallen tree off of the carriage way roof and disposed of it. An insurance estimator and contractor have looked at the damage and done their thing. Hopefully, after completing some paperwork, we can get reconstruction started sometime next week.So it goes.....