Lower Dream Maker. Notice the deep blue sky...Cold air coming. 

When I left the inn this morning around 8:45, the temperature in my car read 19. A nice brisk winter chill. I parked in the Bay 1 parking lot at the K1 base lodge, got my boots on, slipped on another layer of clothing, and walked over to the K1 gondola. The gondola line included your typical holiday faire...lots of college kids... Some grand parents with small children....some business types playing hooky from work. What was missing was a lot of locals. Figuring that the group of people I saw taking the gondola was going to hang around the K1 side of the mountain, when we reached the top, I decided to do the traverse over to Bear Mountain. I was appropriately rewarded.

At about 9:05, I was on my way down Bear Trap, through the terrain park. There was one other person on the trail. To my disappointment, the resort had spent the night grooming all of the fluffy powder that had fallen late in the day yesterday. While the surface was still very soft, it was not the powder run I was expecting. But hey... I have not skied in a week, so the groomers probably did my legs a favor.

On Bear Trap, I rode up and down several of the larger features in the park before heading down towards the Viper Pit, Lower Bear Claw, and the OL Chair. The Viper Pit was a little scratchy in places, although I was also a little tentative on this first run of the new year. Lower Bear Claw was nicely groomed. As I was the only one on it, I was able to pretty much carve edge to edge turns. Very sweet.

Outer Limits was quite literally under the gun today. Surface and tower mount snow guns were all in action blowing snow onto OL. The surface was fairly well bumped from the holidays. While the new snow made it soft, one run was enough for me under the guns today, as the temperature was beginning to fall. To complete the trifecta at Bear, my next run was down Wildfire. Upper Wildfire was not groomed. It was light fluffy snow on top of hard icy bumps. Quite skiable, but you needed to pay attention to your line, picking and choosing your spots along the way. Lower Wildfire was groomed and in great shape.

On my way out of Bear Mountain, I noticed the rope was down on lower Dream Marker. It just sucked me in.... Dream Maker was covered with huge snow making whales, deep crusty snow, and pockets of powder. The resort has obviously blown a lot of snow on Lower Dream Maker in preparation to turn it into a park. The snow whales were a lot of fun to ride up and down on, but the deep crusty snow was another issue all together. I was on my all mountain skis today. Every time I turned on the crusty stuff, I was cutting huge scars in the snow crust behind me. Once lower Dream Maker gets groomed out, it should set up for some nice cruising later on.

After a run down Cruise Control (nothing special) I did a few more runs on Bittersweet, Skye Lark and Super Star. All were in very nice shape. If we were not coming off the holiday period (there is a whole pile of work on my desk to catch up on), I probably would have stayed out and done some laps on the Superstar Chair. But, as it was, it was not a bad first ski day of the new year. With all of the snow on the mountain, there should be many more to come.

Oh...and the temperature.... it's been dropping al day. As I write this, it is a robust 5 degrees F on it's way to a forecasted -10 tonight. Brr...

Let it snow!

Birch Ridge Inn, Killington VT, draped in snow to greet the New Year 

Happy New Year from Killington and Hello 2008!

Mary and I, and the staff of the Birch Ridge Inn, wish you all a very happy new year. We have had the pleasure of thousands of people accepting our invitation to visit our inn/home in Killington over 2007. We thank you for your ongoing support, and look forward to seeing many of you in the coming year when you visit Vermont's Green Mountains, and Killington.

I have not had a chance to do any postings over the last couple of days. The need for a couple of hours sleep interspersed with duties at the inn over the New Years holiday saw my time available to write drop down to zero (along with the time I had available to get out and go skiing). Since my last commentary, we had one 8 inch snow storm (all powder... and I missed it). Inn guests who enjoy skiing on fresh snow were raving. Of course, their legs were also screaming at them, as I am sure mine will be later this week when I get a chance to visit the mountain again.

This afternoon, Killington is once again experiencing a very heavy snow storm. The snow gods must be looking down on us and smiling, because tomorrow will definitely be a powder day. Happy New Year!

Let it snow!

Skiers and riders on Superstar Friday 12/28 

The last couple of days at Killington have seen every kind of weather imaginable, other than a tropical heat wave. We have had sun (right now as I write this), snow, sleet, ice, freezing r@*n...you name it, it has fallen from the sky. The good news is that on balance, snow surface conditions are holding up as the mix has had little impact on total accumulations on the ground. We started the holiday week with 12 inches of snow on the ground at the inn. Today we sit at 13 and 1/2 inches.

Let it snow!

Heavy snow falling at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

Large numbers of guests arrived in Killington last evening for their winter holiday break. This morning, many of them ventured out on the mountain to enjoy the best skiing and riding conditions Killington has seen during a Christmas week in several years.

Experienced Killington visitors are reporting light to moderate crowds. With nearly 100% of available terrain open, skiers and riders are able to spread out all across the 7 mountains at Killington and Pico. New visitors to Killington are reporting heavier crowds, as they are tending to cluster in the Snowshed, Rams Head and K1 gondola areas.

Heavy snow began falling at Killington just before Noon. Skiers and Riders were reporting firm surfaces early this morning which got progressively softer as the new snow mixed into the groomed surface. Many of our guests left the mountain around 2 PM as the visibility in blowing and drifting snow turned poor. Heavy snow is currently falling at the inn. About 3 inches of new accumulation is expected overnight.

Let it snow!

"Christmas Floral Arrangement", a gift from friends 

Christmas comes but once a year,
bringing children hope, and adults good cheer.
Whether a brand new toy or a lump of coal;
Christmas was meant to save our souls;
by the birth of a baby so tender and pure;
with a star in the sky so all would be sure.

Now the day for unwrapping gifts is done;
there's ski hills to play on in the bright winter sun;
with holiday vacationers from now to the New Year!

Let it snow!

"Christmas Creatures" 

Where ever you may be today, Mary and I, and our staff at the Birch Ridge Inn in Killington, wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak on Christmas Eve 

The nasty storm which came through the area yesterday with high winds and r@*n showers of varying intensity is clearing the area today. Temperatures overnight dropped from the mid 40's to the upper 20's. The drop appeared to be slow enough that much of the accumulated water in the snow pack had an opportunity to drain. Snowbanks around the inn, while "crisp" on the outside, are still too soft to stand on without sinking to your knees.

On the mountain, we were told by the Killington resort that their groomers were dispatched early this morning to prepare the mountain to greet holiday visitors. Light snow is currently falling across the area. (Negligible accumulations are expected.) Snow making operations are currently visible on the upper sections of the mountain including Rime and Skye Lark. With nice weather forecasted for Killington for the next several days, Holiday visitors should find the resort in great shape for their holiday ski trips.

Let it snow!