Mary in her new Killy ski jacket 

All season long, Mary has been talking about buying a new ski outfit. Bucking todays fashion trend of ski separates, however, she has skied most of the season in her red one piece. Well, today was the day.

As it is a rather dreary day at Killington, Mary decided today would be the day to visit some of the local ski shops to find a new ski jacket. This time of year, there are a lot of great deals on equipment and apparel, so Mary decided to do some shopping for next season.

After trying on several different ensembles, Mary called me to meet her at the Forerunner Ski Shop on the Killington Road to see what she had picked out. When the fashion show was over, Mary decided on a red mid-length jacket manufactured by Killy. It comes with all the bells and whistles including a powder skirt, hood, balaclava, goggle chamois, lots of pockets, and detachable fur trim (so Mary) used for apres ski glam (I guess?). It also has a handy dandy ski pass holder built into it's sleeve. I have had a Killy jacket for several years, and this is a feature any season pass holder would not be able to live without once you try it.

While she was still at the Forerunner, Mary also picked up some high visibility Oakley ski goggles to add to her ensemble. So, while today was not a ski day, it did turn out to be a good day for ski related shopping. Let it snow!

Bear Mountain on Mogul Challenge day 

Another outstanding spring day to ski and ride at Killington. In a rare, non-snow day Saturday appearance, I went up on the mountain at mid-day to view the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge. Temperatures were in the high 40's/low 50's at the base. There was not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. Just a great day to poach a few bonus runs during this strange ski season.

I went up to the mountain at about noon and got a parking space close to the Snowdon quad. I was not on the hill today to do any serious skiing. My plan was to make a quick traverse across the mountain to view the Mogul Challenge. From the Snowdon Quad, I moved over to North Ridge for a traverse across Great Eastern to get to Bear. On my way there, I went down Bear Claw. The terrain features that have been in place on Bear Claw all season were knocked down last night. Groomers had spread the snow out across the trail. It was in really nice shape.

7 year old "Hannah Storm" in the course. Click image to enlarge

From Bear Claw, I went down Lower Wildfire. I thought the trail was covered with nice soft "hero" bumps. I had a great time hopping from soft bump to soft bump, although my legs are in pretty good shape from all of the skiing over the last several months. Some of the weekend and day skiers were having a difficult time of it, but everything was ice cream soft so no one was in any real danger, other than taking appropriate steps at collision avoidance.

Bear Mountain base was very busy. A tent city had been erected by various groups all along the bottom. I was a little early to see "Blue Oyster Cult", as I was there well before 1 PM. But the party was already in full swing. Many of the tents had barbecues going, and many were consuming various libations. One of the competitors I observed was a little 7 year old "Hannah Storm". I was really impressed. I am not sure where she would place in the overall competition, but her overall form put to shame some of the other competitors I observed. It is really nice to see young kids competing, as they are the future of skiing and riding.

Tent city set up on lower Outer Limits Click image to enlarge

I wish I had more time to stay at Bear this afternoon, as the party looked like it was really getting going. But, I do have a job to do in town, so I headed back home via the Skye Burst chair.

From the top of Skye Burst, I looped down Bitter Sweet. Unlike the soft snow at Bear Mountain, Bitter Sweet was surprisingly firm, especially on the upper sections. Even with the underlying firmness, Bitter Sweet still had an inch or so of beach sand consistency snow down the length of it. But the firmness had it's advantage, as I was able to cruise down lower Bitter Sweet with enough speed to almost get by the K1 Base Lodge with out skating as I headed back to the car. All told, a nice hour on the slopes... I was wishing it could have been 2 or 3. Let it Snow!

Lower Bear Claw on another bluebird day 

All told, it was another nice day of spring skiing at Killington. Although the sky was cloud covered early, by around 10:00 AM the cloud cover had burned off and we had beautiful sunny blue skies once again.

Today was a little more adventurous than yesterday as I was out with the usual guys this morning. After a couple of laps on North Ridge to wake up, we headed straight down Cascade. Cascades was groomed with a firm base covered with soft loose granular. Middle Cascades was set up for sweeping GS style turns. Lower Cascade was similar, although since we were skiing as a group most of us held to little check turns as we wiggled down the fall line.

After a few laps on Cascades, we headed to Superstar. Superstar was the run of the day. The upper headwall was a little slick, but after that there was a couple of inches of loose granular covering a edge-able base. There was not a huge amount of skier traffic this morning, so on Superstar we were able to cruise the whole way. The lower headwall was still reasonably flat with a nice soft coating. I am sure that it would have gotten skied off if there were more people, but at 11:00 AM when we were doing laps it was very nice.

We then headed to Bear Mountain off the back of Superstar. Gateway (skiers left off the backside of Superstar) was ski-able, but almost down to a single track. If you use this route to get to Bear Mountain tomorrow to view the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, be very careful. The trail is so narrow that any traffic on it could yield significant carnage. A better route off of Superstar to Bear would be to go skiers right off Superstar down to Great Eastern to get to Bear. Of course, with warm weather, conditions can change so use caution which ever route you take.

At Bear we found mixed conditions. Skiers right on Bear Trap was a skating ring. The surface was down to ice. Upper Bear Claw was in excellent shape with very good coverage over all of the features. Lower Wildfire had also been groomed today. I enjoyed the nice soft snow but several in our group though too many turns were required. Either way, I doubt that the cover on lower Wildfire will last beyond the weekend so if you want to ski it you should take advantage of it now. Lower Bear Claw was starting to take on the consistency of beach sand. it usually does that this time of year. With todays light crowds it was not too difficult to maneuver in. The anticipated crowds on Saturday could be another story.

Upper Sky Burst to Cruise Control was also pretty good. Skye Burst is developing some thin patches, as was Cruise Control. But both were very enjoyable. The biggest surprise of the day was the connection between the Needles Eye Chair and Bitter Sweet. It was down to a single track (about 3 ski's wide) of ice with rocks and grass on either side. 3 in our group (myself included) had no problem negotiating it. One member caught his pole some how and tumbled. The last member decided to walk the 20 feet between trails. After getting across the connection, we were rewarded however, as Bitter Sweet itself was in nice shape.

All in all, the mountain is still offering good skiing and riding on firm surfaces with a loose granular covering. Very typical for spring skiing at Killington. And with the current weather forecast for the weekend calling for more blue skies, it should be a nice weekend to be on the mountain.

Passport Update - According to State Departments official website, "Your passport application was not found. It is possible your application has not made it into our system yet." I was expecting this as an answer as the State Department website says it may take up to 10 days for expedited passport renewal information to be posted on their website....so it goes.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak from top of Bear
Mountain against a beautiful blue sky. 

This morning I awoke to bright sunshine and a beautiful, cloudless, blue sky. It looked like the perfect day to go out on the hill and take a few runs.

Temperatures last night dropped into the low 20's. While I am sure it is making the local Maple Sugar producers happy, it was sure to create firm conditions on the slopes in the morning. Mary and I dawdled a little this morning. We left the inn around 9:45 instead of our usual 8:30. We figured we would give the mountain time to soften up a bit (plus it was Mary's turn to make breakfast for our inn guests). I convinced Mary to forgo a trip into the base lodge, so I parked in bay 1 right beside the K1 gondola. We put our boots on in the car and walked right onto the lift. Very efficient when the weather outside is beautiful.

Even at 10:00 AM, it was clear while we were taking the box that the Killington Peak side of the resort was frozen like a brick. So we decided to cruise across the spine of the resort on down Blue Heaven and Great Eastern and made our way to Bear. Great Eastern was as solid as it has been all winter. It was pliant enough so you could set an edge, but it was a very fast rocket ride over to Bear.

At Bear, we swept down Bear Claw and over the Vipers Pit. The trails were still firm, but the coverage was excellent. Bear Trap to Anti-Venon on the next loop was the same. Outer Limits looked like it was softening up, but we decided against it as the Mogul course was set. The pinch point on the trail at the top of the Mogul course looked pretty slick and crowded with herbs, so we decided to pass on it.

We took a few more runs down Cruise Control, Skye Lark and Superstar. All were in nice shape with some exposed ice flows left over from the melting earlier this week. They were all quite visible, and since the rest of the surfaces were very edge-able, there was no problem avoiding them. Overall, we were impressed with how well the mountain was holding up. Based upon the conditions we experienced, the next several days through the weekend should offer some pretty good skiing and riding at Killington.

Passport Update - According to usps.com, the Post Office's website, "Your item was delivered at 11:52 AM on March 28, 2007 in PHILADELPHIA, PA 19101". Step one down. I hope the State Department saw the "Expidite" note on the front of the envelop.

Let it snow!

Outer Limits - Site of the
Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge 

Mary is still in Boston, so I was back this morning in the kitchen on breakfast duty. Hence, I did not ski again today.

I did sneak out of the inn for a few minutes to check out Bear Mountain, site of this coming weekend's Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge. From what I saw, even with the warm weather of the last couple of days, Outer Limits still looks in great shape for this weekends competition. Coverage on Lower Bear Claw also looked great. Wildfire, on the other hand, looked like it could be done for the season barring a major snowstorm to improve coverage. With the weather forecasting cooler temperatures, conditions should hold up fairly well overall for this weekends events.

Passport Update - According to usps.com, the Post Office's website, my next day delivery of my passport to the State Department, scheduled for delivery no later than 12 Noon today is still reporting enroute as of 2:00 PM....so it goes!

Let it snow!

Rogue's gallery picture 

Mary headed off to Boston yesterday to visit with her elderly parents. So this morning, I was on breakfast duty and did not ski. Instead, the adventure of the day was starting the process of getting my passport renewed.

As I am fairly technical, I though I would first visit with the US State Departments website to find out how to renew my passport. They have a complete set of descriptions on how to get or renew a passport on the web at http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.

I do all of my work on an Apple Mac (G5 DP for those interested). The primary Mac browser is Safari. Naturally, the US State Departments passport Web Page does not open using Apple Safari. (Of course, you would think that the web designers in the US Government would be browser agnostic to encourage free market competition. But, I guess since the richest man in the world, Mr. Gates, is probably one of the largest tax payers to the US Government...you do the math.) Curiously, the State Departments Web Site worked properly on my Mac using Firefox....so it goes!

With browser incompatibilities sorted out, I proceeded to fill in the passport renewal form. Of course, the State Department does not let you renew your passport online. They only capture all of the information and generate a PDF formated file which you download to your computer so you can print it out and mail it to them. I guess with the Patriot Act and other national security concerns, the State Department website is not quite to the 21st century yet....so it goes!

So with my Passport Renewal PDF downloaded to my computer, I send it to the printer to create a hard copy for mailing. No problem there. I write a check out to the State Department for $127 dollars for expedited service so that I can get my new passport in 4 weeks or less(regular passport renewals are taking 10 weeks these days). And I am out the door to get a Passport Photo and mail in all of the paperwork.

I head off to Rutland. 10 years ago, I had my passport picture taken at a camera store on Route 4. Oops...the camera store is out of business, another victim of Amazon.com, or Walmart. A big "For Lease" sign is on the building...so it goes!

I remember a conversation I had yesterday with Walt on one of the chair lifts at Killington. He mentioned that he had gotten his passport picture taken at the Rutland Post Office. A quaint affair with a vintage Polaroid camera. Since the camera store was shut, it seemed like a good idea to head straight to the Post Office... short of driving the streets of Rutland looking for an alternative.

I arrive in the Post Office, ask a nice post office clerk (I must be getting old.. she was quite cute) where to go to get my passport taken care of, and she points to a large sign 10 feet away from her directing people looking for Passports down a corridor to an office deep in the bowels of the building....so it goes!

I arrive in the office, speak to another nice lady, and am ushered in to sit down beside 1 of 2 office chairs in front of a white screen. (Walt had warned me about the 2 chairs.) The nice lady sits down beside me and grabs a vintage 1970 2 lens Polaroid and proceeds to hold it 5 feet from my face. Smile. Blinding Flash. Picture taken. Actually very efficient.

I go back around the counter. The nice lady now wants to see my paperwork to make sure it is filled in ok. I give it to her. She reviews it and says there is a problem. It turns out that the State Department form on the web is 6 pages long. The instructions say to discard pages 1 and 2. Pages 3 and 4 are the actual form, which I filled out and signed. Pages 5 and 6 are the State Department Terms and Conditions for receiving a passport, and other various government instructions. I had not brought pages 5 and 6 with me to the post office. The nice lady told me I needed to submit pages 5 and 6 with pages 3 and 4 so that the State Department would know I had seen the T's and C's. Fortunately she just happened to have a copy of pages 5 and 6 (I think she has seen this behavior before) which she staples to pages 3 and 4....so it goes!

About this time, a timer on the other side of the office dings. My passport pictures are ready. The nice lady peels of the Polaroid paper from the pictures. She cuts the picture to separate them into 2 distinct pictures. She holds the picture up to a State Department provided picture template. Oops...she had held the camera too close to my head. According to the State Department picture template, I have a fat head (if they only knew)...so it is back around the counter to the 2 chairs to have my passport picture taken again....so it goes!

Back around the counter I go. Sit in chair 2. Nice lady sits in chair 1. Holds camera 6 feet from my head. Smile. Blinding Flash. Picture taken. How easy is this!

The nice lady asks me to stay in chair 2 until she can see the picture to make sure everything is ok. While we are waiting, the nice lady has to deal with several angry prospective passport holders who have sent in their material in early January but have not yet received their passports. They did not go the expedite route. The nice lady shrugs... says there is nothing she can do... (I am glad I chose the expedite route I think)...so it goes!

Ding! New photos are ready. Peel off the Polaroid paper. Cut the picture in two for 2 distinct pictures. State Department plastic photo head size template check. My head is no longer fat. I can leave chair 2 and go back around the counter. Real progress is being made here.

As I am going the expedite route, I instruct the nice lady that I want to send the renewal information via next day priority mail. I also want to have the passport sent back to me by next day priority mail after the renewal application is processed by the State Department. No problem. 2 Priority mail envelops appear. I fill in the first to send the passport renewal off to be processed. It identifies a receiving address somewhere in Philadelphia. The nice lady then hands me information to fill in the return envelop to have the new passport sent to me overnight. It has a sending address of the Thomas P O'Neil building in Boston. Hmm... my passport paperwork with my passport pictures are going to Philadelphia but my new passport is coming from Boston... interesting.. I detect the possibility of a a future so it goes!

Anyway, with the paperwork filled out, I give all of the material to the nice lady. She looks at me with confusion. "No.. you need to take this to one of the clerks at the front of the building to pay for everything." "OK", I respond. "Do you have a receipt I can give the clerk so I can pay for everything?" I ask. Oops.... "I need to write one up"..."No problem... just give it to me and I will give it to the clerk"..."No, I can't give it to you.. I will bring it directly to the clerk....you can meet us there"... deja vu... so it goes!

I gather my things and head back out to the front of the building. One of the clerks, an older gentleman, is busy. But the cute post office clerk is available. Things are looking up.

The nice lady from the bowels of the building appears. She heads to the older gentleman. oh oh... In perfect post office speak, he tells her he is busy so she goes over to the cute clerk... Score!.. at least the day is now a little brighter. We exchange pleasantries, I hand the cute clerk a $50, she hands me back almost $7 and the deal is done. According to the cute clerk, the State Department will have my renewal application by noon tomorrow. She gives me a tracking number to follow the package. The deal is done....I hope.

All told the process costs me $170 dollars including $60 for the actual renewal, $67 in expedite fees, $15 for vintage 1970 passport photos, and $28 in priority mail charges. Oh... I forgot.. also about an hour online hunting down the State Department information, an hour driving back and forth from Rutland, and about 45 minutes in the post office. By the end of April, if all goes well deep inside the government bureaucracy, I will have my new passport in hand... I hope... so it goes!

Walt gets a lift on the Bunny Buster Poma 

I had the opportunity to get out on the mountain for several hours this morning. Temperatures dipped last night into the low 20's. I was expecting firm and chattering surfaces for the early morning runs, but the mountain was surprisingly soft.

Today was a pretty simple ski day, a half a dozen or so runs limited to trails groomed last night. They included Rime, Reason, Great Northern, East Falls, Chute, Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap, and Superstar. In addition, others in the group skied Upper Skye Lark and Lower Bitter Sweet instead of doing Superstar.

All of the trails were very soft packed powder. The initial runs were on soft corduroy. Very quickly, however, the runs turned to soft little bumps as skier and rider traffic increased. Snow cover on all of the trails was generally excellent, with few exposed surfaces. The exception was Mouse Trap which has noticeable bare spots down skiers right. Skiers left on Mouse Trap was well covered.

Superstar was the most technically demanding. The upper headwall is turning to corn, but the pitch and cover still support broad sweeping turns. Middle Superstar and Lower Superstar were characterized by little, well spaced, soft bumps. Many turns were required to navigate Superstar after coming down the headwall, but all in all it was a good leg work out.

Temperatures are expected to stay near or above freezing most of the week. From what I saw today, I would expect surface conditions would continue in the spring skiing regime for the remainder of the week into the weekend. Let it snow!