Rogues night out. 

The the winter season at Killington unofficially kicked off Saturday night with the 46th annual Wobbly Barn Halloween party. The Wobbly Barn was filled to capacity with revelers listening to Joey Leone and the Chop Shop belt out an eclectic mix of favorites from the last 40 years of rock and roll.

While the winter season has unofficially started, we are still waiting for winter to make an extended appearance so the ski season at Killington can begin. The cold weather that signaled the end of the fall season gave way to some warmer weather this last week. While temperatures were a far cry lower than a full fledged Indian Summer, they were not suitable for the resort to make the snow that they desperately need to offer top to bottom skiing. Of course the warm weather has made it easier to complete outside tasks...but the time is now to "get this party started".

Weather forecasts for the coming week are a shoppers paradise. Pick your favorite weather report and run with it. Todays forecasts from Accuweather and Weather.com paint a bleak picture for snow making conditions thru this week. If you were to rely on these forecasts, we may see some snow making during some of the nights, but it will be problematical during many of the days this week. Next week looks decidedly better...but can you believe a forecast out 10 days when tomorrow is usually a question mark?

A little known weather site that I like to follow, snow-forecast.com, is much more optimistic about weather possibilities for the coming week. Their current forecast models for Killington show below freezing conditions on much of the mountain starting early Tuesday morning. If you decide to buy into this forecast, get your equipment ready, because the start of the season is later this week.

And finally, in homage to U.S. Taxpayers, there is the National Weather Service. Their current forecast, as of this afternoon, basically split the difference between the vox populi of Accuweather/Weather Channel and the obscurity of Snow-Forecast.com. The fact that the National Weather Service is splitting the difference gives me a sense of optimism. With the caveat that I own a small business which makes me an optimist by nature.

At the end of the day, forecasting the weather at Killington during the change of the seasons is as much a black art as it is science. It is easy to say it is going to be cold the last 2 weeks of January, or warm during the month of July (well usually anyway). But the cusps of the seasons, where it is hard to tell the difference between Fall or Winter keep us all looking out the window, reading our thermometers, shopping weather forecasts on the internet, and generally chafing at the bit to be able to "Point em down hill".

The winter season unofficially kicked of with a great party at Killington last night. Mother Nature if you are listening...it is time to make it official!.....Let it snow!

Kittens
Click to enlarge. 

This is a good story...and good stories always begin with...

"Once upon a time"..last Sunday night around 10:30 PM to be specific, a couple of nice inn guests returned from a night out. They came into the "Great Room" and told me that there were hearing a strange noise outside the inn. They thought it might be a bird or something. So I went outside to investigate. It was pouring cats and dogs out with the storm that was passing through the area. Little did I know, as I walked out the front door of the inn, that it was literally r@!ning cats!

Off in the distance, in the area near the Snowstake, I hear a loud cry. I recognized that sound immediately. When you live near the forest, the cry of a baby animal is quite distinctive. I knew right away that it was a kitten of some kind....I was thinking raccoon...but that is not what I found.

Through the r@!n, I aimed a strong flash light at the sound. It was coming from some bushes near one of Mary's gardens. Because of the downpour, a mountain stream had encircled the bush on 3 sides, forming a peninsula surrounded by a torrent. As I walked closer, I could see some bright blue eyes staring back at my flash light, coming our from a tiger striped animal. From about 15 feet away, I still could not make out what type of animal it was in the dark downpour.

As I got closer, the animal did not move. It just kept crying out. When I got about 2 feet from it, I noticed it was not a raccoon, but a tiny kitten all of about 10 inches long. It was soaking wet and shivering in the cold. Obviously very afraid and separated from its mother.

I got one of Mary's garden buckets and picked the kitten up. I brought it to our shed and got a towel to try to dry it off. The inn guests told me that when they went out for the evening, they had seen a cat with a small kitten at the bottom of Butler Road. With some help from Mary (she had retired to bed early as she usually does but she got up with the commotion) we dried the kitten off, gave it a saucer of milk, and put it in a box in the shed for the night. Feeling safe, I presume, the cat stopped crying, curled up into a ball, and went to sleep.

On Monday morning, we looked for the mother cat. She was no where in sight. Since we are not cat people (I am very allergic) Mary called our friend, Pat Linnemayr. Patty and her husband, Walter, have had cats for years. Walter came right up, saw the kitten, and knew just what to do.

Monday night into Tuesday, between shifts of feeding the kitten with an eye dropper, Patty came back to the inn to walk the grounds looking for momma cat. No where to be found. About 5:30 PM on Tuesday, during one of the walk abouts, there was a feeble response to Patty's cat call coming from near the Inn's Covered Carriageway. About half way down the Carriageway Patty discovered another kitten, half frozen and barely moving on the asphalt. Patty instinctively scooped the kitten up and put it under her jacket to try to warm it up. It was clear that this kitten was from the same litter as the first I had found.

What happened to the momma cat is anyones guess. We have been keeping vigil around the inn all week. Patty has set a "Have a heart" trap with some cat food in an attempt to lure it out, if it has not become lunch for some other creature of the forest. We have also continued to walk the grounds; making cat calls on the chance that the mother is down some where, or there may be another kitten in the bushes.

I stopped down at Pat and Walter's house this afternoon to see how the kittens were doing. Both are now eating thru the eye dropper. Patty figures that they are about 5 weeks old. One is probably a male; one probably a female. They are both active and inquisitive, as kittens usually are. Patty is talking to some friends about trying to find them a good home. She figures that they should stay together, as they are obviously related...So they may live happily ever after........Let it snow!

Maple tree in front of the Birch Ridge Inn attempting to defy the season.
Click to enlarge. 

Yesterdays cold monsoon was replaced with beautiful sunshine. Thank you... thank you.... thank you...

Mountain brooks and streams are bursting at their banks with all of the r@!n we received the last couple of days. Mary and I got a chance to get out and do some more work around the yard to get ready for winter. Mary has just about finished taking all of the gardens down. I had my chain saw out thinning trees along the Killington Road. It was a nice day to be outside.

Around the inn, the majority of the trees have gone full tiwg. But there is this one maple tree along the Killington Road that is holding on. This afternoon, in the late day sun, it was showing a beautiful orange red hue. Just a small reminder of the fall season past. .....Let it snow!

New tower mounted fan gun on lower Mouse Trap. Other snow guns circled for highlight.
Click to enlarge. 

There is not other way to describe it....it is just a nasty twig season day in Killington. What by all rights according to the calendar should be a rip snorting snow storm is just a cold, driving, r@!n. The good news in this is the wind and r@!n are knocking the final leaf hold outs down to the ground. The bad news is that the leaves that are now sitting on the ground are a soaking wet mess. Yuck....

On the bright side, the Killington Resort seems undeterred in their quest to get the resort ready for skiing and riding. The new fan gun is installed at the base of Mousetrap and it is a monster. Even thru the torrential rains and other moisture in the air, it is clearly visible from the base of the mountain. The arc of its tower looks like it goes half way across Chute towards Great Northern. When it gets cold enough to fire it up, I am sure it will be an impressive sight to behold. And its placement on the mountain assures that every visitor to Killington will see it in action if the resort runs the fan gun during the day.

The other interesting thing about the picture of the junction of Mouse Trap, Chute, Great Northern and Lower Bunny Buster is that the resort has now stationed snow guns along the lower sections of the mountain. (I added circles around the guns in photoshop to help point them out.) Up until this point, the Killington Resort has only attempted to make snow on the upper elevations. Unfortunately the weather halted that earlier this week. But the base of snow that they made up top was still visible today thru the r@!n. It now looks like they are getting ready to make snow on the lower elevations when Mother Nature gives us all a break.

When the weather will turn cold again is anyones guess....but I hope it is soon! .....Let it snow!

Winch Cat stabilizing Back Hoe on Mousetrap at Killington.
Click to enlarge. 

It is a beautiful sunny day in Killington. Temperatures, which have been unusually cool the last month, are in the mid 60's. Just what a ski resort want's to see in late October (not!).

But the beautiful weather is making it pleasant to work outside to get ready for winter, which we all know will come soon enough. Heavy machinery is out and about all over the area. The Killington Road around the Rams Head Base Lodge was seeing a lot o work maintaining the drainage channels at the side of the road. New rip rap was being installed to hold the banks.

On the mountain there was some interesting work taking place leading to the new fan gun mount on Mousetrap. A Winch Cat, normally used to hold grooming machines steady on steep trails, was tethering a crawling Back Hoe. A ditch was being dug down Mousetrap leading to the new Fan Gun Mount. What ever they were doing, it looks like a few more days before the new toy is installed and tested for the season.

Snow making at Killington Peak has of course been suspended due to the weather. Snow cover on upper trails is clearly visible. Sharp lines form a demarcation point between snowmaking and natural terrain. Any natural snow that fell the last couple of weeks has melted away. The Beast could use a little help from Mother Nature to get this party started!.....Let it snow!

Looking across the Roaring Brook Valley from the Birch Ridge Inn. 

And no..it's not an election...there will be no run off other then r@!nwater or snow melt in the spring.

The annual rite of passage from summer through fall into winter which we call Foliage Season is coming to a close in the Killington area. While there are a few hold outs among the forest, the vibrant fall colors of just 10 to 15 days ago are being rapidly replace with the dull gray of twigs against a darkening sky.

While it happens every year, the passing of Fall Foliage season is still bittersweet. From the first blush of spring to the onset of twig season, the Green Mountains are bursting with color. And now it is virtually all gone.

But, as they say, life goes on. The falling of the leaves in Killington means that the falling of snow is not far away. The purifying process of turning the country side white will rapidly erase the doldrums of twig season.....Let it snow!

Bluebird day at Killington 

Oh...I wish I were skiing!

On my morning drive to see what is happening on the mountain I was amazed at the beauty of it all. Yesterdays storm which went out to sea to the south and east of Killington has dragged down cool dry air from Canada. The net is that Killington is covered in a cloudless azure blue sky today. The remaining fall colors, sparse as they are, contrast perfectly with the snow covered mountain tops and the brilliant blue.

Skiing and riding will come soon enough to Killington. The upper reaches of the resort are gleaming today, while the lower slopes are seeing what little snow cover they had melt away in the fall sun. Temperatures at the K1 base area were in the mid 40's, not suitable for making snow on the lower elevations of the resort. Workers were visible at the base lodge completing some outside work prior to the season, but the tell-tale signs of the resort opening soon are not present. With the weather predicted this week in the area, it will probably be a couple of weeks before rush to open preparations are completed.

It will all come soon enough. Today is a day to enjoy the last bits of sunshine before winter sets in......Let it snow!