New IMac G5 

OK... I be bad.... I ordered a new IMac G5 for Mary for Christmas. She wanted a new computer at the front desk, as she was getting used to using my Powermac Dual G5 that I use in my office. It was supposed to be delivered on December 23rd, which would have allowed me to set it up for the holidays. It was delivered yesterday, January 3rd. (It's a long story... Suffice to say, if I get some free time in the next couple of weeks, I will probably write a letter to Jeff Bezos at Amazon.)

I have been using Apple Mac's since before they were Mac's (I had access to a Lisa at Motorola in the early 80's for the Athena project at MIT). I can tell you that it is everything Apple advertises. From the time I opened the box to the time I had it working on our network at the inn was less than 10 minutes. Of course, if we were running a single user system with standard applications, that would be the end of the story. However, we are not. By the time I got all of our inn software loaded, and configured user accounts for all the people who will have access to the machine, and tested everything, I got to bed this morning around 5 AM. (Oh... I did not mention that we went out last night for a few drinks and dinner with friends. So I did not start loading any programs till around midnight....The perils of having a shiny new toy!) Needless to say I did not go skiing this morning. But we have a shiny new computer added to our inn's computer network.

Mary did go skiing this morning. She reports that the mountain is grooming everything flat. She skied upper Wildfire at Bear for the first time in several years. Snow conditions were generally good with a few slick spots. Clearly the mountain is overdue for a snow storm. Hopefully we get one soon.

I won't get a chance to get out and take pictures of the area today, as there is a lot of work to do at the inn in the wake of the holiday week.

The majority of our New Years inn guests checked out this morning. They are either on the slopes, of driving home right now as I write this. While Mary and I run the inn as a business, at this point in time the inn is also our life, so our guests make all the difference. And the guests who visited with us this holiday season were really nice.

The guests we had this holiday season came from all walks of life. We had business executives, retirees, young lovers, kids with baseball caps on who when carded at the bar were in their late 20's. Skiing and boarding do have an element of danger, so we had a few bumps and bruises, and a broken wrist added to the mix as well. But, and this is the important part, all of our guests genuinely seemed to have a very good time visiting Killington.

In talking with people at the bar, and we all know who kept whom up till the early morning hours, people seem very up beat...perhaps for the first time in several years. The economy seems to be doing better. World events, while many are quite tragic, have morphed at least for a while into the background noise of life in the 21st century. And all of this allowed many of the guests to the area to take a break, to relax and spend time to recharge before heading out into the battles of 2006.

Mary and I are very grateful for all of the guests who visited with us this holiday season. We were re-acquainted with old friends, and made many new ones. And we look forward to seeing you again the next time you visit Killington.

Killington Peak, 2 PM, January 1, 2006 

Life is full of little victories. When you own a restaurant, successfully completing New Years Eve is one of them. We had a really nice group of guests join us for dinner last night. While we had a few cancellations for the early seating which caused some early evening concern, by the time the second seating was being served around 10:00 PM, it was pretty obvious that all of the staff training we have done over the last 8 weeks was paying off. Our Chef Stephen, Sous Chef Rhonda, waitstaff Tina and Heidi, and of course John behind the bar, all did a great job in seeing that our New Years guests enjoyed the festivities.

Where ever you may be this New Year's day, Mary and I wish that you and yours have a Happy New Year as we head into 2006.

Vacancy Sign comes down for the winter 

Guests are continuing to stream into Killington in preparation to celebrate the arrival of 2006. We have the good fortune of having our inn full during this period. We have been very busy all morning referring calls we are receiving for rooms to other hotels/inns in the area.

Temperatures dropped rapidly last night. Once again the weatherman had it wrong. We did have a brief dusting last night as the temperatures dropped, leading to the shorthand comment of the day "Dust on Crust" to describe conditions. Reports from friends who were on the mountain this morning report very firm conditions on most trails. Many trails were not opened early as the resort was busy running grooming machines over the surfaces to break up the crust. Snowmaking is resuming with the colder temperatures, so surface conditions will be improving rapidly in the very near term.

On a personal note, I was able to put a boot on my foot with the sprained ankle for the first time in 3 weeks this morning. Mary and I removed the vacancy signs from our main Inn signs on the Killington road. Hopefully, I will be able to get a ski boot on it next week.

The good: guests who are here are having a good time. More guests are arriving by the minute.

The bad: Temperatures are in the high 30's with a driving non-crystaline precipitation falling from the sky.

The ugly: The current storm will not clear the area until sometime in the morning on Friday. Low temperature on Saturday is predicted to be 19 degrees.

But if you return to the good....guests at the area seem to be taking it in stride. People are on vacation, away from the city, and celebrating the conclusion of 2005 and the promise of 2006. Have a good day where ever you may be. I will try to put a short post on the blog tomorrow with an update on conditions.

Killington Peak, 12 Noon, December 28, 2005 

In my journeys around town this morning, from my conversations with locals, it appears that the region is having a very good holiday week. Local merchants are reporting that visitors to the region are in good spirits. I spoke with several ski shop owners who reported that they felt that their holiday sales were up over the last couple of years. Of course, it is too early to tell as we have a lot of the holiday week to go, but the merchants I spoke with were very optimistic.

People who have been out skiing and riding report that conditions on the mountain this far this week have been good with steady but manageable crowds. As reported yesterday, the mountain is very firm with some slick spots appearing in high traffic areas. Guests in the inn at the bar last night reported that the mountain was blowing a lot of snow over on Bear Mountain. The guests reported that Outer Limits was open for skiing and riding, with the guns laying down big whales. We are expecting some NCP (non-crystaline precipitation) tonight which will finish with snow late Thursday. Given the current shape of the mountain, it should have minimal impact on conditions for the upcoming New Years weekend.

Sometimes you have to take the good, the bad, and the ugly...The last 2 days saw significant reduction in the snow cover at Killington. In the 4 day period from December 23rd to December 27th, the snow at the snow stake has gone from 13.75 inches to 7 inches... basically the depth of the snow pack has been cut in half.

There is both bad news and good news in this event. On the bad side, surfaces in the area have significantly firmed up. Temperatures fell yesterday from the high 30's at mid day to the mid teens overnight. Always the optimist, however, the good side to this is that the base will now be solid and stable for the rest of the winter season. (I subscribe to the theory that when you are presented with lemons that you should make lemonade.)