Jane "I have is all" on Bittersweet 

Thank You

We will keep it to the headlines today as there is a lot to talk about.

First and foremost, Killington caught the northern edge of the Nor'Easter which has been raging havoc in coastal communities on the east coast. At the inn by noon we had received about 7 inches of new snow, covering ground that had gone green with the warm temperatures we had experienced this last week. Snow has continued to fall all afternoon.

The new snow, combined with colder temperatures allowing the resort to resume snow making operations, should result in a large jump in available trails at the resort for skiing and riding this weekend.

We had the opportunity this week to ski 4 days. Overall conditions were late winter on the top of all of the peaks, with late spring conditions around all of the base lodges. Todays new snow and colder temperatures should return the mountain to mid-winter conditions through out.

Birch Ridge Inn covered with new snow. Taken March 2, 2018

In other news, Powdr, the resorts owner, announced last night at a Killington community wide meeting their summer plans to continue their investments in the resort. Overall, $16 Million dollars has been committed for improvements at the resort to be completed in the summer of 2018 in time for next years ski season. Included in the plans are :

1. New Snowdon Lift. A high speed, detachable, 6 person, bubble chair. The chair is set to cut the time required to reach the top of Snowdon from approximately 12 minutes (on a good day) down to 4.5 minutes. In addition to the new chair lift, a chair barn will be built at the base of Snowdon to protect the new chairs from inclement overnight weather with the goal to improve overall reliability of the lift.

2. Completely refurbish the K1 Gondola including brand new gondola cabins and a new gondola haul rope (the cable used to lift the gondolas up the mountain). In addition, the current open air barn used to protect the current gondola cabins from inclement weather overnight will be replaced with an enclosed heated barn. As in the case of the new barn at Snowdon the intent is to improve the overall reliability of gondola operations.

3. New South Ridge Lift. A fixed grip quad will be installed along the South Ridge section of the resort, replacing the old triple lift "giggle chair" which was removed several years ago. The new quad will not have the signature left hand mid station turn that the former "giggle chair" was famous for, instead following a straight line path along the route previously used as the return line for the old lift.

4. Moving the Poma Lift on Bunny Buster to Swirl on Rams Head. Also moving the KMS skier training course from Bunny Buster to Swirl. The goal here is to allow Bunny Buster to be open everyday to the general public with KMS training moved to one of the lesser used trails on the mountain.

5. Multiple ski tunnels around the resort. In an effort to improve skier safety, open up more top to bottom terrain, and live up to the founder Pres Smiths vision of having top to bottom green trails from each peak in Killington, multiple ski tunnels are to be installed on various trails at what are currently now high traffic cross overs. Included will be tunnels at the Stash, Sky Burst, and Bunny Buster to name a few.

6. The resort is moving to an RFID system for all season passes and lift tickets. The current system of hand-held bar code readers is being replaced with a fully integrated electronic gate system accessed thru RFID technology (think EasyPass). The goal is to both make the lift boarding process at the resort a little more friendly, and more efficient, at the same time.

7. In addition to the above, snow making extensions and some trail work will be completed to support the new additions and to continue to improve skier/rider flow across the resort.

The resort also announced a list of summer events, which many years would be dominating the conversation but which I will return to in another blog when more information becomes available.

If you are coming to Killington this weekend, drive safe. Prepare to have several days of good hard skiing. If you can't make it to Killington, there is still time as this snow should stay around for a while.

Wherever you may be, get out and play!.... Think Snow!

Killington Peak bathed in brilliant blue sky from Highlander 

100% sunshine, temperatures in the upper 20's to low 40's, and plenty of snow. It was just a perfect day to ski at Killington.

Started the day in the Stash. The entrance was suffering slightly from groomer marks, but the traverse through the park was delightful. Surface underneath was soft packled power. Very pleasant first run.

Bear Mountain in general was skiing well with the upper sections firm and the lower sections starting to beach sand out. Upper Wildfire was a collection of small soft bumps. Nothing special, more like lack of grooming, But they were fun. Bear Claw and Skye Burst were groomed flat. Snow making was taking place at the top of Skye Burst and on the cossover from Skyeburst to Wildfire/Bear Claw. Lower Wildfire was smooth if you picked your line, heavy if you went straight down the middle. Same was true of lower Skye Burst, but since that trail is wider, the line you took was less forgiving.

Needles Eye, Great Eastern, Cruise Control were all a mess due to the combination of snow guns on Great Eastern and the trail closure of Needles Eye for racing. Beginners taking Great Eastern under the guns were struggling. Add advanced skiers into the mix because of the closed trail... you get the picture. It was not pretty. We took the chair to No Where out instead of taking the Gondola to the top of Skye Peak to avoid the carnage.

Superstar and Ovation were skiing great. We did multple laps of Middle Ovation to Lower Superstar. Surface conditions were well groomed with a fairly soft surface devoid of the beach sand and chunks found over on Bear Mountain. Definately a do over.

The North Ridge area was skiing very well. Rime, and Reason are well covered from a season of snow making. Again worth multiple runs.

To go home we took Downdraft to Cascade. Downdraft had not been groomed in a few days and was distinctly firm. No problems setting the skis on edge, as Downdraft was not iced over. However, you could tell it had not been groomed in a while. Lower Cascade was similar to lower Superstar in that it was firm with a soft cover. However, the overall depth of the soft snow on top of the base was significantly less. The run out to the K1 Base Lodge was a piece of cake. Overall a nice finish.

Goggle tans are sprouting up all over town as the last few days have seen plenty of sunshine. Now if we can catch a break with a few more snow storms from Mother Nature, we should have a long spring to to get that tan just right.

We can only hope! No matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Killington Peak still enveloped in snow 

The hallmark of weather in New England is that if you don't like it, wait a minute. That has truly been the case at Killington this winter season.

From early season glory, the brutally cold Christmas and New Years season, a week of mid season epic powder, and 5 freeze-thaw cycles, we have seen it all this winter. But the resort carries on...

Base depths in Killington have been effected by the warm temperatures of the last several weeks. When the temperatures dropped late last week, snow making operations began once again to refresh the mountain for skiers and riders. Mother Nature even cooperated with a couple of inches of snow to make everything white again. And March is right around the corner.

Historically, March is the snowiest month of the year, with an average snowfall at the Resort of 57 inches on Killington Peak. Will we get our normal snowfall this year... realistically there is now way to really know. However, if the weather forecasters have their say, it does look like we are in for an interesting weather pattern shift over the next week with the potential for large coastal storms to develop along the east coast. Exactly the types of storms that make March the snowiest month of the year.

We can only hope! No matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Progression of snow at the Birch Ridge Inn Snow stake over the last week. 

From rock hard scrabble..... to billowy soft powder. Mother Nature has given Killington a a gift over the last week.

it has been an up and down snow season at Killington. We were blessed with decent snow early season and throught the Christmas holidays. Then we had brutal temperature swings including one 36 hour period where temperatures changed 80 Degrees F. Warm temperatures saw r@!n. Cold temperatures created the firmest of hard pack. But Killington kept going.

This week we have seen the "winter" side of Mother Nature. Over 16 inches of new fluffy white powder has fallen at the snow stake at the inn over the last 7 days. More has fallen on the mountain due to higher altitude. And smiles are all over the place.

Birch Ridge Inn covered with new snow. Taken February 8, 2018

Skiing today was without question the best of the season. The hard pack of last week has been replaced with super soft snow underfoot. Ungroomed trails have pillows of powder in unskied areas and soft bumps every where else. Groomed trails are super soft with small "skier traffic" created bumps appearing as the day wears on.

To top it all off, the Killington Resort was also making snow on many trails all over the mountain this morning. From Showshed, to Highline, to Superstar, the resort was adding to the base that Mother Nature had provided. Assuming we escape near term freeze thaw cycles, we should have several great weeks of skiing and riding at Killington on soft powder in store over the Valentines Day / Presidents Day periods.

If you are coming to Killington this weekend, you are blessed. Prepare to ski long and hard because conditions are just plain fun. If you can't make it to Killington, it's time to get in gear and plan a trip. Conditions are the best of the season and should not be missed.

Wherever you may be, get out and play!.... Think Snow!

Snowmaking in progress on Killington Peak 

It has been a wild January.

At Killington, we have seen temperature swings approaching 90 degrees in a 48 hour window. Early in the month the area more resembled the North Pole with night time temperatures approaching 30 below zero F. During that period it was so cold that it was basically snowing all the time, as the cold temperatures were squeezing every last drop of moisture out of the atmosphere.

Lately, we have seen more of a temperature yo-yo. Some days it seems like Killington is actually near Atlanta Georgia with temperatures aproaching 50 F. Other days it is back down in the deep freeze with daytime temperatures in the single digits and night time temperatures approaching -10F. We did get unlucky during one of the warm spells and caught a r@!n storm which stripped away a foot of natural snow around the inn (and on the mountain). But that storm was followed by several very cold days, solidifying the remaining base to create a very resilient surface for the resort to work with. And work they have.

Snow making operations taking place around the Killington Resort Taken January 26, 2018

A combination of items have allowed the Killington Resort to continue to improve overall conditions. First and foremost, the base that they built during the period around the World Cup races in late November is exceptionally deep. In addition to their past efforts, as todays pictures witness, the resort is not sitting idle. Snow making has continued around the clock when weather condition have allowed. Virtually every trail with snow making on it (meaning basically every trail) has experienced a surface refresh over the last week. Last weekend, we witnessed huge snowmaking efforts on all of the black and double black diamond terrain. This week we are seeing it across the resort, with renewed efforts along blue and green trails. While I can not say it is part of the resort's strategy, as we are not involved in it, I can say what we have witnessed. And the snow making team is working hard.

This week we have been out on the mountain several days, as is normal. Many days this season have been difficult picture days, due to weather conditions. From camera freeze-ups on below zero days to heavy fog on above freezing days, taking pictures this year has been interesting. That being said, the conditions we have been experiencing overall are a testament to the hard work of the resort team. Yesterday, for instance, we took a top to bottom run down Skylark. By all rights, we were expecting to be skating down lower Skylark, which we have done many times in the past. What we found was a firm but well groomed surface. Because of all of the World Cup snowmaking, the resort was able to allow the grooming machings to go deep to break up the hard pack surface created by earlier week above freezing conditions. Words do not properly explain it, but overall the surface was impressive.

Please remember, this is the east coast. Overall conditions are firm, flat, and fast on machine groomed granular. We joke with our friends out west who continually confuse east coast conditions with ice. The basic rule to remember about ice is that it only found in two places.....in your cocktail glass apres skiing; or in those locations where there is fish underneath it. (Ok... I will give you some untreated parking lots as well.)

If you are coming to Killington this weekend, you should find well groomed ski surfaces with moderating temperatures. It looks like the storm the Weather Channel has been busy hyping all week will go to the south of us, leaving us in sunshine and mild temperatures most of the weekend. Snow showers are predicted to follow on Monday, but then again that is a Weather Channel prediction.

Wherever you may be.... Think Snow!

Introducing Jack Daniels Tennessee Rye 

Join us at the Birch Ridge Inn this evening as we sample Jack Daniel's newest spirit available in Vermont : Jack Daniel's Tennessee Rye.

Introduced nationwide at the end of 2017, the spirit has has made it through the Vermont State Liqour system. The first case was delivered late yesterday to our local state store. With a long history of working with the folks at Jack Daniels, we wound up with one of the first bottles in our posession early this morning.

Caitlin from Horizon Beverage will be on hand tonight as we crack open the bottle for sampling. Merisa will be behind the bar mixing up her signature cocktails to go with the new Rye.

The sampling will begin around 5:30. If you are in Killington, stop in and try out Jack's newest offering. But no matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Merry Christmas from the snow covered Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

The holiday season is upon us in earnest in Killington. Guests from all over the world are streaming into the area to celebrate the end of the year holidays. Several heavy snow storms in the last couple of days have preceded the guests, assuring that the slopes of Killington will be 100% open for the holiday season.

In addition to skiing and riding at Killington, the holidays are also about family and friends. For many years, we have celebrated the holidays by getting our friends together to cut down and decorate Christmas trees, both at the inn, at in several of our neighbors homes in the area. These are just a few for you to enjoy this holiday season.

2017 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree
L-R : Peter, Ellen, Sherry, Ed, Mary, Bill

The Smith's Christmas Tree
Back L-R : Peter, Bill
Front L-R: Ed, Ellen, Mary, Sherry

The Albert's Christmas Tree
Back L-R : Peter, Ellen, Mary, Bill
Front L-R: Ed, Sherry, Santa's guard dog

To all of our family, friends, and guests, we hope that your holiday season brings you great joy and that you enter the new year with health and happiness.

Let It Snow!