Mary skiing towards the entrance of Bear Claw from Great Eastern. 

It happens every year. Some times it arrives early (this year), some times it arrives late... but we almost always get one....a January thaw.

Warm temperatures have overspread the ski mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Temperatures today at Killington are in the upper 40's. Predicted high's for tomorrow are in the low 50's before seasonable winter weather returns later in the week.

Snow surface conditions on the mountain today were soft and creamy. Surfaces were generally flat with small soft bumps developing on many of the trails. If you enjoy spring like conditions, with the exception of a heavy fog starting at about 3000 feet, and a few brown spots showing in areas outside of snow gun coverage, skiing today was very good. It was not a powder day by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a day of nice soft snow.

Today was Mary's first day on the hill since the holiday's began. She needed to start a little later this morning, as we had a lot of guests stay with us last night.(She makes breakfast for inn guests in the morning.) We headed out to the mountain about 9:45. I convinced her to try my 1 hour loop, so we parked in the Vale parking lot and skied directly to the Rams Head quad, bypassing all of the base lodges.

We started with a run down Caper from Rams Head to the Snowdon quad. We hugged the tree line on skier's right at the top of Rams Head. Thick flog was blanketing the area. The trees provided some minimal visibility, and there was great snow coverage along the lightly traveled edge of the trail. From the Snowdon Quad we cut across Mouse Run to Highline. Highline was wonderfully soft with just the right pitch for little back and forth bump creating turns. From Highline, we got on the K1 Gondola and traversed across the back side of the resort to Bear Mountain.

Bear Mountain was basically just below the fog line with fog extending about 100 feet down from the top of the Outer Limits quad. Bear Claw had nice coverage down skiers right opposite the terrain park features. Lower Bear Claw, on skiers right underneath the tower mounted snow guns, was a wonderfully consistent ice cream texture. Soft, carving turns were the method of choice. Of course, as Mary had not been out in a couple of weeks, she developed a little leg burn along the way.

After a boost from the OL quad, we went down Wildfire. Upper Wildfire, while soft, was slightly firmer than the other trails we had been on. Mary actually passed me as she felt that she could run the trail a little (and her leg burn was telling her not to turn so much). The ice cream returned on Lower Wildfire. Several brown spots were developing in the high traffic area at Anti-Venom. But other than that, Wildfire was in great shape for spring like cruising.

From Wildfire, we traversed in front of the Bear Mountain base lodge to the Skye Peak quad. Mary's legs needed a rest after chasing me around the mountain. From the top of Skye Peak, we took Skye Lark from top to bottom. Upper Skye Lark was shrouded in fog. As the trail turns above High Road, there was some brown showing on skiers right which forced some evasive maneuvers. Lower Skye Lark was getting nicely bumped. The rest on the Skye Peak quad put a little extra back into Mary's legs. She had a great time (really) picking her way down lower Skye Lark.

One last trip to the peak on the K1 box and we cruised home down Great Northern back to the car in the Vale parking lot. We were not out for long, about an hour and a half, but we had skied all over the mountain. A really nice way to get some exercise after the holidays(I didn't gain any weight over the holidays...honest!).

I would guess from the weather forecast, and the huge amount of snow on the mountain, that tomorrows conditions will be similar. And maybe we will get a little sun thrown in for good measure.

Let it snow!

The final day for the 2007/2008 Christmas Tree at the Birch Ridge Inn, Killington. 

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

All good things tend to come to an end. Such is the case with the holiday season at Killington. Mary and I were very fortunate, over the holidays, to have been visited by many nice guests who stayed at our Inn and dined in our Restaurant. We thank you!

But the holidays are now over. The project to take down the inn's Christmas tree began this afternoon. The boxes to hold all of the ornaments were removed from their storage places in the attic. The winter march of the snowmen will soon begin as Mary takes the inn out of it's holiday regalia and transforms it to a celebration of winter in the mountains.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
And surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Let it snow!

Tower guns making snow on lower Bear Claw 

Today was a study in contrasts at Killington. But overall it was a really nice day to ski.

I arrived at the mountain just before 9, parking in the 4th spot in the Bay 1 parking lot next to the K1 gondola. Aside from being cold (-9F when I left the inn at 8:55) 2 things struck me as I arrived at the resort...Killington peak was devoid of color, totally covered in a heavy gray overcast and... there seemed like there was no one at the resort. Over the next 60 minutes or so, my initial outlook would change considerably, but when I walked from the car to the K1 base lodge, with the wind blowing and no sunshine, all alone, there was an eire sense of foreboding.

As I was running about 5 minutes late, the friend I was going to ski with today was already heading from the base lodge to the Gondola. We agreed we would meet at the top of the North Ridge triple at 9:15. Seemed like a reasonable plan. He headed to the lift, I went into the lodge to put my boots on.

By 9:05, I am in the gondola, headed to the peak. The wind is howling, the car stops several times, but never matter, this is Killington, I have seen this behavior before. I ski down Great Northern over to North Ridge. The chair is not running... No one is even there to get the chair running.. My friend is now where to be seen. This is not good. So I ski down Great Northern back to the K1 Gondola. Other than being dark, remember the gray cloud, surface conditions were excellent. I was literally the only one on the trail the whole way down back to the box. The feeling of foreboding came back about halfway down the mountain as I realized I was traveling at warp speed with a very stiff wind at my back. If something unfortunate were to happen, I would have launched into the woods and possibly not be found for days...It was actually a weird feeling.

I looped the K1 gondola again, this time going down East Falls. East Fall was in great shape. I was able to make broad sweeping GS style turns from top to bottom, as again I was totally by myself. I did pass an instructor and his student on the run out on Spillway back to the box. But my friend was no where in sight.

I headed back up the box and decided to traverse the top of the mountain to go to Bear. As I skied down Blue Heaven towards South Ridge, there was a noticeable change in the environment. I had skied past the edge of the gray cloud hovering above Killington Peak into brilliant sunshine and a bluebird sky. I was still basically alone, but the sun was glorious. It had an immediate impact in lifting ones spirit. The Killington resort, being so big, can be like that some days. One side of the mountain can be socked in with weather, the other side can be beautiful. Today was one of those days.

After an uneventful traverse, I came to the top of Bear Trap. I bounced off several of the features in the park before heading down the Viper Pit to lower Bear Claw. The tower guns were going on Bear Claw. Skiing under them was just simply glorious. The surface was a pristine velvet carpet of fresh snow punctuated by snow whale bumps directly underneath the towers. If you can't ski on a powder day, this was almost as good, and definitely more consistent.

On my next run down, I took Wildfire. Wednesday, Upper Wildfire was fresh powder and icy bumps. The bumps had been groomed but fresh powder was being supplied by tower guns here as well. And there at the bottom of Upper Wildfire, at a little trail called Anti Venom, stood my friend watching me play in the snow. In about an hour, my day at Killington had been transformed from being alone in a cold, gray, foreboding environment, to skiing on fresh powder in brilliant sunshine with a good friend. Life is good!

By this time, some people are starting to wake up and come out of the condos at Sunrise. My friend does not like to ski the guns, but I convinced him to give it a try. Since the tower guns are up high, there is a nice space which forms under the arc of snow from the guns. The spray keeps most people away, creating a great place to play. We did a couple more loops on Wildfire, Bear Trap and Bear Claw, each one on a new pristine surface...

After Wednesday's outing, I was curious about Dream Maker, so I sucked my friend into taking a run over there. Dream Maker had seen some more snow making, but had not yet been groomed. Lower Dream Maker was a nice collection of small bumps interspersed between huge snow whales. The surface was very solid, but it was not ice by a long shot. When Dream Maker is groomed out, it should be just fantastic for some easy cruising.

By now I had to get back to the inn. (Skiing does come at a price after all.) We boosted back up to the top on the Skye Peak Quad. At the top, it was dull and gray again with a stiff breeze. I went down Superstar. I wish I had some headlights. Surface conditions were good, especially in the wind blown piles of snow on skiers right on the lower headwall. But the day had turned gray again. I guess it was time to go back to work.

Let it snow!

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!