Birch Ridge Inn on Facebook 

As part of the "Snow Dance Video" promotion, which Killington ran on Facebook, I thought it would only be appropriate to create a presence for the Birch Ridge Inn there. I have been running it now for about 3 weeks, trying to figure out how it all works.

The Facebook page for the Birch Ridge Inn is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Killington-VT/Birch-Ridge-Inn/197967789624. I am not sure how the adventure will proceed..but it is fun to learn new things. Look us up on Facebook and become a fan if you like.

Around the inn today it is pretty quiet. Mary is down in Boston helping out her folks. I have been holding fort in Killington, mostly doing routine maintenance around the inn, along with some web site work for some ongoing marketing campaigns. With some luck, I will be able to get out on the mountain later in the week to check out snow conditions.

Outside it is a pretty grey day. Light snow flurries are falling off and on. No accumulation to speak of; just a little reminder that winter has finally arrived to Killington. The resort, on the other hand, is starting to crank up the volume. With the help from Mother Nature over the weekend, they are able to expand beyond limited terrain maintenance and begin their push to open more trails. Snowmaking is reported to be underway on Lower East Fall, Lower Bittersweet, and parts of Highroad. Upper Skyelark cannot be far behind, based upon the resorts announced plans. With a little bit of luck, it looks like the ski season at Killington is here to stay for the winter.

......let it snow!

Killington Snow Dance Winner Kara McQueeney under the Christmas Tree at the Birch Ridge Inn. 

A couple of weeks ago, the Birch Ridge Inn and the Killington Resort ran a "Snow Dance" promotion. The winner received a 2 night stay at the inn, 2 adult 2 day ski tickets, dinner at the Look Out, and tickets to the Bad Fish concert at the Pickle Barrel. Friday night, the winner, Kara McQueeney, checked in to the inn to spend the weekend at Killington. Early Saturday morning, before sunrise, it started snowing. Light snow/snow flurries fell all day. By late in the day, it started to accumulate and cover most surfaces. The Killington Road was even closed for a while due to snow, something that is almost unheard of in these parts. (Cars were careening out of control in a few places due to icing as the snow got packed onto the road surface by traffic.)

Go figure.....

At the inn, the Snow Stake registered a respectable 4 1/2 inches. Given that the ground is not frozen, I was quite surprised when I took the picture this morning. Even though we are due to have cold temperatures the next few days, I expect the reading to go down as the snow melts from the bottom up. But it great to see snow on the ground all around Killington again.

Maybe we should run another contest?

Kara's video can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=576616219799&oid=34949209400 (log in required).

......let it snow!

Snow Making taking place on Highline at Killington 

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow!

There has been a decided shift in the weather pattern at Killington and the resort is attempting to capitalize on it. Temperatures leading into Saturday dropped below freezing, allowing the Killington Resort to restart snow making operations with a vengeance.

Even in the middle of a relatively busy Saturday, the resort continuously made snow on all open terrain. In addition, terrain expansion has begun. Snow making was visible on all of the trails on Snowdon, and on Highline back to the K1 base lodge.

The Christmas Tree at the Birch Ridge Inn. From Left. Noel, Connie, Howie, Dick, Mary, Billy B., Charlotte, Carolyn(seated) and George. Click to enlarge.

Snow flurries have been in the air all day at Killington. Negligible accumulations were occurring until around 2PM this afternoon, at which point snow began to generally coat exposed surfaces. At 5:00 PM at the inn, snow has covered all grassy surfaces. Snow is also accumulating on aslphalt surfaces and on local roadways. The first night of snow (very late in the year) is usually interesting. Snow plows and sand truck are moving up and dawn the Killington Road (Yea!!!). it looks like winter has finally begun.

Christmas Tree Update: The Christmas Tree in the Great Room of the Birch Ridge Inn was officially unveiled last night to a nice crowd. The tree will be on display through the New Year. Stop in during your next visit to Killington.

......let it snow!

All eyes are on the thermometer. 

Oh the weather outside is frightful...whoops...not yet...well maybe..I'm so confused...

That just about sums up the weather at Killington the last 12 hours. Overnight, a warm moist storm system rolled through the area with heavy r@!n. At mid morning, the storm has lifted, leaving in it's wake some fairly strong winds, a little drizzle, and a lot of cloud cover. Now the wait begins... When with the temperature fall enough to allow the resort to re-light their snow making system and get on with winter?

I did travel up to the mountain at mid morning. The K1 gondola was turning. There were people skiing and riding, mostly Killington Mountain School and College Ski Team types in training. The cloud cover at the top of the mountain was too thick to take any decent pictures from the base, but it did look like the run out along lower Bunny Buster to the K1 Gondola did survive the weather event.

Dangling crystal ornament on the Christmas Tree. Click to enlarge.

The temperature forecast for the next week looks like it is heading to the basement. That will be great from the standpoint of Killingtons' snowmakers. Killington has laid out an aggressive plan to expand terrain over the next 7 to 10 days. Cold weather is the key. Of course, how it will effect tomorrows surface conditions remains to be seen. I did bring our skis over to the Forerunner Ski Shop this morning to get them tuned up on the chance we hit the mountain tomorrow.

Christmas Tree Update: Most of the ornaments are now hung on the tree. Stop by the inn this weekend for it's first public viewing of the holiday season.

......let it snow!

Killington Peak in the sun. 

The Killington Resort reopened for skiing and riding this morning under a beautiful blue sky. Mother Nature, of course, also left skiers and riders with a little reminder that she is in charge...the sunshine was filtered by a haze most likely caused by humidity entering the area in advance of a weather event predicted for tonight.

The resort has stated that with todays reopening, that they will try to keep open for the duration of the ski season. From my on slope observations, they have made copious amounts of snow on the trails in the North Ridge section of the mountain. They also seemed to have taken a different tact on the lower trails leading to K1. More on that later.

Skiing and riding today were supported by the K1 Gondola and the North Ridge Triple. Full top to bottom skiing was provided with no walking required to reload the gondola. Upper trails including Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, Upper Double Dipper, Upper Great Northern, and Ridge Run were covered in soft snow with little evidence of the firm base which must be lurking underneath. Other than an occasional Cat track, surfaces were groomed smooth with small bumps forming due to skier and rider traffic. I did hit one Cat track by surprise on Ridge Run leading back to the North Ridge Triple. My legs were in better shape than I thought as I was able to stay upright and ski through it.

Snow on Great Northern stayed relatively soft until the junction with Highline. At that point, in what is probably an effort to maintain the base and shed any non-crystaline precipitation that may be headed out way, the resort created a packed powder candy coating on the trail. The hard pack was maintained through Middle Chute and Lower Bunny Buster. Clearly the resort wants a base on these trails so they can cover them with snow quickly for the coming weekend.

Lights are up on the Christmas Tree. Click to enlarge.

In addition to the open terrain this morning, there was evidence of snow making visible on upper trails of Snowdon. A resort spokesman said last night at a Killington Chamber of Commerce mixer that the resort intends to open the top of Snowdon this weekend, with the Snowdon Quad. Of course this was wrapped in weather caveats, so we will have to wait and see.

The weather Forecast for the area does not look good overnight. After that, it appears that we are due for an extended cold stretch, which should allow the resort to rapidly expand terrain. Mother Nature may also give us some help on Saturday, if the Weather Channel is to be believed. (Usually I don't most of the time, by we need a break here..so shop your forecasts wisely!)

Christmas Tree Update: Mary is making good progress decorating the inns Christmas Tree. White lights have been strung on the tree. (This years motif is the Crystal tree.) The ornaments have been brought down from the attic. They are queued up all over the Great Room waiting to be hung on the tree. With luck it should be all done for public viewing when we open our restaurant this Friday evening.

......let it snow!

Gathering one of the 5 Christmas trees fresh cut on Christmas Tree Monday. 

One of the traditions that Mary and I started when we created the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington was to have a fresh cut Christmas Tree in our Great Room each year. It was a carry over from our lives before being innkeepers that we have been able to hold on to these last 12 years.

Each year on the Monday after Thanksgiving we head out into the country side to cut a Christmas Tree for the Inn. (Hence the designation Christmas Tree Monday.) Over the years, the tradition has been picked up by many of our friends who join us in getting Christmas Trees for their homes. This year we went looking for 5 trees of assorted sizes.

Most of the trees that we cut down for friends homes were plus or minus 8 feet. For the inn, we brought home a 16 footer. After trimming it out, this years tree for the inn stands tall in the Great Room at 12 feet 8 inches.

All week long we will be decorating the tree to get it ready for it's formal "public" unveiling on Friday night. This years tree is a Crystal and white motif. (Each year we alternate tree styles, varying between a traditional multi-colored family style tree, and a crystal tree.) If you find yourself in Killington, stop bye the inn to see it.

Below you will find a video on Youtube with a little vignette following all of us on Christmas Tree Monday...Enjoy!

......Let it snow!

Birch Ridge Inn Thanksgiving Day Accapella Marching Band 

You really can't make this up. The deadline for Snow Dance Videos to be posted on Killingtons Facebook Page was today. Today it started to snow in Killington. Not much mind you. Also very wet and gloppy. But it is trying to snow.

Since we sponsored the contest with the Killington Resort, I though it would only be right that the Birch Ridge Inn got together with a little ditty. We had a good crowd of friends at the inn for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. After a few pre dinner libations, we got together and shot the video below. After a little editing to correct for some bad lighting, I uploaded it to Youtube late this afternoon.

For you pleasure, "The Birch Ridge Inn Thanksgiving Day Accapella Marching Band" and their version of "Let it Snow Killington"

Enjoy......Let it snow!