Summit Resort and Grist Mill Restaurant at Killington 

Congratulations are in order for long time Killington resident Bill Bauer. Bill, who for years has been the manager of the Summit Resort, has recently completed purchasing the Summit, and it companion restaurant, the Grist Mill from Ken Budzyna.

Ken, who happens to be the only other full time resident on Butler Road besides my partner and I, has been a principal owner of the Summit for 35 years. He built the Grist Mill in 1984 as a companion to the Summit. He plans on continuing to live in Killington, but he is also looking forward to spending some time in Costa Rica

In addition to being manager at the Summit, Bill has also been heavily involved in the community at Killington. He was previously on the towns Select Board, and had been an out spoken advocate for the town in the creation of the Green Mountain National Golf Course.

Both the Summit and the Grist Mill have been local favorites for years. We wish Ken a happy "retirement". And good luck to Bill as he puts his stamp on two of Killingtons best know institutions.

Killingtonblog.com supports RSS 

Over the last couple of days, some of you may have noticed some different little symbols and links appearing on the blog. Thats because I have been working to integrate a RSS feed into the blog.

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It's actually quite a few lines of software, so programming it was interesting, but for you, the reader, it introduces several nice features. If your computer (I develop on an Apple Dual G5 so I refuse to call it a pee cee) is equipped with a modern web browser like Apple's Safari, or Mozilla's Firefox, or Opera, you can subscribe to the RSS feed from Killingtonblog.com and get notified automatically when a new entry is posted. You can also get a standalone RSS reader to do the job, or subscribe to one of several Blog Syndication sites (for instance if you have a My Yahoo account, you can configure a content box to point to www.killingtonblog.com/rss.xml) . I have been using RSS to scan many online newspapers. If you have not used RSS before, it's actually very useful.

For those of you without RSS capability but curiosity gets the better of you, if you click on the RSS button on the menu, you will see a page of computer code, which is actually the RSS feed in a web language called XML (or Extensible Markup Language for those who want to know).

Twig Season in full bloom at Killington 

It's one of those quiet Saturdays in Killington after the fall foliage has dropped from the trees, but before the winter season starts in earnest. The excitement of the resort being open for skiing and riding last weekend, has given way to what Mary and I call "Twig Season". Each year at this time, a certain apprehension sets in to the resort. The beauty of the Vermont landscape in summer has given way to a dull grey, devoid of all apparent life. Of course, the situation will completely reverse itself as soon as the region is blanketed in snow. When that happens, everything will look fresh and pure. But until then, we basically have to make the best of the surroundings while making sure that everything is ready for the snow that we know will be coming in the near future.

Speaking of getting ready for winter, at the inn we have immediate openings for wait-staff to work in our dining room for dinner service in the evening. Both full and part time positions are available. If you are interested, you can contact the Birch Ridge Inn at 802-422-4293 for further details. Let us know you found out about us on the blog.

Will this Christmas Tree measure up? 

Hunting in Vermont is done with many weapons. Some people use guns, I use a ruler! For today was our annual trip into the woods to go hunting for the perfect Christmas tree to adorn the great room of our inn at Killington. My partner, Mary, and I always try to pick a nice fall day to go out into the woods to look for the annual tree. And today was just beautiful. Temperatures were in the warm 60's, moderate sunshine, a nice breeze... just perfect to find the right tree.

After walking around a grove of trees for about an hour, we identified this years candidate. It stands 23 feet, beside a corn field, in a town to the north west of Killington, on property owned by casual acquaintances who let us take a tree each year. When it is trimmed out, we expect the tree will stand 16 to 17 feet. Of course we will not really know how big it is until we cut it and bring it back to the inn after Thanksgiving.

The tree this year will be decorated in a silver and white motif with crystal ornaments. For those reading this who do not know us, each year we alternate between a crystal tree and a traditional colored ornament tree. This practice dates back to when we first purchased the property to convert it into the Birch Ridge Inn in 1997. Prior to that, we had 2 christmas trees in our home; the crystal tree in our foyer, and the colored ornament tree in our family room. In moving to the inn, we decided to have one large tree in our great room, and alternate styles on different years. If all goes well, this years Christmas tree will be at the inn and decorated the first weekend in December.

After a great opening to the ski season last weekend, the Killington region has seen unusually warm weather. The snow pack at the lower elevations of the mountain is quickly deteriorating. As a result, the Killington Ski Resort announced late Monday that they would not be re-opening as planned for skiing the weekend of November 5/6.

Killington had originally planned to open the winter ski season on November 11th, but the heavy snow the region experienced last week encouraged the resort to open on October 29th. Cold weather is expected next week which will allow the resort to resume snow making operations. When the ski season at Killington will resume is anybody's guess. Think Snow!

Weebles wobble but they don't fall down 

Over 600 people attended the 41st annual Wobbly Barn Halloween party last night. Upon entry to the Wobbly, each person received a lovely, extremely resilient, purple WOBB tattoo on the top of their right hand.

Joey Leone's Chop Shop provided the entertainment. Copious amounts of malt and spirit beverages were consumed. Gramps Taxi was on hand to shuttle people home after the evenings festivities. Of course to get back to the Inn, we just had a short walk across the Killington Road up Butler Road.

Currently is is a beautiful day here in Killington. At noon time the temperature was 65 degrees with muted sunshine. Showers are expected later in the day, followed by warm temperatures all week. It is hard to tell if the mountain will be able to open for skiing and riding next weekend as there is significant snow cover melting taking place. I will report on that possibility later on during the week when I get a chance to hike up the hill.

What are you going to be for Halloween? 

The 2005-2006 Ski Entertainment Season officially kicks off this evening with the 41st Annual Halloween Party at the Wobbly Barn. Local favorite, Joey Leone, will be providing the entertainment for the festivities. Proceeds from the party will be split to benefit the Sherburne First Response and the Gretna, Louisiana Volunteer Fire Departments.

Each year, the Wobbly holds the season opening party on the traditional Halloween, October 31. Tonight's affair will tend to draw a very heavy local crowd, being on a Monday evening. There is only one rule for the party - You must come in Costume! So, if you are in Killington, get yourself in costume and head to the Wobbly tonight. We will see you there!

Oh, and by the way, what are you going to be?