Killington Peak, sparsely covered in snow. 

Kudos to the Killington Resort for their efforts to begin the 2009/2010 ski season this weekend. Although weather conditions are forcing them to suspend skiing and riding during the week this week, many people were able to enjoy a nice weekend on the mountain.

Once again, Mary and I did not ski this weekend, but that did not keep us off the mountain. Taking advantage of our seasons passes, we took the K1 to Killington Peak and hiked around the mountain for most of the day.

Mary at the K1 terminal on Killington Peak. Click to enlarge.

On our hike, we saw a lot of interesting things pointing to the changes being made by the resort in it's operating model this year. One of the interesting things we saw was the pre-positioning of Snow Grooming machines around Killington Peak. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, as the snow cover on lower elevations was thin. But, in many years at Killington, we have not noticed snow machines pre-placed around the mountain before. Usually during the day they are comfortably parked at the base of Snowdon.

Mom - Snow Cat pre-positioned on Killington Peak. Click to enlarge.

Thru out our hike, we also saw repeated evidence of repairs made to the snow making system. Although Killington is reported to have the worlds largest snow making system, some people have joked that it is also the worlds largest sprinkler system. The resort is obviously making a concerted effort to find and fix the leaks so the water being pumped thru the system actually exits snow guns to make snow.

Bill in woods near Anarchy. Click to enlarge.

To avoid skiers and riders, when we hiked down the mountain we traversed the "E" hiking trail. This trail takes you through the woods across Anarchy, Julio, Ovation, Superstar, Skye Lark, and Bittersweet. The hike itself is quite peaceful though the "Forest Primeval" which makes up the Green Mountains. Along the hike, the the thing that stood out most was the complete lack of natural snow in the woods along the trail. Here and there we occasionally ran into an ice patch or two, but in general there was no snow along the entire route.

In our minds, the lack of natural snow just reinforced the change in operating mode of the resort. It impressed upon us the gymnastics the Resort went through to make enough snow to open the resort for skiing and riding this weekend.

Snow gun standing guard at the junction of High Road and Skye Lark. Click to enlarge.

The walk across the ski trails on Skye Peak was pretty straight forward. The Resort had mowed the grass on the trails weeks ago to get ready for the season. Some low lying weeds have grown back, providing a nice green cover. But it was a pretty easy traverse. We did notice that along the edge of the trails that a lot of maintenance has been done to cut back the brush and small trees along the edges of the trails. The net effect is that they may seem a little wider this year, but in reality they are just returning to their normal width.

Killington Base Lodge on a warm November afternnon. Click to enlarge.

All told we spent a little more than 3 hours hiking around the mountain Sunday afternoon. From the trails we could see, and the people we spoke with, snow surfaces held out pretty well through out the day. People were comparing it more to spring skiing, than skiing in November, but we saw a lot of people who were just happy to be out on the mountain.

With a little luck, everyone will be able to do it all again next weekend. The weather forecast for Killington this week looks unseasonably mild early, with cold temperatures returning at the end of the week. Hopefully the resort gets the opportunity to turn on their snow making system again so that the 2009/2010 ski season can restart at Killington again next weekend.........let it snow!

Skiers and riders enjoying opening day at Killington. 

Under a beautiful blue sky, the 2009/2010 ski season at Killington officially began today. While there was minimal terrain open, I saw nothing but smiles when I was on the hill earlier this morning.

In homage to my Orthopedic Surgeon, I did not strap on skis this morning and dive into the crowd. Instead, I got out my ski poles, put on my hiking boots, and did a walk about on the hill.

Fan Gun at base of Mousetrap dominates the scene. Click to enlarge.

My immediate impression was that the Resort was able to take good advantage of the cold window that Mother Nature gave them the last 24 hours. They were able to deposit enough snow on Lower Bunny Buster that the resort was able to groom it out. From my simple ski pole measurement, about 2 feet of machine made packed powder was along the side of the trail. (It made hiking quite the work out.)

Mom - I need a new pair of skis! One of the competitors enjoying the Rail Jam today at Killington. Click to enlarge.

The second thing I noticed is that once you get off a snow covered trail, that the rest of the mountain is just overflowing with water. Grassy surfaces on the trails on Snowdon were all very wet from the precipitation that has been falling the last couple of weeks. We will really need a good solid freeze before we will see a lot of terrain expansion in the early season.

The skiers and riders I spoke with were all happy to be back out on the mountain. There obviously was a lift line on the North Ridge Triple where most of the skiing and riding was taking place. Skiers and Riders were smoothly entering the K1 Gondola for a boost to Killington Peak with minimal waiting. There was a small amount of walking required at the base to enter the queue for the K1. But no one seemed to notice.

When I left this morning, the Back to Shred Rail Jam was just kicking off. Competitors were taking some practice laps over the features. Killington was limiting entries to the first 60 people. Based upon the number of people I saw they had no problem reaching that number.

Killington is scheduled to be open for skiing and riding again tomorrow (Sunday) before closing down for the week. The resort does plan to be open again next weekend. Hopefully Mother Nature will continue to give us a break and bring some cold temperatures at night to allow continued snow making.........let it snow!

Snow Guns still blowing snow on trails at K1 Base Lodge 

(Updated at 10:30 AM)----The Killington Ski Resort will officially open for the 2009/2010 ski season tomorrow, Saturday November 7th. The first lifts are set to begin turning at 10:00 AM. The resort plans to operate on Saturday and Sunday only.

Snow guns continuing their work in front of K1 Base Lodge. Click to enlarge.

The first day of the season is recommended for advanced skiers and riders only as there will be limited terrain. Cold weather has allowed continuous snow making operations in the North Ridge area of Killington. Based upon what I have been told, the North Ridge Triple chair lift will be spinning to support skiers and riders on Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall and Great Northern. The K1 Gondola will be operating from the K1 Base Lodge to provide the initial lift for skiers to Killington Peak.

Killington Peak swathed in clouds. Click to enlarge.

Top to bottom laps of the mountain are not recommended. The resort will ask skiers and riders to minimize top to bottom runs down Great Northern from Killington Peak to the K1 Base Lodge as snow cover on the lower parts of the mountain are still marginal. While snow making operations have been ongoing on Lower Bunny Buster to the K1 Base Lodge, the ground was not frozen when snow making began, impacting the amount of snow cover which has built up on the trails.

To kick off the season, the resort will be holding the "Back to Shred Rail Jam" at the K1 base lodge. The competition is limited to the first 60 registrants. Registration is from 9:30 to 11 at the K1 Lodge on the 3rd floor. The competition begins at 11:00 AM. Those wishing to pre-register can go to Killington.comfor more details.

Mother Nature also provided some assistance last night. Measurable snow was recorded through out the area. At the snow stake at the inn over an inch of heavy wet snow was on the ground at 9:00 AM this morning. I would not expect the snow cover at the inn to last the day, but on the mountain where temperatures are cooler...as they say every bit helps.

If you are planning on visiting Killington to ski or ride tomorrow...Be safe and have a great time!........let it snow!

Snowmaking continues on Killington peak on a grey twig season day. 

The Killington Resort Team is trying really hard to open the resort for limited skiing and riding this weekend. That is the impression I got this morning when I visited the Killington Base Lodge to view the activities taking place to ready the resort to open. That being said, the team is fighting an up hill battle. (no pun intended) Mother Nature is making it difficult at best, and may still put the kibosh on the whole thing.

Snow Guns in front of K1 Base Lodge. Click to enlarge.

The resort posted on their website this morning that they will make the decision to open for skiing and riding for the weekend on Friday morning at 10:00 AM. The hesitancy in the web statement is well placed. They have gotten into a proverbial dammed if you do...dammed if you don't situation. The Killington Resort Team wants to put out a high quality product for their customers. And there is is the rub. If they don't open, they don't have any customers...a rather simple business paradigm. But if they do open, will the product quality be there given the desire for top to bottom skiing and riding? The Resort has pulled out all the stops and they are going for it. So it will be interesting to see how the call comes down tomorrow.

Fan Gun pointed toward the K1 Gondola. Click to enlarge.

I walked around the K1 Base Lodge this morning around 10:30 AM. Snow guns, both the normal air pressure guns and the new fan guns, were surrounding K1 in a blizzard of snow. I ran into one of the senior managers. He told me that they had been making snow continuously thru the night at K1. But the conditions were marginal at best. About 2 inches of wet snow were on the ground in front of the Killington Ski Club. The temperature in my car where I parked was 34 degrees. On the mountain side of the K1 Base Lodge it was noticeably cooler; the water evaporation from the snow guns was creating their own microclimate.

"Snow guns leading down from Lower Bunny Buster near the K1 Triple Chair. Click to enlarge.

Around the building, towards the K1 Gondola, a moveable fan gun is set up to blow snow towards the lift area. If the resort opens, skiing right to the lift probably is out of the cards, as the ground is not frozen. But the resort is trying to set it up so people can get close.

Snow guns were clearly visible all along Great Northern down to the K1 Base. Snow Flurries are in the air, but for how long remains to be seen. The microclimate that snow making operations are creating is probably worth a couple of degrees in temperature near the snow guns. But that effect was in the process of being swamped out as the temperature in the overall Killington Basin area is heading into the mid 30's this afternoon.

Snow guns coating Lower Bunny Buster. Click to enlarge.

At this point, all we can do is watch and wait. The resort team is really trying to get the job done, and they deserve credit for that. They should be able to keep the snow guns running at the top of the mountain all day, which will provide a nice product in the North Ridge area to kick the season off. However, it remains to be seen if they can make enough snow on the lower parts of the mountain to offer top to bottom skiing and riding this weekend.

By this time tomorrow we will know........let it snow!

Snowmaking resumes on Killington Peak 

The Killington Resort resumed snow making operations last evening. Temperatures on Killington Peak fell enough to allow the resort to turn on their compressors, pump some water, and make some snow.

To put the day in perspective however, you would have only needed to have followed me around to see what the resort is up against. When I got to the front of the inn this morning around 8:30 the ground around the inn was mottled with a light snow that had fallen over night. To me that was a good sign, but the temperature was already approaching 40 and it was melting fast. I took a picture of the snow stake just for giggles... although there was really nothing to measure.

New Fan Gun on Mouse Trap in action. Click to enlarge.

After checking on a few things around the inn, I headed out to the mountain to see what was happening on the hill. The top of Killington Peak was lit up with snow guns. The whole peak was shrouded in a man-made blizzard. Snow guns were not visible at lower elevations, other than the Fan Gun running on Snowdon and a strange fog over the K1 Base Lodge. Temperatures in the Upper Snowshed Parking lot at 9:30, according to my Subaru, were at 34...Pretty marginal for snow making, I would guess, but I will leave that to the experts.

Upon driving up to the K1 Base to see what the "fog" was, I discovered that the resort was attempting to run another fan gun. This one was on wheels clearly meant to be moved around. I can't really tell how good a job it was doing, as I did not walk up to the deck on the K1 Base Lodge to find out. But while I was there, I saw it being shut down. The Subaru was saying it was 35 outside...and the day was only due to get warmer

Moveable fan gun at K1 operating at around 9:30 AM. Click to enlarge.

When I returned to the inn, the temperature was now in the mid 40's. I spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon working outside. By lunch, the thermometer was touching 50. Although there was a crispness in the air, the overall warm temperatures (by the normal standards of Killington in early November) just told me that this was a day to be outside. No heavy coat or gloves required. With any luck, we won't get many more like this until next May.

The Resort is now saying that they are on a day to day footing about deciding to open this weekend. The weather forecasts are still all over the map in terms of the length and depth of cold air capping the region. I have no doubt from speaking with senior management, and workers on the hill, that the resort wants to pull the trigger and get open. Everything is set up to make that happen. Except the variable the resort can't control....cold.

So we will keep our fingers crossed, and shop for the best weather forecast, while we wait for the ski season to begin.......let it snow!

Rogues night out. 

The the winter season at Killington unofficially kicked off Saturday night with the 46th annual Wobbly Barn Halloween party. The Wobbly Barn was filled to capacity with revelers listening to Joey Leone and the Chop Shop belt out an eclectic mix of favorites from the last 40 years of rock and roll.

While the winter season has unofficially started, we are still waiting for winter to make an extended appearance so the ski season at Killington can begin. The cold weather that signaled the end of the fall season gave way to some warmer weather this last week. While temperatures were a far cry lower than a full fledged Indian Summer, they were not suitable for the resort to make the snow that they desperately need to offer top to bottom skiing. Of course the warm weather has made it easier to complete outside tasks...but the time is now to "get this party started".

Weather forecasts for the coming week are a shoppers paradise. Pick your favorite weather report and run with it. Todays forecasts from Accuweather and Weather.com paint a bleak picture for snow making conditions thru this week. If you were to rely on these forecasts, we may see some snow making during some of the nights, but it will be problematical during many of the days this week. Next week looks decidedly better...but can you believe a forecast out 10 days when tomorrow is usually a question mark?

A little known weather site that I like to follow, snow-forecast.com, is much more optimistic about weather possibilities for the coming week. Their current forecast models for Killington show below freezing conditions on much of the mountain starting early Tuesday morning. If you decide to buy into this forecast, get your equipment ready, because the start of the season is later this week.

And finally, in homage to U.S. Taxpayers, there is the National Weather Service. Their current forecast, as of this afternoon, basically split the difference between the vox populi of Accuweather/Weather Channel and the obscurity of Snow-Forecast.com. The fact that the National Weather Service is splitting the difference gives me a sense of optimism. With the caveat that I own a small business which makes me an optimist by nature.

At the end of the day, forecasting the weather at Killington during the change of the seasons is as much a black art as it is science. It is easy to say it is going to be cold the last 2 weeks of January, or warm during the month of July (well usually anyway). But the cusps of the seasons, where it is hard to tell the difference between Fall or Winter keep us all looking out the window, reading our thermometers, shopping weather forecasts on the internet, and generally chafing at the bit to be able to "Point em down hill".

The winter season unofficially kicked of with a great party at Killington last night. Mother Nature if you are listening...it is time to make it official!.....Let it snow!

Kittens
Click to enlarge. 

This is a good story...and good stories always begin with...

"Once upon a time"..last Sunday night around 10:30 PM to be specific, a couple of nice inn guests returned from a night out. They came into the "Great Room" and told me that there were hearing a strange noise outside the inn. They thought it might be a bird or something. So I went outside to investigate. It was pouring cats and dogs out with the storm that was passing through the area. Little did I know, as I walked out the front door of the inn, that it was literally r@!ning cats!

Off in the distance, in the area near the Snowstake, I hear a loud cry. I recognized that sound immediately. When you live near the forest, the cry of a baby animal is quite distinctive. I knew right away that it was a kitten of some kind....I was thinking raccoon...but that is not what I found.

Through the r@!n, I aimed a strong flash light at the sound. It was coming from some bushes near one of Mary's gardens. Because of the downpour, a mountain stream had encircled the bush on 3 sides, forming a peninsula surrounded by a torrent. As I walked closer, I could see some bright blue eyes staring back at my flash light, coming our from a tiger striped animal. From about 15 feet away, I still could not make out what type of animal it was in the dark downpour.

As I got closer, the animal did not move. It just kept crying out. When I got about 2 feet from it, I noticed it was not a raccoon, but a tiny kitten all of about 10 inches long. It was soaking wet and shivering in the cold. Obviously very afraid and separated from its mother.

I got one of Mary's garden buckets and picked the kitten up. I brought it to our shed and got a towel to try to dry it off. The inn guests told me that when they went out for the evening, they had seen a cat with a small kitten at the bottom of Butler Road. With some help from Mary (she had retired to bed early as she usually does but she got up with the commotion) we dried the kitten off, gave it a saucer of milk, and put it in a box in the shed for the night. Feeling safe, I presume, the cat stopped crying, curled up into a ball, and went to sleep.

On Monday morning, we looked for the mother cat. She was no where in sight. Since we are not cat people (I am very allergic) Mary called our friend, Pat Linnemayr. Patty and her husband, Walter, have had cats for years. Walter came right up, saw the kitten, and knew just what to do.

Monday night into Tuesday, between shifts of feeding the kitten with an eye dropper, Patty came back to the inn to walk the grounds looking for momma cat. No where to be found. About 5:30 PM on Tuesday, during one of the walk abouts, there was a feeble response to Patty's cat call coming from near the Inn's Covered Carriageway. About half way down the Carriageway Patty discovered another kitten, half frozen and barely moving on the asphalt. Patty instinctively scooped the kitten up and put it under her jacket to try to warm it up. It was clear that this kitten was from the same litter as the first I had found.

What happened to the momma cat is anyones guess. We have been keeping vigil around the inn all week. Patty has set a "Have a heart" trap with some cat food in an attempt to lure it out, if it has not become lunch for some other creature of the forest. We have also continued to walk the grounds; making cat calls on the chance that the mother is down some where, or there may be another kitten in the bushes.

I stopped down at Pat and Walter's house this afternoon to see how the kittens were doing. Both are now eating thru the eye dropper. Patty figures that they are about 5 weeks old. One is probably a male; one probably a female. They are both active and inquisitive, as kittens usually are. Patty is talking to some friends about trying to find them a good home. She figures that they should stay together, as they are obviously related...So they may live happily ever after........Let it snow!