Billy Mac is Back! 

For a day that was supposed to see storms moving across the area, today turned out to be a nice day to be on the mountain at Killington.

The storm passing west of us today blanketed the area in a skim coat of light fluff in the early morning. Temperatures were also significantly warmer, being in the mid 20's most of the day at Killington Peak. Yesterdays upslope (north) wind following the Superstar lift line was replaced with a down slope (west) wind along the K1 Gondola line from Killington Peak.

Snow surfaces on the mountain were similar to Monday with a varied mix of light powder, wind-blown powder, and frozen granular surfaces. Most of the trails were groomed overnight. Trails that saw grooming early in the evening had a skim coat of new snow that had not been locked into the surface by a grooming machine. Other than a few areas where the wind had scoured the terrain, most surfaces were fairly soft.

From Killington Peak, the Northridge area, East Fall and Cascade were all in fine shape. Rime, Reason, and East Fall were covered with an inch or 2 of new snow. Cascade was a touch scratchy in places, as the wind was following down the slope from the peak. If you stayed on the right side, particularly on the lower segment, you were able to find some nice soft snow.

For some unknown reason the Superstar Quad was not running this morning. I did take Launch Pad across. The cross wind on Superstar was fairly strong blowing clouds of snow to the woods on skiers right. I rode the line further over to Skylark, which was more sheltered from the wind. Skylark was totally wind stripped of soft snow. While being down to the hard pack, it was still nicely skiable. As I was the only one on the trail at the time, I was able to make nice, side to side, cruising GS turns. I would have done it again had the Superstar Quad been operating.

Many of our retired friends are making their way back to Killington for the ski season. It is nice seeing them all again, and it is one more indicator that winter is here at Killington.........let it snow!

Killington Peak framed in snow. 

The sunshine was beautiful. The deep azure sky was resplendent as a backdrop for the surrounding countryside. If you factored in a 90 degree temperature difference, you might almost think you were in Rio de Janeiro. But string bikinis were not in vogue today at Killington. It was all Pillsbury Doughboy outfits. Layer upon layer upon layer.

Light dry snow continued falling around Killington last evening till around midnight. Strong winds pushed it around, contorting it into random drifts. This morning, when I left for the mountain, the snow stake had recorded an additional 3 inches on the ground. Not too shabby for early December.

Just before 9:00 AM as I was parking my car, the temperature read a balmy -1 degrees. A good sized gust hit the car, blowing snow in a small cyclone around me as I stepped out. Brrrrr.. So it goes.

Snow surfaces on the mountain were a varied mix of boot deep powder (in areas sheltered from the wind), wind-blown powder, and frozen granular surfaces scoured by the breeze. When I arrived at the K1 base lodge, I met a few of my friends. They were not distraught that I was a few minutes behind schedule. It was not going to be a real powder day. And dawdling for a few extra minutes in a warm base lodge seemed like a good thing to do.

For the first run, we took the K1 Gondola to Killington Peak and headed down East Fall. The snow on Great Northern at the peak was extremely sticky. Vigorous polling was in order to make any forward progress across the flat top of the peak. Upper East Fall was scoured pretty slick, although near the junction with Rime there was some wind packed drifts to negotiate. The traditional East Fall (why do trail names keep changing anyway?) was boot deep with firm wind packed powder. My skis wanted to work it, but my left leg cramped up pretty solid. I told the others to go along, as waiting for me in the cold was not going to be pleasant. I headed back to the K1 Base Lodge to strip off the boot to get rid of the cramp...so it goes.

After walking around the base lodge for a few minutes the cramp went away. I went back out and headed to the Superstar Quad. I figured that even with the cold, that swinging my leg under the chair would help prevent it from cramping up again.

Pico from Nivis Walk to the left of the upper lift terminal on Superstar. (Click to enlarge.)

While cold, the Superstar Chair was not that bad. The breeze was blowing up slope with the chair, so except for an occasional gust or mini cyclone, it was not a factor. Once above the lower headwall, the lift was in full sunshine. My black ski suit just soaked in the rays. I won't call it warm. And I certainly did not have any areas of exposed skin. But it was comfortable enough to do 8 loops before calling it a day.

From the Superstar Quad, conditions were all over the place. Bittersweet, Skyelark and Upper Superstar were all groomed some time during the night. Because of it's orientation to the wind, Bittersweet had sections near the trees on skiers left where several inches of soft powder had held against the wind. Skylark was also fairly soft, once off the very top. Superstar was scoured clean to the lower headwall. It was a firm cruiser, but the upslope wind in your face made it a little on the chilly side.

Two runs stick out today. Old Superstar, between Superstar and Ovation, was a legitimate powder run. Calf deep powder was across most of the trail from Launch Pad to High Road. For comic relief, the resort had a "Thin Cover" sign at the entrance on Launch Pad. I guess it was thin as there still was some brush poking through the 2 feet or so of snow on the trail. While I was on the trail, it was not even a consideration as I was going through the fluff.

The other run which was a mess in a negative way was Lower Superstar. On my loops on the Superstar Quad, I kept noticing that on skiers left under the chair there appeared to be a good amount of packed powder bumps. For my last run of the day, I decided to try it, figuring that if I burned out my legs...I was going in anyway...so what the heck. Well, those powder bumps were wind blown cornices on top of rock hard Volkswagen Bug sized bumps. I went down 3 times in the process. On one occasion, I skied through some soft snow, and all of a sudden there was nothing underneath me...pretty strange feeling. On the other two, I buried a tip into the snow, only to strike the frontside of a frozen bump underneath. Overall it was not pretty...but I got down without any major bruises (to my body or ego). It probably looked pretty funny from the chair, however, now that I think about it.

All in all, however, it was another good day on the mountain. Beautiful sunshine, stunning views, and fresh snow........let it snow!

Snowman Christmas ornament waiting to be hung on the Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree 

I don't know what it is, but the holiday season seems to be coming awful fast this year. But then again, it has been many years since we have been able to ski so much open terrain in November and early December. So far this season I have lost 10 half days to the mountain, instead of being at the inn working...and Monday morning looks like it will be the first real powder day of the season! I wonder what I will be doing at 9:00 AM?

All levity aside, the inn is coming together quite nicely for the Christmas season. The Christmas tree that we cut down on Tuesday is now proudly on display, fully decorated, in the inn's Great Room. Mary has done a great job again this year. She has the patience to put on each strand of tinsel individually, and it shows.

I have gotten all of the lights up on the outside of the property. If you were on the Killington Road around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, you might have noticed a guy climbing a tree in front of the inn...That was me! I only needed to get up into the trees 10 to 12 feet of so. But being decked out in a winter jacket, ski pants and boots (the temperature was pretty crisp for working outside), the climbing was "interesting". I don't think I have climbed trees since I was 10. But with the help of our assistant, Mickalyn, the job got done.

For most of the day today, it has been snowing at Killington.

Snowgun at Superstar Quad leading to Snowshed. (Click to enlarge.)

Temperatures are in the low teens, so the snow that has been coming down is a very dry, light powder. In the early afternoon, when I took the snow stake picture, we had picked up about an additional inch of accumulation. I have not checked since, but gauging from the covering on the cars and walks around the inn, I would say we have gotten another 3 or so inches during the afternoon. I get the real number in the morning when I take tomorrows snow stake measurement.

The resort is continuing to take advantage of the cold weather to make more snow. Snow guns were in operation again today all over the mountain. Many snow guns were very visible making snow between the Superstar Quad and Snowshed, which is the next base area Killington plans to open. And for a little Killington trivia for the mornings coffee discussion, the resort has made so much snow on Double Dipper that there was a small avalanche on Saturday. The slide took place about half way down the lower headwall. A major cut opened up, leaving a huge pile of refrigerator sized chunks of snow at the base of the trail. The good news is that no one was hurt. Ironically, snow making pipe got badly mangled.

From here on in, the activities at Killington will accelerate right into the Christmas Holidays. The week marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Killington Ski Resort. The resort has all kinds of activities planned next weekend to mark the anniversary. If you can make it, it looks like it will be a fun party all weekend.

The following weekend sees the return of the Vermont Holiday Festival to Killington. Scheduled to take place between December 18th and 20th, it is returning for it's 5th year at Killington. Mary is already working to get the decorations for our tree at this years "Festival of Trees" ready. Check out the Vermont Holiday Festival website for additional information.

Until tomorrow.....let it snow!

Mary on new Bittersweet 

It was not the prettiest of days, but if you were a Star Trek fan you will recognize the term "It was glorious".

Today was my first day back on the mountain since before Thanksgiving. The weather was overcast. A light something was falling from the sky. It was alternating between wet and freezing on your goggles before finally turning to snow. The wind was just howling at 9:00 AM. The resort was trying to run the K1 gondola. We would have nothing of it. We headed to the Superstar Quad. It was glorious!

Snow surfaces off Superstar were delightfully soft. As a warm up, we decided to head over to Bittersweet, as we had not skied it before the Thanksgiving recess. The first runs were groomed beautifully. The feed into the bypass around the Bittersweet Headwall was perfectly natural. It was just a nice, groomed cruiser. Killington purists will probably be outraged, and on a powder day their outrage will be well placed. But for most days, the fall line of the new Bittersweet trail will work just right as a break from some of the steeper terrain off Superstar. Today it was glorious!

By 9:30 Am, as we are taking our fourth lap on the Superstar Quad, the K1 gondola was knocked out of commission by the wind. It was just howling. When you got off the top of the quad, you needed to have a plan in mind. Would it be the Superstar headwall, or a trek over to Skylark. Because if you hesitated, the wind just pushed you in what ever direction your tips were pointed. It was glorious.

Skyelark was nicely groomed from the top to the lower section off High Road. By 10:00 AM nice soft mounds (they were not bumps) were developing where skiers and riders had moved the groomed snow. They were just enough to keep you on your toes, as visibility in what ever was falling from the sky was pretty poor. But the skiing was just glorious.

Superstar from the top to the lower headwall was groomed flat. Snowmaking whales were present in middle Superstar to give the slope some character. Once one skied past the High Road cutoff to Bittersweet and Skylark, I swear that many sections of Superstar sounded "hollow". It was definitely a weird sound, especially since a few of the runs were skiing by braille. But overall the snow surface conditions on Superstar were just glorious.

The Lower Superstar headwall was not groomed. On our first runs, our initial reaction was to hold back, as we had expected it to have a frozen, crusty feel. It didn't. We were surprised. It was glorious!

Lower Superstar was a nice mix of small mounds and small bumps. Whereas the other trails off of the Superstar Quad were definitely cruisers, Lower Superstar got the legs working nicely. There was no worry about being cold, as the bumps kept causing you to look ahead and complete your turns. As the snow was soft, overall it was not really technically challenging, but it was a nice little work out for the legs. Absolutely glorious.

And by 11 we were done. I lost count on how many laps we made. It was just glorious.....let it snow!

Christmas Trees being loaded into a friends pickup truck 

It was supposed to be Christmas Tree Monday but Mother Nature intervened. So it turned into Christmas Tree Tuesday!

Yesterday, Mary and I, with a group of friends, traveled to Danby Vermont to harvest Christmas Trees. All told, we fresh cut 5 trees at the Smokey House Center in Danby Vermont. 3 of the trees, including the one for the inn, stood almost 20 feet tall at the farm. The others were a demure 8 feet.

The Smokey House Center in Danby is an interesting organization. It is designed as a 5000 acre outdoor classroom to teach farming, forestry and ecological research to middle and high school students. Farm products are raised under the auspices of the Smokey House Youthwork Program... a hands-on, work based learning program for area teenagers. Year-round, Smokey House teaches farming and forestry activities. In the process, they grow vegetables, blueberries, and Christmas trees, make charcoal and maple syrup, raise livestock and market these products to the community.

The Christmas Tree we cut down for the inn trimmed out at just under 14 feet when we raised it in the Great Room at the inn. Mary will be working all this week to decorate it. This years decor will be traditional featuring multicolored lights and heirloom ornaments.

The Christmas Tree at the Birch Ridge Inn will be on display in the inn's Great Room through the early New Year.....let it snow!

Killington Peak waiting the approaching storm 

The first holiday weekend of the 08/09 ski season is winding down at Killington. And by all indications, it looks like the season is off to a good start.

Thanksgiving weekend is the most fickle of the holidays during the ski year. Many years the mountains are green. Some years skiers and riders are treated to a "ribbon" of a ski trail when Mother Nature challenges the industry. This year, however, the Killington Resort has had several weeks of great snow making weather, combined with a healthy dose of natural snow, resulting in excellent holiday ski conditions. And by several indications, the skiing public responded.

Killington is always a paradox at Thanksgiving. It is never "full" in the true sense of the word. The hard reality is that many skiers and riders in the Northeast have other obligations this weekend which prevent them from visiting their favorite resort. On the other hand, there are still many who look at Thanksgiving as their first opportunity to hit the slopes. The wild card in the mix is the about of skiable terrain that is open to support those skiers and riders who make the Thanksgiving pilgrimage to the mountains.

This year, the Killington Resort had about a third (plus or minus) of their skiable terrain open this weekend. Even with the K1 parking lot full, and the Ramshead, Vale and Snowshed parking lots 1/2 full, the amount of open terrain was able to spread skiers and riders out. The net of it all left our inn and restaurant guests very happy about the on mountain conditions. And when you run a business in a ski resort town, that's a wonderful thing!

As guests leave the area this afternoon, the mountain once again is waiting for an approaching storm. The National Weather Service indicates that we may be in for a nasty 36 hours with a combination of snow, sleet and freezing r@!n. To which I can only add... Let it snow!

Killington Vermont with snow flurries on the horizon 

Black Friday... it is an interesting moniker... Even though we have been skiing and riding for several weeks, most people still look at today as the start of the winter season. Of course you could be shopping!

We have a nice group of people at the inn this weekend. Some have escaped the shopping mania that seems to capture everyone's imagination this time of year. Others came to Killington for their first on mountain experience of the season. In both cases, the resort is ready, running 12 lifts today to accommodate skiers and riders of all levels.

Throw in some cool temperatures, a few snow flurries..and turkey sandwich for lunch...Not a bad Black Friday indeed. Let it snow!