Ruts, Suzy and Cathy enjoying some snow and sun at Killington 

It has been a good week to be skiing and riding at Killington. Cold temperatures have allowed the resort to use their snow making system to the fullest. From the beginning of the week where they were repairing available terrain to weeks end were terrain expansion was in full swing, the Killington Resort has been doing what it has been known for for years...Make snow!

Early in the week, skiing and riding were taking place in the North Ridge area, off the Snowdon quad, at Rams Head from Caper to Vale, and in the magic carpet areas. By weeks end, Snowshed has now come fully online, Superstar is now open top to bottom, Needles Eye is now open, and further terrain expansion after a reprise for some warmer weather this weekend is all but certain.

I was on the mountain Monday and Wednesday. Mary was out this morning. Conditions across most of the resort are machine groomed packed powder over a firm base. Windblown areas, like the link between the top of Superstar and Skylark are down to the hardpack. But please don't confuse these conditions with ice... there are no fish under the hardpack.

Today the resort opened the Needles Eye area with skiing and riding down High Road, Needles Eye and Panic Button. The resort also opened Highline and is planning to continue to make snow on Cascade. Previously during the week the resort opened Superstar from top to bottom, Bittersweet, and Snowshed. Terrain across the resort is now available for all skiing/riding levels and abilitites with a good mix of Black, Blue and Green trails.

Merisa reported last night at the bar about the condition of the woods. Pure woods are still too dangerous with a shallow layer of fluff over a very thin crust. As we have not had any significant natural snow fall (about 3 inches in the last week at the resort) it will be a while before the woods are safe for most skiers and riders. But we will undoubtedly have that to look forward too later in the season.

Last nights Small Plate Thursday hosted by Jack Daniel's was a great success. We had an excellent turnout in the Great Room who were educated on the nuances of Jack by our friends at Horizon Beverage (Tyler) and Brown Forman (Bob). We sampled Jack Honey, Fire, Old Number 7, Gentleman Jack, and Single Barrel Proof. This year Killington will be celebrating the 25th "Taste of Tennessee Week" the last week of February. Put that on your calendar as it is always a great week in Killington.

Where ever you may be..... Think Snow!

Small Plate night with Jack Daniel's this Thursday night at the Birch Ridge Inn.

This Thursday night at the Birch Ridge Inn - Small Plate Thursday hosted by Jack Daniel's. Chef Reggie has created a selection of Jack Daniel's inspired small plates. Merisa will be at the bar with a tasting progression of Jack Daniel's fine Tennessee Whiskey, and other Jack Daniel's cocktails. And the inn's holiday tree will be making it's final appearance of the season. The festivities will begin around 6 in the Great Room at the inn. Hope you can join us. But if not, where ever you may be.... Think Snow!

Snow covered forest behind the Birch Ridge Inn 

Happy New Years. Goodbye 2015.... Welcome 2016!

2015 has been a strange year for us in Killington. We entered the year with the trauma of losing a friend. But we made the transition... "turned the corner" a couple of times, and have continued to maintain a stoic yet optimistic view of what the future holds for all of us.

Leaving 2015, "El Nino" created interesting problems for those of us living in the north country. The ski season has seen it's fits and starts during the early winter. The resort has done a fantastic job managing through this period. And "El Nino" be damned, the mountains are always with us, presenting us with an ever changing tableau of opportunities to enjoy being out with nature.

2016 will see "El Nino" lingering. But (optimistically) it looks like a weather pattern change is nearing with seasonal cold temperatures making an appearance.

For some reason, I do have an earworm stuck in my head today. The melancholy Cole Porter tune "Everytime we say goodbye".

We love each other so deeply
that I ask you this, sweetheart,
why should we quarrel ever,
why can't we be enough clever,
never to part.

Ev'ry time we say goodbye
I die a little,
ev'ry time we say goodbye
I wonder why a little,
why the gods above me
who must be in the know
think so little of me
they allow you to go.

When you're near
there's such an air
of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere
begin to sing about it,
there's no love song finer,
but how strange the change
from major to minor...

ev'ry time we say goodbye.

Once we get the holidays behind us, I would expect my melancholy feeling to rapidly vanish after a good day or two in the fresh air on the mountains.

In closing.... To those we have lost in 2015... thank you for being in our lives. You will be missed.

To the friends we have kept through out the years... your friendship is one of the most valuable things we cherish.

To the new friends we made in 2015, we hope 2016 sees that friendship mature and blossom.

Where ever you may be, welcome 2016. Happy New Year. Think Snow!

Snow covering the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

It is a start...

The Killington region received the first significant snow fall of the 2015-2016 ski season overnight. Snow started falling right around midnight. By 4 AM, upper level warm air had overspread the area changing the snow flakes to solid ice crystals, limiting further accumulation but raising the density of the overall snow pack. It should stick around for a while.

The Killington Resort is reporting 5 inches of new snow, which lines up nicely with the near 4 inches of snow that fell around the inn. Combined with the snow making operations that have been underway for the last couple of days, skiing and riding should be decent over the New Years holiday weekend.

While the advertiser fueled "Madison Avenue" hype of the storm by the Weather Channel did not materialize, all of us in ski country are still happy to be out moving snow around with shovels and snow blowers. 3 to 5 inches a day... that's all we ask for....

Where ever you may be, may your snow shovel be sharp, and your throw long. Think Snow!

Cold weather descends upon Killington. 

Don't...no way...do not...jinx it.

Killington was blessed by Mother Nature last night by a shot of well needed frigid air. The Killington Resort responded in knd by creating a man-made blizzard across the Killington Basin region of the resort.

Snow making operations were observed on Skylark, at the top of Sky Peak, at the top of Killington Peak, on Great Northern, Rime, Reason, Bunny Buster, and Chute. Snow guns were also seen operating on Caper and Vale to continue the connection of Rams Head Mountain into the resort. Snow making was also taking place at the learning slope on Snow Shed.

This initial burst of snow making has been focused heavily on resurfacing operations to recover the resort from the unusually warm and wet Christmas weather. The Resort has been taking extraordinary measures to harvest snow from various nooks and crannies around the resort to be able to continue to provide top to bottom skiing and riding during this unusual El Nino early winter. All eyes are now focused on the weather maps to the west of Killington as Mother Nature prepares her next weather event for the region.

And no...no way... I will not make any further comments on what Mother Nature may have in store. I will not jinx it.... but I did visit Goodro's Lumber this morning and purchase a shiny new snow shovel and 100 lbs of snow melt.

Where ever you may be, dance hard, fast, and long for snow up here in ski country. Think Snow!

Skylark holding up well in wet weather 

Yesterday we and our guests had a nice day of skiing at Killington. Today... well....

The town of Killington right now is divided into two camps.... thoses that can see the mountains, and thoses that can not. Like King Kongs legendary Skull Island, the mountain is draped in a low cloud. Multiple cloud layers are restricting visibility.

The first cloud layer is at roughly 2000 feet. From the Killington Road in front of the inn, the mountain is completely obscured in the cloud. A veritable wall of cotton is obscuring visibility for all of those driving to the resort. It is not a fog layer, as at the ground visibility is pretty decent. In driving the Killington road past the Basin Ski Shop you travel through this ephemeral layer to the ah-ha moment where the mountain is revealed.

The second cloud layer, at least when I journeyed out, was around 3500 feet. The tops of Sky Peak and Killington Peak were obscurred by the clouds. The bottom of North Ridge at the top of East Fall proper was just barely visible from the K1 base lodge. While you could see snow on North Ridge, assessing it qualitatively from the K1 lodge would be out of the question due to the cloud.

What I could see, however, leads me to believe that at least for today the resort is holding up. Most of Sky Lark was clearly visible (todays blog picture). As the picture shows, it is still fully covered. Lower Bunny Buster and parts of Great Northern were visible and also appeared well covered. In a graphic display of the effects of snow making, Mouse Trap was a stark dichotomy. Skiers left, under the snow making fan gun, was very well covered. Skiers right, which we skied yesterday, was a pockmarked mess where the natural snow provided on Sunday was being eaten away.

The Resort has still not moved snow around on either Caper or Vale with large snow making whales clearly visible. This is clearly a strategy the Resort took to preserve their snow making product. I am certain it will be spread around and flattened out once this spell of wet weather breaks.

We will be watching each day to see how the mountain manages during this period of El Nino derived weather just before the holidays. If today is any indication, the strategy of the Resort to lay down a considerable amount of man-made snow rolled compressed flat on the slopes by grooming machines appears to be the right one in the face of the inclement weather of today. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed to see what tomorrow brings.

Where ever you may be, we hope your holiday preparations are going smoothly. Think Snow!

Mary at the top of Mouse Trap 

After operating continously for over 2 full days, the Killington Resort, at least temporarily, shut off it's snow making system. As warmer temperatures crept back into the region, one by one the snow guns of Killington became silent. In their place, grooming machines in the early morning hours traveled across the snow covered slopes of Killington, packing down the snow gun's product to form a think , and hopefully resilient, layer of machine made packed powder for all to enjoy.

In hopefully(?) what is not the last excurson onto the slopes of Killington for us in 2015, we headed off to the resort to meet up with friends at the K1 base lodge. At 8:50 this morning we all gathered in the lodge with a mix of anticipation and resolve. When we exited some of the first gondola cars of the morning, we were greeted on the top of Killington Peak with what can only be described as a "Winter Wonderland". With trepidation we struck out down Great Northern, not knowing what we would encounter as we made the turn around Killington Peak. What we found was acres and acres of flat and fast corduroy to be enjoyed. In this El Nino driven early winter, where "Powder Storms" are but distant memories of seasons past(2014/15), corduroy is good. No Corduroy is Great!

From our excursion on the mountian, Killington had made miles of snow on Great Northern, Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, Bunny Buster, Mouse Trap, Chute, Mouse Run, Killink, and the various incarnations of Sky Lark. Not open to the public yet were Caper and Vale, serviced by the Rams Head Lift. Large snow piles were seen stockpiled on these trails, to be groomed out in the next couple of days to allow more terrain to be opened for skiing and riding.

Skiers and riders starting their day at the resort on Great Northern at the top of Killington Peak.

Snow throughout Killington was packed down tight. Most of the time when the Resort makes snow, there is a residual softness to it. The Resort usually lets freshly made snow sit for several days before hitting it with a grooming machine. But, alas, that is not a luxury they had this time around. With snow presevation first and foremost on their minds with the holiday weeks upon us, the Resort opted to roll snow surfaces down tightly. This approach will definitely minimize snow losses due to wind (high winds were expected at the peak this afternoon). I would presume it will also help conserve surfaces as temperatures rise the next couple of days; of course that remains to be seen.

Snow covered North Ridge at Killington Peak.

As far as the trail specifics are concerned, Sky Lark was probably the ROTD. Wind blown hardpack greeted us at the top of the Superstar quad, but once that was dealt with, Sky Lark in general was well covered supporting edge to edge carving. Lower Sky Lark had some residual bumps from snow making, but they are easy to negotiate.

Killington Peak was flat and fast. North Ridge, Rime, Reason, and Upper East Falls were firm machine groomed packed powder. Generally the slopes were devoid of any features with the exception of an errant snow making bump here and there. Wet snow guns were still making snow along Great Northern after Rime, into Ridge Run for the turn back to the North Ridge Triple. Our guess was that the resort was purposefully leaving these guns on to firm up the surfaces in what is usually a high traffic area of the resort.

Bunny Buster (Upper and Lower) were well covered. Mouse Trap was slick just at the crest of the hill. It then transitioned into small bumps; the aftermath of the Fan Gun at its base operating continiously these last few days. Lower Chute back to the Snowdon Quad was not open when were were on the mountain this morning, but it looked like the rope was dropped before noon and the chair was loading people as we were leaving the Resort.

All in all, we had a nice ski day at the Resort. With terrain that is for advanced and experts only, beginners will find some challenges until the resort opens Caper and Vale. And we all have our fingers crossed that Mother Nature is kind to us these next few days before Christmas. But no matter what, we live in a beautiful place and get to play all the time in the out doors.

If your travels bring you to Killington over the holidays...stop in!. Our restaurant will be serving dinner nightly starting Tuesday the 22nd right straight through Saturday January 2. But where ever you may be....have a great holiday season and Think Snow!