Mary on Caper 

And the skiing was glorious!

This winter is heading towards the record books. The last time we had snow like this in Killington was 5 years ago in 2010 when the 10 year snow stake record of 35 7/8 inches was set on February 27th. We are closing in on that record.

Technically, we have had much more snow than 35 inches, or the 30 inches of snow recorded at the snow stake... The snow stake is recording the actual snow that is on the ground... not the snow that is falling. The snow depth on the ground gets modified in 2 directions. From the bottom of the snow pack, residual heat in the ground continiously melts the base, forming a layer of glacial ice on the bottom of the pack as the winter goes forward. Obviously this melts each year and we do not wind up with a glacier... but if we did, the melted snow at the base of the snow pack would be the origin.

From above, snow is also constantly compressing. When snow falls, air is trapped between the snow crystals. As more snow falls, the weight of the new snow compresses the air out of the snow that has previously fell, resulting in the appearance that the snow pack is "shrinking".

You will see the impacts of both bottom melting and compression on cold days when no new snow is falling. Because of the cold, the snow is not melting, but it's depth is changing none the less. A good example of this is what happened recently between February 5th and 6th. On the 5th the snow stake was measuring 25 3/8 inches. On the 6th, even though temperatures never got out of the mid-20's, the snow stake measured 24 1/2. The 7/8 inch reduction in snow pack was the combination of bottom melting and surface compression.

For you physics and chemistry geeks, there is also some sublimation taking place, where the snow goes from a solid to a vapor without transitioning to a fluid. In the low humidity winter air, certainly some sublimation is taking place. However, in recent days where we have had constantly falling snow and low temperatures, sublimation is not the major factor changing the depth of the snow that has fallen on the ground.

On the mountain today... well.... if you did the right thing and figured that work or school or your flight would be cancelled down south today, you scored. Skiing is just crazy good with powder (yes to my friends in Park City - Real waist deep in the woods powder) everywhere. What chop there was on the ski trails due to skier and rider traffic was soft and beautiful. Each run was a choice between (relatively) untracked by the woods on the side of the trail or soft little bumps down the middle. It did not matter which trail you travelled. They were all the same way, the result of continious snowfall at Killington over the last 72 hours.

And there is another storm predicted for Thursday night with the weather forecasters already whispering the magic foot word. If I were you, I would grab my skis and get to Killington.... oh wait... I am already here!

Let it snow!

Ruts, Ed, and the Bagel push off Skye Peak on Gateway headed towards the Stash and Bear Mountain. 

The thermometer said -10 (thats right MINUS 10) this morning when my alarm went off. But the boys made their Thursday trip to Killington from various parts of southern New England... so that made today a ski day... and what a ski day it was...

The snow stake at the inn has jumped almost a foot in the last week. Translated on to the mountain.. that means a whole bunch of soft, beautiful, did I say soft, snow to play on. Combine what Mother Nature has dished out with the unbelievable efforts of the Killington Resort snow making team, and you could not ask for better skiing and riding. On top of all the new snow, and in the face of another round of snowmageddon later this weekend, the Killington snow making team was pummeling Superstar and Gateway. I have skied 4 days this week. The amount of snow the Killington team made overnight in sub-zero temperatures was just mind boggling. What was a simple push from the Superstar chair off the back of Skye Peak yesterday turned into a steep climb today. Just unbelievable.

But I digress.

Snow conditions on the slopes were phenominal. Many trails were groomed out last night leaving a very soft corduroy to play on this morning. The trails that were not groomed were set up with soft mounds of sweet bumps. Upper Wildfire on skiers left, Needles Eye on skiers right, and Vertigo were all beautiful soft bumps. I felt like I could have stayed out till 4:00 PM today, but duties at the inn called me back after only a couple of hours on the snow.

Slow roasting braised short ribs being prepared for tonights dinner service.

At the inn we are in week 2 of our new chef. In the front of the house, customers who have dined with us are raving about the the food in the restaurant. We had an aggressive start up last week with a targeted soft opening. I needed to turn people away on Saturday evening as the number of diners who wanted to join us for dinner during the soft open was almost double the number of diners we had planned for.

In the back of the house, we are continuing to solidify the operation. Chef Craig is getting a handle on the kitchen. We have ordered for him several new pieces of equipment he requested so he could take take our menu to the next level, as Mary and I requested. Staffing has come together as well with the hiring of a sous chef, a dishwasher, and (hopefully when you read this) a second server. In late December when we did not know when the restaurant would re-open, we outplaced the restaurant staff so they could make some money over the Christmas holidays. We have now reeled back most while also agressively hiring to fill openings in some of the skilled areas which we needed to build. We think we have put together a solid team which will push the restaurant foward, and allow us to do some very creative culinary things at the inn in the near future.

If you get a chance to visit Killington in the next few weeks, stop bye and say hello. In the mean time, with the weather forecast for the east coast calling for some more of the white stuff, keep your snow blower gassed up and your snow shovel handy and....

Let it snow!

Mary playing in the pow 

Just in time.

Snow - beautiful snow - has descended across the Green Mountains of Killington. Iit does not matter that I have had to spend hours behind a snow blower, or lifting a shovel full. It does not matter that our snow plow guy's bucket loader is currently caput. It does not even matter that a pipe in the heating system burst the other day. What matters is that we have gotten lots of snow over the last week... and we have actually been able to get out an play in it.

In the snow storms of last Thursday and this past Monday we ventured out to play in the falling snow. While last week saw the storm only catch us with it's northern edge, this weeks storm was the real deal, dropping copious amounts of snow across the landscape. We really don't even need to talk about conditions on them mountain. They are just great.

While Monday we were skiing in fresh powder on each run, Tuesday we hit the groomers and the soft bumps. Or should I say we hit the soft bumps pretending to be groomers. Pretty much every where you turned you were greated with a soft pile of snow. It made for a fun couple of hours on the slopes.

Killington is now 100% open. The slopes, except in a few wind blown areas, are covered in feet of soft, natural snow. and the woods, obviously, have the goods. And with snow forecasted for today, tomorrow, and the weekend, we can expect conditions to get even better.

Where ever you may be, keep warm, think thoughts of skiing/riding, and let it snow!

Chef Craig Cornell prepping a pork tenderloin for tonights staff training session 

Mary and I are pleased to welcome Chef Craig Cornell to the Birch Ridge Inn. Craig joined us this past Sunday. He has been working all week with us to prepare the restaurant at Birch Ridge to re-open tomorrow, Friday January 30, 2015.

Chef Craig joins us from the Inn at Weston where he was the executive chef overseeing the culinary team for the inns restaurant and pub. Previously, Chef Craig worked at the Okemo Resort where he developed Epic at Solitude, Okemo's upscale mountain dining experience. Chef Craig also developed Okemo's Snowcat Dining Adventure for an on mountain evening of fine dining.

Chef Craig is no stranger to the Killington area. Early in his career (25 years ago... how time flies) he worked as a sous chef at the Vermont Inn and as the Executive Chef at the Cascade Lodge.

Chef Cornell replaces our dear friend and past chef Stephen "Frizzy" Byrne who passed away just prior to the Christmas Holidays. In our planning sessions to re-open the restaurant at Birch Ridge, we intend to continue to serve many of the most popular items developed by Chef Frizzy over the years, while adding in many new items Chef Craig has honed over his culinary career.

The restaurant at the Birch Ridge Inn will be open this Friday and Saturday nights starting at 6PM for dinner service in the Restaurant and Great Room Lounge. We resume our normal Tuesday through Saturday evening restaurant schedule next week.

For a copy of Chef Craig's first menu, you can visit the following link. We look forward to seeing you the next time you visit Killington.

Let it snow!

The Covered Carriageway doing its job keeping snow off the entrance to the inn 

Contrary to reports on the Weather Channel, snowmageddon did not materalize here at Killington with the winter storm that is racking the coastal communities of New England. While by city standards we have had a decent amount of snow, by mountain standards it is a good day to play.

Conditions on the mountain today were really nice, if you could overlook poor visibility and a 25-35 MPH northwest wind. Blowing and drifting snow created some issues down the center of many trails. But, if you were observant, you could find shin deep powder in many places along the tree lines of most trails.

Todays journey began with a trip up the Rams Head lift for a run down Swirl and Easy Street. These are not my normal first runs of the day, but Mary decided to come out with me this morning in the middle of the storm. Taking an easier trail was a good choice to allow her to get comfortable with the newly fallen snow. A little confidence builder goes a long way.

From Rams Head we traversed through the connecting tunnel to Snow Shed; ultimately taking Low Road back to the Superstar Lift. While the wind was howling, the angle of attack of the Superstar chair prevented any real wind impact on us as it carried us to the top of Skye Peak.

The Birch Ridge Inn covered in freshly fallen snow.

Off the back of Sky Peak we went for a run down Upper Bittersweet to Lower Wildfire. There was great snow coverage down skiers left snuggled up against the trees. This area was relatively sheltered from the wind, resulting in a consistend 3-4 inch powder surface on top of the existing base. Just beautiful.

The Sky Peak Quad, on the other hand, was a little rough. Wind was pushing directly into our faces as the chair carried us uphill. We decided to head down Cruise Control to the Skyship for some shelter. Upper Skye Burst to Dreammaker was just beautiful, with loads of snow. Mary decided to go through the wind tunnel towards Bittersweet. She found that surface slick and wind blown. But in either case, the trails were very easy to navigate as we vitually had the mountain to ourselves (or so it seemed.) Our final destination for this traverse was Cruise Control, which was nicely covered.

After out bucket ride, being buffetted by the wind, we decided to head back to Superstar for a few looks. Skylark and Bittersweet were nice. The same holds for Superstar. I did try Old Superstar which was nasty. The trail is normally bumped off. But with the angle of the wind, the trail turned into a collection of seemingly hard bumps and snow cornices. Not a great trail pick, but so it goes. Picking my way throught the moguls in a 30 MPH wind with blowing and drifting snow beats flying a desk any day!

Let it snow!

Mary traversing between Killington Peak and Bear Mountain in beautiful sunshine. 

With holiday visitors departed, and bright sunshine at our doorstep, Mary and I decided it would be a good day to take a quick break to enjoy some turns on the snow at Killington.

When we arrived at the mountain, the sun was casting a festive glow upon the landscape. Unlike at the inn where things were calm, at the K1 Base Lodge the wind was blowing at a good clip. With the sun out and my heavy jacket, I did not need and extra top layer this morning. But the wind required use of a gator to keep the face covered and toasty warm.

We started the day on the K1 Gondola. We almost ended out day there as well. 4 times the wind rocked the cabin and brought the gondola to a abrupt halt. On Killington peak we made an executive decision that this would be our one and only use of the K1 for the morning; so after clicking the boots into the skis, off we went towards Bear Mountain.

The traverse between the mountains from the top of Killington past South Ridge to Skye Peak was on nice soft snow. The upper elevations of the resort clearly received their fair share of snow with the storms that swept through the area over the weekend. As we approached Bear Mountain, however, there was a destinct change in conditions.

The spine of the Green Mountains from Killington and Pico to Sugarbush and beyond.

The most obvious thing we noticed was the lack of snow in the trees. Whereas the trees on Killington Peak were heavy with snow, the trees at Bear Mountain on the lower elevations were basically clean. Surface conditions also changed quite dramatically as well. The run across the top from Killington Peak on Bear Trax was soft, machine groomed powder. Skyeburst at Bear Mountain, on the other hand, was set up with a nice mix of ball bearing and golf balls, a strong indication that precipitation at the lower elevations at Bear stayed as ice for a much longer time, while it continued to snow at the peaks. Of course after one or two more grooming cycles everything will be nice again, even at the lower elevations.

Off of Skye Peak, the snow had obviously accumulated deeper. Bittersweet was well covered. Skylark was out right deep in places. Lower Skylark was bumped up with large, soft, moguls with mostly soft snow in between. There were a couple of bottomed out troughs, but for the most part the line was soft all the way down to the bottom.

With the sunshine and good snow, it was a nice quick morning on the mountain. With hopefully many more to come as we hit the middle of the ski season.

Let it snow!

Birch trees at the front of the Birch Ridge Inn covered with snow and backlit by lights on Killington Road. 

Somtimes it's lemons. Other times it's lemonade. For this mid-January holiday weekend, Killington was given tanker truck loads of lemonade in the form of heavy wet snow.

The weather forecast the last couple of days was problematic. While the forecasters were calling for heavy r@!n on Sunday, there was a mention of snow in the higher elevations. The National Weather Service forecast was schizophrenic. Cats, ice, dogs, r@!n, snow....the kitchen sink could have fallen from the sky and they would have forecasted it. Such is the variability of mid January storms in the mountains when there is a bubble of very cold air to the north, and warm air to the south. But it all turned out good in the end.

Winter wonderland in the forest behind the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington.

Sunday was already called for with the NFC and AFC championship games on television, so the weather outside, while being a curiosity, was not high on the list. What started as ice at mid day made a brief transition to r@!n before settling into a gentle heavy wet snow storm.

At midnight, before calling it a night, I went outside to shovel off the walkways in front of the inn. The afternoon and early evening as a couch potato watching the football games had left me with a little too much energy to try to call it a night and get to bed early. After a couple of shovels full, I realized that the snow blower was the way to go. 3-5 inches of heavy wet snow is no problem for my 9 1/2 horse snow blower... While walking out to get it, I could not help but notice how nice all of the trees looked covered in snow and back lit by the street lights on the Killington road; hence the primary picture for todays blog.

When I got up in the morning and went back outside to clean things up, everything was still beautiful. Mother Nature had given Killington lemonade for MLK weekend. It was nice to stand quietly outside and just drink it all in.

Let it snow!