South Ridge with Killington Peak off to the left. 

Five (5) inches of sweetness fell overnight. Snow started falling around 9:00 PM. The temperature was a crisp 10 degrees. Pure powder from heaven!

I usually don't ski on Saturday or Sunday, the inn occupies my time. But I do make exceptions when we get 6 inches or so of new snow. And today was one of those days.

I did not get out at the crack of dawn, I did need some sleep after working late last night. But by 10:30 I was out on the hill. The sun was shining brightly. Temperatures were in the high teens. There was no noticeable wind. Just a beautiful day to ski.

I took out my powder ski's today. At 10:30 I knew everything would be well tracked, but the powder skis do a great job pushing through soft powder bumps. They require a little more leg work, as they are 15 cm longer than my normal skis, have virtually no side cut, and are almost as wide as a snow board. But they worked very nicely in today's new snow.

I stuck to my mountain tour route, parking in the Vail parking lot for a quick trip to the Rams Head Quad. A warm up run down Caper brought me to the Snowdon Quad and decision time.

For the first run, I decided to try something a little different. I went down Frolic to Vagabond. I would have gone into Patsy's, but as I was skiing by myself, going into the woods is a no no. Both Frolic and Vagabond were well covered. Frolic had a few cruising tracks, as to be expected on a green trail. Vagabond was covered with nice soft bumps, that my powder skis just ate up.

After taking the Snowdon Quad for a second time, I headed over to East Fall. It's pitch has some scraped of spots, but there was plenty of soft snow on skiers right. After a ride on the Canyon Quad, I traversed over the mountain for a run down Bear Claw to Lower Wild Fire. Both were soft and sweet.

After a few runs at Bear, I traversed over to the South Ridge Triple to get a boost across the mountain. That's when I heard today's title. In the chair in front of me, I heard someone say "What a day! This is Killington at it's best". And with the sunshine, the snow covered trees, the powder covered trails, even on the South Ridge Triple, the person in the chair in front of me got it right.

Killington at it's Best!.....Let it snow.

Soft, sweet, bumps on Needles Eye. 

Deja vu all over again!

This weeks storms have reset the snow cover clock back to mid December. The last time we had more than 10 inches of natural snow around the inn was on December 20th. It looks great, and it skis pretty nice too!

Mary and I took some time away from the inn this morning to get out on the mountain. Brilliant sunshine, great snow, a little cold...but 2 out of 3 is not bad. Because of the temperature (high single digits when we left the inn), we skied today on the Bear Mountain, Sky Peak, Superstar side of the mountain. It's closer to the equator and as a result warmer. Actually it's all urban legend. But the southern exposure to Bear Mountain and Sky Peak mean that if the sun is out, the lights are on. And on a cold day a little sunshine warming the back on a chair lift can make all the difference.

Snow surfaces were all generally soft and devoid of ice patches. I am sure it is lurking there 6 inches under the surface, but the limited skier traffic on the mountain this morning did not reveal any of it. Skye Burst, the Stash, Bear Claw and lower Wild Fire were all groomed flat. Even with the cold temperatures, there was so much snow that the surfaces were generally soft. Snow making was taking place on Outer Limits and Bear Claw. The ruptured pipe on Bear Claw was obviously repaired. The resort was taking advantage of the cold temperatures to blow a large amount of snow over the ice flow created when the pipe broke.

Upper Wildfire was filled with large bumps. Upper Dream Maker had a combination of large and small bumps. Lower Dream Maker was closed. The resort is in the process of sculpting some kind of terrain park on lower Dream Maker. The trail was closed to allow grooming machines free access.

Cruise Control had more soft snow cover. It must have been groomed earlier than some of the other trails we skied. Needles Eye was not groomed. It was covered with soft, sweet bumps. While that pattern was a little irregular, negotiating them was no big deal. (I did need to take my gator down off my face to get more air into my lungs. A little work out is a good thing!) With the exception of a little wind blown spot on Panic Button, the trip down Needles Eye was a delight.

Skye Lark, Bitter Sweet and Superstar were all in similar shape; groomed with some soft snow pack on top. Lower Skye Lark was a little strange. Some ice and rock has been exposed on skiers right. I am not sure if the area was wind blown, of if a groomer moved to much cover to other spots. The middle of the trail was soft bumps similar to Needles Eye, except the pitch was revealing some slick spots in the bump troughs. If you want to cruise, stick to Bitter Sweet.

Cold temperatures are forecasted through the weekend with more snow predicted for Sunday. With any luck, we have already had the January thaw.....Let it snow.

Birch Ridge Inn buried in snow. 

8 plus inches of snow later! Yesterdays little ice pellet storm continued all night dropping 8 inches of moderately heavy snow around the inn. I would anticipate higher precipitation totals on the mountain.

As I write this (2:30 PM), heavy snow is still falling outside. The forecast calls for negligible additional accumulation, but you would never know it from looking outside.

Today was a work day scheduled at the inn, so I did not make it to the mountain. Little did I know that I would be outside this morning about 4 hours using the snow blower. But tomorrow is another day, and I should be able to make it to the hill to report on conditions....Let it snow.

The woods behind the Birch Ridge Inn. 

Miserable, yet frozen. That best describes today's weather at Killington.

Thus far today, the Killington area has been blanketed with 2 to 4 inches of snow and not quite sleet. The snow pack in the last couple of hours has been covered with a dense blanket of little ice balls intermixed with the snow flakes. As of noon time, all of the precipitation has been of the frozen variety with little ice accumulation on exposed surfaces.

Temperatures for this afternoon and evening are predicted to fall with precipitation changing back to all snow. If it does, Killington will have dodged a weather bullet and come out of this storm with improved base conditions. The way the weather has gone the last 4 weeks, probability says we should get lucky once and a while....Let it snow.

Sky Peak and the Stash under brilliant blue skies a seen from top of Bear Mountain. 

Beautiful blue skies, crisp - not frigid - temperatures, no wind.... a perfect day to head back out on the mountain.

For my first day back since the holidays (and a concussion), I focused on Bear Mountain and Skye Peak. Everything I skied on today, except the trails with active snow making, were groomed flat and fast. Some were decidedly groomed better than others, but I suspect it was a function of snow depths on the trails versus the snow groomers proficiency.

After taking the Superstar Quad from the K1 Base Lodge, I started with a run through the Stash. Ropes were set up to keep people out of the gladed areas and trees. I would guess that they are left over from yesterday's ice storm, as even on groomed trails there was ice to be found very easily. The Stash was groomed flat. At 9:15 I did not see anyone hitting any of the features. Given the firmness of the slope, I don't blame riders for bypassing bone crushing landing sites in favor of a little cruising. My exit from the Stash was a fairly routine run down lower Bear Claw/Skye Burst over to the Bear Mountain Quad.

The Bear Mountain Quad.... how quaint... how slow! With the advent of the new Skye Peal Express Quad the age of the Bear Mountain Quad really shows. What for the last forever years was the must take lift on Bear Mountain now seems like a relic of a bygone era. How quick peoples attitudes change.

Taking the Bear Mountain Quad was interesting. Snow Making hoses are all laid out on Outer Limits, getting ready for a snow making assault. I was the only one on the chair...no the ONLY ONE ON THE LIFT... which was a little weird. The top of the quad, which used to resemble a mini Grand Central in the morning was obviously empty. That's progress for you.

I went down Bear Claw to Wild Fire. A snow making pipe had blown out on Bear Claw just before the pitch down to Wild Fire. Heavy equipment was being used to dig the pipe out. When the pipe blew, it was obviously charged with water, as a mammoth patch of brown ice was all down the left side of the trail. Lower Wild Fire was groomed beautifully. A few marbles on the steeper pitches, but they were easily negotiated.

A ride up the Skye Peak Express followed by a top to bottom run on Skye Burst made for a quick lap of the mountain. For the next loop I wandered over to Dream Maker. Upper Dream Maker was roped off and looked nasty. Snow making was in progress on Lower Dream Maker. By the time I had hit it, about 4 inches of soft powder had been blown over the groomed hard pack. It was a very nice run down through the guns.

I did the Skye Burst - Dream Maker laps a couple of times. My ski legs were coming back from my hiatus so alternating between high speed cruising and soft powder cruising was a nice contrast for the first day back.

I continued to work my way back to the K1 Base Lodge with runs down Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, Skye Lark, and Superstar. All were firm, flat, and fast except middle Bitter Sweet which was also getting some new snow made on it. Of this set of runs, Needles Eye was a little sketchy. After Panic Button, it became pretty clear that Needles Eye was basically ice on skiers right and left with a pile of marbles and small death cookies in the middle. Death cookies can be your friend as you can turn on them, versus trying to do skid turns on ice...so it goes.

On tap for tomorrow, it appears that some kind of snow storm is headed our way. Local news at lunch time was taking about 4 to 8 inches of snow in Rutland County, with some sleet and freezing r@!n mixed in. It sounds like this storm will be primarily cold, so hopefully we will miss the "wintery mix" stuff and stay all snow at the mountain. We can hope...let it snow!

The outside world seen from my car this morning. 

The picture I posted for today is not some tricked out photoshop manipulation. The outside world this morning was draped in ice, the result of an ice storm which struck the area overnight. The good news is that it was not a lot of ice...just a half inch or so. The bad news is that it slowed the Killington Resort to a crawl this morning.

When I saw the scene outside the inn this morning, I rolled over and went back to bed. Our Chef made the trek to the K1 base lodge this morning to discover only the Snowdon Quad running. Grooming machines were lined up in a neat row on Snowdon, awaiting drivers to head out to regroom the slopes. Steve took a run from the Snowdon Quad over to the North Ridge Triple. The Triple was closed. East Fall was roped off. So he skated back to Great Northern and out...

Oh Well... there is always tomorrow....Let it snow! (Editors note: As I write this the resort is reporting that lifts are beginning to spin and trails are being opened. Our inn guests have departed the inn to give it a go this afternoon. So it goes!)

Last hurrah for the Birch Ridge Inn 2008 Christmas Tree 

Today feels like a Frank Sinatra song....."and now..the end is near...and so I face..the final curtain..."

After a good 2 week run, Christmas/New Years holiday guests are departing Killington for home. With any luck, most will be heading off to work on Monday morning with a brace of crisp air to remind them of their holiday in the mountains.

Of course, at Killington, work begins anew to greet winter visitors coming to the mountains. All over town this week Christmas decorations will be coming down, being replaced by winter finery. Mary already has the tasks laid out to take down the inn's Christmas tree. By Tuesday or Wednesday it will be just a memory, captured in digital images stored on computers at the inn and with guests around the world.

I, like many local residents, am looking forward to catching up on some sleep and going out on the mountain for a few runs. With a little luck, I will be out on the hill on Monday. I could have skied over the holidays, Doctors orders not withstanding, but we were very fortunate to be busy over the holiday weeks. Sometimes I give up sleep for skiing, but I can't do that over a full 2 week stretch.

To all of our guests who visited Mary and I at Birch Ridge these last two weeks - thank you! We look forward to seeing you again the next time you return to Killington. Good luck, safe journey, and happy New Year!

...Let it snow!