Rebuilding Bear Mountain Superpipe
March 13, 2006, 12:30 PM 

If you are in the ski business....ya gotta believe!!!

Like Tony Soprano, old man winter has wounded Killington these last couple of days, but the mountain has a lot of life left before the 2005-2006 ski season ends.

Needless to say, surface conditions today at Killington were wet. Primary slopes where the mountain has done a lot of snow making this season are holding up fairly well. Secondary slopes are another story. The weather forecasters, and when have they been right this winter, are implying that we have another 18 hours of so of this weather, before winter returns with snow showers on the back side of the storm.

Killington continues to get ready for the Sprint US Freestyle Championships scheduled for March 22 thru 26th. Workers were photographed today using 3 snow grooming machines roughing in the new Superpipe, which Killington filled with snow last week. When they rebuilt the pipe in the past, it has usually taken 3 to 4 days to complete the work, which would probably be the case this time as well.

Skye Peak to Killington Peak
March 12, 2006, 12:30 PM 

Guests at Killington this morning experienced soft, spring conditions under cloudy skies.

Early reports from friends indicate that the mountain started with a few firm spots in the valleys this morning, as temperatures in low areas dropped below freezing. Higher elevations appeared to have stayed soft, evidently due to a temperature inversion on the mountain. Snow surfaces were generally consistent, although surface damage is visible in areas with little snow making, for instance skiers right on Snow Shed. We plan to be out on the slopes several days this coming week to report directly on conditions.

Superstar starting to Bump Up!
March 11, 2006, 2:30 PM 

Spring made an appearance at Killington today. Yesterdays gloomy weather has given way to mild temperatures in the mid to high 40's with beautiful sunshine and a warm breeze.

Around town, much of the natural snow cover is melting. The large hill at the front of the inn is basically free from snow. The snow stake in the back of the inn is down to ground. The 5th green of the Killington Golf course looks like it is ready to begin play, although I am sure that the course is still a little wet.

On the mountain, operations were slow to start this morning as snow surfaces froze overnight. Killington sequentially opened lifts, as grooming machines were out in the morning preparing surfaces for the day. Inn guests are returning to the inn talking about nice spring conditions with medium sized crowds. Most are returning with the beginnings of a tan, although a few fair haired guests had the red glow of a sun burn. They all spoke of soft snow. The skiers in the group were praising conditions; the novices were feeling their legs after a good work out. Overall, it sounds like it was a good day on the hill.

It is your basic quiet day at Killington.

Temperatures have warmed up substantially since yesterday, approaching the mid 40's around the inn. Yesterdays light snow has given way to an intermittent drizzle. When you combine it with the temperatures, it is definitely wet outside. Visibly, the mountain looks like it is holding up well. Guests are returning to this inn with reports that the mountain was nice and soft. The only complaints were related to the drizzle, and poor visibility in spots caused by fog.

 

It is a very overcast and gloomy day at Killington, and I am not just talking about the weather. Although, on the weather front, we have been experiencing snow showers all morning. It is not accumulating much, yet at least it is white.

On the doom and gloom front, it was reported today by various news sources that Killington Taxpayers will be put in the Education Tax "Penalty Box" as a result of the vote taken on the special article to raise $225,000 for athletic fields for the Woodstock Union High School. The article was defeated in 4 of the 6 towns that make up the Woodstock Union, but in the other 2 towns, Woodstock and Barnard, enough votes were cast to pass the article by a total of 33 votes across the 6 towns. Because of the assessment, 2 towns, Killington and Reading, will be put into the Vermont's Education Penalty, as per pupil expenses will exceed $11,728 per "equalized pupil". What this means to homestead (ie Resident) taxpayers in Reading and Killington is that they must raise extra money for the state education fund equivalent to an extra dollar per equalized pupil for every dollar above the $11,728 threshold.

From a Killington perspective, Resident Taxes for education are projected to increase by by an additional 7.3 cents to $2.177. Last year, the education tax rate was $1.726. This years resident tax increase for education is 26.13%. Killington town officials are looking at various options to see if anything can be done to mitigate this additional tax increase.

---------- Update -------------
Since I originally posted this entry, I have received an email from Selectman Norm Holcomb of Killington. An effort is currently underway to get the Woodstock Union High School Special Article reconsidered, in light of the fact that if it stands, Killington and Reading will be forced to pay penalty education taxes to the state of Vermont. A petition for reconsideration is being circulated. 307 registered voters in the Woodstock Union District must sign the petition to get the article reconsidered. It is felt that if an adequate number of voters were informed about the article, and the funding for the Woodstock Union, that it would fail in a re-vote. (If you remember from my posting of 3/7, the school board head and the superintendent of the Woodstock Union could not properly explain the allocation of taxes for Killington to pay for the high school. It appears, that a similar discussion with non-information occurred at other town meetings in the district.)

A copy of the petition for reconsideration is available for signatures at the Sherburne Memorial Library on River Road. The petition is available to be signed at the Library during operating hours. If you are a registered voter in Killington, or another town in the Woodstock Union, you should consider signing this petition. The library is open each afternoon, Monday thru Friday, from 1:00 PM to 5:30 PM. The Library is also opened on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings starting at 10:00 AM. The library is also open Wednesday evening until 8:00 PM, and Saturday Morning from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM.
---------- End Update -------------

Ramp/Jump on Outer Limits
March 8, 2006 

And now to get back to skiing!

After yesterdays adventure in civic responsibility, this morning was time to ski. And a beautiful ski day it was. Conditions were a tad cooler than Monday, with some high overcast dimming the sun, but the mountain was groomed very nice.

We started out the day with 2 quick laps on Superstar. I am not sure how the groomers did it, but the snow on Superstar was soft and quiet. Great for carving big, wide turns. We then pushed over to Bear Mountain. One of our group, a "Florida" resident who did not attend town meeting on Tuesday, told us that Upper Wild Fire was groomed great. Oops... That was yesterday. Today, while Upper Wild Fire was flat, it was also slicker than s@#t, if you get what I mean. However, when we got to the bottom, we were presented with Outer Limits in all it's glory.

O.L. has not been open for the past couple of days so the resort could continue working on a large ramp and jump at the bottom. That area was blocked off today, and the rest of O.L. was groomed soft and sweet. I took a picture of the ramp from the entrance to it. You can't really get a sense of how big it is, until you look at it from the side. The second picture shows a side view with a skier coming down beside it. It is huge.

In addition to the ramp on O.L., Killington blew snow last night on Bear Claw. Clearly they are trying to make sure that there is a good base for the Freestyle competition at the end of the month. Also over a Bear, the resort had dozens of guns blowing snow into the Superpipe on Lower Dream Maker. It looked like they were filling the Superpipe with snow so they could re-carve it later. We heard that the walls of the pipe were getting a little icey and out of alignment. Hence the need for a major rebuild.

A few quick turns on Skye Burst, and Cruise Control, then I needed to punch out down Skye Lark to attend to some business at the inn. All in all, a very nice couple of hours out on the mountain.

 

Boredom, Fatigue, Capitulation... Pick your adjective... The 2006 Killington Town Meeting was downright calm this year. Unlike the fireworks that erupted in prior years, this years meeting was very reserved.

The school meeting kicked off at 9:00 AM. After a brief discussion, and a few handouts from the local school board, it was very apparent that there was little to vote on at the School Meeting. The part of the school budget the town has direct control over, the elementary school budget, will increase by 1.3% from last year. The high school budget, which is voted on separately as part of the Woodstock Union High School, will go up 9.98%. This provoked a very arcane discussion in which 62 physical students were magically turned into 82 "Equalized Students". When asked about the details of the calculation, the School Board head, Steve Finneron, was at a loss to be able to explain it in enough detail to be understandable. This was, by his own admission, due to the complexities of Act 68 and it's modifications by the state legislature. The superintendent of the Woodstock Union took the floor to try to explain the number. When she failed, she said that she would have the number reviewed, and if it was wrong, that the Secretary of State for Vermont would "readjust" the calculations and the financial allocations. For a context, you need to understand that these people were trying to explain this to Killington voters, before the voters were to cast ballots on approving the budget. The Elementary School budget passed on a voice vote. The high school budget is by Australian ballot. We will not know what that vote was until tomorrow, at the earliest, but many residents were resigned to the fact that there is no control of this budget at the local level, and that the discussion only served to prove it.

At the town meeting, which began just after 10:00 AM, there was again little discussion. Town Manager, Dave Lewis, presented a budget that was for all intents and purposes the same as last year. In usual Killington Town Meeting fashion, a small item on dog catchers, which was a $3700 line item on the budget, was discussed about and voted on separately. (Why discuss big budget items when the small ones are so much fun!) It was decided to leave this item in the budget. Overall, the school budget of $1,277,320, and the town budget of $2,601,000 minus $625,000 in non-tax revenues and $70,000 in excess cash on hand were both approved.

Collectively, because of changes in the State Education Tax, the resident tax rate for 2007 will increase from $2.013 to $2.398; a 19.1% increase. If a capital measure for the Woodstock High School passes with the voters, the overall taxes will increase to $2.471; a 22.75% increase. It should be noted that if you look at the State Education Tax component separately, that one tax will increase from $1.726 to $2.104, a 21.9% increase. If the Woodstock High School capital measure passes, the education tax rate would jump to $2.177, a 26.13% increase in education taxes for Killington residents. Ouch!

At the town meeting, both Harry Chen (D), the state representative for Killington, and Wendy Wilton (R), one of the senators representing Killington spoke to the assembled masses. Harry has filed a proposal to have the legislature form a committee to work with New Hampshire on Killington's secession bid. Harry felt that his bill would probably not make it out of committee. Harry also spoke on his pet project, Health Care Reform. A bill called "Catamount Health Care" has been passed by the House and is making it's way to the Senate. Wendy spoke of her concern with the "sustainable funding" of the health care initiative and several other red meat republican issues. For both speakers, I think the Killington audience was underwhelmed, although Harry was at least asked a few questions. Due to the complexities of Vermont politics, neither has succeeded in delivering any substantive government reform which would positively impact the town of Killington, and it's residents and property owners.

In other items, Horace "Red" Glaze stepped down as town moderator, after 29 years of service. He handed the gavel to local attorney M.B. Neisner. Town Manager, Dave Lewis, was honored for 30 years of service to the town of Killington. And Robert "Sal" Salmeri from Moguls was honored by the recreation department as the Ken Krantz "Volunteer of the Year".