Devils Fiddle
at Bear Mountain,
February 15, 2006, 12:30 PM 

Snowmaking operations at Killington have suspended today due to unseasonably warm temperatures. The temperature at the inn at noon time was 51 degrees with bright sunshine and strong wind gusts.

Devils Fiddle was opened for skiing and riding this morning, the result of several days of continuous top to bottom snow making. The picture I took today was from a vantage point in the Top Ridge development at Bear Mountain. While taking the picture, I observed a large number of skiers and riders enjoying the newly opened "Fiddle".

Howie dropping into the Superpipe
at Bear Mountain,
February 14, 2006, 10:30 AM 

I did make it out this morning for a few laps around the mountain.

Weather conditions this morning were mostly cloudy with a raw breeze and an occasional snow flake. Because of the dim light, we ignored the Canyon area and went right over to Bear Mountain. Bear Claw and Wild Fire were groomed fairly flat. Upper Wild Fire was surprisingly soft. A lot of snow had been blown onto Wild Fire last week. We are reaping the rewards of that this week.

After a few loops on the OL chair, we then went over to the boarder cross area on lower Dream Maker. The park is set up with the requisite number of hits, lips, and jumps, although this year the first few hits were a lot farther apart than last year. I found myself cruising through them, instead of hitting them for some air like like I did last year. Of course, at the bottom we had to go through the Superpipe, hence todays primary picture of Howie just after he dropped into the pipe.

Snow making was in full swing on Devils Fiddle. We skied down Falls Brook to get a better look, as there was a rope across the Fiddle at the top. It looked like the resort had snow guns going on both sides of the trail, and as you can see from the picture, more guns were being brought to the area. We should have decent snow making temperatures the next couple of days, so it would not surprise me to see Devils Fiddle open this coming weekend.

Killington during afternoon snow squall
February 13, 2006, 2:45 PM 

We may have missed the big storm which struck New York and Boston over the weekend, but we are still feeling some of the effects of it at Killington today. Conditions are somewhat raw and blustery, with a continuous light snow flurry in the air. You can see some of the flakes of snow coming down in the Snow Stake picture for today.

Although today was supposed to be a ski day, the business of running an inn took precedence. Part of my day was spent running errands in Rutland Vermont. I am always amazed at the weather differences between Killington and Rutland, even though they are only about 12 miles apart. Rutland was sunny and mild, with virtually no snow on the ground. In Rutland, you could see the wind pushing the clouds into the backsides of Killington and Pico, resulting on our localized snow flurry up here on the mountain. Hopefully, I will get a chance to test out the snow on the mountain tomorrow.

"Got Snow!" 

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful,
and we've really no place to go;
Let it Snow. Let it Snow. Let it Snow!

Well, actually not....

The big winter storm that is dumping snow on Boston and New York was just a little too far south to drop significant snow on Killington. While we are supposed to be getting several inches of snow out of this storm, we unfortunately will not be getting the feet of snow we are seeing on the television in Central Park.

Currently at Killington we are getting light snow under overcast and cold conditions. The snow fall we are getting will continue to improve ski conditions, and assure visitors to the area a nice blanket of white for a few days, but it is not the big one we had hoped for. But there is a lot of winter left.

Let it Snow. Let it Snow. Let it Snow!

Lower Bitter Sweet
taken from Killington Golf Course Clubhouse
February 11, 2006, 1:30 PM 

While the rest of the east coast prepares for the first major snow storm of this wacky winter, Killington is enjoying beautiful sunshine with crisp temperatures.

The ski resort is continuing to pound the mountain with snow making operations. Snowmaking was in progress from top to bottom on Super Star, and Cascade. Guns appeared to be going on Double Dipper as well. Snowmaking has stopped, at least for the moment, on Bitter Sweet and Skye Lark.

Today's picture is of the headwall on Bitter Sweet. Killington had been blowing snow in this area for the last 4 days. When I skied there on Thursday, the whales were around 20 feet tall down skiers left. In todays picture, taken from about 1 mile away at the club house of the Killington Golf Course, you can get a good idea of how big the bumps on Bitter Sweet really are. If you double click on the picture to blow the picture up, you can see people standing at the top of the Bitter Sweet headwall (on the right side of the picture), with a bump towering behind them. Truly an impressive display of the results of Killington's snow making system.

Kate Reed, US Freestyle Team
Photo Credit USAA
provided by Killington Resort 

It is a beautiful sunny day at Killington. We received some light fluff last night, just enough to make everything look quite beautiful this morning in the bright sunshine.

Over the last week, there have been a lot of very good skiers and riders at Killington. Most of them have been young freestylers participating in competitions at the mountain all week, or training for the US Freestyle Championships which will be held at Killington in late March. You can see training and competing at the bump course set up on Outer Limits, and in the Super Pipe at the bottom of Dream Maker. What is impressive about many of them is the fearlessness they have. Over the last week, I have witnessed many of them going inverted on a jump in the bump course, not to mention some very big air. I know I am looking forward to seeing the freestyle event in the Olympics, set to kick off this evening.

If you are interested in seeing the US Freestyle Championship first hand, plan to be in Killington from March 22 thru March 26. You can find out more about the events at the Freestyle Championship from Killington Freestyle Website.

Killington Peak
February 9, 2006, 10:00 AM 

It is just hard to comprehend how much snow is on the mountain at Killington given the weather pattern we have suffered this winter. While we may only have a couple of inches of snow on the ground at the inn, on Killington peak, which is only 1 mile away and 2000 feet higher, the snow can be measured in feet. Today's picture is of the tree line on Killington Peak to the right of the K1 Gondola station. The trees are well beyond the impact of any of Killington's snow guns, yet they are literally buried in snow.

Mary spent the day at the inn, so I skied with Howie, Bob, and Margaret. Howie was on demo skis, so it was only right that we took him for a warm-up run straight over the peak on Downdraft. With bright sunshine today, and great snow... a sweet first run. We did our usual loops thru North Ridge (Glades), the Canyon, and over to Bear. Everything was very nice. A great morning to be on the slopes.

Killington is continuing their snow making operations. Guns were running on Cascade, Spillway, Upper Skye Lark, Outer Limits, and Cruise Control. On Skye Lark, an amazing amount of snow has been created over the last two days. The entire skier's left on upper and middle Skye Lark were huge 20 foot tall whales of snow, as the resort had not yet groomed the trail. They were great fun to play with, sailing up one side and down the back, but my ankle did remind me several times that it was still not 100%. With cold temperatures and around the clock snow making continuing, and the rumor of more snow over the weekend, it looks like it will be a great weekend at Killington.