From the top of Superstar looking towards Killington base 

The wintery mess that we had Sunday night into Monday exited the area overnight with sharply colder temperatures and heavy snow. Temperatures at the inn this morning, before heading off to the mountain, were in the single digits. 6 inches of newly fallen snow covered the ground that had basically been laid bare Sunday night by the torrential r@!n that had swept thru the area.

Killington peak this morning was still covered in a driving snow storm. We took the K1 gondola to the peak just after 9:00 for a few runs in the North Ridge area. 6 plus inches of new untracked snow greeted us on skiers right on Upper East Fall. Under the snow, the base was a little funky, consisting of a loose (almost wet) granular with a few larger chunks thrown in to keep you awake in the early morning air. Evidently the weather turned to snow so rapidly on Killington Peak that the wet snow created by the storm Sunday and Monday had not had a chance to set before being covered up.

Rime, Reason, and Upper Double Dipper were all in nice shape, with lots of untracked snow along the edges to carve into. Regular East Falls was slick in places, with a little thin cover exposed at the choke point midway down the trail. Highline was full of soft bumps down the lower headwall. Thin cover once again predominated the entrance to Highline, but once reaching the area near Racers Edge, Highline was deep with new snow.

In mid morning, I headed to the Superstar Quad. Mary stayed over at Snowdon. She reports that Chute was well covered with a few slick spots. Mouse Trap was more of the same, with the back side of the snow whale created by the tower mounted fan gun being particularly "special".

On Superstar, it was like being at a different resort. The blowing and drifting snow of Killington Peak was replaced with brilliant sunshine at the top of the Superstar Quad. The upper headwall of Superstar was groomed perfectly flat; set nicely for carving down the steep pitch. The snow whales on Superstar were also groomed. A large amount of powder accumulated on skiers right between the whales and the woods. It was good for more than a few nice pow turns.

Skylark was near perfect, although it did have a funky sound to it in places. It was probably groomed in the early morning hours. The corduroy was covered in most spots with an inch or 2 of fresh powder. On the upper section, the sound was like the trail was hollow underneath. Perhaps this was another artifact from the wet storm of the late weekend. Lower Skylark was nicely covered, although it had a pinch point in it which could have been nasty. The rocks on skiers right were exposed by the storm. A freestyle training course was roped off on skiers left. As a result, all traffic funneled into a 20 foot wide segment on the lower half of the trail.

Upper Bittersweet was being assaulted by snow guns. Lower Bittersweet was really nice; similar to Skylark but with a little more fluff on top. There was some weirdness at the bottom of Bittersweet this morning that was typical of the kind of weather the resort was experiencing. While the top section was in bright sunshine, as soon as you made the left turn to head back to the Superstar Quad you were greeted with the leading edge of the blizzard which was covering Killington Peak. It made for a strange push against a heavy wind into blowing snow to get back to the quad, but the Superstar, Skylark, Bittersweet combination was worth several laps in the late morning, before ending the ski day and heading back to the inn.

Let it snow!

Storm clouds move into Killington 

Mother Nature is at it again. A messy winter storm is striking the area this Sunday. Unlike the champagne powder storm we had earlier in the week, this storm is sloppy...which is probably just what the mountain needs as they prepare to push open new terrain before the approaching holidays.

Although the logic may sound reversed, the Champagne Storm, albeit fun while it lasted, did not do much for the area to get new terrain open. If it happened in February when the resort is fully snow covered, we would have been celebrating a couple of powder days. But as it was, high winds with the storm earlier last week saw to it that north facing slopes were scoured down to grass. Hence trails like Superstar saw it's lower headwall suitable for grazing by sheep, not skiing or riding by humans.

Todays weather event, in contrast, with it's high water content, should lay down a coating across the whole resort that should be relatively impervious to the winds accompanying the storm. Assuming the mountain does not get an inordinate amount of r@!n mixed with the snow, the resort should be left with a good base to allow their snow making system to finish the job when temperatures drop on the storms backside.

Meanwhile, back at the inn, we have been working to get everything ready for the upcoming holidays. Mary has fine tuned this years Christmas tree in the Great Room. Most of the other decorations for the holiday have also been placed around the inn. I have installed a new Samsung Flat Screen TV in the Great Room, along with an Apple TV to access internet video. Other than taking down the behemoth 27 inch CRT, the main job has been figuring out the channel layout from Comcast, and reprogramming the Denon AV system to deal with the new devices. For those of you keeping score, we how have 6 remotes in the Great Room (TV, DVD, CD, VCR, AV System, Apple TV). Since I came out of the electronics industry, I find this situation ridiculous. I have started to investigate a universal remote to pull everything together... but in the meantime, we will muddle through.

Later this week, we will be back out on the mountain again... In the mean time.... Let it snow!

Superstar at Sky Peak from Rams Head 

It is definitely winter now.... Depending upon altitude, Killington easily received 6 to 12 inches of snow from the storm that hit the area yesterday. At the snow stake at the inn, the measurement this morning was 6 1/2 inches.

I headed to the resort bright and early this morning to catch some runs. I was on the Snowdon Quad by 9, avoiding the "first run freshies" queue that had developed at the K1 Gondola. The resort had a strange configuration of lifts running this morning, which I did not find out about till I was on the mountain as I had bypassed starting my day at the K1 Base Lodge. From the Snowdon Quad, I attempted to traverse over to the North Ridge Triple to get a boost up higher. I was greeted by the dreaded "North Ridge Triple Closed" sign... so it goes.

Instead of moving forward and heading down East Falls, I doubled back to head down Highline. At the entrance to Highline there was a "thin cover" sign... I should have paid a little more attention, but in I went. At 9:00 AM, Highline was a winter version of Dante's Inferno. There was plenty of thin cover at the top, due to wind scouring the snow at the trail entrance. Once you were into the trail, the resort had every snow making hydrant connected and pumping out snow. The trail featured half filled water bars, huge snow whales from the guns, and a foot of fresh powder hiding everything else, in case you really wanted to pick out any trail detail to hit or avoid. In a phrase....I got my butt kicked....and it was glorious! My early season ski legs have been doing pretty well cruising around the mountain. But playing "Seeing Eye" skiing on uncertain terrain with dirt, bumps, twigs, and powder is another thing all together.

After being humbled, I took the K1 to the peak to try it again. This time I headed down Great Northern to Rime to East Fall. Great Northern and Rime were groomed. The Resort did a lot of grooming overnight to set the snow to keep it from blowing away in the wind. East Fall was slightly bumpy with about a foot of fresh powder. Skiers and Riders were starting to push the snow around into little hits. But after my experience on Highline, East Fall seemed almost groomed flat in comparison.

I spent the next couple of hours repeating my loop from the Ki Gondola, alternating between East Fall and Great Northern. I finished with an excursion from Killington Peak down Great Northern, to Lower Chute to Rams Head. At Rams Head the resort was also pumping out a huge amount of snow up and down the length of Header. Clearly the resort is taking advantage of the cold temps to continue the push to expand open terrain.

From the Rams Head Chair, I looped down Caper to the Snowdon Quad for one last run down Chute. With temps in the low teens, snow in the air, and blustery winds in the 10 to 30 mph zone, I was ready to head home to the inn for a hot shower.

Overall, the resort did a nice job "capturing" the snow that fell the last several days. Northern facing terrain (Superstar for instance) showed visible signs of wind scour. This was really visible in places where snow making has not yet begun. Everywhere else, the resort was skiing on a nice packed powder surface with the odd wind blow spot just to make sure you were paying attention.

Winter has definitely arrive in Killington!!! Let it snow!

(Killington, VT 8:00 PM) The first significant snow storm of the 2010/2011 winter season struck Killington today. Multiple inches of very light powder, atypical for an early season snow storm in the Green Mountains, has blanketed the area in a beautiful white coat.

At the Birch Ridge Inn, elevation 1850 feet, over six inches of snow is on the ground from this storm as of 8:00 PM. Light snow is continuing to fall. High winds are also blowing the snow into drifts in many of the usual places. Killington's Roaring Brook Valley, in the Killington Basin area, is roaring tonight with a combination of howling winds and the echo of snow guns continuing to make snow at the resort. With luck, the wind does not scour the snow off the ski trails to allow tomorrow to be declared a "Powder Day" in Killington.

Let it snow!

The 2010 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree 

I don't know about you, but it's early December and I feel the approach of the holiday season. Perhaps it's been the long twig season with snow on the mountain but no snow around the inn. Or perhaps it's just been a very busy 45 days since the end of fall foliage season, getting the inn ready for winter, and we have barely had time to catch our breath. (The again...it could be that we are another year older and slowing down a bit... nah..that's not it!)

If ever there was a reminder that the holidays are near, one need to look no further than the Great Room of the inn to the inn's Christmas Tree. Placed in the middle of the windows at the front of the room, the tree stands in at almost 13 feet. Mary has spent the last week decorating it. This years motif is a traditional, multi colored, tree with tinsel. It is lit with over 250 light bulbs. Individual strands of tinsel wiggle to and fro with the air currents in the room, making the tree come alive.

At Killington, snow flurries have taken over the town. We have gotten about an inch of snow around the inn. It's a start, and a pleasant reminder that winter is almost here. This week in Killington the Chamber of Commerce holds the Vermont Holiday Festival from Thursday December 9 thru Saturday December 11. The event is being held this year at the Snowshed Base Lodge. A complete listing of events associated with the Holiday Festival can be found on the Killington Chambers website.

Let it snow!

Back on the mountain again. 

Conditions on the mountain this morning were worthy of a few runs. Temperatures at the peak were in the mid 20's. For the most part, the Killington cloud was blocking the sun, occasionally coughing up a snow flurry or two. All told, not to bad for early December.

Open terrain at Killington this morning included the North Ridge area, most of Snowdon, and parts of Rams Head. East Fall to the Canyon Quad was closed to allow some snow sculpting work to be completed at the junction with North Ridge. Highline looked beautiful, with a pristine layer of newly made snow, but the ropes were blocking it off, (probably) reserving it for weekend use.

The K1 Gondola, the North Ridge Triple, the Snowdon Triple, the Snowdon Poma and the Rams Head Quad were all loading to carry people up to their respective peaks. Snow Guns were active on Bunny Buster, and the Bunny Buster Run out (fairly wet), East Fall, Chute, and over on Skye Peak at the base of the Superstar Quad. I presume they were also making snow on Bittersweet and Sky Lark, but most of the time you could not see those trails from Snowdon because of cloud cover.

The resort has made an impressive amount of snow since the deluge earlier in the week. Overall conditions were mid winter on newly made snow. Most of the trails had not been heavily groomed, so the snow was very soft. it had not been compressed into a packed powder state. In may places, the resort appears to have decided that skier traffic would be enough to do the job today.

It looks like the mountain is in for more of the same conditions over the weekend, with the continued probability of snow squalls dropping some natural snow across the region. Look for ski conditions at the resort to continue to improve, and for the resort to expand terrain as well.

Happy Birthday Mom! Happy Birthday Jay! Let it snow!

Killington's snow making system in operation on Snowdon. 

Yesterday was not a good day at ski resorts all over the Northeast. Enough said... time to move on...

Killington resumed it's aggressive snow making posture late last evening as a very cold air mass descended over the region in the wake of yesterdays storm. While the upper reaches of the mountain were not visible due to heavy natural snow flurries, snow making was clearly taking place on the lower elevations to resurface terrain damaged by yesterdays non-crystalline precipitation, and to continue to expand available terrain.

Cold air is due to stick around at Killington at least thru the weekend, allowing the resort to continue to make snow. In addition, it looks like Mother Nature is going to cooperate with snow showers continuously in the forecast thru Wednesday next week.

We will be on the mountain tomorrow to get a first hand view of conditions heading into the weekend. Until then....Let it snow!