Half Pipe at Bear Mountain on Lower Dream Maker, December 17, 2005 

The Killington Ski Resort opened the Bear Mountain area to skiers and riders today. While "Outer Limits" and "Devils Fiddle" were not yet opened, from what I could see all of the other trails at Bear were in good shape and being enjoyed by light pre-holiday crowds.

As my ankle is still on the fritz, I have resorted to knowledge of the back roads in Killington to get good shots of the mountain. The picture for today is of the half pipe on Bear Mountain on lower "Dream Maker". To give you a sense of scale, this picture was taken from over a mile away as the crow flies. You can really appreciate how big Killington has made the half pipe, when you realize that the structure dwarfs the people inside of it. The picture was taken in the "Top Ridge" development, looking directly at "Dream Maker".

The other interesting thing about today was the weather. When I left the inn to take pictures, it was sunny and bright. Less than 1 mile away at the K1 base lodge, it was snowing heavily, making it basically impossible to take any pictures of Killington peak. Over at Bear Mountain, there was some light snow falling, which by adjusting the image contrast, I was able to filter out of the photo chosen for today.

Update @ 6:00 PM Heavy snow has stopped falling at Killington. Light snow flurries are continuing. Reports coming from friends indicate that I did not miss much skiing today. Our friend Carolyn reports that "(her husband Bill and friend) Ray went to Pico for opening day where everything was on hold because of the wind. They finally opened the triple and the boys, quoting Ray, did "2 and through". The snow was very heavy. Bill decided to head to Killington and went directly to Snowdon -- he made one run! Again, snow was very heavy, wind driven and cut up. Gondola and other lifts weren't running because of wind."

The afternoon picture of the snow stake, taken around 4:00 PM was at 12 and 1/4 inches. Based upon yesterdays reading, the storm yielded 5 and 1/2 inches. I can tell you from snowblowing snow around the inn that there was considerable wind driven drifts in some places.

Original Post: OK... this is getting upsetting. Today is one of those days that a skier moves to Killington for. Blowing and drifting snow.... Freshies on every run...But so it goes. I tried to put my boot on this morning, to see how it would feel. In the words of boxer Roberto Duran "¡No más!" It was a nice try, but that boot was not going on the foot today.

Thus far from todays storm, the snow stake at the inn is reading 10 3/4 inches as of 11:00 AM; up from 6 3/4 inches yesterday. It is supposed to snow the rest of the day. If I have the time, I will update the snow stake later in the day as the storm winds down.

Between meetings with clients and doctors appointments, today was a working day for me at Killington. The ankle injury is slowly getting better, but I am not yet ready to try my luck in a ski boot. With the very busy holiday season coming up, it needs to get a little better before I put too much stress on it.

Around the mountain today, the only conversation centered on the approaching winter storm. Once again, you can shop weathermen for the forecast you prefer. Hopefully we get over a foot of nice white snow. The snow stake measured 6 and 3/4 inches this morning. We will know the answer late Friday.

Guns on Superstar, December 14, 2005 

Killington continued blowing snow on Superstar. Temperatures this morning on the hill were cool for December. Mary said it was 'Ego Snow" every where you went.

According to Mary, best runs of the day were Highline and SkyLark. Needles Eye was set up so that half was groomed, half was bumped. The few bumps Mary said she accidently hit were firm but manageable. "Clearly my legs gave out before my toes got cold."-Mary

Crowds were light. With the exception of groups of PSIA instructors up for certification week, there were not many people on the slopes.

Snow Making at Pico, December 13, 2005 

Very cold temperatures for early December descended on Killington last night. When I went to bed around 3:00 AM, the temperature at the inn was 0... very cold for this time of year. However, my comments are not a complaint, because the cold is proving a boon to Killington in making snow.

A veritable blizzard is taking place on the mountains of Killington. On Killington proper, the resort has turned the guns on Superstar. From the access road, it is a very impressive site. Friends who went skiing this morning report guns blowing snow on the backside leading to Bear Mountain. From the Snow Shed Crossover at Bear, they were reporting that it looked like every snow gun Killington owned was blowing snow as the resort makes the push to get Bear Mountain open this weekend. On Route 4, snow making was also in full swing on Pico. Pico is also reported to be opening this weekend.

Ski conditions were reported to be very good. Friends report that Highline, East Fall, Cascade, Chute, Sky Lark, and Bittersweet and Needles Eye were all in good shape. A few slick spots on cross-over trails were reported. And of course with all of the snow making taking place, many trails had small soft bumps and swales.

Snow Cats building half pipe at Bear Mountain, December 12, 2005 

When I got up this morning, another 2 inches of light fluffy snow had fallen overnight. Having been Inn bound for the last week with the bum ankle, I was determined to hobble outside and find out what is going on up on the mountain. Last week, we could see that the resort was blowing snow on trails leading towards Bear Mountain. So this morning, I was determined to go over there to check things out. I was not disappointed.

When I arrived in the Bear parking lot, it looked pretty desolate. There were a couple of employee cars in the lot, but things did not look promising. Snow was falling pretty heavily, so up slope visibility was pretty poor. I did not think that I would get any good shots to share as I approached the lodge.

When I got up to the base lodge, however, there was a lot of activity and noise from snow cats grooming the hill. It looked like tons of snow had been blown into the lower terrain park area. 2 snow cats were in the process of working together to push the snow around to build the half pipe. From the pictures, you can clearly see that they were pushing around all snow. This should give you and idea of how much snow Killington has blown into this area. For although we have some good natural snow in the last couple of weeks, the cats would be pushing mud if that was all they had to play with. Killington has reported that Bear Mountain will open next weekend. From the activity I saw, unless something disastrous happens weather wise, they are on track to make that happen.

Christmas Wreath at Birch Ridge Inn 

We all remember that little ditti "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".(Well...at least most of us remember it.) Anyways, I had Mary go out and take this mornings pictures. With me still hobbling around, two of our friends, Larry and Barry, came over this morning and hung Christmas Wreaths on the front of the inn. Mary didn't get pictures of the boys in action, but she did take a nice picture of the finished result, which got me humming that song in my head when I loaded it into the computer.

Mary also got a good clear shot of the snow stake. This morning it was reading about 6 inches, down about 3/4 inch from yesterdays reading. There is probably some sub-surface melting taking place, as the ground was warm when the snow first fell. I am also sure that some compaction is also taking place as the air gets squeezed out of the top layers.