That's gotta hurt.. Ruts on the giant proboscis on Mouse Run 

Warming temperatures (it's all relative), light crowds, and great snow greeted skiers and riders to Killington this weekend. The Martin Luther King Birthday week end, usually a bell weather for the ski season, is often accompanied by manic crowds of once a season ski resort guests. This year at Killington, at least, those guests were absent. In their absence the mountain was generally occupied by experienced skiers knowledgeable of Killingtons expansive terrain.

Many of our ski house friends from a past life were out in force this weekend, as they are most weekends. However, today being a holiday, they were afforded an extra day to play in the mountains. I hooked up with many of them this morning at 7:45 in the K1 base lodge, in the same corner they have been meeting at for over 20 years at Killington.

The mountain today was much warmer than my last outing. Temperatures were in the mid 20's. The Killington Cloud was covering Killington Peak during most of the morning, so we started at Bear Mountain, which as usual was in bright sunshine. The Stash, Bear Claw, Skye Burst and Lower Wildfire were all groomed nicely. The couple of inches of light fluff that have fallen over the weekend formed a very soft cover over the base. All of these runs promoted confidence resulting in some very high speed cruising. Of course, at 8:00 AM, our group was virtually it on the mountain, so we had a great time just playing as we headed down the slopes.

Upper Wild Fire was covered in a mixture of soft bumps with slight slickness in the troughs. Our group was about a dozen people when we did Wild Fire, which made matching speeds between good skiers with slightly different bump aptitude interesting. The light on Upper Wild Fire was a little flat, due to it's aspect ratio relative to south. I liked skiers right down the trail. Several of the group took skiers left, which because it has some more sun exposure was probably a little slicker in spots.

From there, we hit Dream Maker, Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, Skye Lark, and Superstar. Lower Dream Maker, with its mix of free style terrain features was a joy. Cruise Control was in good shape, although some of the grooming left little golf balls on skiers left. Bitter Sweet, Skye Lark and Superstar were in great shape. The only downer was Needles Eye, and it was not the trail it was the lift. Twice down the trail we entered the Needles Eye Quad corral to have the spinning lift stop. After waiting several minutes, we were directed to the Skye Ship Stage II. It's not a big deal, really, but we would have done some of the trails over again if the lift were operating reliably.

The maze of trails at Needles Eye caused the group break up. With Ruts and the Bagel, I headed over to the Killington Peak side of the mountain. KPeak was still in heavy cloud, so we took the Snowdon Triple for a ride. Upper Mouse Run is also set up as a small terrain park with a collections of hits, jumps, and rails. Mouse Run, Mouse Trap, and Lower Chute were covered in nice soft snow.

We finished up on the Snowdon Quad and a trip down Upper Royal Flush and Highline. I hit a few icy patches under the snow on skiers left on Upper Royal Flush. Nothing serious, but I noticed it. Highline also had a strange look to it. The light was dim from the Killington Cloud. There were red splotches in the snow. It looked like some of the paint from the poles used in a racing course had bled into the snow. Although it had a slick look to it, the snow was quite nice. I went down the far right side near the trees. There was plenty of light fluffy snow to carve turns in. The Bagel went more towards the middle of the trail, he also reported that the surface was soft. So I guess sometimes looks can be deceiving.

The weather forecast for Killington calls for light snow pretty much all week. Assuming that forecast holds, ski surfaces on the mountain should continue to be soft and friendly......let it snow!

View from my office window at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

We are well into the doldrums of January. As if on queue winter has thrown us a cold spell reminding everyone that Vermont can be a harsh place to live sometimes. But perversely, when Mother Nature puts us into the freezer, she also usually gives us subtle reminders about why we choose to live in the "Green Mountain State" when it is draped in white.

As I look out my office window this morning, I see a postcard view straight from "Currier and Ives". The cold temperatures have driven all of the moisture from the atmosphere, leaving a resplendent blue sky to bath the surrounding mountain sides. The old Bates farmhouse, one of the oldest structures in Killington and now the home to Killington Valley Real Estate, sits triumphantly in the morning sun. The Killington Resort Golf Course now just an open meadow covered in snow, forms a backdrop to provide contrast between the red farmhouse, the blue sky, and the snow covered mountains.

We live in an information saturated environment. The view from my office window helps keep it all real.....let it snow!

Note from Bill: Today was to be a triumphant day for fans of Apple in Vermont. The sale of Unicel to ATT Wireless is clearing the way for Vermonters to legally purchase Apple's IPhone. That news is tempered by the announcement from Apple that its visionary leader, Steve Jobs, is stepping down for six months to deal with health issues. I have been using Apple products for over 30 years in both my business and personal lives. Yes I did purchase one of the original Apple Macintoshes in 1984. And I have been using them ever since. This blog, and our inn, run on Apple Mac's. For us, Apple makes great products. "They just work". Thank you Steve. Get Well!

A well groomed and very cold Superstar beckons. 

If you listened to the Weather Channel this morning, you would think that the second coming of the great ice age was upon us. Skiers and riders who were fooled by this obfuscation missed a great ski day at Killington. Yes it was cold, but beautiful sunshine and strategic rides on the resorts Gondolas made this mornings adventure on the mountain quite enjoyable.

When we left the inn a little before 9 this morning, the temperature at the front desk was registering a balmy 4 degrees. The car did rebel a little bit while it warmed up, but once the frost on the windshield melted, we headed off to the mountain. Killington was resplendent this morning; a blue jewel on the horizon bathed in full sunshine.

Of course, long time skiers and riders at Killington know that this time of year the sun only touches the top of Killington Peak on the Basin side of the mountain. Knowing this, the group we were skiing with today decided to start out by taking the K1 gondola to the peak, instead of the Superstar Quad, and traverse across the back of the resort to Bear Mountain.

Last night the resort picked up about an inch or so of new snow. Wind had blown it into small clumps across South Ridge on Bear Trax (formerly Great Eastern) as we traversed from the peak. By the time we got to Bear Claw, the new snow cover was much more consistent, as the trail was minimally impacted by evening winds.

At Bear Mountain, Skye Burst, Bear Claw and Wild Fire were all groomed. Snow making was taking place on lower Skye Burst. The low energy guns were putting out a very fine snow, but they were also creating a dense fog cloud with limited visibility in several sections. Once again the Stash was closed for grooming. I am not sure if this is a new early morning routine, or if the resort is making modifications to the park, but on both Monday and today the Stash was not open at 9:30 in the morning.

After a few loops on the Skye Peak Quad (it was in the sun and warm) we headed down Cruise Control to the Skyeship Stage 2. Cruise Control in the shadows was noticeably colder than any trail at Bear Mountain. This is usually the case as you traverse back from Bear to the Killington Peak area, but today it seemed more pronounced than normal.

Needles Eye was closed for race training (while in the Skyeship we did see a nasty fall), so we took Bitter Sweet to High Road for one more pass in the Gondola. After a quick trip down Skye Lark with a loop on Superstar, we called it a morning.

When we got back to the inn, the temperature had fallen to 2 degrees, which is where it sits in mid afternoon. With no wind and bright sunshine, it almost feels warm...But of course I live here so I am somewhat used to it.........Let it snow.

Temporary eyeglass repair....very temporary. 

Although yesterday was a beautiful day at Killington to ski, before heading out to the mountain one of life's little tragedies struck...my eye glass frame self destructed. My supposedly indestructible Flexon frames broke at the nose bridge, resulting in my pair of eyeglasses becoming left and right monocles....so it goes.

After skiing, I contacted my eye doctor. They could get me new frames in 7 to 10 days...the typical retort for a frugal Vermonter. Having gone through this game before on other purchases, I told the nice lady that 10 days was not acceptable, since I needed to be able to see. For a small $10 fee, I was told, I could get the frames overnight. What a miracle! Who knew you could get anything anywhere in the world in 24 hours, particularly Rutland Vermont! I mock, of course, because this game is played out daily in small towns all over the country. If I were in a city, I could have probably picked up new frames in an hour...but living in Vermont has other benefits, not the least of which is being able to ski frequently. So I opted for the $10 extra shipping charge and the prospect of having instant gratification delayed by only 24 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, needing to see, I did a temporary repair of the eyeglass frames using some shrink tube and a couple of cable ties. 25 years ago, this repair might have lasted for weeks as I was running around the world for Motorola. Of course, 25 years ago I did not need glasses, so I was not faced with this problem. But I saw many engineers working in labs with eyeglasses fixed in this fashion, so I knew I was in good company. Mary, being an engineer herself, was impressed at my handiwork with some reservations. For some reason the bright blue shrink tube and vanilla colored cable ties just drew a little too much attention away from my square English face causing one to focus squarely on the bridge of my nose. I needed to get new eyeglass frames pronto if I were to be seen in public. And as an innkeeper, being seen in public is a daily occurrence... so it goes.

Duitifully at 10:05 AM this morning the eye doctors office called to say that the frames had arrived (I wonder was if it was Fedex or UPS?) and when could I get there to pick them up. Knowing that this would happen, I had already arranged with Mary to do the errands in Rutland today, so just after noon off I went.

As I write this, I can see clearly out of both eyes. I have not needed to twist one lens one way, and the other in the opposite direction. The new frames work, just as they should, with a next day $10 shipping charge added on........Let it snow.

Panic Button at Needles Eye. Nice soft bumps! 

2 beautiful days in a row!

Like yesterday, ski conditions today at Killington were excellent. The fluff that fell Saturday night which made powder bumps on Sunday morphed into either a soft covering on corduroy groomed trails, or nice little soft bumps on terrain left "au natural". It was a delightful day.

Today we skied with some friends, Chuck and Jane, who own a home in Killington. We met up just after 9:00 AM for a ride up the K1 gondola to the peak. Highline looked gorgeous, but we were told that it was already roped for race training, so we decided to head down Cascade. Cascade was softly covered, yet blazing fast. Each turn set a nice edge into a soft covering of snow. What resulted was a power push with propelled us forward at a surprisingly fast but under control pace down Cascade's compound fall line. And when we got to the bottom, we were rewarded for our good form by a lift back to the top on the Canyon Quad (which for some nice reason was running a little early this morning).

While Cascade was a rush, it was decidedly dark, as the sun had not risen over the mountain at 9:30. So from the Canyon Quad we traversed over to Bear Mountain and it's beckoning blue skies and brilliant sunshine.

At Bear Mountain, Bear Claw and Sky Burst were delightful. Both were groomed flat with a soft covering of packed powder. Upper Wild Fire was covered with nice soft bumps which Chuck and I negotiated fairly quickly (Jane and Mary went around on Bear Claw). Lower Wild Fire was groomed flat for the run out to the bottom. We tried to go into the Stash, but it was closed for grooming. We did do Middle Dream Maker, which is set up as a freestyle park. I hit a couple of the features, although I did not take any air. We did see several twin tip skiers take some big air on several of the jumps. Who ever they were knew what they were doing, and they were fun to watch.

Exiting Bear Mountain we took a run down Needles Eye. Panic Button was covered with soft snow whales, the remnants of recent snow making. Needles Eye was soft little powder bumps left over from Sunday as it had not been groomed. It was a nice little work out.

To finish the morning, we did a loop down Sky Lark to Superstar. Sky Lark, including the lower section, was groomed for cruising. There was no hint of any surface scratchiness anywhere down the trail. The same held true for the upper headwall and middle section of Superstar. Lower Superstar had some firm spots created by traffic which required one to stay alert. But I had fun on it and declared a do over before heading in for the day.

Cold temperatures and snow flurries the next several days should keep the mountain nice as we head into the Martin Luther King holiday weekend on Friday. Hope to see you on the hill!.....Let it snow.

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.