Snow Making Operations at Snowdon
February 18, 2006, 12:30 PM 

Winter returned to Killington last night with temperatures plunging into the single digits.

With the return of winter, the resort has restarted snow making operations. Snow guns were clearly visible operating on many of the interconnect and high traffic trails to repair surfaces loosened up by the prior two days of unseasonably warm temperatures. Most of the trails that were visibly bumped up over the last week were groomed flat last night to prepare for Presidents week visitors. With cold temperatures and light snow in the forecast for the next couple of days, snow surfaces should improve rapidly for a good week of skiing and riding.

It has been a wild weather day at Killington thus far. Early this morning, temperatures were in the high 40's to low 50's. Sporadic, heavy r@#$n showers took place several times during the morning. Around 11:00 AM, it all changed.

A squall line went thru the area with very strong wind gusts. Precipitation changed to heavy snow. I ran into multiple people at the Killington Market at approximately noon time who reported that the mountain had suspended operations due to high winds and zero visibility. We have been experiencing random power hits. Friends in North Sherburne are reporting that power went out around the time the squall line passed thru the area.

At 1:00 PM, while I am writing this, the clouds are breaking up and blue sky is visible from my office. However, the wind is howling. Probably in the 20 to 30 MPH range, as the flags are standing straight, with gusts much higher. The temperature has dropped bellow freezing.

There actually is a silver lining to all of this, however. The weather service had originally predicted heavy r@#$n all day before changing to snow and cold. This did not happen. While we did have a few heavy showers, we did not have a continuous r@#n, so ski surfaces should have faired quite well. It is too early to tell if we will get much snow out of this system. We will just have to ride it out.

All Bumped Up!
Lower Skye Lark
February 16, 2006, 11:30 AM 

Another warm day in Killington. Temperatures are approaching the low 50's with beautiful sunshine and some puffy white clouds at noon time.

Ski conditions are very spring like. On many of the trails that the resort pounded with snow making over the last 2 weeks, the effects of gravity, temperature and skier traffic are being manifested as large bumps and whales. In their current state, the bumps are soft and friendly.

The weather forecast calls for warm temperatures to break tomorrow with a cold front being lead by some nasty weather during the day. Cold temperatures will be returning for the Presidents Holiday Weekend, at which point the resort will probably be grooming our the bumps to make the mountain friendly for Presidents Week vacationers.

Todays picture is of Lower Skye Lark, taken from the Killington Road (to get a full view of the trail). Many skiers and riders were seen out enjoying the soft bumps on it today.

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!