Staring into the abyss.
Howie prepares to enter the half pipe at Bear Mountain. 

Note from Bill. Sometimes life catches up with you. This post was meant for January 22 but was posted on January 23rd. So it goes.

Based on a full morning of skiing, the Killington Ski Resort is in great shape after MLK weekend. While conditions in most areas can be described as firm, the resort has done an excellent job resurfacing trails after last weeks unfavorable weather and crowded weekend.

The Killington Peak side of the mountain had the best snow on Tuesday. East Falls, Cascade, and Highline offered flat and fast skiing on groomed packed powder surfaces. Surface conditions were very consistent. Although the trails were firm, minimal ice or slick spots were encountered.

Skye Peak and Bear Mountain trails were still works in progress. Conditions were generally machine groomed packed powder, but many spots featured conditions with chunks ranging from small ball bearings to candy bars. This undoubtedly was purposefully done by the mountain to turn over the firm surface to loosen it up. I would guess that conditions will continue to improve with one or two more grooming cycles.

While Cascade was probably the run of the day, (very consistent with great support for high speed GS turns) honorable mention has to go to the new terrain park opened on Lower Dreammaker. The features were a lot of fun to ski on. And the newly carved half pipe at the bottom of the trail provided more than a few hoots of delight from the guys I was skiing with. As light snow is forecasted for most of the week, conditions should only continue to improve.

Let it snow!

Killington peak on MLK day. 

The traditionally busy Martin Luther King birthday weekend is coming to a close at Killington. Once again this year, our inn served as the site for the Killington Ski Club MLK Mixer on Saturday evening. About 75 ski club members visited Birch Ridge during the course of the evening. In addition to a donation of $5.00 at the door, this mixer organizers from the ski club held a silent auction. Between the door donation and the silent auction, this years mixer raised over $4000. The money will be used to fund various programs within the Ski Club.

Temperatures in the area over the weekend were on the cold side. Daytime temperatures have been hovering in the low teens. While neither Mary nor I had a chance to venture out on the mountain over the weekend, our inn guests were reporting excellent ski conditions on groomed packed powder surfaces. The storms of late last week provided the Killington team with a lot of new snow to move around the resort, resulting in well groomed surfaces. With cold weather and light snow forecasted at Killington for most of this week, ski conditions should continue to improve. I will know for sure tomorrow when I get a chance to try out the slopes once again.

Let it snow!

Ski Killington in the cloud
or Johnny Boy's Pancake House? 

Thursday night and Friday morning at Killington saw a small snow storm blanket the area with 3 to 6 inches of snow, depending upon your elevation. The snow was fairly "heavy" in consistency. Not sleet, but not champagne either. It created some interesting early morning conditions on the mountain.

Today was probably one of those days were skiing later was better. At 9:00 this morning a light snow was in the air. Killington Peak and surrounding mountain tops were firmly in the embrace of storm clouds. Because there was no real sunshine at that hour, we decided to stay on the Killington Peak side of the resort for the morning, as abbreviated as it was.

From the peak, after a warm up run on North Ridge, we went immediately over to Highline. Highline was very good, with a nice 2 to 3 inch coating of new snow over a flat and fast base. From the K1 box, we did a couple of loops down it, each one etching our mark on the trail face. By the third time around, other than far skiers right, we had cut the trail up pretty good. It was time to move on.

We went down to the Snowdon Quad. Mouse Run was interesting, so we looped back up the Poma Lift. As Chute looked scratched off, we decided to take one more run down Highline and call it quits on this side of the mountain.

We headed over to Superstar for a run down Skyelark to High Road to Skyeship stage 2 in Needles Eye. Oops... Middle Skyelark saw snowmaking operations Thursday night and had not been groomed out. The trail was a mix of heavy crust, new snow, and stizmarks from previous skiers auguring into the mess. Without a doubt it was not fun...but so it goes.

After reaching High Road, we found that the Needles Eye Quad was running so we hopped on that for a few loops. Needles Eye looked suspiciously like Skyelark so we headed to Bitter Sweet. Upper Bitter had nice soft bumps on skiers left with a flat surface for cruising down skiers right.

We did a couple of loops between Bittersweet and High Road, but the group had had enough. Some one signaled "Oh Johnny Boy" and it was over. A run down lower Bittersweet, which was ungroomed semi glue, a quick change in the K1 base lodge, and a late breakfast (2 eggs over easy, home fries, bacon and whole wheat toast) and our morning was done. Not bad...not the sunshine of Wednesday and Thursday, but it was a nice breakfast...

Let it snow!

Mary's "Golfing buddy" Nina at Killington Peak. 

While I manned the inn, today was a day of skiing firsts for my partner Mary. It was the first time she had skied with her golfing buddy Nina. It was the first time she has skied top to bottom from Killington Peak to the Route 4 Sky Ship Base this season. It was the first time for Mary to try out the new Bakery at the Snow Shed Base Lodge for a little warm up coffee break.

Mary's friend, Nina, a retired Inn keeper from the Killington area, used her $24.00 pay as you go season pass for the first time today. Finding people to ski with on a regular basis if often a challenge for Mary. Simply put, the boys ski hard and fast, and many of the ladies are drifting away from skiing every day. It does present a challenge to Mary as she has a but few hours most days to get in her skiing quota. While she loves to chase after the boys (we do push her) skiing today with Nina turned out to be a good match up.

Mary reports today that conditions were not quite as good as yesterday. Bear Mountain was not groomed, so yesterdays soft bumps took on a lot choppiness. The Glades area, which we did not ski yesterday, was a little scratchy. The runs off of Snowdon were in good shape. And the run down to Route 4 on Great Eastern was excellent, with the one possible negative that they could not stop for their planned warm up at the Route 4 base lodge because there is no coffee or hot chocolate service there on Thursday.

After the run down Route 4, Mary reports that she and Nina took a brief warm up stop to visit the newly done over Snow Shed Base Lodge. Mary wanted to see if anything was different from last year. The furniture in the main restaurant area had been upgraded. Friends had mentioned the bakery was nice, so Mary and Nina headed there to scope it out. They report that pastries looked interesting but, properly watching their waistlines, they were good and just headed to the hot beverage section. Six dollars later, they had a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate. Mary thought the price seemed steep, but hey...it is a ski resort in mid winter. All in all, the environment at the Snow Shed base lodge was nice and, being mid week, it certainly wasn't crowded.

One final first for Mary this season....she was on the mountain until 2:00... a full four hours of skiing, that's a good thing as she deserved some time on the hill.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak from top of Bear Mountain 

It is hard to complain when you can get 15 runs in between 9 and noon under brilliant sunshine in the middle of January.

When the group I was with today left the K1 base lodge, we decided to head towards Bear Mountain. The temperature at K1 was in the low teens. Although the sky was a brilliant blue, the Killington Peak side of the mountain in mid January tends to stay in the shadows most of the day. By heading south, we would be warmer (Bear Mountain is a little closer to the equator after all) and we would be in the sunshine, as the slopes at Bear generally face to the south east into the morning sun.

Bear Claw/Bear Trap were groomed nicely. Snow guns were laying down a velvet surface on Wildfire. Upper Wildfire had it's bumps groomed out. As the temperature was barely 20, the snow from the guns was light and dry. Very nice.

Outer Limits was the run of the day. Snow making operations have been taking place on OL over the last several days. Today, the snow cloud was lifted to reveal a combination of big snowmaking whales, and little soft bumps. The snow surface on OL was really good. Nice, quiet powder turns all the way down the trail. For most on the mountain today, it was a do over.

Skye Burst to Cruise Control was "interesting". Skye Burst was a mix of loose groomed granular with a slippery mix between ball bearings and death cookies. In comparison to the rest of the trails at Bear, it was a surprise. But I am sure a day or 2 more grooming will make Skye Burst nice as well, as there is plenty of cover on the trail. Cruise Control was groomed out. Skiers right had more than a few bamboo poles in place to block out some nasty thin cover, but skiers left was fine. On the way to Cruise Control we passed through Dream Maker. Lower Dream Maker was still closed. Grooming machines were working it over to build a new terrain park, which should be opening soon.

The Killington Mountain School was training this morning on Needles Eye. By 11:00 they were done and we had a chance to loop it. It was soft from new snow, plus flat and fast. An unusual combination for Killington. We happened to hit it at a time when no one else was on the trail. Suffice to say, as the conditions were ideal, it was a very high speed cruise from top to bottom.

We never did make it back to the Killington Peak side of the mountain. Playing in the sunshine was just to much fun.

Let it snow!

Unsung heros of Killington
Snow makers working on Outer Limits 

Yesterdays storm, while providing a nice 6 or so inches of fluff on the mountain, was but a whimper compared to what the weathermen had forecasted. Still, when combined with the continuing snow making operations taking place at Killington, the mountain presented a credible ski day today.

Overall, conditions were powder and packed powder over a loose granular base. The remnants of last weeks ice storm have been ground up over the last couple of days. Snow making, new snow, and grooming operations have mixed it all together providing a consistent ski surface. Except for a few high traffic areas, there was very little "slip slide" icy patches around the mountain.

Today was a fairly typical ski day with loops through North Ridge, Bear Mountain, K Peak, and Snowdon. Rime and Reason were in nice shape, leading into East Falls. East Falls was groomed flat with a fairly soft surface. There was a slight amount of scratchiness at the pinch point in the middle of the trail, but other than that, East Falls was very nice. Double Dipper was groomed as well. The surface was firm with a covering of loose granular. I have skied it many times when it was a lot worse. But, suffice to say, it was not on our do over list today. Cascade looked ugly from the K1. It was covered with icy bumps, so we bypassed it for another day.

At Bear Mountain, Bear Claw, Bear Trap, and Lower Wildfire were all groomed. Upper Wildfire was small icy bumps with a coating of powder. Aggressive snow making operations were taking place on Outer Limits, Lower Dream Maker, and in the soon to be constructed half pipe. Outer Limits was very bumped with large snow making whales. Skiers and riders were able to maneuver down the slope, picking their way through the mounds with care. Lower Dream Maker, on the other hand, was closed to skiers and riders.

Cruise Control and Bitter Sweet were also in nice shape. Lower Skyelark, as well as Highline, was closed today for race training. Snow making was continuing on Superstar.

On Snowdon, Chute was very firm but setting and holding an edge was not a problem. Bunny Buster, Upper Royal Flush and the Training Slope were all covered with nice soft powder. The only anomaly was Mouse Trap which was heavily covered with not very friendly bumps.

When you add in the sunshine and temps in the mid 20's with no wind, all in all it was a pretty nice day on the mountain.

Let it snow!

Snow guns blasting Superstar
Sunday January 13, 2008, 12:45 PM 

The great news is that we had a very busy weekend. We had a really nice group of people at our inn who were in Killington to hold a surprise 40th birthday party for one of our restaurant guests. That, and a DSL service outage kept me away from my normal posting routine.

Currently at Killington, we are experiencing fairly heavy snowfall. Surface conditions on the mountain, as reported by our Chef Frizzie from his morning tour, range from firm and slick to heavy and slow. If you are on a trail where the wind is scouring the trail, you are down to the hard pack. If you are in an area of windblown drifts, you are hitting heavy bumps. We are expecting almost a foot of snow at Killington today. I would presume as accumulations continue to build up, that the surface conditions should get more consistent and improve. I plan on getting out tomorrow for some first hand observations. As of 12 noon today, about 3 inches of new snow has accumulated at the snow stake at the inn.

Over the last couple of days, the January Thaw appears to have broken. Saturday and Sunday saw Killington resume snow making operations to resurface terrain impacted by last weeks r@*n and unseasonably warm temperatures. Yesterday, snow guns were very visible blowing snow on many trails on the Killington Peak side of the mountain. The picture of the guns on Superstar give an indication of the quantity of snow that the resort was trying to make.

Birch Ridge Inn under orange glow near sunset January 11, 2008 4:30 PM (Click to enlarge)

Last weeks weather finally broke late Friday with an incredible orange glow on the mountain. Just before sunset, I captured a really nice picture of our inn bathed in orange light. The remnants of the days ice storm are clearly visible in the parking lot in front of the inn. The inn, although the web picture might not clearly reveal it, was covered in about an inch of ice. The whole inn just glowed orange with the setting sun behind it.

Today, of course, the scene is changing by the hour. The inn is back to snow covered. Winter is back at Killington.

Let it snow!