This years version of the "Great Pumpkin"
greets visitors to the Birch Ridge Inn 

If you think about it too hard, fall in Vermont can be a bittersweet season. On the bitter side, sunlight is fading, temperatures are falling, flowers are disappearing. Playing golf, you notice a definite crispness in the air. You wonder when you get dressed in the morning, should you retire the summer shorts and opt for long pants and a sweater...

But then there is the sweetness.

The trees on the mountains fire up a dazzling color show unlike anything else in the world. Farmers are finishing their harvests, resulting in all kinds of variety in the local food supply. Great pumpkins and squashes make their appearance after growing in the fields all summer. With the cold nights, you know that snow season is just around the corner, creating all kinds of new opportunities to play outdoors. It seems like everyone in town is doing ski training exercises to get ready for the coming season. There is definitely a sense of anticipation as summer slides into fall.

Mary cutting back the garden
for winter at the ski shed
at Birch Ridge. 

The season is rapidly changing at Killington this year. Every day the fall foliage colors are more brilliant than the last. The nights are getting colder, the days not quite as warm.

At the inn, the seasonal shift has begun. Mary has begun the process of cutting back many of the gardens to prepare for the winter months. Our first load of fire wood is on order and due for delivery next week. Fall Foliage guests are making their plans to visit with us. We have even started to book ski packages for the upcoming winter season. The season is changing.

The 3rd hole at the Killington
Resort Golf Course starting
to display fall foliage colors. 

Fall Foliage season is upon us in Killington. On today's blog posting, you will see that the Birch Ridge Inn Flower of the Day picture, displayed on the right side of the blog page all summer, has been supplemented with the Birch Ridge Inn Fall Foliage picture of the day. Over the course of the next several weeks, we will try to document the progression of fall foliage in the Killington area with daily pictures of trees around the inn. We hope that you enjoy the change in seasons from summer into fall.

The Contessa Diane
with her husband David
and special guest. 

Killington's very own "Contessa", Diane Rosenblum, was the guest of honor at a surprise birthday party held for her Sunday evening at the beautiful home of Rick and Noel Gluck. The party, to celebrate Diane's 60th birthday, was arranged in part by Roberta Lynch to thank Diane for surprising Bert with a party to celebrate the same milestone last month.

Guests at the party were all provided with mock leopard skin golf visors to pay homage to Diane's well known penchant of always making sure her headgear coordinates with her outfits while playing sports.

Local attorney MB Neisner provided comic relief for the evening, appearing in a quite fetching gold lame' jumpsuit. Diane, who is known to wear a gold lame' ski suit with matching helmet to the mountain for winter skiing, announced to the crowd after seeing MB that she would be retiring her gold lame' outfits in favor of more practical leathers and fur. After seeing MB, who was a great sport, we don't blame her! Happy Birthday Diane!

Golfers on Fifth Green at Killington Golf Course 

It is just a beautiful late summer day in Killington. Fall foliage colors are unmistakably making an appearance. When combined with bright blue skies dotted with puffy clouds, and temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's, it is just a perfect day to be outside.

Mary and I took our usual walk around town at mid day. As we were walking, we noticed that the Forerunner Ski Shop was open, so we stop bye to say hello to the owners. Like all of the other ski shops at Killington, they were busy getting the shop ready for the all important Columbus Day Weekend. Every shop in the area traditionally opens on Columbus Day Weekend with great early season equipment deals, and very attractive pricing on merchandise left from last season.

The Killington Golf Course was also busy with people playing late season rounds. Todays picture is looking through the trees towards the fifth green. You can see all of the trees in the background are starting to change into their fall foliage regalia. It looks like it is going to be like this for the next couple of days. Hopefully we will be able to get out and chase the little white ball for a few holes.

All for One Season Pass mail shot 

Another indicator that fall is upon us is taking place at Killington today. Casey Crompton's Santa Fe Golf Tournament has occupied both the Killington and Green Mountain National golf courses. The hook on Casey's tournament is, of course, that you fly between courses on a helicopter. Unfortunately, being at the cusp of the season, the weather always seems weird. Today will be no exception with rain forecasted for Killington this afternoon.

Speaking of seasonal change, I had a conversation with one of my sources at Killington about a variety of subjects. My primary concern was to determine if Killington was making any software changes to their snow report. Last season, I wrote some software for the blog to automatically include Killington's snow report, and I wanted to find out if I needed to make any changes to it before the ski season as time will be at a premium the next couple of weeks with Fall Foliage season. We seem to be okay there, although when the snow report will first appear is of course still an open question.

The subject of Killington seasons passes also came up. If you are on ASC's (the parent company of Killington) mailing list, you have been inundated with mail shots about the "All for One" season passes. Not quite as many as AOL in the days of it's CD mailings, but we are getting a noticeable amount of them at the inn. Turns out there is some concern, within Killington's management, that Killington skiers will miss out on seasons passes. Under the (caution, inside joke) "Les is more theory", it turns out ASC is planning to limit passes for New England this year. They estimate about 8000 previous pass holders may miss out due to the self imposed limitations.

Now, being in marketing for a number of years, I certainly can question why the limit, especially since pricing for passes has gone DOWN the last few years(the least expensive pass, the Bronze, is only $395); but all things being equal, that appears to be ASC's plan. Plus, the have also announced that the passes are on sale only until October 10th, assuming they do not sell out before then. Bottom line to my friends out there... if you have not gotten your season pass for the upcoming ski season yet...get onto Killington's season pass website and do it now!

Trees around Birch Ridge Inn starting
to display fall foliage colors.
September 13, 2006 10:30 AM 

It is somewhat of a dreary, damp, cold, day here at Killington. Solid cloud cover last night kept temperatures from dipping below freezing and creating frost, but temps were cold enough to cause the heat to turn on at the inn. From the smells outside last night, it was clear that many locals lit their wood stoves to generate some extra warmth.

Cold temperatures are rapidly accelerating changing colors on leaves on many trees in the area. Randomly through out the area you will see lone maple trees that have already turned bright red. Around the inn, most of the trees have just started to take on yellow and red hues, with the birches and the maples leading the way. We clearly have a few more weeks before consistent fall foliage colors blend through the forests around Killington. But it is plainly visible that the fall foliage season has started.