Ben, 'The Bagel' and Ken on Superstar 

Finally! A bright, sunny, day.

Today was just about the perfect mid winter ski day at Killington. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 20's; there was an imperceptible breeze; the sky was bright blue with a few high clouds; and the sun was burning brightly. Just perfect for a run or 20...

Today we started our runs from the K1 Gondola. At 9:00 AM Highline was all lit up in the morning sun, just calling us for a lap. While taking the K1 to the peak, there was a delay of about 5 minutes where we think they were unloading supplies for the Killington Peak restaurant. That delay was just long enough for the resort to close Highline for race training...hence we were banished to Mousetrap and a run down Lower Bunny Buster. Fear not...they were nicely groomed. Aside from a quickly forgotten disappointment for not being able to ski Highline, Mousetrap and Lower Bunny were very suitable first run alternatives.

From there we traversed across the top of the resort to Bear Mountain. The first run down Bear Claw was fairly quick, as we were basically the only ones on the trail at 9:15. There were 8 of us so we formed a small pack. But it would still be about an hour more before we would see any significant numbers of people.

After a quick ride up the Skye Peak Quad, we headed for the Stash. The Stash itself was groomed impecably. The woods between the Stash and Bear Claw were filled with nice soft "pillows" of snow, probably the result of snow coming out of the tree tops. I am not a huge tree skier, but this was a nice off piste excursion.

In the early morning set, Outer Limits looked like it was a candidate for run of the day. The Bear Chair was not running early on, so the only way onto OL was to traverse across from Wild Fire. Once on OL skiers were rewarded with nice, soft, snow over a slight rolling bump. The surface, and the number of skiers and riders on OL, was very receptive to trail edge to edge carving turns. Add in 100 percent sunshine, and Outer Limits was a treat this morning.

Killington peak in early morning sunshine with a backdrop of high, wispy clouds. Click to enlarge.

We finished our morning at Bear with the requisite runs down Wild Fire and Dream Maker. The top of Wild Fire had been groomed to remove it's bumps. A slightly firm surface was left in their place. Upper Dream Maker was icy bumps. Lower Dream Maker was set up with a number of terrain park features. While our group is not prone to do rails or boxes, the snow features including large swales and jumps provided plenty of entertainment.

We then proceeded on our normal route via Cruise Control into Needles Eye. The Needles Eye quad was running this morning, so we did a number of loops between Cruise, Needles and Bitter Sweet. All were in great shape. The sun was doing a great job lighting up Cruise Control and Needles Eye, allowing for some very quick loops. As we headed to the north side of the mountain and Bitter Sweet, some shadows came into play. The surface was nicely groomed and soft, so you could trust it. But the transition from bright sunshine to dark shadow at ski speed can be momentarily spooky.

We finished the morning with laps of the Superstar Quad. Todays run of the day was unusual. Super Star and Skye Lark were both high speed cruisers. Ovations was the surprise. The run of the day, based upon the number of do overs the group ran, was Upper Ovations in the weeds to skiers right (of all places). The area was filled with small, rolling, bumps and beautiful soft snow. The group did it at least 3 times. Sadly to say, Lower Ovation was not as friendly. Los tres caballeros in todays first picture did Lower Ovations on one of the loops. Because of its angle to the sun, it was pitch black. It was also filled with a number of large, unpredictable, bumps. They survived it, but they were not very happy and they did not do it again.

A few more laps of Superstar brought the morning to a close. By noon time, the sun was lighting up the lower Superstar headwall on skiers right, near the woods. It was just plan nice to be able to ski Superstar for a change with top to bottom sunshine. A true January treat!

......let it snow!

Cloud deck surrounding Killington. Taken Sunday January 17, by Andrew Cooley 

Depending upon your location today, once again the area is either in a snow cloud or sunshine. Outside the inn the sun is resplendent. But nearby mountain peaks are covered in clouds with what appears to be snow coming out of them.

The weather forecast for the next 3 days is calling for beautiful ski weather with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the high 20s to low 30s. Since my time on the slopes Tuesday, I have been mainly working around the inn. But I will head back out on the slopes tomorrow with some friends who are coming up from Boston to spend the weekend in Killington.

Todays picture came to me from a friend, Nigel, whose son was skiing with friends at Killington last weekend. One of his friends captured a great picture of the cloud deck surrounding Killington Peak. The peak itself is bathed in sunshine, as is the top of Bear Mountain to the left center of the frame. Just below Bear Mountain peak a solid cloud deck covers the landscape. As the elevation of Bear Mountain is 3295 feet, the cloud deck appears to be topping out around 3100 feet.

In other news today, the Vermont State Legislature was to honor Ted Bridges, posthumously, for his enormous contribution to tourism in the state of Vermont. Teddy was best know as the innkeeper at the Cortina Inn for many years, prior to its sale several years ago to a developer. Around town, Ted made many valuable contributions working with both the Killington Chamber of Commerce and local town governments. Most recently he served as a commissioner on the Town of Killington's Economic Development and Tourism Commission. Ted was one of several "Larger than life characters" that have made Killington a special place. Ted passed away last month after a brief illness.

..........let it snow!

View today from the top of Rime. Can you see me now?? 

As I sit here in my office writing todays post, my legs are just shot....I have taken 2 Excedrin. Call me in the morning!

Monday afternoon, temperatures at Killington soared into the mid 30's causing some surface melting of the snow pack for the first time in weeks. The good news is that overnight, the Killington area received another 3 inches of so of medium wet snow, more than making up for what was lost to warm temperatures.

In an attempt to fight off meeting boredom, I scheduled a meeting this morning to take place on the slopes at Killington. I am a firm believer in the 5 minute rule....if you can't get your point across on a chairlift ride in 5 minutes....what's the point. And today was a pretty nice day to ski.

Before my meeting started, I took a ride up the Snowdon Quad. The K1 gondola was delayed for some reason, so the quad seemed like a good idea. At the top, I took a run down Mouse Run to Mouse Trap on my way to Lower Bunny Buster and the meeting spot at the K1 Gondola. Mouse Run, Mouse Trap and Lower Bunny Buster were all groomed flat and covered with 3 inches of light, untracked, snow. Just a beautiful warm up run to get the legs going for a morning of skiing.

From the K1 Gondola, we headed over to Bear Mountain. On the K1 we noticed that the cloud deck was lowering. It was difficult to really tell, as the boxes were totally snow covered by snow guns making snow on Cascade. While traversing across South Ridge, it became apparent that the cloud deck was not lowering, it was on the deck. Bear Mountain, which has yielded the best visibility at the resort of late, was totally encased in clouds right down to lower Skye Burst and Wild Fire. It did not stop the skiing, of course, but it did make it "interesting".

Skye Burst, Wild Fire and Bear Claw were well covered with fresh snow. For the first few runs, the skiing was predominately on untracked surfaces with visibility of 5 feet or less. The great news is that the surface was so consistent that the low visibility on these runs was not an issue. While not rip it and go conditions, until the trails got chopped up, there was really no need to hold back.

By the time we got to Cruise Control, surfaces were getting cut up. But, being at a slightly lower elevation, lower Cruise Control was below the cloud deck. The light surface chop was easy given you could see it and make your turns appropriately.

Skye Peak was a different story. By mid morning, upper Bitter Sweet, Skye Lark and Super Star were totally socked in. At normal ski speeds you could barely see a couple of feet in front of yourself. Again, the snow surfaces were in great shape. As long as you followed the golden rule.."Point em down hill you chicken$#!t" there were no problems negotiating any of the terrain.

In an attempt to find better visibility, we headed back to Killington Peak. Rime, Reason, and Upper East Fall were all above the clouds. With the new snow, a few of cruising runs were a good pick me up for the legs. East Fall proper and Double Dipper were totally cloud covered, which made for interesting runs. But with the Canyon Quad running, and nice snow surfaces, several loops were required. To head back to the K1 Gondola for a final boost top Killington Peak, we took a run down Highline. The traverse down the tree lined Great Northern was nice. Highline was socked in as expected.

The final run of the day had us boosting across the top on Launch Pad for one more shot at Superstar. Superstar was now totally cloud covered from top to almost the bottom. But hugging the tree line on skiers right yielded enough visibility to make it a fun last run.

Oh... and it was a productive meeting as well. Who needs a conference room when you can ride a chair lift..........let it snow!

One of the many snowmen at the Birch Ridge Inn. 

Each year after the end of the holiday season, Mary changes the decorations all around the inn to include Snowmen. They are in all shapes and sizes, occupying many quiet spaces all around the inn. Many move. Some sing. The most complicated sing and dance. All to the delight of inn guests during the winter season.

The little number in todays picture is both a paragon of complexity, hiding under a simple theme. This snowman is a variation of the venerable snow globe...but with a high tech twist. With the flick of a switch on the back of the snow man, it lights up with a sequence of colors. While the lights are dancing, a magnetically coupled impeller spins at random at the bottom of the snowman, spinning water and thrusting glitter all through the snowmans body. I though of doing a little video of the creation, but I concluded that it would probably be as interesting as one of those electronic gold fish bowls, so I demurred. But the battery operated creature is quite hypnotic in real life.

Around the mountain, skiers and riders departing the area from their MLK weekend visits found 3 inches of new snow to greet them this morning. Snow showers are in the forecast for most of the week which will help keep a nice white patina on top of the Green Mountains. With luck, I will be on the slopes tomorrow with an updated ski report.........let it snow!

Skiers and riders enjoying Superstar in the sunshine on Saturday of MLK weekend. 

It would be inappropriate to say that Martin Luther King weekend is living up to its' namesake. A google search of "Martin Luther King" and "Skiing" yields no linkage between the civil rights leader and the sport of skiing, other than the call of ski resorts all over the country beckoning skiers and riders to the slopes over the weekend. Similarly, a read of the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. on Wikipedia also does not connect him to downhill winter sports.

In our culture, however, it is easy to make the transition from a historical figure to time away from the daily grind. It is our good fortune that the struggle for equality in the United States has for the most part been settled due to the work of Dr. King and others. Because of that effort, many can take a break from their normal lives and celebrate with some time off.

Starting on Friday night, skiers and riders have flocked to resorts in the northeast. Long rides were reported coming out of both Boston and New York, as people headed to the mountains this weekend. The latest arrived at the Birch Ridge Inn on early Saturday morning about 1:00 AM after a trek out of Manhattan.

The resort itself is mum about attendance, as would be expected, but a quick tour around town the last couple of days indicates that it is a good weekend from a business perspective. Parking lots at the ski resort were generally full at mid day. Guests and friends who have been on the mountain were reporting that there are a fair amount of people on the ski trails at the resort. The good news is that Killington is built for busy weekends, with a huge amount of uphill lifting capacity. Guests are reporting that as long as you avoided typical resort choke points, like the K1 Gondola line, that there was little waiting in lift lines, allowing maximum time for skiing and riding Killington many miles of terrain.

And the great news for Killington when we woke up this morning is that we are expecting a small snow storm to pass thru the area tonight. Plus or minus 3 inches of light snow is forecasted by many weather services to fall in Killington overnight. The perfect ending to a winter weekend in Vermont.

........let it snow!

Snow grooming machine on Dream Maker building terrain park. 

Today was a little warmer than recent days. Temperatures at the inn just before 9 this morning were in the high 20's. It was warm enough to shed a layer this morning, which is welcomed after the cold air of the last couple of weeks.

Killington is set up beautifully for the Martin Luther King birthday weekend. The copious amounts of snow that the resort has made is being pushed around the resort, offering skiers and riders really nice surfaces to to enjoy their sport.

This morning we started with a brief tree run in the Stash followed by a top to bottom jaunt down Wildfire. The woods had some firmness to them, as the snow is beginning to get denser due to compression the last week or so. Upper Wildfire, while flat, had not been groomed. With temps in the high 20's, the snow had a very "grabby" feel to it. We quickly learned that it was an anomaly, a simple artifact of the temperature gradient and the trail not being groomed overnight. For, when we got to lower Wild Fire, we were rewarded with a nice soft mix of machine groomed packed powder. Lower Wild Fire was set up perfectly as a small bump cruiser which got several well deserved do-overs during the course of the morning.

Outer Limits saw some work overnight. Small rolling bumps with a touch of firmness in places kept speeds in check. It should see plenty of action over the weekend.

Needles Eye, Cruise Control, Upper Dream Maker, Skye Burst and Bitter Sweet were all excellent. A terrain park was being built on lower Dream Maker, so it was roped off. It should be open some time this weekend.

Vertigo was in nice shape. I avoided the headwall, as the entrance was filled with large bumps, but once past it via a Needles Eye entrance, middle and lower Vertigo was filled with nice soft rolling bumps.

The only real problems of the day were on Superstar, Skyelark and Ovation. Heavy cloud cover coated the top 300 feet or so of the mountain. The first run down the upper Superstar headwall was a little tentative in zero visibility, but it was groomed soft and flat so subsequent runs were ripped top to bottom.

If you are heading out to Killington this weekend, you will find great snow and mild temperatures. Enjoy you time on the slopes........let it snow!

Note: Thursday afternoon, about a mile from the inn, across the Roaring Brook Valley, there was a serious house fire. For those of you interested in that story, you can follow the link to the Rutland Herald for more information.

Bumps on Outer Limits 

Really...really nice day on the mountain.

Todays adventure on skis started like many January days with a trip up the Superstar Quad and a traverse over to Bear Mountain. Being closer to the equator, Bear is usually a little warmer than the Basin side of the resort. The real reason for the apparent temperature difference is that Bear Mountains slopes have a southern exposure aiming them at what little sunshine we get in this part of Vermont at this time of year. Slopes on the Basin side of the resort (the original part of the resort) predominately have a north facing exposure, or are in the shadow of Killington Peak. With the sun not getting very high on the horizon in early January, slopes on the Basin side of the resort tend to be colder this time of year. Hence the early morning trip to Bear Mountain where it's "warmer".

Of course, you need to understand that warmer in this context is 18 degrees versus 14 degrees. But for the first runs of the day when the blood has not started pumping hard through the body, a few degrees can make the difference between skiing all morning, or going in early from the cold.

Ski conditions today were quite good. The resort is still making snow in some places. In others, they have begun to groom out the snow whales they made the last couple of weeks; blending the snow into the trails surface. The result on most trails is a very soft packed powder surface which is really nice to ski on.

There are a few exceptions. Lower Wildfire today was a slippery mess. Snow making operations have stopped on lower Wildfire, at least for now. The snow whales created by the snow guns have not been groomed out, resulting in very firm surfaces and some large bumps. While very skiable, there were other trails which were much more enjoyable. Outer Limits was another trail that will see better days. It is filled with large bumps left over from snowmaking last week and skier traffic last weekend. I am sure that once it sees some work it will be delightful, because there is a lot of snow on it. But we will have to hold judgement on OL until later in the week.

Coming across the mountain, the Stash, Bear Claw, Skye Burst, and Dream Maker were all very nice. Snow making was taking place on lower Dream Maker from the junction with the Cruise Control cutoff. Cruise Control and Needles Eye were very nice. There was race training set up on Needles Eye earlier in the morning. Once that was done, we did several laps on Needles...it was well worth the do overs...

Prior to doing Needles Eye, we took the cruise down Great Eastern to the Skyeship Base on Route 4. A cup of hot chocolate later, we were all warmed up for the rest of the morning. Snow coverage on Great Eastern was very good. The surface was generally very soft the whole length of the trail with no scratchy spots evident anywhere. Your trip may of course vary as conditions change on the mountain, but the Skyeship base does make a good place to take a mid morning break.

Back on the mountain, Bitter Sweet, Skyelark, and Superstar were also very good. The snow made last week on Skyelark has been groomed. The surface was very soft and consistent. Superstar had a few strange bumps at the top of the lower headwall. I almost launched off of one in the dim light, but I figured it out before taking flight. The snow on the lower headwall was very soft. Waves of snow were avalanching down with each carving turn. Superstar would have been a do over late in the morning, but there was some work being done on the lift, so I headed to Killington Peak to end todays ski outing.

For my final run of the day, I decided on Cascade. It was about 12:30. There was about as much light as was possible today on the trail. From top to bottom, the trail was excellent with nice soft rolling terrain down the whole pitch. It was a great way to end a ski morning at Killington.

.....let it snow!