Frizzie and Roger repairing the bar top. 

Work is continuing in the Great Room. Chef Frizzie and Roger have completed repairing the bar top. We have just about gotten all of the dust picked up from the efforts to sand the finish off. It is amazing how much dust a power sander kicks out.

The work to put new stain on the bar started almost immediately after Frizzie and Roger declared their work done. With any luck Mary will get a couple of coats of poly on it before Friday night.

Until the next time......

Mary placing plastic sheeting around the bar in the Great Room. 

It's not a haze mat site... it's the Great Room!

Each spring at the inn we take on a series of projects. Sometimes they are maintenance. Sometimes they are pure improvements. Many times they are a combination of the two. A project we started this week falls into the combination category: refinishing the bar in the Great Room Lounge.

The bar in the Great Room has a pine top that has been stained and polyurethaned several times since it was built 12 winters ago. The pine boards have shrunk and separated over time, leaving a series of cracks the length of the bar top. This spring, one of the projects on Mary's list was to strip off the poly and restain/refinish the bar top. I talked Mary into adding to the project, by having all of the cracks in the bar top routed out and filled with different wood to create an inlaid effect. Frizzie, our chef, counts being a pretty good carpenter among his many skills. He took o the job of sanding the bar to bare wood, and adding in the inlaid parts.

Before work could begin, however, Mary and I needed to construct a tent around the bar to contain the dust created during the refinishing project. Using a series of wires strung from strategic ceiling points, it took us a couple of hours to get the plastic sheeting in place. I am sure that there will still be dust everywhere, but the tent should catch most of it.

Until the next time......

Spring cleaning in action. Chef Frizzie takes apart the Kitchen. 

It has been a beautiful, warm, spring week at Killington.

Besides watching the snow melt and the grass grow, the normal ritual of spring, "Spring Cleaning" is underway at the inn. As is usually the case, it always starts out with a take down of the kitchen in the restaurant. As my shoulder is damaged, the task fell to Chef Frizzie and Mary to take out all of the equipment, repair anything broken, and clean everything up. From a cold start on Monday morning, as I write this on Friday afternoon, the kitchen is put back together and ready to go for breakfast use with inn guests over the next few weeks. The kitchen will see light duty for several private parties in May and June, before returning to full operation when we re-open our restaurant for the summer season on June 26th.

I have been spending most of my time this week going to physical therapy, working on Killington Wine Festival planning for the Killington Chamber of Commerce for this years event (July 17-19), and starting several marketing initiatives for the inn.

Chef Frizzie has been up on the mountain almost every day. Each day the snow surfaces have been fairly predictable....firm early from an overnight freeze, followed by a couple of hours of beautiful corn, finished with slush puppies as afternoon temperatures touch 60 degrees. The K1 Gondola and the Superstar Quad have been running all week. There are all kinds of rumors around town about more lifts for the weekend. If you enjoy spring skiing and riding, Killington is a good place to be.

Shoulder Update: As I mentioned earlier, I have been undergoing physical therapy for my shoulder injury. It is still uncertain if I will be having surgery before summer arrives. 2 muscles in my shoulder were torn, including my biceps and rotator cuff. Therapy seems to be working on the biceps tear...Not so good yet on the rotator cuff. Currently, if I hold my left arm straight down my side, I can lift it out sideways only about 20 degrees vertical. I have another 3 weeks of therapy before being evaluated for surgery... Hopefully it improves so I do not need to go under the knife (or the arthroscope) later this year.

I keep bringing a golf club with me for physical therapy. Originally, I was bringing it for personal motivation. But not any more! In the land of Vermont Golf there was some good news with the early spring....Green Mountain National Golf Course opened for play this morning..... I may not yet be able to swing a golf club yet...but the goal is well established.

So what every you choose this weekend, be it pointing them down hill or chasing the little white ball....have fun! And don't forget your sunscreen.

Plenty of good snow still left on the mountain. Picture taken by Mary on Killink looking towards Double Dipper, Down Draft and Cascade. 

Finally, after several nasty, cold and damp days, Killington experienced a beauty today. Cool temperatures were mitigated nicely by warm sunshine and a beautiful blue sky. Just a perfect day to be out on the slopes.

I got close to the slopes today. I made it all the way to the medical center at Ram's Head for my physical therapy session on my bum shoulder. Mary, however, actually was able to put skis on snow this morning. And she had a great time.

From Mary, snow conditions on the mountain, abetted by the cold temperatures and constant snow flurries of the last couple of days, are holding up very well. This time of the year, the basin side of the resort is open. Skiing and riding today took place on Snowdon, Killington Peak, Skye Peak (basin side) and Snow Shed.

Mary said the run of the day was a toss up between Sky Lark and Bittersweet. Both were firm, but not frozen, providing a nice surface for graceful carves. Our chef, Frizzie, did six loops down Superstar. it was also in nice condition, with some gentle bumps developing to keep things interesting.

The Snowdon side of the resort, according to Mary, was firmer than the Sky Peak section in many spots. Mouse Trap was a little sketchy. East Falls was nicely groomed with a smooth run out back to the K1 Gondola.

And because skiing and riding is not all we do in Killington, today the Green Mountain National Golf course announced that they plan to open for play at Killington on Saturday April 25th. With the mountain planning on staying open through May 2nd, it's a great opportunity to ski and get in a round of golf on the same day.... Let it snow...except on the course!

Forest behind the Birch Ridge Inn getting covered with snow. 

Winter is making a valiant attempt to hang around at Killington these last few days. Continuous light, wet, snow flurries have blanketed the area over the last 36 hours.

Warm surfaces, such as roads and building roofs are quickly melting any accumulation. Grassy surfaces are accumulating a light coating of snow, especially at higher elevations. Snow covered surfaces are being freshened nicely with the new snow fall. Inn guests riding at the Killington Resort have reported that snow is starting to build up on many of the trails, with conditions still soft from the warm wet weather of the last few days.

This storm is, of course, just an echo of winter. While serious accumulation is not expected, it will nicely refresh ski trails for people to enjoy as the week progresses... Let it snow!

Skye and Killington Peaks covered in clouds from the 2nd Green on the Killington Golf Course. 

Springtime in New England. Mary and I were just getting to appreciate the light brown lawn trying to turn green around the inn when late yesterday afternoon...wham...here comes the snow. Around the inn, a couple of inches of wet snow fell, covering the back yard with a bright white blanket to soak up the morning sun. By late morning, the combination of sunshine and wet ground underneath had melted most of it away, revealing a mottled lawn with bits of snow cover, interspersed with brown and green grass.

The inn is at just under 1900 feet. Higher elevations saw significantly more snow fall. At our chef's house in Mendon, at around 2400 feet, he reported about 6 inches of new snow on the ground. The Killington Resort reported 7 inches of new snow at Killington Peak. A nice bit of white to cap of a strangely quiet weekend at the resort.

Friday there were a string of announcements in the ski industry in New England. Killington announced that they would continue to operate beyond their April 19th planned closing date. The new closing date planned for the end of the 2008/2009 ski season at Killington is May 2nd, "weather permitting" of course.

South of Killington, Mount Snow announced that they will be suspending operations this week. Currently they plan on re-opening Easter Weekend (next weekend) to close out their ski season. Okemo in Ludlow will be running all week, but they also plan on ending their season next weekend.

To the north, Mad River of the "Ski it if you Can" mantra is done for the year. They closed up shop today due to a combination of poor snowfall during March combined with the warm temperatures and wet conditions of the last couple of weeks. At Sugarbush, Mt Ellen is also closed. Lincoln peak is still operating, and plans to continue as long as snow conditions allow.

With Killington now announced that they will stay open until May, it will be interesting to see which is the last resort open between Killington and Sugarbush.

Around town, it was pretty quiet this weekend, which is strange considering this was Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge weekend. The BMMC has been a signature spring event at Killington for 28 year. I am sure that there will be plenty of head scratching taking place trying to understand what happened to the 29th edition of "The biggest party in the east centered around a full day of mogul skiing" to lift a quote directly from the resorts website. Historically, thousands of people have mingled at the BMMC festivities over the years (Search google...you will find plenty of videos and pictures of past events). This is of course the second year that Killington Pico Ski Resort Partners (KSRP a partnership between Powdr of Park City Utah and SP Land 2 of Killington Vermont) have run the event. I spoke with some of this years contestants, who were excited to participate. But there was also some disappointment that only a handful of people turned out to watch the event.

It is simplistic to say that the changes to the event that KSRP has made have caused the decline in audience participation. After all, KSRP made significant investments into skiing and riding at Bear Mountain this year with the construction of the new Skye Peak Express Quad and the Burton Stash. Overall through out the ski season, Bear Mountain has been the place to ski this year at the Killington Resort. That being said, the party still died.

The changing demographics of snow sports, combined with todays economy and very poor weather for skiing the last couple of weeks, clearly would have an impact on event attendance no matter who were running the this years Mogul Challenge. But it is also clear from this years event, that for the Mogul Challenge to survive another 29 years it needs to be seriously retooled to generate some excitement in the North East skiing and riding community. And that is something that KSRP will need to address, if it wants to take the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge into the future.

In the mean time, with the announced closing date of the resort May 2nd, there is still plenty of time to come to Killington to take the last turns of the ski season. So... Let it snow!

Top of Outer Limits looking towards the Super Pipe 

The last couple of days, Mary has been getting out to enjoy spring conditions on the mountain. During the evening, temperatures at Killington have been just touching the freezing mark. By mid morning, temperatures have been climbing into the 40's with snow surfaces nicely softening up.

While out on the hill, Mary has ventured over to Bear Mountain early each day for a few runs. Outer Limits has held up nicely, in preparation for this weekends Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge. The seeded bumps course is in place for this annual rite of spring, although Mary has not ventured into it to try it out. The lower sections of Sky Burst and Wildfire are showing signs of erosion, but they should hold up through out the weekend to support the BMMC festivities.

Mary has been spending much of her ski time in the Canyons and at Snowdon. She was particularly raving about Chute yesterday. Being sheltered, its surface was staying a little firmer with minimal snow cover erosion as yet.

While Mary has been out on the hill, I have begun my physical therapy routine for my left shoulder. Vermont Sports Medicine has a physical therapy office in the medical center at the bottom or Rams head. I will be visiting there a couple of times a week for the next few weeks to strengthen my shoulder. If it works out well, I may be able to avoid surgery later this spring. If not....so it goes.

To occupy my time at the inn prior to listening to Mary raving about skiing, I have been studiously preparing the tax package to give to our accountant to prepare this years tax returns. Each year I am amazed at the amount of paperwork our little business generates, and the amount of time spent on preparing it all. It is not necessarily a bad process, because it does cause you to look at "the numbers" in a relatively organized fashion. But I have this nagging feeling that there must be a better way to do this (and I am not talking about preparing tax forms, but collecting taxes in general) which would have a smaller drain on productivity. But rant I shall not...

On a positive note, I did find my golf clubs the other day. I am not sure if I will be using them this summer, but I needed to get out my 9 iron as a motivational tool. As part of my physical therapy, the therapist had me using a ski pole in a variety of positions during the exercise routine she prescribed. It is a perfectly logical thing to do in a therapists office at the base of a ski resort. If we were in October, and the season was about to begin, a ski pole would be the perfect motivating tool. But we've just entered Spring. Golf courses in the area are starting to rise up out of the snow pack (or is it the snow pack receding to reveal tees and greens?). So using a 9 iron instead of a ski pole as a physical therapy aid just seems like the right thing to do... Let it snow (I think)