Enjoying birthday cards from family and friends 

Family and friends from around the country joined many locals at the Birch Ridge Inn on Friday evening to wish George Lyons a happy 85th birthday.

George is well known within the Killington community as a role model for many of us. George is an avid skier, golfer, master gardener, and benefactor of many local charities, in particular the Sherburne Memorial Library. He is one of the good guys that make Killington a great place to live.

Happy Birthday George!

The Pony is coming out to play! 

By no stretch of the imagination am I complaining, but summer seems to have arrived a little early this year at Killington.

All around town the trees are bursting with green leaves, something which in recent memory did not usually happen till the end of May. While it is still a little early for planting, gardeners around town are all out preparing their gardens for summer plants. Mary has all kinds of flowers started in cold frames behind the inn, waiting for the right moment to plant them for the summer.

And in a sure sign of confidence, Mary "rescued" her Mustang from winter storage yesterday. Before we drove away from the garage, she put to top down for the ride back to the inn. Unfortunately, a little spring shower interrupted the joy ride, requiring the top to be hastily put back up... but so it goes...There are plenty of beautiful summer days ahead.

Where ever you are, keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sun screen.

Snow melting off Killington Peak 

Over the weekend, the 2008/2009 ski season came quietly to an end at Killington.

Overall, in my opinion, the ski season was fairly average. On the plus side, we had great early season snow. That was a good thing, of course, as we had very little snow once again this year in March and April.

The Killington Resort re-routed ski trails on Skye Peak with the addition of the new high speed Skye Peak Express Quad. Terrain that was under utilized at Skye Peak and Bear Mountain saw a huge increase in skier traffic, as the public responded very favorably to the new lift.

The introduction of "The Stash" in conjunction with Burton snow boards also looks like a winner. It was a fun park to play in mid-week, when there was very little skier or rider traffic. Guests at the inn for the most part had fun in the Stash on weekends, as long as they were paying attention and staying clear of the landing zones of the various features.

On the down side, the economy clearly impacted the skiing community. At Killington, pre-holiday and early winter skier traffic seemed on par with prior years. Many skiers and riders who would normally trek out west for a ski week decided to visit Killington instead to conserve their cash. By March, however, a confluence of no snow storms along the Eastern Seaboard of the US, a poor US Economy, and a strengthening dollar all contributed to a poor finish to the season.

But just when you think a break is in order, work continues at Killington to move the area forward. The Town of Killington, with the aid of a 1% tax, has formed an Economic Development and Tourism Commission. Operational details of the Commission are a "work in process". The response by towns people to the "EDT" are decidedly mixed, but there is a glimmer of progress starting to be made. Wether or not the EDT works as planed is still to be seen, but initial events are being organized. You have to start somewhere.

The Killington Village efforts are also in the news. The town planning commission will be taking up the plan at a meeting on May 13th. Today's Rutland Herald had a nice article on what to look forward too.

We have a few things going on at the Inn as well to keep us busy. I'll write about those in subsequent posts in the next few days.

Keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sun screen.

Mary applying poly to the bar top. 

After working well into the night, Mary finished putting on 2 coats of polyurethane on the bar top to re-open the Great Room for the weekend. As of 4:00 PM the top was dry and the bar was being restocked. Next week, Mary will probably put a couple more coats of poly on the bar to finish the job, but the inn is ready to receive weekend guests as planned.

I posted the last snow stake picture of the 2008/2009 winter season, barring a multi-foot freak snow storm. While the ground around the inn has been bare of snow for several weeks, the Killington Ski Resort is still going strong. Just yesterday, while the inn was experiencing a cold rain, the mountain got around 3 inches of new snow. Chef Frizzie was on the hill this morning taking his runs. He described conditions as "Great spring skiing".

This weekend, the resort plans on having 3 lifts running, including the K1 Gondola, Superstar Quad, and the Canyon Quad. Temps are forecasted to be quite warm. If it weren't for my shoulder, I would probably be taking a few turns on the snow. I will probably be hunting for shorts in the summer clothes pile instead.

If you are out on the hill this weekend, or chasing a little white ball somewhere, don't forget your sun screen.

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.