Friday afternoon I received an unusual call from the resort. We purchase guest ski packages from Killington through a process dubbed "elodge". The manager responsible for elodge, Rebecca, called the inn searching for one of our guests from the UK. It seems that the guest had unknowingly lost a small bag on the mountain. In the bag was over $700 in cash, plus a ticket receipt given to them when they went to a Killington ticket window to pick up their ski tickets we purchased for them as part of their "ski and stay" package.

What appears to have happened is that some time yesterday afternoon a Killington guest found the lost bag, and turned it into Killington Guest Services. At that point, a Killington employee, Patty, began the process of attempting to locate the owner of the bag by tracing the ski package receipt. Patty was able to track the receipt to our guests ski package, resulting in Rebecca calling us to contact our guests.

Late yesterday afternoon, our guests recovered their lost bag, and the cash they were planning to use on the rest of their Killington vacation. After they returned to the inn they told me "they will forever remember their trip to Killington. If we were at a European resort, the money would have been lost and our vacation ruined. Because of an honest guest at Killington, and the nice people working at the resort, our vacation was saved!"

Thank you Patty, Rebecca, and the anonymous Killington visitor for your honesty, and for helping out our inn guests from the UK. Let it Snow!

Sprint Freestyle Moguls Competition at Bear Mountain 

Yesterdays warm weather and early evening showers ate into the snow pack around the inn. Overall, the snow at the inn's snow stake declined by 6 inches yesterday. Such is spring in the mountains.

Today was singles mogul day at the US Sprint Freestyle Championship at Bear Mountain. The competition is held on Outer Limits, on the same bumps course that will be used next weekend for the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge. I skied down OL this morning and stood up against the snow fence marking the course watching some of the initial warm up runs. It is quite a site to see, and hear, as the competitors go down the bumps course. I stood by one of the mid course ramps and took todays picture of one of the competitors taking air.

Around the mountain this morning conditions were variable. Trails that were exposed to sunshine were very soft. Trails that were shade covered had a thin crust on them. At Bear, I found Bear Trap and Bear Claw to be nicely covered with great carving snow. Lower Wildfire was getting really thin. Some areas of exposed mud are visible. If you see orange and black bamboo poles out of the slopes, take notice, because there is probably something lurking just beneath the surface.

On the Killington Peak side of things, Superstar was glazed over. If there were more traffic it probably would have been soft, but as it was it was glistening in the sun. The Canyons area looked nice from the K1. I did not ski it as I was only transiting back from Bear to where my car was parked. Great Northern, Rime, Chute, Bunny Buster, and Caper were all nicely soft, hero snow.

Overall, I spent about 90 minutes on the snow this morning, 30 of which were watching the Moguls Competition. I left wanting to ski some more, which is a good thing, but I needed to leave none the less to help get the inn ready for this weekends guests. Now if we would get 6 inches of snow tonight! (in my dreams) Let it Snow!

Pico Peak from Superstar at Killington
taken Tuesday March 20, 2007 

Spring has definitely arrived at Killington. Temperatures at the inn this morning are in the low 40's with hazy sunshine. The liquid precipitation which was predicted for last night and this morning has failed to materialize. (Once again the weather forecasters were wrong, but this time it is a good thing.) We will not have a chance to get to the mountain today for a few turns as we prepare for the upcoming weekend, but if the last 3 days were any clue, I am sure that conditions are still quite nice.

This weekend sees the US Freestyle Championships presented by Sprint being held at Bear Mountain. Todays competition starts with the Superpipe competition. The Moguls competition is to be held on Friday, Aerials Saturday and Duel Moguls on Sunday. Killington has posted a complete schedule on their website.

In other news, and somewhat unexpected given the pending sale of Killington/Pico by ASC to SP Land Company, it was announced that Pico Mountain will stay open an additional week this season. Originally scheduled to close this Sunday, March 25th, the local management team announced that due to receiving 34 inches of snow last weekend, that they will keep Pico open for skiing and riding an additional week, closing on Sunday April 1. (No this is not an early April fools joke).

Now if we could get another snow storm next week.... Let it Snow!

Killington Peak on a blue bird day 

Today was another glorious day on the slopes of Killington. Temperatures were in the mid 20's, there was a slight breeze if any, and surface conditions were beautiful soft packed powder all around. Many people will be leaving the slopes this afternoon wishing they had remembered the sun screen. A great day to ski or ride Killington.

Unlike yesterday, today I had some company as I went around the mountain. We started out with a warm up run down Cascades. We did not go directly over the top, as it was one of the only trails on the mountain that looked polished, instead we went around on Great Northern to pick up Cascade at the traverse junction. The cover on Cascades was really nice. Last nights below 0 temperatures firmed up the dry packed powder just enough to yield a very carve-able surface with no ice from top to bottom. We all just cruised down for another trip up the box.

Norm, Mary and Howie in a line on Great Eastern heading to Bear Claw Click image to enlarge

When we got up to the top again, we swung wide and did a few laps off the North Ridge Triple chair before heading down East Falls. Rime and East Falls were very similar to Cascades. All the surfaces were very consistent and set up just right for smooth GS cruising.

We swung over to Bear Mountain for laps on Wildfire, Bear Trap, Bear Claw and Skyeburst. All this high speed cruising was starting to get to me so I played in the bumps for a while on Upper Wildfire, and on Skyeburst. The way the bumps were set up you could dive in for 6 to 10 turns, then bounce out to resume cruising. As I mentioned last week, this technique slows me down just enough so that Mary and I reach the bottom of the trails together, versus me waiting for her to catch up (and she feeling guilty that she is slowing me down). So I thought the bumps were a great diversion. They also are helping to harden up the legs... after all golf season will be soon and I need a strong leg kick for driving the ball off the tee.

Mary taking a few turns on Superstar Click image to enlarge

We finished up this mornings adventure with turns on Cruise Control, Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, High Road, Skye Lark, and Superstar. I thought the best of the bunch was lower Skye Lark. For some reason, lower Skye Lark was boot high soft powder. I am not sure if it was the result of wind blown snow, or grooming, but I thought it was really nice. Of course, as one of todays pictures attests, Mary decided to ski Superstar, so you can guess that it was soft and sweet in it's own right. A great morning on the hill... now where is the tube of sun screen again? Let it Snow!

The Contessa, holding court in the K1 Gondola 

For the last 5 of 6 weeks, the trails of Killington have been busy with vacationers. College kids from Jersey, Families from Canada, English boarding schools...you name it they have all been to Killington. But for some reason.. not today. I am not sure if they have gone home, or just taking a break from the skiing and riding, but overall there were very few people out on the mountain this morning other than locals and some day trip skiers. And the Skiing was Great!

A little cloud cover and a little breeze kept temperatures this morning in the high 20's. I put an extra layer on in the base lodge after waking through the K1 parking lot, but I did not need a neck gaitor to keep me warm. Today I was just free skiing, as the guys I normally ski with had off mountain appointments to complete. As a result, I was pretty much skiing top to bottom on the mountain, non stop, no waiting.

Aerials ramp under construction at Bear Mountain Click image to enlarge

I started out on the Killington side taking runs down Highline, East Falls, and Cascades. All were in great shape, although the run out from East Falls and Cascades to the K1 gondola was choppy in places.

Bear Mountain this morning was also very nice. With the exception of some thin spots on lower Wildfire, all of the trails at Bear sported soft packed powder great for carving edge to edge sweeping turns, which because of lack of crowds, you could do with reckless abandon. There is a huge amount of activity going on at Bear to complete construction of the features for the Sprint Freestyle Championship to be held this weekend at Bear. i did not take Outer Limits because it was basically roped off in the middle, diverting people to the bottom of Devils Fiddle. Snow cats were moving snow around to build the Aerials jumps. Technicians were busy measuring the bumps course to begin the process of setting the bumps on the different lines for the competitors. Machines were also working the Super-Pipe.

Soft bumps on lower Superstar, skiers left. Click image to enlarge

I took a few runs in the Needles Eye area, and the Superstar area. Again, great carving snow. In addition to the soft snow in the middle of the trail, on these trails you also found nice soft bumps lines down at least one side. I did do some of the bumps down Lower Needles. Not many, mind you, but just enough to get the blood flowing in the legs after a morning of high speed cruising. And tomorrow is also predicted to be a sunny day! Let it Snow!

Pico Peak draped in sunshine! 

Today was "Wacky Winter Games" day presented by the Killington Chamber of Commerce. It was a great excuse to ski Pico Mountain, not that anyone needs an excuse!

Today was just one of those beautiful late winter days to ski. 100 percent sunshine in the morning. Very soft packed powder conditions from the storms over the weekend. And a different mountain to explore to break up the routine.

Killington Peak from Pico Click image to enlarge

Mary and I get over to Pico 5 or 6 times a year. I usually ski it with the boys on powder days; Mary tends to go there when the girls decide to take a break from Killington. So, it is actually pretty rare when we both go over to Pico for a day of pure recreational skiing.

Today was just a beautiful day. The morning started with almost not a cloud in the sky. A quick trip up the Golden Express quad to the Summit Express Quad and a whole new world opened up. On a sunny day, the views from the top of Pico are stunning. Killington Peak was all lit up to the west, itself bathed in the glow of bright sun. To the north east, there was a spectacular view of Chittenden Reservoir, frozen in time with the Green Mountains as a backdrop. We just did loops off the top, mostly on KA and Forty Niner. Snow conditions were fantastic. And on most trails there was a nice soft bump line to play in down at least one side.

Chittenden Reservoir from Pico Click image to enlarge

Of course with the snow, and the views, and the sunshine, we almost wanted to forget why we were a Pico. But we did the right thing, skied a few more loops, then reported to the slalom course. We each took our runs down without event. Mary was a little excited at the beginning. She missed triggering the timing system so we had to call her back to start over. But with that exception, we all completed the course in respectable fashion. Of course, it is not a serious race. Half way down the course, you needed to stop and throw at snow ball at a target (all of us missed) so who knows how bad our times really are!

Mary in the starting gate Click image to enlarge

After the slalom course, we all reported for the snow shoe race. The Killington Chamber of Commerce had an obstacle course set up for racing on snow shoes. The course was a loop with little games set up every 50 yards or so. You had to take a swing with a hockey stick, throw horseshoes, hit a jump shot, take a tennis swing, and swing a baseball bat at a tee ball. It was all great fun, and you would not believe how your heart gets pumping running around on snow shoes.

Bill B. on snow shoes Click image to enlarge

The chamber is throwing a little party tonight at the Sante Fe Steakhouse to award prizes. In years gone bye we have typically been the team to beat in the race for last place, although one year our perfect record was spoiled by coming in second to last. It is all in good fun, and or course, it was a great day to ski Pico. Now if we can get another 4 or 5 inches of fluff tonight! Let it Snow!

Snow Blowing around Birch Ridge Inn 

We did not get 6 inches of snow last night, so Mary let me ski mattress mountain this morning. But we did get some significant snow none the less.

Overnight, we received almost 4 inches of snow around the inn, with snow continuing to fall during the day. Guests coming back to the inn from skiing this morning are reporting great skiing with 3 to 6 inches of new powder on top of groomed soft surfaces from yesterdays snowfall.

According to local forecasts, snow should continue to fall everyday this week at Killington. While I probably have a date with a snow blower once or twice this week, I am looking forward to several nice days on the slopes to take advantage of all the new snow. Let it snow!