Snowdon, Rams Head, and Pico Mountains under a bright blue sky. 

Mary and I took a couple of hours away from the inn this morning to play on the mountain. As the temperature was in the single digits last night at the inn, we waited until 10:00 AM to make our trek to the hill, figuring we would give the bright sunshine some time to work on the surfaces. Well almost....

In general, surfaces across Killington were firm with a residual snow covering left over from Friday's snow storm, grooming, and skier traffic.

Lower Bear Claw re-opened to skiers and riders after last weeks Chevrolet Grand Prix. (Click to enlarge.)

While most of the trails were not "dust on crust", there were still firm just the same. Much like skiing in mid January, in the dark, instead of late March in the sunshine.

From a trail perspective, Wildfire, Bear Claw and Bear Trap were in nice shape. Outer Limits was open when we first arrived at Bear Mountain, but the upper section was pure slickness. When we left Bear around 11:00, we saw the ski patrol putting a rope across it to close OL.

Bittersweek, Skyelark and Superstar were also nice. They were all multiple do overs from the fast Superstar Quad, except for Lower Skyelark which was a little slick. I personally thought Superstar was the best run of the day during our time on the mountain. While surfaces on Superstar were firm like the rest of the mountain, there was plenty of light snow on the trail to support turns on both the upper and lower headwalls. All in all a nice morning.

Let it snow!

Happy Easter 

Easter weekend at Killington brought 2 full days of bright sunshine for skiers and riders on the mountain. While Mary and I did not have the opportunity to go out on the hill, our guests reported that conditions ranged from icy firm in places not touched by sunshine, to early spring soft where the sun had a chance to work it's magic. With temps predicted for the mid 30's most of the week, it looks like spring skiing season will get into full swing.

Where ever you may be, Mary and I wish you a Happy Easter. Let it snow!....(at least for a few more weeks)

Fools Gold at Pico on way to Summit Express Quad, 9:05 AM March 21, 2008 

6 inches of champagne powder fell last night around the inn. At 6:30 AM the temperature was a balmy 15 degrees. Pico and Killington Peaks both got on the order of a foot of fluff. I had my powder skis in the car. I drove to Pico this morning, was number 8 in line on the Golden Express Quad at 8:55, number 4 onto the Summit Express Quad. You know the drill.

There are no friends on a powder day! Let it snow!

Forest behind the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington glistening under a heavy coating of ice. 

In typical New England fashion, the Killington region has experienced every possible kind of weather over the last 36 hours. Currently, 4 PM Thursday afternoon, it is snowing heavily. Previously we had experienced snow, sleet, r@*n, freezing r@*n, and a fair dose of wind.

Overnight the area experienced a considerable ice build up on exposed surfaces. Anything exposed to the elements is covered in a candy coating of ice from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

The good news in all of this, however, is that snow levels actually rose slightly during the period. Once the slopes on the mountain get groomed out, conditions should be quite nice for some skiing and riding over the upcoming Easter weekend.

Let it snow!

Skye Peak Quad 

In a note to season pass holders sent out this afternoon, followed by a press release, the Killington-Pico Ski Resort announced a series of improvements that they plan to make for next ski season. Overall the mountain estimated that they would spend $8.4 million on improvements to the resort during the months leading up to the 2008-09 season.

The big announcement on the improvement list is replacement of the Skye Peak fixed grip quad with a high speed detachable quad. The mountain claims that the new lift will cut the time to ride up Skye Peak from 13 minutes to 5 minutes. From personal experience, the 13 minute ride was not unpleasant on sunny days like yesterday, but with the wind blowing in the middle of January, shaving 8 minutes off the time on the Skye Peak lift will be greatly appreciated.

Concurrent with the improvement announcement, Killington also announced Season Pass prices for the 2008-2009 season. If you would like more details, you can click through to the press release, and season pass pricing information on the resorts website: killington.com.

Let it snow!

Mary skiing across top of Superstar on her way to Skye Lark under a beautiful bright blue sky. 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day. And while the official color of the day is definitely green, the bright blue of todays sky is a strong challenger.

Mary and I headed to the mountain a little later this morning. Weather conditions over the weekend promoted some surface melting. Temperatures in the area dipped into the teens last night. We felt going out a little later would give the sunshine some time to work it's magic... and it did! While surface conditions around the mountain were generally firm, the warm temperatures made them just pliable enough for a late morning of carving turns.

Skiing today at Bear Mountain was still limited while the resort cleans up from the weekends Chevy Grand Prix. Upper Bear Trap and Wildfire were in great shape. Lower Wildfire, on the other hand, was turning into it's typical spring time beach, as all of the skier and rider traffic coming to Bear Mountain was funneled down it's compound fall line.

The park on Middle Dream Maker was in nice shape. It was funneling out onto Great Eastern, again due to the Grand Prix cleanup. On a lark, when we got on to Great Eastern we decided to keep going all the way to the lower skyeship terminal on Route 4. Most of the way we took "Home Stretch", which had great snow coverage. It was just a beautiful day to cruise down the mountain.

From the Skyeship, I took Upper Dream Maker to Cruise Control. Mary took Skye Burst to Cruise. Upper Dream Maker was still firm on skier's right in the shade. Skiers left, in full sunshine, was nice and soft with little bumps forming. Mary reported that Skye Burst had nice soft snow coverage. It had been closed for a couple of days due to the Grand Prix so it did not get packed down with skier traffic like some of the other trails.

We finished up with several loops through Needles Eye, Bitter Sweet, Skye Lark and Super Star. Under full sunshine with warm temperatures and a bright blue sky, they were all do overs.. We did not want to leave...so it goes.

Let it snow!

Chevy Snowboarding Grand Prix Competitors wait their turn on Bear Claw below the Viper Pit at Bear Mountain. 

The Chevy US Snowboarding Grand Prix at Bear Mountain, Killington, is wrapping up this afternoon. Under lightly overcast skies, the Men's and Women's Slopestyle competition was held on Lower Bear Claw on a park specifically created for the event.

The Halfpipe finals, originally scheduled for Saturday night, were rescheduled for this afternoon from 2:30 to 4:30 PM. Planned to take place under the lights on the half pipe carved on Lower Dream Maker,

People getting into position to watch the Half Pipe finals. (Click to enlarge.)

the half pipe finals were suspended on Saturday evening due to heavy fog obscuring visibility, limiting the judges ability to evaluate each competitor.

I skied over to Bear Mountain at mid day to watch the event for a few minutes. Crowds were just starting to form to watch the Half Pipe finals. Unfortunately, I needed to get back to the inn before the event took place, but it looked like it would be a fairly busy afternoon at Bear Mountain.

Let it snow!