Resort workers struggling to remove snow from the base of the Summit Express at Pico 

Can you say Sierra Cement?

Yesterdays high moisture content snow set up overnight, virtually eliminating any dreams of having a powder day 2 days in a row.....So it goes....

Heavy wet snow has continued to fall on the mountains surrounding Killington in the wake of yesterdays snow storm. Little or no additional accumulation is taking place on snow covered surfaces, as the underlying base is compressing with the weight of the new snow. Road surfaces have been getting better through out the day, as crews had a chance to move all of the snow we received yesterday.

Heavy snow is forecasted through out the weekend, as the storm to the east of us spins up in the Gulf of Maine. While non crystalline precipitation if falling at lower elevations like Rutland, the mountains are receiving all snow up to this point.

This morning I headed over to Pico in the hopes of enjoying another day of untracked surfaces. Pico was slow to start, as lift crews struggled to clear snow from all of the lift loading and unloading areas, and the last grooming machines out on the mountain returned to their respective garages. While I was there, the upper lift, the Summit Express, did not open, so skiing and riding was limited to terrain serviced by the Golden Express Quad.

The failure to operate the Summit Express initially caused disappointment in the assembled masses. That was quickly subdued as skiers and riders one and all started auguring into ungroomed trails off the Golden Express. Yesterdays magnificence set up overnight into multiple feet of heavy, moist snow. There was high entertainment during the lift rides as we observed skiers and riders alike travel 10 feet between falls. Fortunately for many, a snow mobile had gone up the middle of Expressway under the chair. Once people found its "chute" through the snow, they traded auguring in for a bobsled run down the hill. But they were able to get down!

Grooming machines had worked on Fools Gold, Gold Rush, Lower Pike, and Swinger, providing a path for people to take from the lift. Surfaces groomed early were covered with an inch or so of new snow. Broad swaths of the trails were ungroomed. We all ventured in to these spaces several times. As long as you carried enough speed, you were able to negotiate several hundred yards. After that, as your speed dropped off due to friction with the surface, it became obvious that it was time to head back out onto the groomed trails to accelerate for the next foray into ungroomed territory. Those who did not pay attention to their speed either ate the snow when they entered the ungroomed track, or needed some kind of push to exit.

Grooming machines should be all over the mountains the next few evenings. Adding a few inches of new snow on top of deep base depths should provide for a lot of nice skiing and riding in the mountains at Killington this weekend.

.....let it snow!

Clean and simple lines were the order of the day. 

What's a little snow between friends.

We at Killington have been watching jealously as feet of snow fell on our friends to the South for the last few months. Now it's our turn!

The snow stake at the Birch Ridge Inn currently is recording 23 inches of new snow on the ground from a storm which hit the area last night. (35 1/2 inches on the ground overall) It is still snowing. The National Weather Service is also predicting another large storm to hit the region tomorrow. What a shame!

I was in line at the Super Star Quad this morning for the 9:00 AM start. From 9:10 when I had skis down at the top of the chair, till around 10:45 it was fresh tracks every run. Todays snow was not champagne powder. It was not east coast crud either. It was somewhere in between. My powder skis had no problems planing up to the surface, but turning was not really required to check speed due to the snow consistency.

I found medium steep terrain the most enjoyable this morning. Trails fitting this category allowed for graceful turns with minimal arc and well controlled speed. A great example of this type of trail was lower Dream Maker. Just enough pitch to allow you to point the ski tips down hill, with overall speed being checked by knee deep powder.

After Bear Mountain got tracked up, we took a few runs over on Rams Head. Most of the ski traffic on Rams Head was traveling right under the quad, leaving significant amounts of untracked snow on Swirl and Timberline, 2 trails I hardly ever ski. After a few more runs off Snowdon, it was 12:30 and time to go back to the inn for a date with a snow blower.

I have been outside for around 5 hours moving snow around the inn. It's wonderful!

.....let it snow!

Snow covering the Birch Ridge Inn 

Enough said.... I don't want to jinx it!

.....let it snow!

Seeded bumps run on Mouse Trap 

Today was just a perfect ski day at Killington. Temperatures were in the low 30's. The sun was shining in a predominately blue sky. Ski surfaces were soft. It was definitely the type of day where one did not want to leave the mountain to head back to work.

Mary and I got to the mountain around 10 this morning. We parked right by the Snowdon Quad as bay 1 by the K1 gondola was already full with locals out for their post Presidents week runs. A 10 minute ride up Snowdon followed by a lift up North Ridge, and we were on our way across the back of the resort headed towards Bear Mountain.

Snow surfaces at mid morning at Bear were generally soft and creamy. I started on Wild Fire, which had some nice little bumps down the middle, while Mary stayed on Bear Claw which was groomed flat. We met back up on Lower Wild Fire, which was down right soft in the full morning sun.

We did a few runs down the Stash and Skye Burst. Both had excellent coverage. We followed up with a run down Dream Maker from top to bottom. Upper Dream Maker headwall was as good as it gets short of 2 feet of new snow. It was good enough for Mary that we had to do it over again after the lift back to the top on the Skye Peak Express.

Heading back to the other side of the resort, we played around on Bitter Sweet and Skye Lark. Being north facing, they were firmer than the trails at Bear but they still had great snow coverage. For the final run off the Super Star Quad, I decided to play in the bumps and bushes on Old Super Star, while Mary took the traditional route. The bumps on Old Super Star were soft and nicely spaced. I was able to get a nice rhythm going. Well worth the diversion.

We finished our day back on Killington Peak with a few runs on North Ridge down to the Snowdon Quad. For some reason the resort has built a seeded bumps course on Mouse Trap which looked interesting. No one was using it, as it was staked off. But it looked like somebody had some fun with a machine making all the bumps, they were so regular.

The forecast for the week looks like our sunny weather will be giving way to something more appropriate for a ski resort in Vermont in February. Forecast amounts are all over the place, but it looks like we will be adding to the base on the ground as the storms progress through the week. We can hope.........let it snow!

Killington Peak in all its' glory. 

On Sunday afternoon as I write this post, most of our Presidents week guests are making their final turns on the mountain, or on an interstate headed back home. With Killington offering all of its' terrain in great mid winter form, there will be many mid morning naps in offices around the east coast on Monday, as people recover from skiing and riding all day during their February get aways.

It was a great weekend to be at a ski resort. Beautiful weather, great snow, and the Winter Olympics as apres ski entertainment. Killington's own Chelsea Marshall got her shot at the Womens Super G yesterday. How many times during the year can you walk into any bar in America and see Curling on the television? Not to mention free style skiing, boarder cross, speed skating, and the superpipe.

This weekend was also "Jack Daniels" weekend in Killington. Chef Frizzie served up a beautiful seared venison medallion complemented with a red current, Jack Daniels demi-glaze. Merisa in the Great Room was also having fun preparing various Jack Daniels libations for guests. One of our fun guests who stayed at the inn this weekend was Lynne Tolley, great grand niece of Jack Daniels. Lynne was in Killington this week to judge sample dishes prepared for the Jack Daniels recipe competition taking place at restaurants around the resort. Lynne has been coming to Killington for 19 years to help celebrate Jack's legacy. When she is not traveling to promote Jack Daniels, she is the proprietress of "Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Restaurant" in Lynchburg Tennessee.

Now that Presidents week is coming to a close, part two of winter at Killington is just beginning. March historically brings heavy snow fall to the mountains of Killington. Before moving to Killington year round, Mary and I would always plan on taking a week at Killington in March; usually one of the weeks around St. Patricks day (March 17th). We almost always found great snow, mild temperatures and warm sunshine (on days when it is not snowing). Of course, what this year will bring is anyones guess.

Mary and I should be able to get out on the slopes on Monday to air out our legs and give an update on conditions.

......let it snow!

K1 parking lot looking towards Super Star 

Last night we had about 4 inches of snow fall around the inn. A big whoop for those in the Mid-Atlantic states who have seen feet of snow fall the last couple of weeks, but with luck it is a precursor to our normal heavy March snow accumulations Killington is famous for.

Being a very busy week at the inn, I am not out on my normal rounds on the mountain. But today I decided to get our for an hour or so to get a little exercise.

I scored a parking spot in the K1 parking lot near the Snowdon Quad. The lot was full with cars, almost approaching full weekend capacity.

My loop today brought me up the quad then across to North Ridge. From there, I went over the back side of the resort, winding up at the top of Needles Eye. I wanted to try to stay on high speed quads to maximize my short time out on the mountain.

I did a quick run down Needles, then over to Cruise Control, followed by Dream Maker, Skye Burst, the Stash, and Skye Lark. From there I headed back to the car, feeling good about spending an hour on the mountain.

Conditions today were variable. Many low traffic spots were covered with 3 to 4 inches of powder over a firm base. Higher traffic areas were a mix of hard pack combined with powder bumps. Most of the bumps on high traffic areas were small and irregular, the result of a lot of random skiers and riders going down the terrain.

I was impressed at the number of skiers and riders on the mountains. In addition to full parking lots, all of the lifts I rode were filled as well. The only lifts I took alone were the Snowdon Quad and the North Ridge Triple. My rides up the Needles Eye Quad and the Skye Peak Express were all done via the singles line, matching up with other skiers. While it is hard to judge exactly what is going on with the economy sitting here in Killington, the number of people in town this week that I can see give one some reason for optimism that things are starting to turn around. Time will tell.

......let it snow!

Killington Peak on Presidents Weekend. 

Happy Presidents Day. A belated Happy Valentines Day. You get the idea.....

I did not start out to not write the blog these last few days, but sometimes life just catches up with you. After writing about our nice day on the mountain last Tuesday, I had planned on interrupting my writing for a day to meet the ever present demands of the IRS. Being the middle of February, if we want to get our taxes done without several extensions, we need to get a package of about 100 pages of information to our accountant in Rutland. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't. But this year we were determined to try, so Wednesday was set aside for that purpose. Of course, Wednesday blended into Thursday, but by lunch time we had everything annotated, indexed, duplicated, and collated into a neat little 4 pound bundle of paper.

After a short lunch break, Mary headed to the Rutland and the accountants office, while I went back to my computer to process some snow stake pictures.

Flash....Bang....Poof....Cough Cough!!!!

When I hit the mouse on my Mac to wake up the system, my main monitor (I run 2 monitors on my system) decided it was a good day to die. A wonderful, acrid, burning plastic smelling smoke filled my office over our restaurant. After an emergency computer shut down, a quick game of toss the monitor in the snow bank, and opening all of the windows to ventilate the area, the rest of the day was spent on Thursday trying to pick up the pieces.

The monitor itself was 13 years old, which is like 90 in computer terms, so it did not owe us anything. After reconfiguring the computer system, and testing it thoroughly to make sure the monitor did not take anything out with it, I was able to score a new "Green" LED Flat Panel display on Amazon with overnight delivery. So much for Thursday....

Friday we had the good fortune to be able to get out and ski with some friends in the morning. It was a glorious, blue-bird kind of day. Our warm up run was down Superstar, which was groomed flat and fast. Just perfect to air out early morning legs.

By Friday noon, Fedex had delivered the new computer screen. By the time I got back from Rutland with some cables (the ones that came with the screen were 2 feet too short...Murphy's law strikes again!), we were headed into the combined madness that happens when Presidents Weekend and Valentines Day overlap.

It has been a very nice, and busy, weekend at Killington. We were blessed every night with a fully occupied inn and a sold out restaurant; both filled with guests happy to be at Killington. And that's why Mary and I love being innkeepers...It's not the mind bending administrivia, or the Mr Fixit routines that running our own business entails... It about meeting people and having them smile...

......let it snow!