Great day to work on your goggle tan at Killington! 

With all the mess Mother Nature has thrown at the Green Mountains the last few days, it was really nice to get outside, get on skis, and work on the goggle tan. The Killington Resort is open for top to bottom skiing and riding, with major trail expansions queued up for the holiday weekend.

This morning the resort was carrying skiers and riders uphill on the K1 Gondola, the North Ridge Triple, and the Snowdon Poma. In addition, they were turning the Canyon Quad and the Snowdon Quad as they prepare to go into the Thanksgiving Weekend. Skiing and riding today were available off Killington Peak into the North Ridge area, Bunny Buster on Snowdon, and interconnecting trails betweek the two.

Trails on the upper part of the mountain were a machine groomed granular over a firm surface. While there were not ice flows visible, edges on your skis were important. On the upper part of the mountain, the resort was not making snow. Instead they decided to deep groom the area to manipulate the deep cover they had already created on the top of Killington Peak.

Trails on the lower part of the mountain, and interconnecting trails, were much softer. They were primarily covered with packed powder from extensive snow making operations that took place last night. Guns were still set up to resume snow making on lower trails most likely later this evening.

What was really impressive about today's excusion on the mountain was the aggressive amount of snow making taking place on closed trails in preparation for the weekend. The available terrain for skiing and riding at Killington is poised to take a major leap forward in the next day or 2 as the mountain brings online new trails.

Snowmaking was taking place today on East Fall all the way to the Canyon Quad. On Snowdon, Chute was under the snow making guns top to bottom, straight down to the Snowdon Quad. Snow making was also underway on the Vail Trail between Snowdon and Rams Head down to the Rams Head Quad. In addition, the Learn to Ski trails on Snow Shed and the Snow Play Zone on Rams Head were also getting blanked by snow making. With all of the snow making taking place, look to see both the lift count and the trail count to jump substantially during the Thanksgiving Weekend. Killington will have the most skiing and riding open in the east during the holiday.

You will find a gallery of pictures from my couple of hours on the mountain today at the Birch Ridge Inn's Facebook page. The gallery is located under Skiing the day before Thanksgiving at Killington - Nov 24, 2010..

Let it snow!

Significant Bumps today on Mouse Trap 

The forecasted pre-Thanksgiving warm up is in full swing in the Green Mountains. In a rare bit of forecasting accuracy, today's weather matched the 5 day forecast from last week with temps in the 40's and off and on showers at the base of Killington. The same is forecasted for Tuesday with the outlook for falling temperatures back below freezing on Tuesday night.

And why is this important may you ask? During last weeks extended cold spell, the resort was able to pump out a huge amount of man made snow to allow the resort to offer full top to bottom skiing and riding for the first time this season. The return of colder temperatures later on Tuesday will allow the resort to restart snow making, continuing to improve skiing and riding conditions at the resort for Thanksgiving weekend.

Today the resort was turning the K1 Gondola, the North Ridge Triple, and the Snowdon Poma, supporting skiing and riding on 15 trails. In addition to the North Ridge area, which the resort has had open for several weeks, skiing and riding was also supported on Snowdon down Bunny Buster and part of Chute with the two areas interconnected by Klink and Great Northern.

Surface conditions were soft across the resort, as one would expect with warmer temperatures. While most of the trails were groomed after the weekend, the soft snow was bumping up in places due to morning traffic. Of course Mouse Trap, shown in todays picture, was not groomed out. It was covered with bumps left over from weekend skiers and riders.

Let it snow!

Killington making snow on Snowdon to K1 Base Lodge 

The Killington Resort has gone all in over the last 24 hours to resurface existing trails and expand terrain for top to bottom skiing and riding. Mother Nature has been kind enough to extend a bubble of cold air over the mountain. Seeing an opportunity to expand terrain to accommodate Thanksgiving weekend skiers and riders, the resort decide to make the best of the cold air and turn on the snow guns to cover both Killington Peak and Snowdon mountains.

While over the last few years the weather in November in the northeast has been a crapshoot at best, the extended forecast for the Killington region is calling for below freezing temperatures through the weekend, allowing the resort to continue to make snow and improve on mountain conditions. If the weather follows the forecast, after a slight warm up on Monday and Tuesday, temperatures will again drop below freezing through the Thanksgiving weekend, which should give the resort another extended period to make snow prior to the arrival of Thanksgiving guests.

Let it snow!

Snowmaking going full tilt on Killington Peak 

The last few days were interesting. High winds and r@!n attacked the area. At the inn, a fir tree was blown over across the parking lot. (A chain saw is a very handy tool!) The storm cleared the area last night with driving participation that alternated between heavy r@!n, hail, sleet, and snow; with a bolt of lightning or 2 thrown in for good measure.

Temperatures across the region dropped rapidly overnight. Temperatures today have hovered in the mid 30's around the inn, with colder temperatures on Killington Peak.

Taking advantage of the plummeting temperatures, the Killington Resort has restarted their snowmaking operation. Snowmaking has been going on all day to resurface the upper parts of the mountain supported by the North Ridge Triple and the "Stairway to Heaven". These efforts, combined with the promising near term local weather forecast, should seal the deal for good early season skiing and riding this coming weekend.

High winds knocked down this Fir tree and put it across the parking lot at the Birch Ridge Inn Click to enlarge..

All eyes in the area are looking towards the resort for signs of when they will commence snowmaking operations on the lower sections of the mountain to provide top to bottom skiing and riding. It will be interesting to watch as we run up to the Thanksgiving Weekend next week.

At the inn, the restaurant resumes full dinner service this weekend as we head into the ski season. This week we are serving Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings in the dining room and the Great Room Lounge starting at 6:00 PM. Next week, we will be serving Wednesday, Friday and Saturday over Thanksgiving weekend. If you are in Killington, come on inn!

By the way, with the snow stake still showing green grass in middle November, it's time to dust off your dancing shoes!......Let It SNOW!!!!!!

Mary refinishing tables in the Great Room 

Good news sometimes travels in cryptic fashion. Todays headline is but one example.

The doldrums of twig season have descended on Killington. People in town fight them in different ways. Many who have retired in Killington head towards the door, choosing to take a trip down south to warmer climes prior to returning to enjoy the winter season. Many local workers use this time as an opportunity to visit with distant family. Quite a few spend time on the mountain, skiing and riding the terrain the resort has worked hard to get open. For business owners, like Mary and myself, the doldrums of twig season are a chance to get at some of the projects around the business that cannot be completed when lots of guests are visiting Killington.

For the last few weeks around the inn, Mary and I have been focusing on a list of items to complete before the onset of winter. Much of it has been outside, as this is the time to take care of the property before snow cover seals the ground until spring. Of course there has been the standard yard work. All of Mary's gardens need to be put to rest before winter. And we live in the Green Mountains with trees (thankfully) everywhere. Trees, of course, mean leaves on the ground after fall foliage is done. I keep trying to encourage our guests to "Take Home Vermont" with a fresh bag of leaves to go...but the gag only goes so far.

When you visit the area again, you will see that there has been a lot of outside lighting work done around the property. One of the projects I took on was to replace all of the outside lights on our carriage way with LED's instead of the incandescent lights we have been using the last 12 years. Several months during the summer were spent getting LED samples to test for color variations (white is not white suffice to say). With the help of a friend, we have installed 550 LED's in various places to decorate the property. The LED's we are using , by the way, use less than 1/7th the electricity of the incandescent bulbs they replace. I won't go all the way to calling the project green, but they certainly lower the carbon footprint of the inn.

Over the last several days, work has started to move inside. We have a list of projects to complete between now and Thanksgiving to get the inn ready for winter. And that's the good news. Because once the doldrums of twig season hit, winter cannot be far behind.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak: resplendent in bright morning sunshine! 

Just a beautiful morning to be on Killington. Bright sunshine, very light winds, lots of snow to ski on, midweek joie de vivre...of course by noon time we were back at the Inn getting ready to work, but it was still a great morning to be outside in Killington.

Ski conditions this morning were a little "crunchy". The precipitation over the last several days, while basically frozen at the peak, still had a huge water content to it. Sub-freezing temperatures overnight completed the task of locking things up, resulting in firm surfaces on the limited open terrain.

I should be careful here to say that we did not run into anything that resembled blue ice, or ice flows, on our time on the mountain. The ski surface was mid winter flat and fast. Quite receptive to edges on turns with minimal skidding. Those expecting soft surfaces like we had last week would probably be happier later in the day. But for the mostly local crowd on the hill this morning, flat and fast cruising is an easy day on the mountain.

Open terrain on the mountain is basically the same as last week. Open Trails include Great Northern, Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, Upper Double Dipper, and Lower Ridge Run (what used to be called part of West Glade). All trails currently lead to the base of the North Ridge Triple to boost back up the mountain.

Mary hiking back to the K1 Gondola on the Stairway to Heaven Click to enlarge..

To get off the mountain, hiking is still required. We hiked back up the "Stairway to Heaven" to get back from the top of the North Ridge Triple to the top of the K1 Gondola. This was Mary's first time in ski boots doing the hike. We both did it quite comfortably in 6-7 minutes, stopping a couple of places along the way to take in the spectacular views afforded by todays clear sky and bright sunshine.

Overall, a nice way to spend the morning......Let It SNOW!!!!!!

Killington on a nicer day - yesterday! 

There is a good news story taking place all around Killington today....as long as you don't want to go outside.

An early season storm is blanketing the area in a wintery mix, with the emphasis on the wintery. We are not talking feet of snow here, but the ground all around town is starting to take on a white winter coat. Precipitation around the inn today has been a combination of sleet, freezing r@!n, ice, and snow. Accumulations at the inn (1850 feet) are minor, but the ground has become cold enough to support accumulation on the pavement on local side roads and the Killington Road in front of the inn. Winter is definitely attempting to gain a foot hold in the area.

The storm is fairly wide spread. I was in Rutland on business this morning. Route 4 over the Sherburne Pass was slick but passable. Even in Rutland, snow and ice were accumulating on most surfaces.

On the mountain this morning, the resort needed to suspend operations today due to high winds with gusts in the 60-70 MPH range. Because of the wind, the resort was not able to run the K1 Gondola. This prevented the them from boosting skiers and riders to the top of Killington Peak to access the North Ridge area of the resort.

Again, it's a bad news/good news kind of story. While the resort is not open today, trails across the resort are being coated with snow. And the more early season snow the resort gets, the sooner it will be able to expand its open terrain.

If you are in the area, stay safe on the roads today. And let it snow!