Be the Herb!
Embrace the Herb!

Looks like a new Christmas present opportunity!

---> "Think Snow" <---

4 inches of snow fell at the snow stake at the Birch Ridge Inn today. 

There is no doubt about it.... Winter has finally arrived in Killington.

At this inn over the last 18 hours, 4 inches of snow has fallen at the snow stake. While if you look at the snow stake gallery you will see that we have had the ground covered with snow earlier this season, todays storm is the first one with any significance. While it was not enough for me to take out my snowblower for it's inaurgural run this winter, it was enough for our plow service to come and plow the parking lot. Progress towards winter at last.

The weather forecast for the Killington region calls for snow to fall most days this week. Some days it might be flurries. Other days it might be more significant (I don't want to jinx it.) Combined with the all out assault the resort has been pursuing with snow making, I would expect that the open trail count will escalate sharply as we head into the Christmas vacation period.

If you are inn Killington, stop in and say hello and enter the tree contast. But no matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Sharing Teddy 

I was walking around the inn yesterday and I saw Teddy. I did not think much of the cute little fellow.... Mary is pulling out all sorts of items from storage to decorate all the nooks and crannies of the Inn for the holidays. But Teddy caught my eye so I started to take some pictures.

I asked Mary about where Teddy was going and she told me that Teddy was going to new home. We don't have children living at the inn. My kids are now middle aged adults(sorry kids!). But Teddy deserves to be in a home where a small child can enjoy his company. And Mary found just the place.

Unbeknown to me, but known by Mary, the 3rd grade class at the Killington Elementary School runs a Holiday Store at the school. People donate small items to the school that the children can sell to other students for under a dollar to give as gifts to their friends and family. Teddy is just perfect for some young child to give to another child for Christmas this year.

The store is run by the 3rd grade students on December 20th and 21st at the Killington Elementary School on Schoolhouse Road in Killington. If you have a small item that could use a new home, the school is accepting donations during school hours through Wednesday December 13th.

Good luck Teddy as you head off to a new home. May you bring joy in the eyes of a child this Christmas season.

If you are in Killington this weekend, stop bye the inn and say hello. But no matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Can you count the lights on the 2017 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree??? 

The holidays are charging at us!

With great fanfare to a room full of well wishers, the 2017 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree was officially lit on Saturday. This years tree is the "Formal" tree decorated with white lights and crystal ornaments. The tree measures in at just over 14 feet from floor to ceiling, and is covered in lights. So many lights, that 2 different electrical circuits are required to drive the tree.

It has become a Christmas Tradition at the inn to have our guests and many locals come and have their pictures taken beneath the tree. This year, we are happy to introduce a fun contest around the tree. All you need to do is guess the number of lights used to illuminate the tree and you have a chance to win a Champagne Chefs Dinner for 2 at the inn.

The rules of the contest are very simple. Just visit the inn and fill out a contest entry form with your best guess. Using "Price is Right" rules, the person who guesses the closest to the correct number of lights on the tree, without going over the number, wins. You can fill out your entry form any day during the holiday season, right up to 9:00 PM on Friday January 5th. The winning entry will be announced in the Great Room on Saturday January 6th at 6:30 PM. No purchase is necessary and you do not need to be in attendance to win.... but you must come to the inn to get your entry form to enter the contest.

In addition to all of the activites around the Christmas tree and decorating the inn for the holidays, we did have a chance to get out on the mountain for a few hours to get the ski muscles moving. The "Bagel", after a brief hiatus away from Killington with the end of golf season, returned to take a few runs on the mountain with us. Conditions on Monday all across the mountain were great, even though we have not received a significant amount of natural snow yet this winter. The Killington resort has been going all out to make snow across all of the mountain. And it showed with a great day of skiing on Monday.

The Bagel joins us on the Snowdon Quad as we take our Monday turns on the mountain.

With the passing storm front that went through the area last night and today, temperatures across the mountain are getting decidely colder. Lake effect snow is cranking up over the Great Lakes which also usually brings some snow to the mountain. With "Winter" officially due to arrive in a couple of weeks with the Winter Solstice, the time is now to plan your trips to Killington to enjoy the mountain.

If you are inn Killington this weekend, stop in and say hello and enter the tree contast. But no matter where you may be ---> "Think Snow" <---

Join us in the Great Room of the inn as we officially light the 2017 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree this Saturday.

We hope you can join us. But wherever you may be, "Think Snow"!

Kudos to the Killington Resort 

Before delving into the exploits of the Birch Ridge Crew and our annual expedition to locate the perfect Christmas tree, it is important to properly praise the Killington Resort for their success in running the Audi FIS Womens World Cup at Killington over the Thanksgiving weekend. It is impossible to call out everyone who was responsible for successfully implementing the project to hold the races, but clearly Herwig Demschar, Powdr Sr VP International Business Develp[ment, Mike Solimano, President of the Killington Resort, and Jeff Temple, Director of Mountain Ops at the Killington Resort and thier respective staffs, are to be congratulated for executing such an incredibly complex world class event at Killington. When well north of 30,000 people come knocking at your door and you invite them in, you better be ready...and was Killington ready! The Birch Ridge Inn was filled with guests all weekend who attended the event. And down to a person, they were all beaming with pride for Killington, and for the skiers racing in the event, when they returned "home" to the inn each evening. Thank you Herwig, Mike, and Jeff for having the confidence in the community to hold such an event in Killington, and for the your perseverence in seeing such a complex task through to a successful completion.

While all of the activites were taking place to welcome guests to Killington for the World Cup, in addition to preparing to host guests at the inn for the event, we were (and still are) busy implementing our plan to celebrate the Christmas Holidays. One of the major task, of course, is to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree for the inn.

This year, in addition to finding a tree for the inn, Mary also took on the task of finding 4 additional trees for friends and the inns chef.

The search for the perfect trees was on!

Birch Ridge Inn Christmas tree found and tagged

Hauling the tree out of the forest.

Tree waiting in front yard before coming into the inn.

With the trees found, cut, and brought to their respective homes on the Monday before Thanksgiving, we all attended to our other respective duties. There were turkeys to cook, guests to greet, races to watch.... The Christmas trees had been safely filed back in our minds for a week until the arrival of "Christmas Tree" Monday with its attendend celebration and work.

For the last 4 or so years, we start Christmas Tree Monday as people living is a ski resort properly should.....we go skiing. After that, we follow up with a lunch at the local Oriental restaurant, Sushi Yoshi, followed by a full afternoon of moving the Christmas trees previously cut into the inn and local homes.

Skiing at Killington was great on Monday. Mary, Richard, Froggy. Peter, and Howie line up to begn a run.

The Birch Ridge Inn Christmas tree unwrapped before bringing it into the inn. Froggy standing by to help haul it in.

A little tree surgery to get the Birch Ridge Inn tree to fit into the inn.

Sometimes it all boils down to muscle. Hauling the tree into the inn.

Attaching the stand.

Supervising the adjustments.

The Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree. Successfully raised on Christmas Tree Monday waiting to be decorated.

In addition to raising the Birch Ridge Inn tree, our day was not yet done. We still had 3 other trees to put up before our day was done. (The fifth tree, our chef.s, is being put up separately.)

Richard and Mary M's tree waiting to be decorated.

Froggy and Sherry A's tree waiting to be decorated.

By this time the crew was going to the dogs so we called in some reinforcements.

Peter and Ellen S's tree waiting to be decorated.

With Christmas Tree Monday successfully under the belt, the full week is allocated to decorating the trees. The Birh Ridge Inn Tree will be "Officially" lit on this coming Saturday at 6:30 PM. Stop bye if you are in town.

And wherever you may be as we start off the holiday season....Think Snow!

The Snow Stake at the Birch Ridge Inn - Prepped for winter 

it is finally here....

With great anticipation, and a little nervious anxiety looking at the calendar, the 2017-2018 winter season of skiing and riding at Killington began this morning. Season pass and express card holders were invited by the mountain to begin the season today at 9:30 AM. And hundreds showed up to enjoy the first turns of the season.

Tomorrow the resort will open for the general public at 9:00 AM with service to Killington Peak via the K1 Gondola. Skiing and snowboarding terrain is on the Rime and Reason trails, including an early season terrain park on Reason. The open trails are serviced by the North Ridge Triple chair, which will load until 3:45 p.m. Last run down Rime and Reason is at 3:30 p.m before guests will be asked to walk out of the area on the "Stairway to Heaven" to Killington Peak to download on the gondola.

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, inn business kept Mary and I away from the mountain today (more on that later)... But several of our employees were able to partake. From thier reports back, they were really stoked by the conditions, which included beautiful soft snow, moderate temperatures, and a brilliant blue sky.

Chef Colin out for some early season turns on his board today..

20 years ago, to the day, the first large pieces of machinery arrived at the property Mary and I bought. The transformation of 37 Butler Road from a private residence to the Birch Ridge Inn was beginning. In a fit of irony, 20 years later, heavy construction machinery is onsite again as we prepare the inn to greet guests for the winter.

While todays project does not involve digging a new foundation for a building, it is equally important. Each year before the onset of winter, we grade out the driveway to make sure that it can be snow plowed effectively. This year, in addition to doing the re-grading, we asked the contractor to re-work some of the drainage on the driveway to better handle water flow. While we have always gotten a lot of precipitation in Killington, over the last 5 or so years the nature has changed dramatically. What used to be slow and steady showers has turned into an all or nothing proposition. Now when it r@!ns, it usually comes in a torrent. The torrents, over time, eroded the ditches on the side of the driveway that were rebuilt in 2011 after Hurricaine Irene. In addition to digging out the trench on the right side of the driveway (going up to the inn), we also had our contractor add a new drain pipe under the driveway from the carriage way.

Working on rebuilding the driveway to the inn.

At the same time the driveway work was taking place, one of our neighbors had his contractor digging in a sewer line right in front of the driveway and carriageway. We had the inn on a planned shut down so we could continue our efforts to transition from the fall to winter seasons, so business was not impacted. But, needless to say, access to the inn has been a little tricky the last couple of days.

All is not lost, however. Our neighbor had the local asphault contractor re-pave in front of the driveway and carriageway this morning. Before the paving took place, our contractor had multiple yards of material deposited on the driveway to build it up for re-grading. That began this afternoon. Access to the inn should be back to normal tomorrow (Thursday November 9th), with the exception that the scars of heavy equipment will be still visible until the first snow fall of the season erases them from view.

Just because we were land locked at the inn does not mean we were sitting idly bye. The annual "Leaf Rodeo" at the inn was underway in earnst today. Pick your favorite weapon....rake, tarp, wheel barrow, leaf blower. They were all in operation today. The Green Mountains are really beautiful in the summer and the fall... but the piper needs to be paid when the leaves decide to head for the ground. Fortunately, today was crisp and sunny. The perfect day for picking up leaves.

"Leaf Rodeo 2017 " underway with the assist of a leaf blower today at the inn.

We will be working around the inn for the next couple of days as we prepare to re-open for the winter season on Friday.

If you are inn Killington this weekend, stop in and say hello. Wherever you may be, however, "Think Snow" at least for those of us up here in Killington.