Storm clouds hang over Killington 

Ugly...that is all one can say about 55 degrees and a hot wind on December 28th in the mountains of Vermont. Natural snow is rapidly melting all through the mountains, causing local streams to fill up as the water heads down hill to points south. With any luck, we are experiencing the infamous January Thaw a little early this year.

Inn guests returning to the inn this afternoon are reporting that ski conditions on the mountain are holding up fairly well. The Killington Resort made and incredible amount of snow on the trails in early December when temperatures were unseasonably cold. It is serving them well now that we have unseasonably warm temperatures in the region. Snow conditions are being reported as soft and spring like, which is understandable given the thermometer was reading 57 degrees at the inn at noon today. The only problem at the mountain was a wind hold on the Superstar Quad. High winds have been buffeting the area all afternoon. Evidently the resort needed to close the Superstar Quad because of the gusts.

Cold weather is due to overspread the area later tonight. I am sure that the resort will resume snow making to resurface terrain damaged by the last couple of days high temperatures. It would be nice if we got a little natural snow to help. We can hope.......Let it snow!

Father Christmas. One of the many gifts Mary and I received this year for Christmas. 

A belated happy holidays from Killington Vermont. Mary and I hope that you and yours have had a good holiday and are looking forward to the New Year.

I have not posted a blog the last couple of days as I have proven once again that the most dangerous place at a ski resort is a sidewalk. Just after posting the snow stake picture on Christmas day, I decided I would take a walk. It was quite ugly overnight with a combination of NCP, freezing NCP and light snow. In my walk, I fell backwards on some ice, splitting my head open in the process. I am not exactly sure where this took place, as the only thing I remember is being in our dining room with our sous chef getting me a cloth to apply pressure to the wound. Head wounds can be rather messy. This one was no exception.

As the Killington Medical Center was closed for Christmas Day, we made the best of it during the evening. A few inn guests staying with us over Christmas night knew what was going on, but most of our dinner guests were not aware of my injuries. I did go through 3 different shirts in the course of the evening...but a little hair comb over work by Mary hid the nasty cut from all but the most observant.

Yesterday I went to the Killington Medical Center first thing in the morning. Dr. Russell cleaned out the wound, putting 4 staples in my head to close it up in the process. He said based upon my symptoms (not being aware for multiple minutes) that I had a concussion. Other than watching the wound for infection, he told me that I cannot ski for the next 7 days. I actually find that ironic, as if I were skiing, I would have had my helmet on and probably would not have been injured. But given the holiday, it will be pretty easy for me to follow his advice.

Over the next couple of days, as time allows, I will be posting holiday updates. In the mean time Mary, myself, and our staff at the Birch Ridge Inn wish you a very happy holidays........Let it snow!

Trees on Rams Head covered in snow and silhouetted by deep blue sky. 

Deep snow, cool temperatures (some would think its cold), a deep blue sky, and full sunshine. A nice day to ski!

Mary and I went out for a short loop today. We were out at mid day for about an hour and a half. Mary wanted to go over to Bear Mountain for a ride on the new lift. While we were there, I took her over to the "Stash" for her first taste of the trees.

Unlike yesterday when I was on ungroomed trails, today was all groomed cruisers. The Stash, Bear Claw and Sky Burst were all groomed flat. Under a beautiful blue sky, there were nice, easy cruisers.

We also looped down the new Great Eastern to Cruise Control. Just below the junction of Great Eastern and Needles Eye, the resort has carved a new boulevard from the side of Sky Peak to make the trail easier for beginners. It was perfectly groomed, providing a nice easy ride down the mountain.

All in all, a beautiful couple of easy hours on the slopes......Let it snow!

Larry after auguring in on his board chest deep on Dream Maker 

What a day. 6 runs in 3 hours.....and we skied right on to every lift with no lift lines, wind holds, or any other delays...

Only 6 runs you say!... Yup...6 of the craziest runs ever in some of the deepest snow I have ever experienced at Killington.

Snow depths across the mountain went from boot deep to neck deep, and everything in between. Of the 6 runs, none were on groomed trails, other than the first cruise down the Stash. Even that had very deep powder along skiers left. The six runs included "The Stash", Wildfire, Dream Maker, Needles Eye, North Star, and High Line. (The boys did High Line. I did the training run to Chute to lower Bunny Buster. A bum shoulder was acting up.)

Skiing and riding today were not for the feint of heart. I do not think that there was a run where all of us did not do a major tumble. Most of the falls were due to variations in snow depth caused by wind blown snow. A few were outright falls into crevasses. Lower Wild Fire and Dream Maker had some that were better than shoulder deep. And then there were the tumbles on the back side of bumps where the surface went from wind blown hard pack to over your head powder in less than 5 feet. Every tumble took major effort to haul yourself out of the deep snow to a place where you could right yourself and continue on. And none of us have anything to complain about...it was just a very crazy (good) day of skiing!

Of course, we could have skied nicely groomed trails. We probably would have gotten 20 runs in during 3 hours if we had gone that route. But why would we want to do that with all this powder around to play in?

.....Let it snow!

Birch Ridge Inn covered in new snow. 

I must admit when I looked at the snow stake today I was a bit puzzled. At noon time, I had just finished snow blowing what seemed like 8 to 12 inches of snow from the walkways around the inn. Yet the snow stake only read about 24 inches...a net gain of 2 inches from yesterday.

Then it dawned on me that the snow that fell on Saturday was a soft, light powder. The new snow falling on top of it is causing yesterdays ephemeral base to compress. Basic gravity in action.

Ah... if all of life's problems were so easily explained....so it goes!.....Let it snow!

The new snow blower arrived just in time! 

Over 14 inches of snow overnight and still snowing. Need I say more!

.....Let it snow!

"The Stash" officially opens today at Killington 

With little fan fare, and less pomp and circumstance, the Killington Resort launched a new detachable High Speed Quad and a redesigned trail system for the Sky Peak area of the resort. All summer, work was ongoing to install the new lift and build/change the trails on Sky Peak. Mary and I had done some extensive hikes through the area, but that was well before snow was on the ground. Today, I had a chance to ski it!

The entrance to the new Sky Peak starts out rather matter of fact at the top of Superstar. A small cut was made in a snow bank on the far side off the Superstar Quad. Over the lip and a sharp left, and you are on the glide path to Sky Peak and the Stash.

Sky Burst is both different and the same all at once. The top of Sky Burst drops over a 15 foot wall to the main trail. The only reason I know a wall is there is because I saw it in the summer. Right now it is throughly covered with snow. The 'New' Thing about Sky Burst is the lack of beginner skiers and riders crossing the trail mid way down slope on the Snowshed Crossover. The Crossover is dead!... Some will like this, some will hate this, but it now makes Sky Burst a nice long uninterrupted trail. And today the snow cover was sweet!

The new Sky Peak quad will also change how people ski Bear Mountain and Sky Peak. It is very fast! I took it 3 times, and other than a little early morning comedy, it averaged about 6 minutes from bottom to top....Very nice!

The one comedy was the first loop on the new Sky Peak Quad.

Who would have thought I would have been out until last chair??? (Click to enlarge.)

We skied right to it with virtually no waiting at 9:10. A nice, uneventful ride to the top. At the top terminal, we get to the safety nets (aka Tuna nets) and the chair unceremoniously stops. We swing in the breeze for 3 or 4 minutes. No big deal... then the lift supervisor comes out of the house....Tells a joke or two... then tells us to hold on and wait till we hear what he is going to do next. He climbs up the ladder with a couple of other people into the top of the lift terminal...hits a starter switch...big belch of smoke...and fires up the auxiliary diesel to evacuate the chair. The lift attendant is a little confused. He puts out the "Last Chair" sign on the chair in front of us. That lasted about 30 seconds until the lift supervisor sees it... looks at us, shakes his head, tells another joke, and we start moving. You just can't make this stuff up...

After skiing the rest of the mountain for a couple of hours, I went down Sky Burst again. The new lift was running just fine, on its primary electric motor not it's auxiliary diesel. Just another day in paradise. With great skiing to boot......let it snow!