The Skiing Moose 

The latest cute Christmas gift we received now graces the front walk of the inn (assuming a wind gust has not sent it sailing across the parking lot). A Skiing Moose is rocking on a stand in a snow bank by the front door. How long it stays there is anyones guess. (At least it won't get chewed up by the snowblower that is being sent for repair.)

Guests are reporting great skiing on the mountain today. Skies are a crystal clear blue. Temperatures are in the mid teens. A gusty wind is making it feel colder than it really is on occasion. All in all, a great day to be on the slopes of Killington.

Let it snow!

Snow covers the Birch Ridge Inn 

Sometimes Mother Nature giveth!

Last night and early this morning, in the first significant storm of the 2010/2011 winter season, the Killington area was blanked with 10 plus inches of snow. Driven by 30 MPH wind gusts, the snow drifted in places to 3 feet deep.

Guests returning from the mountain late this afternoon are all smiles, as they caught a nice day of freshies on the mountain. Being the Christmas Holidays, Mary and I spent the day at the inn tending to guests. As luck would have it, my snow blower worked mostly in cleaning up the area. It died with about 20% of the job left to finish. Of course we take it in stride.... things can not break if they are not being used. And using a snow blower in a ski resort is a GREAT thing. I only wish we could have used it seriously about 45 days ago.....

The new snow should put a nice cap on all of the efforts the resort completed to get the mountain ready for the holidays. It should be a great week of skiing and riding at Killington..... Let it snow!

Weather bands skimming the top of Killington's Peaks. 

In a belated Christmas gift, Mother Nature is preparing to blanket the area with snow. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for Killington and surrounding communities. 7 to 15 inches of snow are expected in the area Sunday night into Monday.

I only have 3 comments to make!
1. Mother Nature : Bring it on! Killington is ready!
2. Guests traveling to Killington - get here for the Christmas Ski Vacation of your dreams!. Be safe on your travels. If the storm pans out as expected...you will be rewarded with a great time on the mountain!

and finally... 3. Let it snow!

We wish you a Merry Christmas 

We hope that all of you are having a joyous holiday season. Merry Christmas from Killington Vermont!.... Let it snow!

Tin soldiers stand guard at the front door to the Birch Ridge Inn 

As happens, unfortunately, more often then not this time of year, I have been under the weather with an early winter respiratory condition, causing me to not produce daily reports on Killingtonblog.com. To prevent spreading my affliction to inn staff and guests, I have been mostly hiding out in the owners quarters, out of sight and out of mind, with hot tea, a warm blanket, and a bottle of Nyquil.

But, all good things must come to an end. Christmas time in Killington is no time for slackers... so I returned to work today... Now I just need to figure out how to get that Christmas shopping I always put off till the last minute done...

The resort itself is getting into the Christmas spirit. More terrain is being opened every day. Late last week saw Needles Eye and Cruise Control come on line (my last healthy day on Friday had me stuck on a chair for 30 minutes at Needles Eye after getting first tracks down the newly opened trail... I have more than paid for the chill I got swinging from that chair!) This week Bear Mountain came online. When you combine the constant snow flurries that have been falling with all of the snow that the resort has made, it should be a good Christmas season to ski Killington.

I don't know if I will be able to make it out on the slopes again before the holiday. I would like to, but we will see how it goes. In the mean time... enjoy your last minute Christmas shopping, and.... Let it snow!

Snow guns operating on lower Superstar headwall 

Signs of terrain expansion at the Killington Resort are all over the place, if you notice where to look. Now that the mountain has made a beautiful recovery from the early week nasty weather, snow guns have been directed to new trails all across the resort.

Much of the activity is clearly visible off Sky Peak. Snow guns have started to build up the base on lower Superstar. Snow guns were visible off of Cruise Control heading towards the Skyship Stage 2(which was being run today but not loading) at the base of Needles Eye. Even cross connect trails from Killington Peak to Sky Peak were under the gun; clearly a sign that the resort is getting ready to break out of it's early season footprint.

We spent a short time out on the mountain today...think of it as going out for a jog, only with ski boots on your feet. We parked right at the Snowdon Quad and skied out of the car. From the quad, I took Mary down Upper Royal Flush for the first run. Skiers right hugging the trees had copious amounts of snow. Mary, on her new skis, was not impressed by the thin cover sign at the top and the wind blown grass sections in the middle of the trail. The good thing about it was it forced her to play in some of the soft bumps with me down the right line. I tried to convince her it was a good way to get her quads working... but I don't think she bought it.

From there we headed across the resort over to Superstar for multiple laps off the Superstar chair. I don't need to bore you with the details... the whole area off the Superstar chair was skiing very nice, as it was on Tuesday when I wrote about it. The only difference between today and Tuesday was that the top of Bittersweet was open for skiing and riding. On Tuesday the resort had Bittersweet closed to make snow in it.

After a half of dozen loops (it was really meant to be a short day on the hill) we headed back down the access road for a break at the newly opened Liquid Art Coffeehouse. Beth (Weinberg) Sarandrea has opened the establishment with her husband Jimi. (Many might know Beth from the Lookout Bar where she still covers a couple of shifts as an evening bartender.) The building on the corner of the Killington Road at Miller Brook Road (across from the Killington Market) has been complete renovated. The walls are decorated with murals and lots of pictures/artwork from Beth. It is designed to be a coffee house, although instead of an espresso drink we opted for a couple of huge hot chocolates. Stopping at Liquid Art was just a nice little peaceful pick me up on our way from the mountain before heading back to work at the inn....well worth the stop.

The weather the next few days at Killington calls for continued snow showers. White from the sky is just perfect as we head into the holiday season.... Let it snow!

From the top of Superstar looking towards Killington base 

The wintery mess that we had Sunday night into Monday exited the area overnight with sharply colder temperatures and heavy snow. Temperatures at the inn this morning, before heading off to the mountain, were in the single digits. 6 inches of newly fallen snow covered the ground that had basically been laid bare Sunday night by the torrential r@!n that had swept thru the area.

Killington peak this morning was still covered in a driving snow storm. We took the K1 gondola to the peak just after 9:00 for a few runs in the North Ridge area. 6 plus inches of new untracked snow greeted us on skiers right on Upper East Fall. Under the snow, the base was a little funky, consisting of a loose (almost wet) granular with a few larger chunks thrown in to keep you awake in the early morning air. Evidently the weather turned to snow so rapidly on Killington Peak that the wet snow created by the storm Sunday and Monday had not had a chance to set before being covered up.

Rime, Reason, and Upper Double Dipper were all in nice shape, with lots of untracked snow along the edges to carve into. Regular East Falls was slick in places, with a little thin cover exposed at the choke point midway down the trail. Highline was full of soft bumps down the lower headwall. Thin cover once again predominated the entrance to Highline, but once reaching the area near Racers Edge, Highline was deep with new snow.

In mid morning, I headed to the Superstar Quad. Mary stayed over at Snowdon. She reports that Chute was well covered with a few slick spots. Mouse Trap was more of the same, with the back side of the snow whale created by the tower mounted fan gun being particularly "special".

On Superstar, it was like being at a different resort. The blowing and drifting snow of Killington Peak was replaced with brilliant sunshine at the top of the Superstar Quad. The upper headwall of Superstar was groomed perfectly flat; set nicely for carving down the steep pitch. The snow whales on Superstar were also groomed. A large amount of powder accumulated on skiers right between the whales and the woods. It was good for more than a few nice pow turns.

Skylark was near perfect, although it did have a funky sound to it in places. It was probably groomed in the early morning hours. The corduroy was covered in most spots with an inch or 2 of fresh powder. On the upper section, the sound was like the trail was hollow underneath. Perhaps this was another artifact from the wet storm of the late weekend. Lower Skylark was nicely covered, although it had a pinch point in it which could have been nasty. The rocks on skiers right were exposed by the storm. A freestyle training course was roped off on skiers left. As a result, all traffic funneled into a 20 foot wide segment on the lower half of the trail.

Upper Bittersweet was being assaulted by snow guns. Lower Bittersweet was really nice; similar to Skylark but with a little more fluff on top. There was some weirdness at the bottom of Bittersweet this morning that was typical of the kind of weather the resort was experiencing. While the top section was in bright sunshine, as soon as you made the left turn to head back to the Superstar Quad you were greeted with the leading edge of the blizzard which was covering Killington Peak. It made for a strange push against a heavy wind into blowing snow to get back to the quad, but the Superstar, Skylark, Bittersweet combination was worth several laps in the late morning, before ending the ski day and heading back to the inn.

Let it snow!