Stacking wood for the winter. 

With fall foliage gone now for a few days, attention around the inn has switched to preparing big time for winter.

In the virtual world, all of our web advertising has been redirected towards the upcoming ski season. Our main website, birchridge.com has been changed over from a summer golf theme to a winter ski theme. All of the pricing details concerning creating ski packages for visitors to our inn have been resolved and programed into a ski package calculator to allow guests to create ski packages while staying at our inn.

In the physical world around the inn, cleanup from the fall is in full swing. The staff is coming in every day this week for a few hours to rake leaves from around the inn. The first load of wood for the fireplace in the great room has been delivered and stacked. The list seems endless when we look at it each year, but it is all quite predictable just as summer turns to fall.

My morning ride up to the mountain did not reveal much. Killington Peak was solidly blocked in by the Killington Cloud. From KBL it was impossible to tell if any additional snowmaking was done last night, although I doubt it as it appears a temperature inversion developed overnight. There was still a lot of activity on the mountain, just the same. I saw lift technicians running the Superstar Chair this morning. People were continuing to paint in the base lodge area. And a Sysco truck was making deliveries to KBL in obvious preparation to open the lodge to the public.

Ski season will be here soon. Oh well...back to my chores. I need to get a few more things done before my ski season can begin.

Let it snow!

Snow Guns operating at Killington.
Click on the picture to enlarge. 

What a great time to live in Killington! The Boston Red Sox win their second World Series in 4 years. The New England Patriots are undefeated midway through the football season. And the Killington Ski Resort is blowing snow to get ready for the ski season.

With cold temperatures finally infiltrating the area, the Killington Ski Resort kept blowing snow all night. At 9:00 AM this morning, snowmaking was clearly visible on the top section of Double Dipper, Reason, and Rime. From what I could see from the base area, it appears that snow blowing operations are confined to the area above Great Northern, with some guns also operating on lower Rime. Snowmaking at this point is not top to bottom on Rime as snow was not visible on Rime at the base of the North Ridge Triple. With the current weather forecast indicating cold temperatures every night this week, it will be interesting to watch the progress of snow making as the resort readies for the winter season.

Let it snow!

Solitary Snow Gun blowing snow on Killington. 

We have a long way to go before we can put the ski's on, but the Killington Resort has started their snowmaking system this afternoon.

In what is probably a simple test of the system, a solitary snow gun blowing snow on "Reason" near the top of the Canyon Quad is plainly visible from the Killington Road. Temperatures near the base of Killington are in the high 30's this afternoon. According to our chef, who hiked to the peak this morning, temperatures at the peak were below freezing with a strong wind. Clearly the snowmaking team at Killington decided conditions were favorable to blow the first snow of the season.

Amended @ 6:00PM - Since 4 PM, reports from friends in the area indicate that the snowmaking efforts may be more than a simple test. Multiple snow guns are now operating on North Ridge (formerly known as the glades). While Killington has not made any public statements, they have posted pictures of the ongoing snowmaking operations on killington.com.

Let it snow!

Killington Peak awaits first snow
behind a freshly painted Killington Base Lodge. 

How about those Red Sox!

It is a very quiet week in Killington. The fall foliage visitors, who descended upon the area from all over the world, have moved to the south. Local business owners, Mary and myself included, are busy preparing our operations for winter. We have a list of maintenance activities to complete in the next few weeks. We also have several open positions to fill (Chef's Assistant and Restaurant Server) to bring our inn' staff to it's normal winter complement. I have also started my fall task of tasting wines to add to our winter wine list. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. (It is actually a lot harder than one would think.)

I just got back from a trip to Boston to play golf with my brothers in a tournament at Belmont Country Club to support the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. This is the 4th year for the tournament which reunites guys who caddied at Belmont. I was one of the lucky ones who got a golf scholarship through the Ouimet Foundation to go to college, so being able to give back now to that cause so kids today can go to school has some real meaning for me.

Back at Killington it is hard to comprehend the weather we are having. We did have a frost last night, but not significant enough to turn the mountain white. Up to this point the weather has been too warm to allowed the resort to begin snowmaking to prepare for the scheduled opening in mid November. Last year at this time we were dealing with the first snows of winter. We have not even seen a snow flurry yet this year, so it's hard to gauge when ski season will really begin. But one thing I can say for sure is that this is New England. The expression "If you don't like the weather...just wait a minute" really does apply.

Let it snow!

Putting out the Snowstake
for the 2007-08 Winter Season 

It is hard to believe that last year at this time Killington was seeing it's first significant snowfall.

Temperatures around the inn today are in the low 70's with beautiful sunny skies and a light wind. What happened to fall?? All in all it was a great day to work outside. I got the woodpile moved to it's winter spot. I did some light maintenance to a few things around the inn, and I put out the snowstake for the 2007-2008 winter season.

I will admit, it felt a little odd putting up the snowstake dressed in shorts. But then again, it is October 21st. Many years by now we have seen several days with significant snow, and the mountain would have a cap on snow on the peak. Not this year... so it goes. It will all come soon enough, we hope!

Let it snow!

Outer Limits at Bear Mountain. Still some foliage color on lower elevations. 

The fall foliage along the Green Mountains that make up the Killington Resort is just about done for 2007. Lower elevations, I am guessing sub 3000 feet, still have some trees showing color, but the twigs are definitely winning. By late next week, the locals will be starting their snow dances in the hope that the weather will change. Eyes will be focused on the sky, looking for the first snowflakes of the coming winter season.

Our inn guests returning form their adventures yesterday reported solid fall foliage color on the western side of the Green Mountains (Route 7 corridor) to just about Middlebury Vermont. Guests reported that the western slopes of the Greens on the lower mountain gap roads including the Brandon and Lincoln gaps had beautiful color. The great thing about being in Killington is we are located smack dab in the middle of Vermont, So even though fall color is now getting long on the tooth in the immediate Killington basin area, great color is still only a short drive away.

Killington skiers will recognize todays picture a Outer Limits at Bear Mountain. In my foray over there this morning, the area was very quiet. But upon closer examination of Outer Limits I realized that the resort has totally cleared all of the brush on the slope in preparation for winter snow. I looked through my picture library to see if I had a similar photo of O.L. devoid of snow for comparison purposes (I don't), so I can not tell if what the new owners of the resort have done on O.L. was normal. But if memory serves me correctly (and some times I have senior moments), I am fairly certain that the old resort owners never cut back O.L. to a clean state in comparison to what I saw today.

With regard to the onset of snow season at Killington, I will politely say "Not Today". Temperatures are once again approaching the 70 degree mark. For comparison purposes, last year we saw our first white in the area on October 13th. Just a dusting, but clearly visible on pictures of the mountain I took that day.

Let it snow!

Ingersoll Rand IQ HP1600 Air Compressor being delivered for snowmaking system at Killington. 

Another visible sign that winter is around the corner at Killington is all of the work being done on the mountain to prepare the snow making system to create snow. While Killington "on average" receives around 250 inches of natural snow each year, Mother Nature is a fickle lady. To successfully operate a modern ski resort requires that you deliver a quality snow product "ALL" of the time. The only way to do that is to build a large snow making system.

Killington has the "worlds most extensive" snowmaking system, covering 70% of the resorts mountains. Water is supplied via a variety of sources, the largest of which is the Woodward Resevoir on Route 100 south in Plymouth Vermont.

Air compressors being removed from a flat bed truck used to deliver them to Killington this morning.

The muscle behind the snowmaking system is compressed air. The air to drive the system is supplied by a fleet of air compressors. They are the "bad boyz" of the operation. Killington's "Air Compressor" farm is midway down the Snowshed trail, on skier's left. This time of year, compressors are brought in to the resort to support Killington's winter snowmaking plans. And, of course, the system still relies on Mother Nature to supply cold air to turn the the water and pressurized air into nice snow crystals.

When snowmaking at Killington will begin is a hot topic around town. Of course, with temperatures in the area today touching the low 70's, it's a pretty good day for the crews to unload compressors for the snowmaking system...but not a good day to turn the system on. Of course, that will all start to change in the next few weeks (we hope!)

Dare we say...Let it snow!