Although this may sound heretical to some, all of our free time is not spent wandering around the golf courses of Killington. Yesterday, we spent our free time wandering through the woods while climbing to the top of Killington.

We started our climb from our normal winter parking spot at the Killington Base Lodge in Bay 1. From there, we hiked up lower Bunny Buster to Mouse Trap and the bottom of Racers Edge. Racers Edge in the summer is used as a single track mountain bike trail, of what I would guess is fairly moderate difficulty. Normally we would be hesitant to hike it,trying to avoid bike traffic, but as there were only a half a dozen bikers on the mountain it was not a problem. Racers Edge is below and roughly parallel to the "C" trail on the Killington Hiking Map. "C Trail", know as "Great Northern" in the winter is a broad road, where as Racers Edge is a little wider than a path through the woods. A much more interesting hike.

We came out at the base of the "Glades" and meandered about on our way to the top. We did stop for a nice lunch at the Peak Restaurant. While we were there, we kept asking ourselves why we did not do this earlier in the summer, as the lunch at the peak was very nice.

While we were at the peak, we noticed a lot of maintenance work had been completed, with a lot more underway. The peak building has been completely repaired from the late spring storm damage. We also saw crews put painting the South Ridge Triple station, in addition to various pits of snow making plumbing repair around the mountain.

For our trek down, we followed the "E Trail" listed on Killington Hiking Trail Map. "E Trail" cuts through the forest between "Launch Pad" and Flume. In the process it cuts through the tree skiing trail "Julio", and across the primary trails Ovation, Old Superstar, Super Star, Skye Lark, Bitter Sweet, High Road, and Low Road, before coming out in the woods opposite the base of the Super Star Chair Lift. 'E Trail" was almost totally in the forest, away from bike trails and lifts. It was a very quiet, secluded hike through the woods, if you are into that sort of thing. Lions, tigers, and bears...oh my!

Several words of caution if you decide to hike up Killington. First, make sure you have proper foot wear. (No sandals or flip flops) Good athletic shoes (ie sneakers) are sufficient. Hiking boots over the ankle are better. Also bring plenty of water. Mary and I both consumed over 3/4 of a gallon of water each during our hike up and down the mountain. Yesterday was a warm day, so your needs may vary...but you will be much happier if you stay hydrated during your hike. Also, this time of year the weather on the peak is highly variable. Even though it may be warm at the base, you should bring a jacket or wind breaker with you in your pack incase the weather changes. And finally... have fun. You are not on Hannibal's forced march across the Alps... Stop and look around. The mountain is filled with interesting trees, flowers, rock formations, views.... Take in the sights... It is a beautiful place to be.

Where ever you may be this holiday weekend don't forget your sunscreen.

While I was playing golf this morning, at Green Mountain National, I could not help but notice that many of the trees which had been a resplendent green last week were taking on decidely red and orange hues. Nothing major yet, mind you, but the change was evident.

It peaked my curiosity. So on my way home, I started looking for a collection of fall foliage "Sentinel Trees"; the trees who change color first to announce the arrival of the fall season. Sure enough, many of these first trees of the season were already showing color. Right across the street from the inn is a swamp maple that is already bright red.(See todays picture).

Now before I get too far a field here, you may be thinking...gee it sounds like fall is coming early!. I know I had that thought in the back of my mind myself as I was driving back to the inn this afternoon. But blogs are a beautiful thing. It turns out that last year, on August 28, I posted last years first post announcing the beginning of the 2006 fall foliage season. Pure coincidence mind you from a blog posting stand point. But an interesting marker about the season.

It is way too early to tell how the fall season will turn out. When peak foliage will occur in Killington? How long the foliage last? Will the colors be vibrant or muted? But one thing I do know with absolute certainty....the colors of fall will be upon us again this year in fairly short order. I have my camera ready. Do you???

Where ever you may be, just remember to keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.

In a 2 day tournament last Thursday and Firday, the ladies of Green Mountain National battled it out for the title of 2007 Women's Club Champion.

Mary, who usually does not like to play golf 2 days in a row, did very well. She came in as first runner up 3 shots back from Lida Wilson who took the top spot. Carol Kostelnik won the low net honors for the ladies annual tournament.

Congratulations ladies!

Where ever you may be, just remember to keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.

Global warming indeed. (No political commentary intended.)

Brrrrr...It is down right chilly in Killington today. A late summer cold front has descended upon the area from Canada, scouring out any remnants of the hot and humid air that has been blanketing the area most of the summer. Temperatures last night dipped into the 40's at the inn. Today, they re struggling to make it past the mid 60's. While I am still in my summer shorts, it is still August after all, I did have to close the window in my second floor office because of the cool air. It's wonderful! And it is a harbinger of things to come...Dare I say "let it ...." no... to early for that!

Where ever you may be, just remember to keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.

While I try to get out on the course 3 or more times a week, Mary also escapes from the inn several times a week to hit the round ball down the fairway as well. While a lot of the men at Killington play locally, each week the ladies go on a field trip to different parts of the state to play in "Ladies State Day" sponsored by the Vermont State Women's Golf Association.

This week, the ladies traveled to Waterbury Vermont to play at the Blush Hill Country Club. The course was a typical rolling Vermont course with a few hills. It was well maintained with some very nice gardens. While being only a 9 hole course, the ladies played alternate tees the second time around to fill out an 18 hole card.

Kudo's go out to Nina for her round at Blush Hill. Nina carded a 92, taking low gross honors for the foresome. They celebrated with an ice cream stop at the Ben and Jerry's factory, just up the street from Blush Hill in Waterbury. Mary enjoyed a strawberry ice cream cone before heading back to Killington.

Where ever you may be, just remember to keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.

In addition to various activities to promote our inn, like the video work from the last post, I have also gotten involved this summer on a start up project in the community dubbed the "Killington Economic Growth Initiative".

The initiative is actually an outgrowth of work developed by Bill Bauer of the Summit Lodge and Chris Karr of the Pickle Barrel night club. Back in March at the Killington Town Meeting, Bill and Chris were able to get an article placed on the town meeting ballot which, in it's simplest incarnation, was to hire an events planner for Killington and pay for this person with a 3 cent increase to local property taxes. The tax item basically made the article a non-starter, but with the sale of the resort by ASC looming in the background in March, the issue of economic development stuck in peoples minds.

In June, the local selectboard raised the issue again, this time calling for a 1% local option tax to be used to fund the initiative. Unfortunately, the initiative had not yet been born, and a group of local citizens, myself included, asked the selectboard to humbly refrain from discussions of taxes to fund development until a plan which required taxes surfaced. From those discussions, a group of citizens were pulled together into an ad-hoc town committee chaired by Bill and Chris to create a plan for economic growth in Killington.

From a simple beginning, the economic growth initiative is starting to take on a life of it's own. A full blown community effort is underway within the Killington Community to collect ideas about growing the local economy. Currently, there are 7 sub-committees formed to investigate various areas. At this point, about 40 people in Killington have gotten actively involved including many local residents, retirees, business owners, selectmen, Powdr Corporation (the new owners of the resort), and the Killington Chamber of Commerce.

I have gotten involved as the chair of the Communications Committee for the initiative. Much of my time has been spent creating a website for the initiative called growkillington.com, creating the "Grow Killington" watering can logo and setting up a chat room for the group to work collaboratively, called 'The Garden".

Oh... and incase you were wondering about the tax discussions, funding for the economic initiative is still an open question. Right now the group is researching various funding avenues including grants from federal, state, and county agencies. We are also looking at how other communities have funded similar initiatives through the creation of non profit foundations. While funding the initiative recommendations via tax mechanisms are not out of the question, the group is heavily invested to fund the initiative through other means. The good news in all of this is that a group of local people have been energized to get involved to help grow the local economy.

If you would like more information about the project, or would like to join the group working the initiative, the website is a good first place to stop to find out more information about what people are working on in town. Where we are still in the exploratory stages, if you are interested in coming on board, now is the time to bring your ideas to the table.

And while I still have your attention, Mary and I have also managed to squeeze in a round or two of golf between raindrops the last couple of days. After all, all work and no play is really not very much fun, especially when you live in the Green Mountains of Vermont at Killington.

Where ever you may be, just remember to keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.

Summer in Killington can be deceptively busy.

During the winter months, when local activity focuses on the mountain, I usually find myself on a pair of skis 4 or 5 days a week. (7 if I am real lucky). Most of this is programmed into our lifestyle. We specifically decided to live and work less than 1 mile from the mountain so we could ski. We are on the hill about 3 hours each day, so in addition to being great recreation, skiing is also very efficient from a time standpoint. Another advantage of living so close to the mountain.

In the summer, it is a little harder. A round of golf runs 4 hours. Add commute time to the course and the requisite lunch after golf, and we find ourselves away from the inn for 6 hours at a time. Not that I am complaining about golf, mind you. It just establishes a different routine in the summer.

What is also interesting about running an inn in Killington is the amount of "office work" that takes place in the summer. One would think that being at a ski resort, one would be able to play all day in the "off season". Of course, there are 2 fallacies to that concept... First, Killington is not a uni-season resort. The inn is still busy (thank god) with guests. Second, and somewhat hidden from view, is that all of the new marketing activity for the coming fall and winter seasons gets done in the summer months. I easily spend whole days programming websites for our businesses, and other clients, during the summer months to promote Killington later in the year.

One of the projects I have been working on of late is the integration of video onto websites. Mary and I do joint marketing with several other properties in Killington under the banner Killington Country Inns. The website, www.killingtoncountryinns.com has been used for the last several years as a landing site with various search engine pay per click programs. Last fall, a group of us worked on a project with the Killington Chamber of Commerce and a Fox television station serving the Boston area to produce a 30 minute program about Killington. One of my summer projects was to take the video that was produced, chop it up, and create 30 second clips for the inns of Killington Country Inns.

At face value, it seemed like a pretty straight forward project, given the rise of video on the web. (They tell me Youtube is a popular website after all.) In reality, it is just a little more complicated than it all seems.

The process of starting with a video source on a DVD to creating a 30 second flash video clip for the web is not really documented in any one place. Google helps, but you still need to sort through the pieces, that is of course unless you want to spend thousands of dollars for various packaged video programs. But, I do all my development work on an Apple PowerMAC and here is where the MAC shines. Buried in the middle of Mac OS X is a very good implementation of the Unix Operating System. I was able to download 3 different open source programs to do all of the work. (One to convert the DVD to MP4 so I could do edits in IMovie; one to convert the edited MP4 to Flash Video, and one to add Flash Video Metadata.) Part of the result you see above in a video clip on Birch Ridge, built into this page by a feed from killingtoncountryinns.com.

I made four video's in total for this project. Feel free to browse over to www.killingtoncountryinns.com to see them all if you are interested.

With this project done, the queue has been filled with others. Later on, I will tell you about the work that is taking place on the Killington Economic Growth Initiative....but that is for another day.

Keep it in the fairway, and don't forget your sunscreen.