Merry Christmas from the snow covered Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

The holiday season is upon us in earnest in Killington. Guests from all over the world are streaming into the area to celebrate the end of the year holidays. Several heavy snow storms in the last couple of days have preceded the guests, assuring that the slopes of Killington will be 100% open for the holiday season.

In addition to skiing and riding at Killington, the holidays are also about family and friends. For many years, we have celebrated the holidays by getting our friends together to cut down and decorate Christmas trees, both at the inn, at in several of our neighbors homes in the area. These are just a few for you to enjoy this holiday season.

2017 Birch Ridge Inn Christmas Tree
L-R : Peter, Ellen, Sherry, Ed, Mary, Bill

The Smith's Christmas Tree
Back L-R : Peter, Bill
Front L-R: Ed, Ellen, Mary, Sherry

The Albert's Christmas Tree
Back L-R : Peter, Ellen, Mary, Bill
Front L-R: Ed, Sherry, Santa's guard dog

To all of our family, friends, and guests, we hope that your holiday season brings you great joy and that you enter the new year with health and happiness.

Let It Snow!

 

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!