Ridiculous....

There is more snow than you can imagine. Everything is open and amazing. Get some rest, you have three more powder days to go! 'nuff said.

Just get here!

This is going to be short because there is not much to say. There is about 8" on the ground and it is coming down! Tomorrow will start out with at least a foot in the morning and be free refills all day. This is simple...call in sick, call in well, just quit and then beg for your job back on Monday. Do what you gots to do, but get here!

Smiles and Giggles.....

In the words of the great Jerry Garcia-"I spent a little time on the mountain, I spent a little time on the hill. I heard someone say 'better run away', others say 'better stand still' ". So during my time on the hill today I had a moment of total consciousness, which is nice. So I realized that we really didn't get that much snow in the last storm and it was just my longing for snow that made it seem so remarkable. Don't get me wrong, I would never turn my nose up at any fresh snow. Nevertheless, that snow has served it's purpose and things are starting to get a bit thin and tracked out in all but the most secret fun spots. Which brings me to what matters now. There is more snow on the way!!! It looks like this may be the storm we've all been waiting for. My best guess is for at least a foot with the potential for two or more. I love when snow gets measured in feet! So if you live in the flats, "better run away" and if you are already here, "better stand still". For those of you who can't get here, I will try to post every night so you can continue living vicariously through me. You're welcome.

Ski House Chili

This is a quick and easy chili that can be thrown together after happy hour and still have time for a nap after dinner...

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds ground beef or turkey
1 package sweet italian sausage (removed from casings)
1 medium onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 small can of green chiles
2 large jars Southwest style salsa(black bean and corn)
1 large jar regular tomato salsa
2 cans white Cannelini or kidneybeans(rinsed and strained)
2 cans red kidney beans(rinsed and strained)
1/4 cup brown sugar

In a large pot saute chopped onions and peppers until just beginning to get soft( do not caramelize). Add ground beef and sausage. Cook until beef and sausage are fully cooked constantly chopping and stirring to mix beef and sausage. Strain off fat and grease. Stir in all salsa and brown sugar. Stir in all beans. Cover and simmer over medium heat 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve with shredded cheddar, chopped onion and sour cream if desired.

It's about gosh darn,mother luvin time!!!!!!!

Here it is fellers.....K-town got some snow! For the first time in the history of snow reporting, I think Killington UNDER reported its snow total. Maybe it was just the fact that we haven't skied on significant snow since New Years or maybe the snow just drifted in just right, but today was epic.....ish. Killington called it 5, however my last run yesterday afternoon was in at least 5. I'm going to call it 7+. Not exactly what I estimated, but I've been wrong before and 7 is better than 0. I had the chance to get first tracks down OL and it was "tele" waist deep in the troughs. Once I found the rythym it was face shots all the way to the bottom. Unfortunately that only lasted for one run since every Noobtard on vacation clung to OL like ants on a sugarcube. However Iwas able to get 4 or 5 laps on The Fiddle before it got skied out; no rock launches but tons o fun just the same. The trees have filled in nicely and there should be plenty of freshies still to be tracked out tomorrow in some of the lesser known spots, which I purposely skipped today so I would have somthing to play in tomorrow. I am not going to give any "trail of the day" reports just yet because I am selfish that way and I'm not sure who's reading. But I will tell you this, Devils Den is seriously a waste of time and skis. I would not ski in there again with your skis!

Frustrating.....but looking better.

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but my patience in dealing with this recent dry spell is wearing thin. We haven't had significant snowfall since New Years week and it's been difficult to get excited about skiing on groomers. I have tried everything to keep it interesting; I've tried NTN, locked my heels and even skied in jeans! Okay no jeans, but I'm ready to. However, things are starting to look up around here. According to a couple local weather shamans, a hippy who still teles in leather, and a witch doctor, there is snow on the way! Without getting in to the North Atlantic Oscillation Index's positive and negative trends and high pressure blocking ridges, just be aware that a Powder Day may very well be on the horizon. While there is plenty of speculation as to how many glorious inches of goodness will reign down upon us, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we will get 9-13" by Friday here in K Town. That may be a tad overzealous considering nobody else has given a prediction yet, but hey, Go wrong, Go strong! In the meantime, say your prayers do your dances and keep your tips crossed....

Slacking....

OK OK OK, the fan has been asking for it so here it is......

I have always given credit where it is due, so with that being said I have to give mad props(YO) to the Killington groomers and snowmakers. They have done a great job keeping the hill in quality skiing shape. Killington has been skiing well despite the challenging, and extremely frustrating, weather pattern. The northeast has been unusually dry lately.....except for one place :) That's right, Jay Peak folks, Jay gosh darn, motherluvin Peak. I am embarrassed to say when, but we, the hardcore skiing(sorry Alex) members of Sal's Place decided that we were overly bored with the groomers of Killington and decided to make the pilgrimage up to Jay. We left Ktown and the Pickle behind on a Friday night and headed to The Couples House in Waitsfield. Thanks to the generousity of the man, the myth, the legend, Steve Klafky, we were able to crash on his couch and floor(again, credit where it is due). The alarms went off at 5:30 and we were on the road by 6:00. With the exception of a breakfast sandwich/petrol/wrong gas station stop, the ride to Jay was smooth sailing. We were there early enough to boot up, catch first Tram, and get to the goods before anyone else. Damn it was cold, but the goods were great! It had snowed all week, with a at least a foot that had fallen on Thursday. But we went on Saturday, how could we possibly get freshies? You see the mountain was on wind hold on Friday so, ipso facto...Powder Day! It was a little wind slabby in spots, but for the most part every acre of the legendary tree skiing at Jay Peak was full of stoke. I'm not gonna carry on and continue to tell you how epic each run was, but you get the point. We skied from first Tram until well after 3:00, unheard of at Killington. In true Sal's Place representation, we found the bar at the newly erected(hehehe ERECT), Tram Haus Lodge. A handful of Tram Ales later, we loaded into the Dupuis Family Truckster, with a few sodas of course, and began the journey back towards Ktown. Along the way we stopped off at the BBQ joint near MRG to bear witness to the Man vs. Food competition between two Couples House members. The skinny guy lost, but did he really? We finally made it back to Sal's around midnight, completely exhausted, half pickled and still grinning from the epicality of the day. Overall I'm gonna go ahead and call it an 9 on the EI.........