3 January 2017 — Pleased to provide this update from Woody Bousquet, our favorite scribe from the Banana Belt: Early in Christmas Week, Killington reported that this year’s snow total of 61.5″ had already surpassed that for the entire 2015-16 season. Skiers at the bases of Needle’s Eye and Northbrook quads beside Killington’s Skyeship Gondola midstation can now grab a to-go bite to eat or sit down at the Jerk Jamaican Mountain Grill, which opened on December 23. Despite the holiday week crowds, our two meals (jerk chicken off the bone, jerk shrimp kabobs) were exceptionally tasty. Well done, Killington. Staff indicated that more indoor seating is in the works. Stop by, and be sure to line up your friends for a photo below the large JERK sign on the deck…A mid-December cold snap allowed Mid-Atlantic ski areas to enter and finish Christmas-New Year’s week with at least 50% of their runs and all, or nearly all, trail pods open. A warm drizzly spell that began late on New Year’s Day is expected to give ‘way to below-freezing temperatures by Thursday morning…On New Year’s Day, Liberty PA was only a few runs and parks short of being 100% open. Just outside the ticket windows, their Courtyard Pond opened this season for outdoor ice skating — a rarity south of the Mason-Dixon Line…thanks Woody! A little housekeeping here, if I may, Liberty is 4.2 miles north of the line created by surveyors Mason and Dixon…a quick update on that San Antonio family tragedy at Ski Granby Ranch in Colorado, witnesses agree that the restraining bar was up, but we have wildly conflicting accounts about what actually caused the multi-person fall. More to come as this gets sorted out…shout out from our buddy Jeff, visiting Plattekill NY yesterday, photo above. Thanks Jeff!

Woody