PSIA-AASI

2.2.2012

SnowPro Update: SIA Snow Show Product Standouts

Judging from the number of PSIA Alpine Team and AASI Snowboard Team members who were present at the SIA Snow Show in Denver and the On Snow Demo/Ski-Ride Fest at Winter Park this past week, several instructors have already had their own first look at lots of next year’s top new products. For all of you who weren’t there, here are just three quick trends that you can expect to see expanding on the slopes.

Touring Bindings Blow-up
As more skiers look for products that are durable and versatile enough to ski in and out-of-bounds, more manufacturers are offering SUV-style skis, boots, and bindings that perform almost as well going up as they do going down. In bindings especially, next season will see Atomic introduce its new Tracker, Salomon its new Guardian, and Head/Tyrolia its new Adrenalin. All three are tourable bindings with releasable heel plates for climbing, adjustable hiking heights, ski-tour options that can be changed with a ski pole, and a beefy 16 DIN. Marker also updates its game-changing tourable Duke binding, with an upgraded model that features a wider baseplate for driving wider skis, as well as a 16 DIN.

The All-mountain Experience
Rocker has been the story in snowboards for the past few seasons, but next year’s boards fine-tune the design with more camber-rocker cocktails that look to create the perfect mix of float and arc. Burton, for example, introduces an entire new Family Tree line, with five new freeride models—including the new Spliff splitboard—all built with input from pro riders such as Terje Haakonsen. Never Summer introduces the all-terrain Cobra as part of its Carbonium Series, adding it as an alternative to the already popular all-terrain freestyle Proto CT. And Flow gets N.A.S.T.Y. (New Active Strap Technology) in its all-new NX2 SpeedEntry system, touting it as even easier use than the SpeedEntry currently on the mountain.

Luke, Come to the Frontside
This year’s weather conditions have certainly favored ripping precision carves on the hardpack, and—as if they knew the forecast in advance—ski manufacturers are introducing a veritable quiver of new frontside product. From Volkl’s new RTM 84 and Code (122/76/104), both featuring V-Werks technology, with a lighter core, iPT Hollow Tech binding, and titanal and carbon inlay for stiffness, to Rossignol’s Power Turn Rocker-infused Pursuit HP Ti (125/81/111), lift-serve is where it’s at. Blizzard brings its big mountain Flipcore technology into its all-mountain Magnum line, Nordica introduces the entirely new Transfire collection, with early rise tips and waist widths from 78 to 74mm, Elan extends its Amphibio technology with three new models, and Atomic puts a little bit of rocker into its World Cup-ready Redster Double Deck GS and Doubledeck SL Red. Want a powder ski? Dynastar’s Cham Series was garnering the early returns during the demo at Winter Park.

— Peter Kray

1.6.2012

Back to Basics and Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month

I learned how to snowboard because I wanted to surf the powder. But I learned how to telemark one season when the snow was especially late at my local hill, and that challenge of learning something new was what kept my friends and me on the lifts.

We didn’t wait in any lines. And we got enough mileage for our thighs to be burning at the end of each day as we tried to figure it out (and still try, as I’ve brought my tele gear to something like a dozen Team Training meetings at Copper Mountain in search of more expert tips). And I remember that other than us, there were racers on the hill, some boarders jibbing around the bare spots, and lots and lots of kids.

What better time—and conditions—to start rocking into Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. Happening right now across the country, with the high hopes of teaching more than 100,000 lessons to kids, beginners, and lapsed skiers, LSSM is offering everything from free days to two-for-ones to deep discounts—all with the aim of reducing the barriers to getting on the slopes.

Of course, some snow would certainly help. And for those of you not getting any precipitation, I’m sure just the idea of being anywhere on the runs would be a dream come true—with the chance to turn some young kid on to the thrill of skiing or riding a spectacular bonus. All I can say is that winter is coming back sometime. Exactly when, I can only guess.

Coming out of last season’s record snowfalls, skier visits, and equipment sales, and with another La Niña weather phenomena predicted for this season, it was easy to have high hopes for this year. Especially when places like Wolf Creek and Whistler were getting off to such a fast start. But from Crystal Mountain, Washington, to Okemo in Vermont, and on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, little by little the snowfall totals are beginning to creep up. And from Alaska to North Carolina, dozens of states—and many more ski schools—really are looking at innovative ways to get more people involved in snowsports this month. Here’s to these great learning opportunities, and keep those snow dances going!

—Peter Kray

12.5.2011

Peter Kray Q&A: The Making of American Snow

Officially released this week, American Snow: The Snowsports Instruction Revolution is a testament to PSIA-AASI’s incredible 50-year contribution to the growth of skiing and snowboarding.

Beginning in 1961, when PSIA’s seven founders gathered in a cafeteria in Whitefish, Montana, and voted to form the association, through the creation of the Skills Concept, the advent of student-centered teaching, and the ensuing booms in nordic skiing, adaptive skiing, women’s skiing, and the explosion of snowboarding, the book chronicles half a century of bigger-than-life personalities, mountain culture, and breakthrough concepts.

With a beautiful new copy of the book freshly in hand, 32 Degrees sat down with author Peter Kray to talk about documenting the incredible journey, and also what it is about the association’s history that impressed him the most.

32 Degrees: Tell us about the title for the book, especially the “instruction revolution” aspect?

Peter Kray: I think the term “American Snow” really defines the breadth and reach of ski and snowboard instruction in the U.S. That’s because from Alaska to California, and from Colorado to Wisconsin to Vermont, there really is no snowflake, snowpack, or slope that is alike. And the way people enjoy the snow—whether they use alpine skis or sit-skis or cross-country skis or snowboards—is also incredibly diverse. Yet PSIA-AASI has still created this wonderful instructional system that encompasses all of it.

I think the title really speaks to both the standards and the versatility of that. As for “The Revolutionary,” aspect, I found that in every decade for the past 50 years, American instructors have been responsible for these often radical but always innovative leaps forward in how snowsports are taught.

32 Degrees: Such as?

PK: The focus on the student has to come first. That’s the most enduring aspect—that every lesson is built around how each individual person learns best. I think that idea has affected how all sports are coached and taught, and is something that turns every lesson into an adventure that’s new and fresh. After that, the Skills Concept is remarkable in how it allows instructors to really dial in on the mechanical aspects of what each student needs to work on the most. And of course, there are all of these great people, like Bill Lash and Doug Pfeiffer, Max Lundberg and Horst Abraham, and Mike Porter, Ellen Post Foster, Dee Byrne, Carol Levine, Lee Perry, Dave Merriam, and Lowell Hart who bring the whole story to life.

32 Degrees: How important are people to the story’s arc?

PK: People are what the story is all about. It’s what PSIA-AASI is all about—this extended community of people across the country who are so passionate about sharing the sport. What I loved about the interview process was how everyone I talked to wanted to tell me how much they were inspired by someone else. It’s a really a story of people who spend all their time trying to increase this sense of freedom and fun for someone else.

32 Degrees: And what impressed you the most?

PK: The fact that the sense of passion and love of sharing the sport hasn’t slowed down one bit. The book really closes at the 50/50 Celebration in Snowmass that took place last April, but you can see that isn’t the end of the story. There is so much new energy constantly coming into the profession—from new ideas, new technology, and the next generation of instructors—that it’s pretty clear how much opportunity there is to keep expanding on the legacy that PSIA-AASI has already built. It’s been the opportunity of a lifetime to tell such an fantastic story, and it’s especially fun to see how many people are already starting to write the next chapter for themselves.

PSIA-AASI members can purchase American Snow: The Snowsports Instruction Revolution through the PSIA-AASI Accessories Catalog. Non-members can order their copy by calling 303-987-9390.

11.21.2011

SnowPro Update: More Areas Open Early, Dorworth Heads to HOF

As if it wasn’t enough that Wolf Creek Ski Area in Colorado was already open for powder skiing and riding on Oct. 8, with Loveland and Arapahoe Basin quick to follow suit, even more ski areas across the country are firing up the chairs up to one week early.

From California to Colorado, and New Mexico to Utah, more than a dozen additional ski areas announced plans to start the 2011-12 season the weekend of November 19-20. In Colorado, Vail opened the season Friday with frontside skiing and $1 burritos, while Snowmass (site of the PSIA-AASI 50/50 Celebration in April) will open Saturday with more than 160 acres of riding.
 
“Since making this announcement a week ago, the excitement meter has been redlining around the valley,” Vice President of Mountain Operations Rich Burkley said in a statement. “People are fired up to get on the hill and the phones have been ringing off the hook.”
 
Snowbird, Solitude, Alta, and Brighton are open in Utah, and Park City joined the party November 20. In Washington, Crystal Mountain (which closed on July 16) and Mt. Baker announced Friday openings, while Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie, and Mission Ridge opened Saturday. Oregon’s Mount Hood and Timberline were reporting up to a foot of fresh powder from a new storm, and just to the north, British Columbia’s Whistler-Blackcomb also announced plans to open Friday, six days ahead of schedule.

California’s Heavenly Ski Resort and Northstar opened Friday, while Mammoth Mountain, already open for a week now, was reporting heavy winds and an 80 percent chance of new snow. Montana’s Lookout Pass also opened Friday, while in New Mexico, Sipapu Ski Resort also got the lifts turning, marking the 10th straight season Sipapu has been the first in the Land of Enchantment to start spinning the bullwheel.

Dick Dorworth to Join U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

PSIA-AASI would also like to extend a well-earned “congratulations” to Dick Dorworth, who recently received the news that he will be inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2011. Dorworth, who worked as an instructor and coach in North America, South America, and France during his career, was also the former director of the Aspen Mountain Ski School, and a regular contributor to the 32 Degrees magazine predecessor, The Professional Skier. As a journalist, he remains a regular contributor to several publications, as well as an avid skier and climber. In 1963, Dorworth set the then world record for speed skiing in Portillo, Chile, reaching a speed of 106 mph.

—Peter Kray

11.14.2011

The Dream Lesson

If you could teach anyone in the world how to ski or snowboard, who would it be? And why? Would it be Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt? Or the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team? Or would it be a bunch of nine-year-olds who have never been on snow before?

And even more than that, what would you teach in your “dream lesson?” Would you show Justin Bieber how to ride the halfpipe? Or would you take Gandhi into the backcountry, and help him find his own private powder stash in the trees?

I would love to hear about your dream lesson, and want to present a mix of them in an upcoming article for 32 Degrees. If you’ve got a dream lesson that comes to mind—or feel as if you’ve actually already taught a dream lesson—type a couple paragraphs about it and send it over to . . . and be sure and tell me who you would like to teach, what you would teach him or her, and why.

I used to think I had taught my dream lesson when I was assigned a week-long private at Jackson Hole with a couple of brothers whose father was the oil minister for Jordan’s capital city of Amman. Especially because they would ski with me in the morning, pay for me to hit the slopes by myself in the afternoon, and every evening take me out for dinner to restaurants I could never afford on my own.

It was a magical week. They were wonderful people. But I don’t feel like I can refer to it as a dream lesson because I’m not really sure what I taught them. Or exactly what I shared with them that would bring them back to the mountains for more.

Any dream lesson, certainly has to include actual teaching—some kind of on-snow epiphany, equal transference of stoke, technique, or tactics where the student takes what the instructor is instructing and turns it into something all their own. Whether it’s skill, knowledge, or culture, it is that part of the sport or the mountains that now belongs to them alone.

And if that on-snow epiphany just happens to include a Navy Seal, or Elvis, or an underprivileged five-year-old from some sunny Southern state, well that’s exactly what I (and the editors of 32 Degrees) would like to know. We can’t wait to read and publish some of your answers. Looking forward to the response.

— Peter Kray

11.4.2011

Team Training Update: Setting the Stage for the Future

PSIA-AASI’s annual Team Training session at Copper Mountain, Colorado, has always sparkled with the freshness of a new winter settling in across the high country.

In the same way that baseball’s spring training heralds the upcoming arrival of another hot summer, or football practice promises the cool clarity of October afternoons, getting the ski and snowboard teams back together on snow always means one thing: the sliding season has returned!

This year, more than a foot of fresh snow in the middle of the training session put an exclamation point on that sense of breathless anticipation for all of the possibilities to come. And it coincided perfectly with the spirit of focused urgency that seemed to radiate amongst the teams. Inspired by their success at the 2011 Interski in St. Anton, rooted by the history they helped celebrate at the 50/50 in Snowmass in April, and aware that this particular group’s four-year collaboration is coming to an end, each team seemed especially committed to defining their lasting contribution to the PSIA-AASI membership, while also setting the groundwork for the ideas they think the next teams will end up working on.

“All of the energy that came from having such a great season last year really carried into this season,” said PSIA-AASI Executive Director and CEO Mark Dorsey. “It started out with putting the bow around Interski, and what we accomplished there, and what we learned, and then quickly became about setting the stage for the future with the Strategic Education Plan.”

Dorsey said that continuing to establish a national level of consistency of education was a key element to the conversation being had amongst the teams. As was PSIA-AASI’s commitment to embracing new technology such as rocker, with several ski supplier/partners who attended Team Training offering kudos on Mike Porter’s super insightful “All Rocker Isn’t Created Equal” article in the Fall 2011 issue of 32 Degrees.

After several busy days of filming and completing voiceovers for the Movement Matrix, the PSIA-AASI Adaptive Team got to enjoy the new powder and new technology at the same time, testing out how the latest rockered skis impact their mono-skiing.

“At one point, Bill (Bowness) and Geoff (Krill) were the only ones on the snow, and everyone else was inside fine-tuning everything they had been working on,” said PSIA-AASI Professional Development Manager Earl Saline. “They had already put so much time into their filming, that the powder day was one of their first chances to really dial their equipment in.”

Saline said that the PSIA Alpine Team focused on keeping their content “fresh and current,” and honed in on the importance of stance and how it relates to every style of skiing. Meanwhile, the AASI Snowboard Team “knocked it out of the park” with their focus on both instruction and terrain elements in teaching three to six-year-olds how to snowboard.

“This was the last Team Training session for this team, which added urgency,” said Saline. “It’s a group that really came together around Interski, focusing on what they felt were the most important things to present, and what was meaningful to the membership back home. That common focus really created crossover and unity between the teams and this week allowed them to focus on their individual disciplines, which motivated them all to keep delivering.”

—Peter Kray

10.28.2011

Team Training Update: Downhill Hitchhiking with the Nordic Team

I spent Sunday, October 23rd, skiing with the PSIA Nordic Team at Copper Mountain, and we stayed so late on the hill that we had to get a ride down to the base in the back of a truck.

It was the first day of Team Training, and everyone was excited to get back on snow together, making turns and talking about all of the ideas and insights that they had spent the summer turning over in their heads.

The Snowboard Team was discussing what experiences, topics, and ideas they wanted to pass along to the next team, and how they could most effectively share their messages with the membership. The Alpine Team was talking about the tenets of good skiing, from racing to freeskiing to moguls to powder, comparing what basics they shared, and if and where they split. And the Adaptive Team’s Bill Bowness and Geoff Krill were filming in the flats, then carving down the early season hardpack to build content for the Movement Matrix.

For their part, the Nordic Team was busy addressing the growing split between cross-country skiing and telemark. Long united by their free-heel familiarity, rapid changes in technology, such as rockered skis and alpine-styled plastic boots, have moved tele ever-increasingly inbounds, while the ski-anywhere-it-snows simplicity of cross-country skiing is recognizing new opportunities in urban areas, clubs, and city parks.

“When we look at where cross-country skiing is growing right now, and the opportunities for reaching kids and people who might not otherwise be exposed to snowsports, we see this tremendous thirst for information and need for resources,” said Nordic Team member David Lawrence.

Whether it’s how to teach or what to teach—and when to teach it—or addressing all of the cross-country variables of skate skiing, classic skiing, double pole planting, waxable or fish scale skis, Lawrence said he sees a new generation of coaches and teachers ready to benefit from the exact kind of information and training that PSIA-AASI does best.

To that end, and even though present Nordic Team members spend as much time cross-country skiing and skating as they do carving telemark turns down the fall line, Lawrence said plans for the next team include positions for telemark and cross-country specialists, to help specifically target the sport’s diverging tracks.

Helping to tap into those emerging opportunities, Reese Brown, SnowSports Industries America’s new nordic director, spent the morning skiing with the Nordic Team, discussing how instructors, manufacturers, and retailers might combine their skills to everyone’s benefit.

Maybe that was why no one seemed to notice where the time went. Or because of the blue sky, or the big views, or the sensation of skimming across the earth. But by the time the team members had gathered all of their gear to head to the base for afternoon meetings, the download chair had stopped. And if it weren’t for the mountain operations crew with the beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog, then everyone might have had to hike down the snowgun-covered lower faces in their boots.

But they were only too happy to pile the whole team into the back of their truck, easing down the access roads as the conversation continued, and the sun sparkled through the trees, and everywhere in the air, there was the anticipation for the season about to start.

—Peter Kray

10.24.2011

Team Training Preview with PSIA-AASI’s Earl Saline

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning, Halloween is days away, and the PSIA-AASI Teams are at Copper Mountain for a week of Team Training. In anticipation of the annual event, 32 Degrees Special Projects Editor Peter Kray sat down with PSIA-AASI Professional Development Manager Earl Saline to discuss just what’s on tap for this year’s session, and why he gets so excited about this time of the season.

What is the main goal for Team Training this year?
This year there is a strong focus on putting a bow on Interski, which means refreshing all of the presentations and ideas that we took over, and making sure they’re up to date. We’re also looking at the ideas that we brought back from the other teams and looking at how these might change what we did present, and what would really be of interest especially for our membership.

We also want to make sure we maintain the strong cross-functionality between the clinic groups and understanding of the various topics we are working on so that all the team members know when they go on the road what the content is from team to team and what each of their teammates have to offer. Of course the main thing that brings it all together is our focus on what the members are after, what they need, and what we can do to help them do their jobs even better.

What will you be working on with the AASI Snowboard Team in particular?
The strongest piece is really the idea of the session lesson, and how that can make the lesson more meaningful, inclusive, and fun for everyone. The other topic has to do with really understanding the innovations in equipment and what that changes in a lesson, if anything. We’re looking at whether there are specific changes in how we teach—like making slower movements, or more precise movements, especially since more and more people are getting on rocker gear even in lower-level lessons. I think you really have to know how the equipment works yourself so you can coach your students and understand how it reacts to what they need. It’s about focusing on what the guests want, and being able to work with the equipment that they are on.

What about with the PSIA Alpine Team in particular?
That will be along the lines of equipment as well. There’s certainly an ongoing focus on the Skills Concept and what the evolution of that might entail considering the changes in equipment. We have such strong content and history around the Skills  Concept, and we want to keep looking at how that will move forward in terms of the innovations in equipment how these changes are creating the opportunity for people to be moving much more quickly around more of the hill.

And with the PSIA Nordic Team?
Again, innovations in equipment will be a big part of what we are discussing, especially in terms of how it is evolving, how is it affecting the way skiers are moving, and, in particular, changing how telemark skiers ski. I’d ask the question “Are there are some fundamental movements that really work on rocker skis, particularly with telemark, that are different from the other disciplines right now?”  As for the skate side of things, I think David Lawrence absolutely hit it on the head in the last issue of 32 Degrees with regard to how important nordic skiing can be to getting kids involved in snowsports, and what a great introduction in can provide to getting kids all over the country on snow and active.
 
How about with the PSIA-AASI Adaptive Team?
We will be filming with the Adaptive Team during Team Training, looking at the “equivalencies” in technique and how people move on adaptive equipment and what correlations there are to alpine skiing, and to snowboarding. The goals is to illustrate the relationships between the movements so that people recognize that adaptive skiing and riding isn’t that different from the other disciplines, and that we are basically trying to accomplish the same things as in any other lesson. It’s important to reinforce that there are progression pieces that are consistent in all lessons, and that there are these elements of on-snow education that we can go back to, time and time again.

What is it about this time of year that gets you excited?
This time of year to me is really about people getting their heads back in the game. For those of us who are involved in the industry, you never stop thinking about snowsports and working on something snowsports-related, but there’s a spark of being back on snow that reallys adds to the energy and innovation and excitement. Being able to start sliding again just sets everything off—the intensity goes up and the excitement about being able to do what you really love just becomes more real at this time of year. I can’t wait!

— Peter Kray

10.18.2011

Hold Onto Your Helmets—Winter is Off to a Fast Start

After a 10-month-long ski season that finally came to a close on July 4th, 2011, Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin fired up the chairlifts again on October 13th, marking an off-season that lasted just a little more than three months. Loveland Ski Area, A-Basin’s constant competitor in the race to be first to open each fall, followed suit a day later, offering three green runs for the diehards to hit.

But even those two areas were still playing catch up, as Colorado’s Wolf Creek Ski Area and Nevada’s Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort had already opened a week earlier. Wolf Creek’s decision to open after a fall storm delivered more than three feet of fresh snow drew national media interest, and can only help spur early season snowsports equipment and apparel sales, which, according to all reports, have already been brisk.

It’s all good news for an economic-trend-busting industry still basking in the record results of last season, when snowsports retail sales hit an all-time high of $3.3 billion and skier/rider visits rode to a new peak of 60.54 million.

With a second straight La Niña weather phenomena in the forecast this winter—and apparently already bringing early snowy returns—there are hopes for a repeat performance of last season just about everywhere but the Rocky Mountain Southwest. As ski areas from Colorado to California, and Utah to Washington hit record snowfalls last year, New Mexico made do with a less-than -average result. Powder turns were reported from the early snow on top of Santa Fe Ski Basin on October 8th, however, and every storm counts.

For ski and snowboard instructors especially, though, the equipment forecast is for plenty of new gear. That’s because those record sales and tighter inventory controls on the part of ski and snowboard manufacturers and retailers alike has pretty much eliminated the overstock equipment market. This means that the folks who are buying, are buying new technology. So you can expect to see plenty of rocker in the lesson lineups, especially if the snow keeps coming. It also means you might want to get on the stick if you’re looking to upgrade your own set-up.

As for the latest innovations and insight into what’s happening in the world of instruction, the brand-new Fall 2011 copy of 32 Degrees should have just arrived in your mailbox, with stories on how to choose a rockered snowboard, teaching kids on skinny skis, and adding freestyle to your all-mountain mix.

Also, PSIA-AASI Team Training kicks off in just a little more than a week, and we will post updates from the event.

Time to get your turn on. Another new winter is already out of the gates!

— Peter Kray

9.16.2011

Vermont Snowsports Community Aids Irene Recovery Effort

It’s been nearly three weeks since Hurricane Irene blasted its way up the East Coast, but some badly damaged towns are only now beginning to see progress in their recovery efforts.

Vermont in particular—where almost every stream and river in the state flooded, at least three people were killed, and dozens of towns were so isolated by floodwaters that food and other necessities had to be delivered by helicopter drops—could be rebuilding homes and roads for years to come. If there has been any good news coming out of the disaster, it’s been how the people of the state and its strong ski and snowboard resort community have banded together to help each other out.

The Stratton Foundation, for example, has organized several events to raise money for disaster relief and is accepting donations on its website at strattonfoundation.org (where you can also see some pretty scary photos and video of the flooding). Killington Resort, which was one of the hardest-hit ski areas in the storm, sustaining significant structural damage to the K-1 Lodge’s Superstar Pub, offered free lodging to locals displaced by Irene, as did Stratton and Mount Snow. And the area also launched the “From the Ground Up” online fundraiser at biddingforgood.com, where everything from season passes to skis, vacations, and snowboards autographed by Jake Burton Carpenter are being auctioned off to benefit local farmers who had their crops washed out.

“Many of our local farmers lost everything,” said Chris Nyberg, president and general manager of Killington Resort. “The From the Ground Up online auction will help Vermont farmers replace infrastructure as well as help cover losses sustained from the storm.”

In other fundraising efforts, legendary Vermont jam band Phish played a benefit concert at Essex Junction on Sept. 14th, and Burlington native Grace Potter will play two benefit shows with her band The Nocturnals on Oct. 9th and 10th. The State of Vermont launched a Fall Foliage campaign to encourage tourists to book their annual leaf-watching visit. And all over the state, individuals did what they could to help their neighbors get back on their feet.

Adam Howard, who is the editor of Backcountry Magazine and also a state senator, collected 3.5 tons of food and $4,000 in donations at the magazine’s Jeffersonville offices. He said it only took 48 hours to receive that many donations, which he and a cousin delivered to the hard-hit town of Bennington using an enclosed trailer and a dump truck.

“It really was a grassroots effort, but that’s the way it’s been all across the state,” Howard said. “Our emergency management agency got wiped out in the flood, and there weren’t enough signs or markers to close all of the roads, so people were just out there doing it themselves with home blockades and fences and sticks.”

And more good news came in on the afternoon of Sept. 16th as this blog was being written. Route 4 East—the artery to Killington—had just reopened. The area itself also reopened, just in time for the fall foliage season. And hopefully, for the tourists to start coming back.

— Peter Kray