Brooke Geery

Uber Stories: The Boondocks: 10,000 Rides

Staying positive can be a challenge in today’s crazy world. Add in the recent celestial events (a total solar eclipse) and the impending end of summer, and it truly feels like things are spinning out of control at a million mph. But when I pick up a new passenger, it doesn’t matter what sort of insanity is going on in my own head or the world at large, I am immediately distracted by whatever is going on in their life. I call it uber therapy.

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Uber Stories: Intangible Assets: 10,000 Rides

Nick got me there. To Middlebury, that is. He’d requested a ride at 7:45 a.m. from Sheep Farm Road — every bit as quaint as it sounds — to the Rutland Airport on Saturday morning, Aug. 7. $46. Which even without tip mathed out to about $25 an hour — My minimum benchmark for accepting a ride.  I figured I could give that one ride first thing, then head home. Then I could choose if I’d head south to the Ludlow skatepark contest or north to Warren for the annual jam. I was honestly torn. I knew both would be fun. I hadn’t been to Ludlow since they rebuilt it,…
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Uber Stories: Classified Rides: 10,000 Rides

Some days it seems like the universe is trying out a theme on me and my Uber rides and yesterday the motif du jour was the military. I started my day at Middlebury College, where I picked up Samuel for a ride to the Burlington airport. From the pick up locale, I assumed he was part of the language immersion program, so I used that knowledge to break the ice and soon learned he was from Ireland and here to study French.  But as our ride progressed, his Irish accent subsided into a Maryland one and I’d learned he was an ex pat, who married an Irish guy and was…
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Legendary Snowmaker Greg Hiltz Retires After 45 Years

Not many people can say they’ve covered New York’s Central Park with snow, but Greg Hiltz can. A select few people can say they’ve pulled off making enough snow for a World Cup course in one night, and they’d probably have to thank Hiltz for it. In his 45-year career making snow at Killington Resort, he created, innovated, and made so many laugh, but on March 21, 2023, Hiltz took out his channel locks and turned off his final snow gun at The Beast. “That’s true, I’m done. Love the mountain, love the people, love the job, but I’ve done my time,” Greg says with the authority he’s become so…
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Sound Barrier pop-up shop coming to Rutland

By Brooke Geery If you grew up in Rutland in the 90s, you likely have a memory of the Sound Barrier and its brightly colored banner on Center Street. Whether you were after music, clothing or skate and snowboard supplies, the store provided anything and everything an alt-teen could desire. Owner Jeff Sanborn helped rural kids keep up with the trends and always had a line on that obscure CD or T-shirt. But in 2003, burnt out on the retail scene, he closed his doors to the public and moved his business online. “It’s funny ‘cuz when I closed people were like, ‘must be nice to be retiring early,’” he…
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Killington featured in latest Warren Miller film ‘Future Retro’

Originally published in the Mountain Times- November 4, 2020 Warren Miller’s 71st feature film will stream Nov. 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSRltEc44gw By Brooke Geery For the past 71 years, the start of the season has been marked by a new Warren Miller movie, and although Covid-19 has changed the premiere format, skiers will still delight in a new film which takes them around the globe from top to bottom, including a trip to the Beast of the East. The Killington segment explores everything that goes into putting on the World Cup event, and also includes some freeskiing from Killington-bred skier Jim Ryan and Minnesota native Kaylin Richardson. In interviews on the Warren…
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