having been critical of killington management since the early asc years, perhaps powdr is starting to convert this old curmudgeon into a believer. the past couple weekends have been more like a halfback in the open field rather than strictly adhering to the playbook. the mantra has been 'we're not opening until we can provide a quality top-to-bottom product'. they didn't have to but they willing to throw that out the window opening weekend when they announced that some walking may be involved. this weekend they took it to a whole other level. definitely old school. the lower mtn from chute down consisted mostly of snirt. yet i saw very few walkers. on saturday upper rime appeared to be mostly grass. mtn opps were manning the shovels. despite this they got the biggest crowd of the season. during my nearly 40 lift rides this weekend i rode mostly as a single. spoke to folks from as far away as pittsburgh & philly and to more local types who normally would ski okemo, snow, sugarbush, jay & huntah. no one was complaining. folks just seemed happy to be making turns and thought it was great that k was providing some early season skiing. everyone has rock skis and knows how to use them ...
apparently at the homeowners meeting this weekend (courtesy bubba), chris nyberg said that that "first to open/last to close" is part of customer expectations, that early season skiing is important to mid-season momentum in this market. he said if they had a return lift they could of been open since october and that they were looking at options (hs please don't). he also recognized the need for snowmaking on the fiddle. he spent some time recently talking to pres smith. all this is great news.
anyway it was a great weekend at the big k. hopefully they were satisfied with the turnout and that it pays dividends for them in the long run. perhaps the beast is indeed back.
apparently at the homeowners meeting this weekend (courtesy bubba), chris nyberg said that that "first to open/last to close" is part of customer expectations, that early season skiing is important to mid-season momentum in this market. he said if they had a return lift they could of been open since october and that they were looking at options (hs please don't). he also recognized the need for snowmaking on the fiddle. he spent some time recently talking to pres smith. all this is great news.
anyway it was a great weekend at the big k. hopefully they were satisfied with the turnout and that it pays dividends for them in the long run. perhaps the beast is indeed back.
