Killington - first to open in the country?

[thetrailboss]

It's like Groundhog Day...every fall Highway Star comes out of his summer hibernation to predict the opening day for Killington.

Yeah. Exactly. We have a lot of newbies who don't know much about the HS phenomenon.

 

[Smellytele]

Yeah. Exactly. We have a lot of newbies who don't know much about the HS phenomenon.

And they will soon see the love/hate relationship he has with K.

 

[thetrailboss]

And they will soon see the love/hate relationship he has with K.

Yeah. I wonder if he really is Pres Smith or something

 

[thetrailboss]

We are your source for classic footage of the Highwaystar Creature in action:

 

[steamboat1]

And they will soon see the love/hate relationship he has with K.

Thought he skied Sugarbush nowdays.:smile:

 

[thetrailboss]

Thought he skied Sugarbush nowdays.:smile:

Or was it Stowe?

 

[steamboat1]

Or was it Stowe?

To tell you the truth TB if our house was located just a bit further north & over on rt.100 instead of rt.7 I'd be at either of those other places instead. K just happens to be the closest place from my home away from home.

 

[thetrailboss]

To tell you the truth TB if our house was located just a bit further north & over on rt.100 instead of rt.7 I'd be at either of those other places instead. K just happens to be the closest place from my home away from home.

Honestly K is not a bad place to be now--though SB and Stowe get a bit more snow, Killington has shown that they want to open early and stay open late and that is probably the most important thing for me. Pittsford is not a bad town....and in prime season you've got Pico and Killington. I really liked Pico when I was in VT.

I'm not sure if you were on here before 2011 when I lived in Vermont. I was a Sugarbusher for a long time and grew up skiing at Burke. I still really love Sugarbush but if I was still living on Dunmore I'd be a bit conflicted because Sugarbush has not really kept up with the snowmaking and their seasons are not as long as they once were. We've talked about it here before...hopefully Win and Crew get back to making improvements to the skiing and not to the real estate.

 

[NHpowderhound]

Is the old Beast of the East awakening again? I hope so. I remember days of old when the big K would blow snow early October and we would be skiing past leaf peepers.
((*
*))NHPH

 

[ScottySkis]

I'm not sure if you were on here before 2011 when I lived in Vermont. I was a Sugarbusher for a long time and grew up skiing at Burke. I still really love Sugarbush but if I was still living on Dunmore I'd be a bit conflicted because Sugarbush has not really kept up with the snowmaking and their seasons are not as long as they once were. We've talked about it here before...hopefully Win and Crew get back to making improvements to the skiing and not to the real estate.[/QUOTE]

+1 I wish snow making was better at the Bush to. ( This was the thread I quoting when my phone decided to quote a different thread completely).

 

[Smellytele]

15 hours to snow making








http://skiloveland.com/

 

[Cannonball]

We are your source for classic footage of the Highwaystar Creature in action:

Suddenly his posts make a lot more sense. No helmet = head injury.

 

[2knees]

That video spawned one of the greatest threads ever.

good times.....

 

[steamboat1]

Honestly K is not a bad place to be now--though SB and Stowe get a bit more snow, Killington has shown that they want to open early and stay open late and that is probably the most important thing for me. Pittsford is not a bad town....and in prime season you've got Pico and Killington. I really liked Pico when I was in VT.

I'm not sure if you were on here before 2011 when I lived in Vermont. I was a Sugarbusher for a long time and grew up skiing at Burke. I still really love Sugarbush but if I was still living on Dunmore I'd be a bit conflicted because Sugarbush has not really kept up with the snowmaking and their seasons are not as long as they once were. We've talked about it here before...hopefully Win and Crew get back to making improvements to the skiing and not to the real estate.

Being the first to open & last to close really isn't that important to me. Typically my ski season doesn't begin till the end of Nov. at the earliest but more often the first week of Dec. By that time the majority of ski areas are open with a decent amount of terrain & I'm not talking just K. We were going to start this year Nov. 29 because that Sun. is Dec. 1 but then realized that is Thanksgiving weekend so are plans were moved back to the weekend of Dec.6. Once I start skiing though I usually go 3-5 days every other week through the end of April sometimes beginning of May. The latest I've ever skied was May 17 at K & that was only because I had one VT. pass left that I'd already paid for & was damned if I was going to see it go to waste. The leaves were starting to bud which made it pretty but that black flies were horrendous. Skiing was alright but there was quite a bit of hiking involved at both the top & lower part of Supe. I made 6 runs & was out of there. I wouldn't say it was one of my better days skiing. Many years I go out west in April because New England is already washed out.

As for the snow making at Sugarbush I think it's adequate. If I remember right the problem they have is water supply. They could only draw water from the Mad River if the water was at a certain height & flow. If the water wasn't flowing enough they couldn't draw any. All the snow making guns in the world are of no use if you don't have water. I'm not sure if this is still the case or if they could possibly build a man made pond like Stowe did to store water when it's in good supply. Win has put money into the mountain installing a new GME chair at Mt. Ellen after ASC ripped out the old one. I think he also put in the new Castle Rock chair. The only new lift I can think of at K is the replacement of the Skye Peak chair with a HSQ. Win also built a new base lodge at Lincoln Peak which was sorely needed.

While we're on the topic of water you say you lived in Dunmore. We went to the lake this past July & there was to much water. The big open grass field in the state park where they have public swimming was like a rice paddy. It rained almost every day at one point or another for most of June & into July in VT. We still managed to have a nice vacation.

 

[thetrailboss]

Being the first to open & last to close really isn't that important to me. Typically my ski season doesn't begin till the end of Nov. at the earliest but more often the first week of Dec. By that time the majority of ski areas are open with a decent amount of terrain & I'm not talking just K. We were going to start this year Nov. 29 because that Sun. is Dec. 1 but then realized that is Thanksgiving weekend so are plans were moved back to the weekend of Dec.6. Once I start skiing though I usually go 3-5 days every other week through the end of April sometimes beginning of May. The latest I've ever skied was May 17 at K & that was only because I had one VT. pass left that I'd already paid for & was damned if I was going to see it go to waste. The leaves were starting to bud which made it pretty but that black flies were horrendous. Skiing was alright but there was quite a bit of hiking involved at both the top & lower part of Supe. I made 6 runs & was out of there. I wouldn't say it was one of my better days skiing. Many years I go out west in April because New England is already washed out.

Yeah, if you don't ski early and late I can see why you might be looking elsewhere.

As for the snow making at Sugarbush I think it's adequate. If I remember right the problem they have is water supply. They could only draw water from the Mad River if the water was at a certain height & flow. If the water wasn't flowing enough they couldn't draw any. All the snow making guns in the world are of no use if you don't have water. I'm not sure if this is still the case or if they could possibly build a man made pond like Stowe did to store water when it's in good supply. Win has put money into the mountain installing a new GME chair at Mt. Ellen after ASC ripped out the old one. I think he also put in the new Castle Rock chair. The only new lift I can think of at K is the replacement of the Skye Peak chair with a HSQ. Win also built a new base lodge at Lincoln Peak which was sorely needed. We all know about the investments Stowe has made the past several years both on & off the mountain.

The issue at Mount Ellen is water; LP lacks air from what I understand.

You're right about CR and GMX. But that work was now over 10 years ago.

Gatehouse was 2006-2007; same with Claybrook.

I don't take away any credit, but folks began to notice how slow they were in making snow and how stingy they became with making snow. They used to be very aggressive early season and open pretty consistently one week before Thanksgiving. But, weather aside, they just aren't able to make enough snow or move quick enough to do it. Lots of Sugarbushers were comparing Sunday River and Killington to SB and seeing that SB just was not doing as well as they once were. Folks certainly understand the economy and market and that they probably want to sell real estate to finance improvements for the mountain. But things just did not seem to be improving with the mountain infrastructure aside from routine maintenance.

While we're on the topic of water you say you lived in Dunmore. We went to the lake this past July & there was to much water. The big open grass field in the state park where they have public swimming was like a rice paddy. It rained almost every day at one point or another for most of June & into July in VT. We still managed to have a nice vacation.

From what I heard and saw it was a very wet summer in Vermont.

 

[Highway Star]

Killington is finally on the upswing!!!!

 

[o3jeff]

Are they open?

 

[steamboat1]

Killington is finally on the upswing!!!!

They add any lifts?

Oh that's right they only take them out.

Then give silly guys umbrella bars & everything's good.

 

[marcski]

 

[Edd]

Ha! This photo in the other thread angered me but, in the context of this thread it's funny! It's all in the timing, you know.