Abandones slopes of Killington?

[New Daddy]

Abandoned slopes of Killington?

I was armchair-touring the vermont ski areas through Google Maps and found what appear to be ski slopes located between the Sunrise condos and Rt. 100.
These are further down south from Skyeship, and do not appear on the Killington ski trail map.
Are they abandoned slopes of K?

 

[2knees]

I was armchair-touring the vermont ski areas through Google Maps and found what appear to be ski slopes located between the Sunrise condos and Rt. 100.
These are further down south from Skyeship, and do not appear on the Killington ski trail map.
Are they abandoned slopes of K?

thats the old sunrise area, or the northeast passage. It was, in my opinion, a useless out of the way trail pod that required about a 20 minute lift ride to get out of. there was a mid station for unloading that gave access to two decently pitched trails that were very short. if you went to the top of the lift, you couldnt ski either of these runs as the lift actually went up to the midstation then down from there before rising again to where it stopped by bear mtn.

some will tell you it is a great travesty that these trails were lost. Personally, i thought the place was a waste. If you parked there, it saved about 10 minutes of drive time but you wasted a good 45 minutes having to get out of the place then having to ski the flat trails back to your car.

 

[St. Jerry]

What you are looking at is Okemo. A lot closer to Killington than people think.

 

[2knees]

well, i guess he could be looking at okemo but if its these runs i've circled, then thats the old northeast passage.

 

[St. Jerry]

I'm pretty sure it's Okemo. You can tell because how flat and groomed it is.

 

[2knees]

lol, i forgot you're a troll......

shame on me.

 

[New Daddy]

well, i guess he could be looking at okemo but if its these runs i've circled, then thats the old northeast passage.

2knees is exactly right. I was looking just at what you circled. I wonder what they did with the chairlift. Are they re-useable?

 

[BushMogulMaster]

2knees is exactly right. I was looking just at what you circled. I wonder what they did with the chairlift. Are they re-useable?

The current Sunrise lift is the old lift. They just shortened the line. If you go to the bottom of Sunrise and look down along the line, you can see the old towers and line equipment still standing with trees growing in.

Even though it wasn't great folks like you and I, 2knees, that pod was part of what made Killington so unique and so vast. For those who like to tour around and experience the whole mountain, that was like skiing to a whole different world. I think it's a shame they did away with it.

 

[Chris Sullivan]

Back in the 80's that lift opened an hour before the rest of the lifts. I had a bunk at a ski house 88-91. We would get on the lift at 7:00, ski a run or two there, then head over to Bear and get first tracks.

 

[Newpylong]

The mountain said they closed the area because they traded the acreage above that area (Parker's Gore) in a land swap. The lift was originally built with expanding into Parker's Gore in mind. It also was lower in elevation and little was covered in snowmaking. It was difficult to get to (really only could get there from Fall's Brook trail if I remember correctly). Once the Skyeship was built to replace the old gondola, the main eastern (Rt4) access seemed to switch to that area from the Northeast Passage base - and that area was only opened for a portion of the season. I wonder if it would be viable again with a new lift installed up to where the midstation used to be. From there you could ski down to the current Sunrise Lift and Bear, or back to the base of the lift.

That said, I think it was a shame that it was closed. Even if they only opened in during the weekends it would be nice to still have... BMM is right - that area is what used to make Killington unique, its abandonment along with the original Ram's Head are reasons I don't go there as much anymore.

 

[Geoff]

The mountain said they closed the area because they traded the acreage above that area (Parker's Gore) in a land swap. The lift was originally built with expanding into Parker's Gore in mind. It also was lower in elevation and little was covered in snowmaking. It was difficult to get to (really only could get there from Fall's Brook trail if I remember correctly). Once the Skyeship was built to replace the old gondola, the main eastern (Rt4) access seemed to switch to that area from the Northeast Passage base - and that area was only opened for a portion of the season. I wonder if it would be viable again with a new lift installed up to where the midstation used to be. From there you could ski down to the current Sunrise Lift and Bear, or back to the base of the lift.

That said, I think it was a shame that it was closed. Even if they only opened in during the weekends it would be nice to still have... BMM is right - that area is what used to make Killington unique, its abandonment along with the original Ram's Head are reasons I don't go there as much anymore.

No. ASC closed the lift because it didn't see enough use to justify the staff to operate a base lodge, a lift with a midstation, and a sled dog to patrol it. The Parker's Gore land swap had nothing to do with it.

The lower part of that Northeast Passage lift from the midstation had a few fun little shots. The Judge under the lift had a fun rock to jump on powder days. Nor'Easter was also pretty fun on a powder day. When skiing sucked, you could always ski down to the Back Behind and drink. It's sad that it's no longer.

 

[MR. evil]

I used to ski Killington alot back in the last half of the 90's but I am not familiar with this area. When did it close?

Also, what / where was the original Rams Head area?

 

[2knees]

I used to ski Killington alot back in the last half of the 90's but I am not familiar with this area. When did it close?

Also, what / where was the original Rams Head area?

sunrise closed around 97 i believe. thats could be off by a year or two either way.

as far as ramshead, it the same place as it is now. next time you ride the lift, you'll see the old liftline went about another 200 vertical feet higher. to just below the true summit of ramshead.

 

[Geoff]

I used to ski Killington alot back in the last half of the 90's but I am not familiar with this area. When did it close?

Also, what / where was the original Rams Head area?

1998-1999 was the last year for Northeast Passage.

The original Rams Head double went all the way to the top. When ASC bought Killington, the first thing they did was replace that double with a shorter high speed quad. That was in 1997. People bitch about it but almost nobody skied Rams Head. That double was incredibly slow and the top part was really cold and windy. The terrain up there is nothing special. When you earn your turns up there, the skiing surface is great. When it's intermediate snowmaking groomers, it's ZZzzzz.

 

[Newpylong]

No. ASC closed the lift because it didn't see enough use to justify the staff to operate a base lodge, a lift with a midstation, and a sled dog to patrol it. The Parker's Gore land swap had nothing to do with it.

The lower part of that Northeast Passage lift from the midstation had a few fun little shots. The Judge under the lift had a fun rock to jump on powder days. Nor'Easter was also pretty fun on a powder day. When skiing sucked, you could always ski down to the Back Behind and drink. It's sad that it's no longer.

Yes.

If you want I can search for an hour or so and hope to find the response from the Communications Director of K a few years back. The reason you mentioned (which I forgot), plus the one I did mention were the primary reasons why the are was closed. I believe there were also some others such as Black Bear habitat, etc.

 

[Flan]

Used to ski out of Northeast passage all the time in the '80's. The lift used to go downhill at one point (which we found novel). Pretty flat until the last pitch. What was the trail under the chair...Valley Plunge? The problem was that you needed 3 chairs to get up to the summit. Too much seat time. That being said, it was a great way to beat exit traffic. Anyone remember the "tin man" they had at the base near the fire pit? We used to stop at the bar/restaurant in Sunrise for a beer on the way down Sundog at the end of the day. Never did make it to the Back Behind Saloon though. Aaahhh the old days.

 

[skiadikt]

we had a few great pow days skiing those runs from mid-station at sunrise. but yeah a lot of work getting to & fro. however i do remember taking a beginner friend down there from the peak. it was one hell of a long run and once you got to the sunrise part, very uncrowded and non-intimidating-much more so than great eastern. she actually loved it. it was nice for what it was but no great loss as far as i'm concerned.

i don't get the "i don't ski k because of ramshead argument" ... sure those upper couple hundred of vert "could" be nice but there was only one narrow green trail up there (horn) and it would have been a mess with the additional traffic from a high speed quad. it makes for a great novice area with the current configuration. it's not like there's a lack of advanced terrain at k ...

 

[SkiDork]

are those crop circles in the upper right part of that photo? hmmmm... Maybe POWDR is in cahoots with aliens?

 

[Beetlenut]

No. ASC closed the lift because it didn't see enough use to justify the staff to operate a base lodge, a lift with a midstation, and a sled dog to patrol it. The Parker's Gore land swap had nothing to do with it.

The lower part of that Northeast Passage lift from the midstation had a few fun little shots. The Judge under the lift had a fun rock to jump on powder days. Nor'Easter was also pretty fun on a powder day. When skiing sucked, you could always ski down to the Back Behind and drink. It's sad that it's no longer.

We use to ski out of the NE passage when we stayed at the Farmbrook motel around the corner on 100A I belive. We would always end the day at the Back Behind Bar. That last run at the end of the day back to the NE Passage was always fun and uncrowded. I was up a K this last weekend and had dinner at the Back Behind. Hasn't changed a bit, good BBQ too!

 

[Rogman]

There are still 200 acres of developable land below Sunrise in an area referred to as "Cherry Knoll". It is now owned by SP Land and they have no plans to develop it any time soon. Obviously, the village and the interconnect would come first. However, once those things happen, wouldn't surprise me to see the Sunrise lift restored/replaced down to 100 with a HS lift, and a build out of that property. Figure a 20 year time frame.