Back to the King of Spring debate

[deadheadskier]

Please explain to our readers how you get back from Brackett when the Whiffletree Quad is also closed. Please be specific about how long those traverses are. Thank you.

Next I bet you will tell me Jay should include the acreage from The Dip because it is just a simple hitchhike to get back.

Huh? Whiffletree has nothing to do with skiing Brackett Basin if the King Pine isn't running.

You head back down to the base and take the Double Runners up to Skyline again. There's about 30 members of this forum that did it over and over again two seasons ago during the AZ summit when King Pine was on wind hold.

Maybe you should take a break from skiing Killington one of these years and join us for the Summit.

 

[Gilligan]

Huh? Whiffletree has nothing to do with skiing Brackett Basin if the King Pine isn't running.

You head back down to the base and take the Double Runners up to Skyline again. There's about 30 members of this forum that did it over and over again two seasons ago during the AZ summit when King Pine was on wind hold.

Maybe you should take a break from skiing Killington one of these years and join us for the Summit.

Whiffletree does not matter? Then you are just talking about the top portion of Brackett. OK. That knocks off a bunch of acreage right there.

In addition to the very lengthy traverses, you also need to ride 2 fixed grip lifts. How long did each lap take? :wink:

I may join you guys for the summit one of these years, but I sure won't be wasting my time doing that commute back and forth to Brackett if those lifts are not running.

I love Sugarloaf too, but I hate marketing lies. Over 1,000 acres my a--.

 

[deadheadskier]

Sorry Sugarloaf's marketing gets your panties in a bunch. :lol:

Look, Killington is doing great things this year. They'll likely finish the season as the last mountain standing and being well deserving of the King of Spring title.

Fact is for tomorrow, who has the most terrain open by far in the East? It's Sugarloaf. Call it 700 acres if it makes you feel better. That's still more skiable terrain available than any other ski area in the east by far. Hell, that's more than any other mountain even has to offer at 100% operation, save for Killington.

Killington is doing great things. The fact that Sugarloaf in the middle of no where is still going for it with their ski operations (arguably more so than Killington currently is with most of their mountain shuttered) is also a very good thing. To shit on that like you're doing? Well, that just sounds like sour grapes to me.

 

[snowmonster]

Is Cant Dog part of Brackett Basin? I never considered it since it was on the trail map even before Brackett was opened.

King of Spring? Last ski mountain spinning lifts, right?

 

[Gilligan]

It is not just Sugarloaf's marketing that bothers me. It is also the marketing you are doing for them at AlpineZone. I know they treat you nice, and you want that to continue, but maybe some of your posts should have that little "advertisement" disclaimer on them. I can only imagine the kind of stuff you would post if Killington tried to artificially increase their acreage in a similar manner.

 

[twinplanx]

^you seem very angry little buddy...maybe confused, have you been hit on the head with a coconut recently? Lol

 

[Conrad]

I just want to say that while you do have a tiny point about how part of the terrain is not lift serviced, like deadheadskier said, I am perfectly comfortable calling it 700-800 acres which is by far the most in the East and doesn't make much of a difference whether it is that or 1,000 acres. The image I have below is what I consider lift serviced terrain. And even then, I believe you can call a shuttle if you venture too far below lift serviced areas, although I am not sure since it is late in the season.

 

[gmcunni]

sum funy chit goin on here

 

[deadheadskier]

It is not just Sugarloaf's marketing that bothers me. It is also the marketing you are doing for them at AlpineZone. I know they treat you nice, and you want that to continue, but maybe some of your posts should have that little "advertisement" disclaimer on them. I can only imagine the kind of stuff you would post if Killington tried to artificially increase their acreage in a similar manner.

Me? Advertising for Sugarloaf? :lol:

I'd hardly rank Sugarloaf in the top five of mountains I "market" for on AZ, if that's what you call someone posting about ski areas they like on an Internet Forum. In the past five years, I've actually probably marketed for Tenney, Ragged and Gunstock more so than any other areas because those are the mountains I've had a pass at. I suppose you think I might also get a commission check from Okemo for chiming in support of them in the Okemo vs Loon thread the past couple of days. :lol:

And newsflash.....I really do like Killington. I've been skiing there for 28 years. Next to Stowe and Okemo, it's by far the mountain I've visited the most in my lifetime. Hell, my second best day of this season was there (sorry I didn't post a Trip Report and market your favorite mountain for you). I've skied Killington almost ever year of my skiing life. I'll be there at least one more time before the season is done. I've been super stoked and vocally supportive of what K has been doing this year all season. I will however, take exception to postings from people like yourself and skiersleft who are such K fanatics that your support of the mountain goes beyond promoting your favorite place, to putting down other ski mountains and those who may like those mountains better than your favorite.

Not sure why you're so hung up on acreage and size, though that's a common K skier issue. For the record, "I THINK KILLINGTON IS THE BIGGEST SKI AREA IN THE EAST". It is. It skis the biggest in the east to me. But it doesn't tomorrow; that would be Sugarloaf. And if Killington added on "artificial acreage" tomorrow (If "artificial acreage" is what you consider cutting and maintaining 100s of acres of side country terrain to be) I'd be STOKED to ski it. Hope it happens. Don't want to see the interconnect happen at K because I like Pico as a separate entity, but they go hog wild cutting trees south all the way to Ludlow and I'd be psyched........and really wouldn't give a crap about the marketing behind it.

I'm no Sugarloaf fluffer more so than just about anywhere. I've literally skied 90% of the ski areas over 800 vertical feet in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine over the past five years. I love it all.

 

[EPB]

Even when they run King Pine and Whiffletree, Brackett is far from what I would consider lift served. With those lifts closed, as they are now, at least half the stated acreage is a lie.

They're claiming 1064 "skiable acres" of terrain open as of the last report. It makes no mention of whether or not the terrain is all served by lifts, just that they permit people to ski down trails that total 1064 acres. To be clear, they did not "lie" about anything, so we can save the bombastic "they lied to us" rhetoric for another day...

As far as what can be accessed by lifts, the mountain claims 1153 acres of total terrain, so 89 acres has been closed by patrol/the powers that be. If my memory serves correctly, they had ~650 acres pre-Brackett Basin. Subtract 90 acres and you've got ~570 acres of runs within the actual boundary lines. If we subtract acreage from the bottom half of West Mtn below the cutoff and the two condo trails (one under the Snubber lift and one that is to the East of the Snubber lift), lets say they're at about 550 acres. People can feel free to come in and correct me, but I'd guess that between 150 and 250 acres of Brackett can be accessed without taking off your skis. With that assumption, between 700 and 800 acres are truly served by lifts, by reasonable standards, at this point in time. For those keeping score, that's 5.1x to 5.8x the skiable acreage claimed by Killington.

 

[Conrad]

It is not just Sugarloaf's marketing that bothers me. It is also the marketing you are doing for them at AlpineZone. I know they treat you nice, and you want that to continue, but maybe some of your posts should have that little "advertisement" disclaimer on them. I can only imagine the kind of stuff you would post if Killington tried to artificially increase their acreage in a similar manner.

It would make no sense if every time anyone said something positive about a ski area they had to put an "advertisement disclaimer" next to it, especially if they don't work at that ski area.

 

[EPB]

PS. I didn't see Conrad's map, but great job.

 

[Gilligan]

Killington...Killington...K...K...K...KILLINGTON...K

In all my posts in this thread I think I mentioned Killington once. You just mentioned it 7 times in one post. Who has Killington on their mind?

I know you like Killington. I see your posts on KillingtonZone all the time. I also saw you get reamed over there a few days ago. Have not seen a post from you since!

 

[deadheadskier]

In all my posts in this thread I think I mentioned Killington once. You just mentioned it 7 times in one post. Who has Killington on their mind?

I know you like Killington. I see your posts on KillingtonZone all the time. I also saw you get reamed over there a few days ago. Have not seen a post from you since!

Should I go back over there and make a post to make you feel better?

Do you honestly think I even care about McGuillicutty "reaming" me in this positive thread about K's spring season?

http://www.killingtonzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36760

I saw it and got a good laugh at the poor attempt at trying to insult me. Yup, fella got me so good, I've tucked tail and ran. Taking my ball on gone home.

Who are you on Kzone by the way? I haven't seen a Gilligan over there.

 

[Cannonball]

The argument has always been who is the last to close. The amount of acreage open is irrelevant.

And there is another issue to consider. I would not consider an 8 hour drive each way to ski at Sugarloaf or Sunday River when they are less than 100% open. It makes no sense. To me, either may as well be in Colorado or California. So do I now include areas out west for consideration as the Kings of Spring?

But you aren't the center of the universe in this discussion. Plenty of people live closer to sugarloaf than to Killington. Should that make them write off Killington from the discussion? The fact that you happen to live really far away from sugarloaf is irrelevant.

 

[EPB]

But you aren't the center of the universe in this discussion. Plenty of people live closer to sugarloaf than to Killington. Should that make them write off Killington from the discussion? The fact that you happen to live really far away from sugarloaf is irrelevant.

Agreed. Sugarloaf and Saddleback are definitely the best late season options until the K Glacier is the last trail standing. Sugarloaf is more convenient for me assuming that I leave all my stuff in the Mount Washington Valley, which I do for the most part. I've always tried to look at it from a driving time-agnostic point of view.

 

[Gilligan]

Should I go back over there and make a post to make you feel better?

Do you honestly think I even care about McGuillicutty "reaming" me in this positive thread about K's spring season?

http://www.killingtonzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36760

I saw it and got a good laugh at the poor attempt at trying to insult me. Yup, fella got me so good, I've tucked tail and ran. Taking my ball on gone home.

Who are you on Kzone by the way? I haven't seen a Gilligan over there.

I do not post on Kzone. Plenty of people over there to step in when the facts get misrepresented. No need for me. I do enjoy reading the stuff, though. Very informative.

What are these 12 places in the East that you would rather ski before Killington?

 

[snoseek]

I skied K today and have to say I'm impressed with the amount of snow laid down on Superstar and skylark/bittersweet. Reminds me of when i skied there back in the 90's...they mean business and we all win in that battle

That said Stowe on Monday was just incredible....i need to spend a couple winters there before i get old

 

[steamboat1]

 

[EPB]

What are these 12 places in the East that you would rather ski before Killington?

Not to turn this into a pissing contest, because I like Killington, but I'll give it a shot:

1) Stowe
2) Sugarbush
3) Sugarloaf
4) Jay Peak
5) Mont Sainte Anne
6) Le Massif
7) Saddleback
8 )Wildcat
9) Cannon
10) Mont Orford
11) Smugglers Notch*
12) Mad River Glen*

The first ten I've been to and would go to again before Killington. The last two I haven't been to, but would rather ski before I return...

I'd prefer to look at what Killington is.... I'd classify it as a top tier size-wise ski resort (~600+ acres) that has great terrain, good natural snowfall, a ton of options for everyone, but has a tendency to get seriously crowded.

Places I'd say fit that bill are:

Sugarloaf
Sunday River
Mount Snow
Okemo
Tremblant
Killington

I'd say Sugarloaf is clearly better among those options, but Killington is roughly on par with Tremblant and head-and-shoulders better than the rest.