F Killington for closeing early

[Vince]

We could have another month of skiing if it was not for the new greedy owners.

 

[mondeo]

We could have another month of skiing if it was not for the new greedy owners.

Umm... businesses are greedy. That's what they're there for.

I'm unhappy that they shut Bear down early. I'm unhappy that they shut the entire mountain down early. I'd go along (maybe) with stupid, shortsighted, incompetent,..., but I'm not going to fault a company for trying to make money. You aren't entitled to mid-May skiing at Killington, it was just a selling point under the old owners. The new ones decided to drop it.

 

[wa-loaf]

So take your money to the areas still open.

 

[snoseek]

So take your money to the areas still open.

Agreed and better yet don't give them a dime of your money at any point of the season if you don't like what they're doing. There are other areas with a different plan and what appears to be more snow on the ground, go there


Also it's closing not closeing. I'm probably not one to talk.:smash:

 

[tjf67]

We could have another month of skiing if it was not for the new greedy owners.

They saw the profit they had so far this year and decided that the rest of the year will just be a drain. K sucks anyways who cares.

 

[SkiDork]

K sucks anyways who cares.

hang on there cowboy - I wouldn't go so far as to say K sux... there's a lot of good stuff there...

k Management sux? That I would agree with...

bring it on...

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

We could have another month of skiing if it was not for the new greedy owners.

Well if you owned Killington..would you throw away alot of your profits to stay open a month later????:uzi:

 

[wa-loaf]

Well if you owned Killington..would you throw away alot of your profits to stay open a month later????:uzi:

Yes?

At a minimum they could stop harassing the folks hiking for turns.

 

[2knees]

I think it just sucks that they took something almost iconic away from us. Granted, it really wasnt that cool closing may 6th last year but april 20th for killington is just crazy. I understand completely that its their business and they can run it as they see fit but i dont have to like it. However, the over the top non stop complaining and whining doesnt do anyone any good. If anything, i think it has a reverse affect on people who are rather detatched from the situation. You start to root for powdr.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Yes?

At a minimum they could stop harassing the folks hiking for turns.

I thought that was early season when it affected snowmaking..is Killington on private land or forest service land?

 

[Phildozer]

Absolutely.

Frankly, I'm so sick of the crying about Killington closing early. When ASC was running the place, it clearly wasn't making money. Want proof? Ask someone with shares of ASC stock what they're worth now.

 

[SkiDork]

Absolutely.

Frankly, I'm so sick of the crying about Killington closing early. When ASC was running the place, it clearly wasn't making money. Want proof? Ask someone with shares of ASC stock what they're worth now.

This generalization misses the boat entirely... But it's all been beaten to death on KZone 3x over already anyway...

 

[wa-loaf]

I thought that was early season when it affected snowmaking..is Killington on private land or forest service land?

I read in another thread they were warning people off of Outerlimits, even thought that part of the hill was closed. Maybe it's different now that the whole mtn is closed.

 

[2knees]

regarding making money late season.

I think the first step on this one is for all the internet virtual reality ski area operators to put the bong down and admit they have no freakin idea what it costs to run an area in may. or any other month for that matter.


but, i went poking through the ski area challenges looking for something along these lines and i found this quote from the sugarbush alpinezone challenge. From Win himself.

This is a great question. One does not make money before Christmas week or after March. In fact 40 days account for nearly 75% of our revenues. Late in the season we try to operate with as much full time salaried staff as possible. We stay open primarily to show our season pass holders value and as you say for "marketing" for the next season. While I and many of my colleagues will ski to the end, my personal pleasure doesn't affect our decision. (Oh, maybe a little!) This is a difficult business to run profitably, so we have to make certain trade-off decisions which may not always please all of our skiers and riders but will be in the best interest of a successful resort.

 

[Geoff]

Absolutely.

Frankly, I'm so sick of the crying about Killington closing early. When ASC was running the place, it clearly wasn't making money. Want proof? Ask someone with shares of ASC stock what they're worth now.

That is a very uninformed comment.

All the ski resorts in the ASC portfolio made an operating profit other than The Canyons when they were getting it off the ground. Sugarbush didn't and that's why they unloaded it for next to nothing. They just didn't make enough operating profit to service the gigantic interest payments on those huge 12% loans (junk bonds) Les Otten used to buy all those ski resorts. Before they started spinning off ski areas to pay down the debt, ASC was paying something approaching $100 million in interest every year. The business plan was to use the profits from real estate development to pay down the debt. Unfortunately, ASC sucked at real estate development and quarter share units at Steamboat, The Canyons, and Attitash ended up being auctioned off at fire sale prices. ASC had a finance problem with too much leverage and lousy interest rates, not an operations problem. If Les Otten hadn't retained 51% ownership of ASC when he took it public, he would have raised enough cash in the IPO to solve his debt problem. Greed and hubris killed the company.

 

[Geoff]

I thought that was early season when it affected snowmaking..is Killington on private land or forest service land?

Most of the resort sits in the Calvin Coolidge State Forest. Killington has a lease with the state for the land. Carry a gun. Killington can't stop hunters on state forest land. Since they have a lease, they do have some amount of control over the land but they can't stop John Q. Public from setting foot on it.

Since they're working on the Skye Peak Quad, it's not unreasonable that they'd want to discourage people from being at Bear Mountain. I'm not sure if the bottom of Bear is private land or state forest land.

 

[Greg]

But it's all been beaten to death on KZone 3x over already anyway...

What amazes me the most is that people are still talking about it, despite the fact that Powdr disclosed the plans to close early in mi-April last year when they started selling their passes. Perhaps, it's just the reality of it all, but I will bet that we'll hear about it all summer and beyond.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

What amazes me the most is that people are still talking about it, despite the fact that Powdr disclosed the plans to close early in mi-April last year when they started selling their passes. Perhaps, it's just the reality of it all, but I will bet that we'll hear about it all summer and beyond.

Oh people will be talking about it for at least a decade...Greg I hope you're not working with any industry folks from Killington..lol

 

[Greg]

Oh people will be talking about it for at least a decade...Greg I hope you're not working with any industry folks from Killington..lol

Have been for some time. Their skin is pretty thick by now...

 

[Phildozer]

That is a very uninformed comment.

All the ski resorts in the ASC portfolio made an operating profit other than The Canyons when they were getting it off the ground.

Greed and hubris killed the company.

Clearly, you know more about the history of ASC than I do.

At what point did Killington stop turning a profit or was it in the black year-for-year?

"Hubris" Kickass word!