K passes 12-13

[skiadikt]

That's silly. How many people here ski mainly weekends? I'll answer that for you-way more than half. That extra half hour is critical for those that look to get out early and avoid crowds. I for the life of me can't figure out why you always step in to defend the mountain whenever they make an unpopular decision. Are you marketing or something?


Clearly you're local and probably get out there frequently. So answer me this-Aren't you going to miss showing up and banging out a bunch of runs before the masses show up? Kiss that goodbye, you'll be lining up with the rest of NJ every Saturday morning. That 2 hour session of wide open fast cruising...kiss that goodbye

as one of (the many) weekend 8am lift people i agree. that first hr or so of uncrowded skiing on a weekend is golden. and the fact that they say no one is there early and that the lodges are underutilized for that first 1/2 hr is bull. when we pull in at 7:30 at kbl there's a pretty good turnout already. the 8am weekend start has been in effect for as long as i remember going back over 35 yrs. just another k tradition they're trying to change ...

instead of trying to grow their business and recover lost market share by offering more, they continue to try to grow their bottom line by cutting back on services. keep doing that and ultimately you lose customers.

 

[bheemsoth]

as one of (the many) weekend 8am lift people i agree. that first hr or so of uncrowded skiing on a weekend is golden. and the fact that they say no one is there early and that the lodges are underutilized for that first 1/2 hr is bull. when we pull in at 7:30 at kbl there's a pretty good turnout already. the 8am weekend start has been in effect for as long as i remember going back over 35 yrs. just another k tradition they're trying to change ...

instead of trying to grow their business and recover lost market share by offering more, they continue to try to grow their bottom line by cutting back on services. keep doing that and ultimately you lose customers.

Bingo. Hasn't K already been seeing a steady decline in skier-visits over the past decade or so?

 

[gmcunni]

cutting back hours = not very beastly

 

[skiadikt]

A full Killington season pass is good 7 days per week, if people choose to only use the pass for 2 of the 7 days each week than why complain about missing out on 1 hour of uncrowded skiing per week when you choose not to go the other 35 uncrowded hours in the week?

To answer your question, I downgraded to a midweek pass this year since I am local and work at night so I can ski everyday if I wanted to. With that said I like to get out at opening so I can get the best conditions of the day whether it be a powder day or groomer day. I don't like to wake up early to get out at the earlier opening time on weekends so with that and the higher cost of the blackout pass I now choose not to ski weekends at all.

now it's our fault because we choose to ski only 2 days of the week and choose not ski the other 35 hrs of the week ... you're just being ridiculous and i'm being kind. most weekend skiers have jobs that prevent them from skiing mid-week. probably 60-70% of their business is on those 2 days (weekends). and many of us weekend folks are happy to get up early to able to ski the earlier weekend opening time. just because you can't get your sorry ass out of bed on weekends doesn't make this right.

btw stowe still opens at 7:30 on weekends.

people wonder why there are so many bash k threads but tell me what other ski area has made as many unpopular, cutting service decisions over the last 5 years. none. that's one area where they're way ahead of the others.

 

[steamboat1]

What's the story with this corporation.

Seems they just like to piss people off.

 

[riverc0il]

So... I assume all you K complainers are finally going to stop paying them money and stop skiing there to protest yet another unpopular decision? If not, you just prove their point... that they don't need to do it and any associated lost revenue does not approach the savings. Put your money where your mouth is, walk. Ski somewhere else if that half hour is so precious to you.

 

[skiur]

give them an inch and they will take a mile. 8:30 on weekends now in two years it will be 10:00. Maybe on crappy days we should just leave the mountain closed since it isnt packed.

 

[boston_e]

So... I assume all you K complainers are finally going to stop paying them money and stop skiing there to protest yet another unpopular decision? If not, you just prove their point... that they don't need to do it and any associated lost revenue does not approach the savings. Put your money where your mouth is, walk. Ski somewhere else if that half hour is so precious to you.

A lot of peeople are already tied to the area with property and there is a huge ammount of inertia required to make that change.

 

[bheemsoth]

give them an inch and they will take a mile. 8:30 on weekends now in two years it will be 10:00. Maybe on crappy days we should just leave the mountain closed since it isnt packed.

That might be a little bit of a stretch, but on the flip side, I can't see the point in all the Killington appologists defending this decision. Who likes less skiing??

 

[my poor knees]

i always wondered why they dont stay open till 4:30

 

[Highway Star]

Killington = Less Value: 8:30am weekend openings next year.

How do you feel about that???

http://www.killingtonzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34476

I think that anyone and everyone that skis or rides needs to exert maximum written and electronic pressure on Killington or POWDR for the next 6 months to demand that they reverse their idiotic attempt to shorten our weekend and holiday service. This subtle little byline in the season pass fine print might be a warning shot across the public bow - if the consumer does not object very much, they will win. Start speaking to every damn employee with a badge in no uncertain terms short of profanity.

I am also concerned that there might be a collusion of sorts going on. I need to see how the other Vt region mountains respond. If all the competition drops the first 30 minutes, K will be like one of the pack. Remember when all the access road establishments banded together to drop free HH wings? (cept for Yoshi, thank you).

How about cutting the last half hour? Trails are very quiet then, the conditions are the worst of any given day, and it gets dark pretty early a lot of winter days. Certainly less of a loss than the first half hour.

I do not see them dropping ticket prices by 1/16 (30 minutes off an 8 hour operations limit) and I do not see any competitive postition except that all the other mountains are going to have a competitive advantage over K. It sounds like an arrogant POWDR decision based on wanting to save more electricity and labor hours. I am certain that someone well off who also does not ski or ride or pays 80-something bucks a day made the decision, wrote it up as a cost savings necessitated by the economy. It should really be - what can we do better, bigger, more professional to win back the lost business?

The public feedback message should be loud and clear along the following lines:

Killington = Less Value

Killington Wants More From You, and Will Gives You Less Next year

Penny Wise, POWDR Foolish.

Here Is How We Grow Our Business And Compete - Cut Services

Obviously I am pretty pissed off, more like amazed actually. I live in a coporate world, and this smells exactly like a stupid corporate decision made by someone who still has no clue about the very customers who they rely on for their income. I am tired of hearing the phrase "It's a business that needs to be run like a business". How about running the business so that it grows, your customers talk positive about you in the off-season, and your business becomes attractive instead of watered down?

There is no secret to re-capturing the 200,000-300,000 skier days lost to the competition:

1)Make the customer happy.
2)Exceed their expectations.
3)Do what others cannot or will not do.
4)Make it fun.
5)Make you feel that you made the right decision to patronize their business, because you will want to come back.

Any reasonable combination of the above would result in growth. Hint: Relying on good weather alone to provide all 5 above is a recipe for disaster and further loss of market share.

I guess the POWDR Corp. Utah arrogance wins the battle - pray for good weather and piss of the customer some more every year. Is it so far-fetched to realize that getting back those thousands of lost skier visits would line their pockets and be an attractive incentive to make customer-oriented decisions versus nickle & diming decisions?

 

[BenedictGomez]

How do you feel about that???

I feel that despite your angry internetz rantings, you'll still be skiing at Killington next year.

 

[snowmonster]

Hasn't this already been discussed in the K pass thread?

This is great news for day-trippers and those who ride buses to get to K. They usually pull up at around 930. More untracked snow for us masses!

At least Stowe still has a 730 weekend opening. With only a $6 difference between K and Stowe at the non-holiday weekend walk-up rate, if you're skiing first to last chair, you get more bang for your buck at Stowe.

 

[Highway Star]

Where's the Beast???

 

[gmcunni]

discussion started over in http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=108089

probably should just merge the threads

 

[Highway Star]

I feel that despite your angry internetz rantings, you'll still be skiing at Killington next year.

Maybe, but I won't spend any more money with them other than the cost of the pass. Me skiing at $15 per day negatively impacts their yield per skier visit.

 

[Highway Star]

discussion started over in http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=108089

probably should just merge the threads

No, this is a different topic. But thanks.

 

[lolkl]

Why do you ski there?
It's crowded. The conditions never seem to be good. It's not steep ( Maybe compared to Hunter or Sundown, but, it isn't steep). It's not well run. There is much better tree skiing up the road. K people just bitch all the time. Why are they there. When I lived at Sugarbush, you couldn't pay us to go down there unless it was Oct or May. So does killington suck or is it the people who frequent the place that suck because they bitch about the place?
Just asking.

 

[Glenn]

I feel that despite your angry internetz rantings, you'll still be skiing at Killington next year.

LOL! That about sums it up!

[/thread]

 

[WWF-VT]

Maybe, but I won't spend any more money with them other than the cost of the pass. Me skiing at $15 per day negatively impacts their yield per skier visit.

I'm sure some bean counter in Utah stays up at night wondering how he can make you happy to get the yield per skier stat improved.