Killington 2016-7: It's On!

[180]

Today they turned the guns on Upper East Fall at 9am, They also are blowing from the mid-station on the triple to the bottom for World Cup training. As everyone knows, temps for the most part have been marginal. Its an amazing effort they have been putting out. Thank god for the stairs. Saw a snowmaker walking across lower SS about 100 yards up and he was up to his hips in snow. I say, as long as we have no monsoons or fog, they will pull it off.

 

[ss20]

Holy shit. 45 hours of snowmaking yielded this: http://www.killington.com/site/mountain/webcam/superstar.html

That's incredible.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I wish they weren't having this race, which I could care less about. Seems like they could have more open by now even with the mild temperatures without it.

 

[andrec10]

I wish they weren't having this race, which I could care less about. Seems like they could have more open by now even with the mild temperatures without it.

Wish elsewhere...

 

[mriceyman]

I wish they weren't having this race, which I could care less about. Seems like they could have more open by now even with the mild temperatures without it.

Really? Cmon man no one else could even get open.


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[yeggous]

Really? Cmon man no one else could even get open.


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False. Some of us skied Bretton Woods today.


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[machski]

I wish they weren't having this race, which I could care less about. Seems like they could have more open by now even with the mild temperatures without it.

Really? They are only pushing what they are on SS because of FIS and USSA money pumped in. Talk is the extra compressors they have now go back after race weekend. So no, without the race, public skiing would be no different. Killington has been conservative with expansion off North Ridge for several seasons now.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Seems to me if they can get SS covered they can go top to bottom with the same intentionality. Maybe I'm not dedicated to the sport but I would like more than Rime and Reason to open with walks involved to get up there.

It's just my opinion though, as someone who relies on K for early and late season skiing, and selfishly I'd rather go skiing early season than have Killington host a race that I will not watch or care about the results.

Killington is not known for being conservative on expansion early season and this year's effort is disappointing even with some warm days involved.

Bromley went top to bottom practically ready to open if they wanted to overnight. If Killington wanted to they could be top to bottom by now.

 

[deadheadskier]

They actually have been conservative expanding down from North Ridge in recent years. Several places were top to bottom last year while Killington was still offering stair served skiing.

 

[ss20]

Seems to me if they can get SS covered they can go top to bottom with the same intentionality. Maybe I'm not dedicated to the sport but I would like more than Rime and Reason to open with walks involved to get up there.

Killington is not known for being conservative on expansion early season and this year's effort is disappointing even with some warm days involved.

Bromley went top to bottom practically ready to open if they wanted to overnight. If Killington wanted to they could be top to bottom by now.

1. The FIS is putting money into Superstar's snowmaking budget.
2. Killington will make a hellova lot more money in F&B, lodging, grandstand tickets, and merchandise by having the World Cup than having TTB on Snowdon.
3. No other trail at Killington has the snowmaking infrastructure to do a 150 gun assault. They put a lot of money into the trail's snowmaking over the offseason to make it World Cup ready. To upgrade a trail off of Snowdon to allow it to have the assault Superstar just went under would be stupid because it's "pay off" time would be the 1-2 weeks when there is only one TTB route down the hill. Compared to Superstar, who's snowmaking infrastructure gives it the ability to stay open till June.
4. Publicity: World Cup > Top-to-bottom skiing
5. Killington has been conservative going TTB ever since the stairway went in.
6. That Bromley claim is a load of bullshit.


Killington is kicking serious ass right now... their first "competition" to them just opened up today, after K's been open for THREE WEEKS. And that "competition" opened up with six inches of snow on a ski trail that's flat enough to be a golf course...while Killington has 2-4 feet of snow on a legitimate black diamond trail.

 

[bdfreetuna]

6. That Bromley claim is a load of bullshit.

Don't knock Bromley's dedication to snowmaking.. they may not have an early opening date but they sure are showing off.

https://www.facebook.com/Bromleymountain/posts/10155406734820744

Again I don't care about the race but I buy a Killington Express card every year and go there as much as I can. Great mountain. They could have done better for skiers early season without the race. Get upset if you want it's not going to change any of those facts.

They actually have been conservative expanding down from North Ridge in recent years. Several places were top to bottom last year while Killington was still offering stair served skiing.

You're right, even Okemo beat them early season the last couple years on terrain. But what they're doing with Superstar shows that it doesn't have to be that way. SS base elevation is same as K-1 base elevation.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Stratton blowing T2B multiple trails at once
https://www.facebook.com/StrattonMo....9189524466/10154696768154467/?type=3&theater

note that is < 24 hours of snowmaking progress

 

[deadheadskier]

Tuna - I don't think the World Cup efforts on Superstar and blowing to the base of Snowdon are necessarily mutually exclusive. You agreed that they were slower than other areas going TTB last season. If there was no race going on, I'm not certain they would be TTB now instead. If they didn't do it last year, what makes you think they would this year absent of the race?

 

[bdfreetuna]

My logic isn't flawless on this one and I'm not a K snowmaking ops insider, I'm just generally saying Killington could be more aggressive early season to get a half respectable amount of terrain open considering they open so early, as we can see comparing them to others, some of which have lower elevation and further south.. but now we have the top to bottom blowing on Superstar as further evidence that if K *wanted* to go T-2-B by now on Snowden and/or Cascade, for example, they could have done it.

I say this more as encouragement and in hopes that they focus on the task of going T2B early in the future as someone who supports the mountain. November is a rediculous time to hold a World Cup race in Vermont anyway, maybe they should hold out for races that don't arguably compete with their ability and/or will to expand terrain at the very start of the season.

 

[benski]

My logic isn't flawless on this one and I'm not a K snowmaking ops insider, I'm just generally saying Killington could be more aggressive early season to get a half respectable amount of terrain open considering they open so early, as we can see comparing them to others, some of which have lower elevation and further south.. but now we have the top to bottom blowing on Superstar as further evidence that if K *wanted* to go T-2-B by now on Snowden and/or Cascade, for example, they could have done it.

I say this more as encouragement and in hopes that they focus on the task of going T2B early in the future as someone who supports the mountain. November is a rediculous time to hold a World Cup race in Vermont anyway, maybe they should hold out for races that don't arguably compete with their ability and/or will to expand terrain at the very start of the season.

They might make more money off the early season race than later in the season since it gives them another good weekend in terms of lodging and tickets.

 

[ss20]

Again I don't care about the race but I buy a Killington Express card every year and go there as much as I can. Great mountain. They could have done better for skiers early season without the race. Get upset if you want it's not going to change any of those facts.

I'm upset? Me? The one who defended Killington? The one who isn't complaining about early season offerings...and applauded them over the fact that they're...I'll quote myself..."kicking ass" over the competition? Can you see my signature? I've already got one day in at Killington...3.5 hours each way and paid full price for a lift ticket to ski two trails...and happy I did it.

I am upset with myself because I know arguing with you is completely pointless and instantly regretted responding to your post as soon as I replied.

 

[deadheadskier]

Tuna - this is a one off race because the season Championship is being held at Aspen. Aspen normally hosts the Women this weekend, so they needed to find another venue early season as to avoid a repeat. So, Killington stepped up. First WC race in Vermont in 38 years. They would likely never be offered a later season date. Though maybe if this is successful they might. Who knows.

The reality is that even without what they've done on Superstar, their efforts have been better than anyone else in the region to date by far. Yes, seeing what they've done on Superstar can make you wonder what they could do on Cascade, Snowdon etc., but would it be a wise business decision? Probably not. If it was, they'd have done it last year.

 

[cdskier]

but now we have the top to bottom blowing on Superstar as further evidence that if K *wanted* to go T-2-B by now on Snowden and/or Cascade, for example, they could have done it.

I don't necessarily agree. Blowing T2B at any point this season so far with the weather we've had and the forecasts would have been a very risky move. They did it on SS because they were pretty much forced to take advantage of any opportunity including marginal temps to do whatever they can to ensure they can host the WC race. Without the race, it would have been a very questionable effort on any other trails. On top of that other trails don't have the possibility of having the level of firepower aimed at it that SS does...so you wouldn't have had the level of production on other trails that you're getting on SS. This weekend was really the first major opportunity to make snow to the base (and it wasn't as good as forecasts originally said it would be). While Stratton and Bromley may have had guns going, how much production did they actually get at the base? Did Stratton or Bromley share any pics of the progress at the base after they turned off the guns today when temps warmed up?

Pushing to go T2B too early when you don't need to is a very risk move. Stick to the North Ridge area and blow to the base when you have optimal snowmaking conditions combined with a decent upcoming forecast so it doesn't all melt... I'll be curious to see how much Stratton and Bromley have left at the base after this week.

 

[yeggous]

This discussion comes up every year. K-Mart fan boys brag about getting early stair-serviced runs. Then they cry when everyone else is skiing top-to-bottom and they are stuck on the stairs and short fixed grip lift.


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[Jully]

I don't think tuna is necessarily acting like a K fanboy though. K's display on SS is certainly proof that they could get open TTB earlier if they wanted, the reason they aren't is not because of the world cup race, its cause of their strategy. K is mighty aggressive up top early season, but they then don't expand because they seem to then act conservatively to save money. They recoup any expenses they incur by being aggressive in October by not risking it in Nov to get TTB. That's how their early season model is profitable/possible imo. They would never make money going through Snowdon right now and it would cost a fortune.