Killington - Bear Mountain "Revitalization"

[JonD]

K has some big plans for next summer. Renovating Bear lodge, new condos, reestablishing a South Ridge quad, and a new trail(including a tunnel) to connect the top of Bear to the base of Skye Peak. Looks interesting. I've been hoping they'd bring back a South Ridge lift for years.

http://www.killington.com/company/media/pressrelease.html?pressrelease=pressrelease56

Phase 1 of the Bear Mountain Revitalization Plan, called “Base Camp at Bear Mountain” is expected to begin in summer 2018 with the construction of 6-7 multi-family buildings estimated to cost $45 million, plus a major remodeling of Bear Mountain Base Lodge (keeping the original footprint), the installation of a fixed grip quad chair lift on Killington’s South Ridge, and on-mountain improvements for skier flow including bridge and tunnel work. On-mountain improvements are expected to cost approximately $8 million total.

Phase 1’s on-mountain trail improvements include reestablishing the Snowshed Crossover trail with the construction of a ski bridge and tunnel to enhance the on-snow experience for lower ability levels, while at the same time maintaining uninterrupted top to bottom flow on the more advanced terrain in the Bear Mountain area
The new South Ridge Quad chair lift will carry skiers and snowboarders from the top of Bear Mountain and bottom of the South Ridge trails to the top of Killington’s South Ridge area, just below the Killington Peak Lodge. Constructing the new lift along the previous South Ridge lift’s return line eliminates the need for any significant trail clearing or rerouting of trails.

 

[4aprice]

I think they are nuts if they don't extend any lift on South ridge up to a position that would enable access to the new summit lodge.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[jimmywilson69]

They've discussed extending the new SR lift to the peak ad nauseam at K-Zone. Killington says there is no enough Room to unload a quad up there. Plus I think it complicates the permitting.

Not a new ski trail. Snowshed crossover exists today and wil "officially" be open once they close the bear base area for the season. Will be nice to have that connectivity back on the map. I am curious how they plan on keeping snow in the tunnel beneath Skyeburst. Thatis a pretty wide trail which will require a long tunnel.

 

[Domeskier]

I am curious how they plan on keeping snow in the tunnel beneath Skyeburst. Thatis a pretty wide trail which will require a long tunnel.

Sounds like the perfect use for SnowFlex!

 

[bdfreetuna]

Awesome. No more skating in front of K1 lodge to get from one side of resort to the other. Definitely addresses what I consider the biggest problem at Killington.

 

[benski]

Killington needs a few more narrow trails. They should add one or two skiers right of south ridge.

 

[kingslug]

Awesome. No more skating in front of K1 lodge to get from one side of resort to the other. Definitely addresses what I consider the biggest problem at Killington.

That would be great, hate the skate.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Bump

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[tnt1234]

Alway feels to me like over half the trails at K-ton do nothing more than get you to and from various places.....

 

[deadheadskier]

Alway feels to me like over half the trails at K-ton do nothing more than get you to and from various places.....

That can be the case. To avoid that experience it's best to move from mountain to mountain at the base areas utilizing the lifts. If you take that approach, you can pretty much avoid most all connector type trails at K.

 

[bdfreetuna]

The mountain is designed pretty well it just takes a little while to get to know all the options. If you find yourself going sideways all day, you're doing it wrong. Point your skis downhill and enjoy the nearest trail.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

yea, k just needs to be skied strategically. like you shouldn't ever be like "ok I'm going to get from Snowdon to Bear in one run", because you're gonna waste time traversing across the place when instead you can ski Snowdon quad to K-1, K-1 to Superstar, Superstar to Bear Mountain (etc) and get 4500 vertical feet of actual terrain skiing in, instead of skating across long stupid connector trails for 45 min

 

[tnt1234]

Yeah, in high school I skied there a ton and our best days were when you just enjoyed one pod for a while and then moved on, instead of kind of chasing the trails around...."Scott wants to ski Devils fiddle! Let's go!.....Hey, I just our our friends are over on Superstar....told them we'd meet them at the bottom.....yadda, yadda...." then you are just killing yourself.....

I remember one year - this is probably the last time I skied K-ton until last year when I went for a day - was trying to get from our condo, which was ski on, but way out lookers left of Bear, to the base of the old three stage Gondi - the very base.... It dumped snow, so all the traverse trails were engrossed, flat and just exhausting, and I had to take two lifts before skiing down. Was 45 minutes late for the hook up, and I completely ate it under the lift line of the second lift I had to ride in knee deep powder....

Day got significantly better after that.

 

[skimagic]

The Zoning board gives green light for the luxury condo phase. Lets hope the lodge remodel and new lift are in for next season.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/articles/bear-mt-plan-gets-zoning-change/

 

[ss20]

Hard to believe they can get through Act 250, and sell the units in 6 months when construction would have to begin.

I just hope if the condos get tied up the South Ridge chair and Bear lodge revamp still happen by 2018.

 

[Newpylong]

The South Ridge replacement is definitely at the top of my short list of highly anticipated lift replacements. Can't wait to see that. I know people will hate "the goods" being found but it's just too hard to realistically get any runs in there now, and the trails are great over there.

 

[deadheadskier]

Love South Ridge. Short of a high speed lift, I don't think it will "discovered" anymore than when the old lift was there once the newness wears off

Sent from my XT1565 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Newpylong]

I think they realistically need to replace and reconnect the pipes on Lower Pipe Dream. Seems like a big investment to only have one green square connector to the lift with snowmaking.

 

[ss20]

I think they realistically need to replace and reconnect the pipes on Lower Pipe Dream. Seems like a big investment to only have one green square connector to the lift with snowmaking.

The lift is much more important than the terrain in the "pod" it serves. Without it/or the Snowshed crossover you have to take the Skye Peak Quad to get over to the K1 side of the hill. It sucks.

 

[deadheadskier]

The lift is much more important than the terrain in the "pod" it serves. Without it/or the Snowshed crossover you have to take the Skye Peak Quad to get over to the K1 side of the hill. It sucks.

Yeah, the mountain is broken without it. I can appreciate some folks enjoying the terrain holding fresh tracks longer because you can't lap it, but SPE lines can be horrendous.

Sent from my XT1565 using AlpineZone mobile app