Killington - closing North Ridge Triple and Bear Mountain Quad midweek.

[oakapple]

Word on Kzone today is that flatbed trucks with air compressors on them were seen driving away from the Bear Mountain area

The story is that about half of Killington's compressor capacity is permanent, the other half rented. They're sending back the extra compressors that were brought in to get Bear ready for the Dew Tour. They still have enough capacity to keep blowing the rest of the resort. (Whether they WILL, and to what extent, are entirely different questions.)

 

[Newpylong]

Killington is going down the tubes. Sad to see. I used to love the place. Not so much anymore.

It began going down the tubes 10 years ago when they started closing terrain.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

It began going down the tubes 10 years ago when they started closing terrain.

What terrain did they close down ten years ago?

 

[ALLSKIING]

Killington is going down the tubes. Sad to see. I used to love the place. Not so much anymore.

It began going down the tubes 10 years ago when they started closing terrain.

ASC killed the place....Powder is no Win but I believe they are slowly fixing the place and trying to save money where they can as well as learning how to run an eastern resort on the fly, It is a business after all...They have made mistakes but have also corrected some...Time will tell in the end.

 

[oakapple]

What terrain did they close down ten years ago?

Upper Ramshead and Lower Sunrise.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

Upper Ramshead and Lower Sunrise.

Were those forced closing because of the Thrush and Bear populations or something? I am pretty sure Ramshead was related to this, Sunrise might have just been financial thing. For some reason I thought they had to suspend operation in these two areas in order to expand elsewhere. I think, heck I know, Geoff could better answer this.

 

[Highway Star]

The story is that about half of Killington's compressor capacity is permanent, the other half rented. They're sending back the extra compressors that were brought in to get Bear ready for the Dew Tour. They still have enough capacity to keep blowing the rest of the resort. (Whether they WILL, and to what extent, are entirely different questions.)

AFAIK they didn't have any extra capacity whatsoever for the dew tour. There are only so many pipes and hydrants on those trails and it's not like there was widespread snowmaking elsewhere at the same time. For the most part, they have been water pumping limited due to reasonably cold temps.

They have been renting a portion of their compressor capacity for a long time. With the rentals, they probably have by far the most air capacity in the east. Without them, they have capacity on par with most resorts in the region. They still have all their water pumping capacity, of courese, so if temps are cold, they can make plenty of snow. If they want to.

 

[Highway Star]

Were those forced closing because of the Thrush and Bear populations or something? I am pretty sure Ramshead was related to this, Sunrise might have just been financial thing. For some reason I thought they had to suspend operation in these two areas in order to expand elsewhere. I think, heck I know, Geoff could better answer this.

The closings of that terrain were purely operational decisions.

Rams Head had the new lift installed in 1996, it was brought down from the summit to make the area more beginner friendly and protected from wind. One of the interconnect lifts would have restored some lift service to the rams head ridge line.

Sunrise was closed around 1998 due to reduced business levels and lack of need due to the skyeship. The loss of parkers gore played into this, but it was not part of the deal. The condo/property owners struck a deal to shorten the lift. AFAIK, killington could run a lift there.

The "land swap" deal every one refers to was when "parker's gore east", south of sunrise, which Killington owned, was traded for a large swath of land in the main basin area. They wished to focus on the pico interconnect and base village, as opposed to expanding to the south.

 

[bobbutts]

Were those forced closing because of the Thrush and Bear populations or something? I am pretty sure Ramshead was related to this, Sunrise might have just been financial thing. For some reason I thought they had to suspend operation in these two areas in order to expand elsewhere. I think, heck I know, Geoff could better answer this.

Pretty sure Ram's head was a design decision to create a more coherent pod. And Sunrise was lack of use + expense of running another lodge and low elevation snowmaking terrain.

 

[millerm277]

Were those forced closing because of the Thrush and Bear populations or something? I am pretty sure Ramshead was related to this, Sunrise might have just been financial thing. For some reason I thought they had to suspend operation in these two areas in order to expand elsewhere. I think, heck I know, Geoff could better answer this.

No. The original purpose of Sunrise, was to be a stepping stone toward expanding further that direction into Parker's Gore. The idea of the Parker's Gore expansion was killed for various reasons, I believe the state would only let them operate it into march because of the Thrush/Bear populations with how the planning was going, and then they completely traded the land for the Interconnect land.

None of this actually affected Lower Sunrise, other than to make it now not have much point since the expansion it was intended to be the first phase of was entirely canceled in favor of the Interconnect.

Killington could run a lift up RH whenever they want, and they're actually supposed to as part of the interconnect plans (reopening upper Swirl, not sure on the other trails). They shortened it because of wind and wanting to get rid of the section with any pitch to it to make it entirely low-level terrain.

All IIRC of course.

 

[thetrailboss]

No. The original purpose of Sunrise, was to be a stepping stone toward expanding further that direction into Parker's Gore. The idea of the Parker's Gore expansion was killed for various reasons, I believe the state would only let them operate it into march because of the Thrush/Bear populations with how the planning was going, and then they completely traded the land for the Interconnect land.

None of this actually affected Lower Sunrise, other than to make it now not have much point since the expansion it was intended to be the first phase of was entirely canceled in favor of the Interconnect.

Killington could run a lift up RH whenever they want, and they're actually supposed to as part of the interconnect plans (reopening upper Swirl, not sure on the other trails). They shortened it because of wind and wanting to get rid of the section with any pitch to it to make it entirely low-level terrain.

All IIRC of course.

Sounds about right. I have been confused before about the closing of Sunrise and how it related to the Woodward Reservoir Pipeline project. Regardless, it is gone now.

 

[Bubbartzky]

ASC killed the place....Powder is no Win but I believe they are slowly fixing the place and trying to save money where they can as well as learning how to run an eastern resort on the fly, It is a business after all...They have made mistakes but have also corrected some...Time will tell in the end.

Agreed. They took over a resort that had been milked for cash for years and discovered the physical plant was worse than they thought. Of course, their due diligence was wanting, based on what I was told by a former senior manager, so at least part of that "surprise" was their own fault.

They then proceeded to really screw up their business the first year, with decisions that made no sense and an arrogance that kept them from listening to long time skiers, business owners and residents who tried to tell them that what they were doing was a mistake. As a result, they drove customers away by the thousands, losing what many estimate was at least 100,000 skier visits that first season.

Since then, they've learned a lot, reversed a lot of decisions, and have been moving in the right direction. This Northridge Triple decision, however, was just dumb. The small savings they may have garnered was not worth the bad publicity and customer reaction they so rightly earned. Oh well...two steps forward, one step back....

 

[mister moose]

The 'who cares' frugality of closing the North Ridge Triple mid-week does not well portend the snowmaking effort to come in February.

 

[2knees]

The 'who cares' frugality of closing the North Ridge Triple mid-week does not well portend the snowmaking effort to come in February.

I have a strange feeling they will close after Easter this year. Hope I am wrong. Only event after that is pond skimming.

 

[skiur]

The North Ridge Triple is scheduled to be open tomorrow and between the Canyon Quad and the North Ridge Triple, there will be a lift running 7 days a week in that area.

Chris Danforth
Marketing Manager
Killington Resort

Well that lasted for how many days? Neither were running today nor scheduled to run on Tuesday.

 

[Black Phantom]

The North Ridge Triple is scheduled to be open tomorrow and between the Canyon Quad and the North Ridge Triple, there will be a lift running 7 days a week in that area.

Chris Danforth
Marketing Manager
Killington Resort

Well, that didn't last very long. :evil:

Should mid-week skiers expect less from Killington?

 

[oakapple]

Well that lasted for how many days? Neither were running today nor scheduled to run on Tuesday.

The official site shows that the Canyon Quad will spin today.

 

[skiur]

The official site shows that the Canyon Quad will spin today.

I got that info from kzone, someone said neither ran on monday and wouldnt be running today.

 

[Ski the Moguls]

I got that info from kzone, someone said neither ran on monday and wouldnt be running today.

Canyon Quad did run today.