Killington = EPIC FAIL. (BMMC replacement edition)

[MadPatSki]

I used to ski at a place & I started realizing I didn't like it (for a variety of reasons). I decided to ski elsewhere. Simple solution

+1

 

[WWF-VT]

Highway Star and the Killington whiners should take some advice from Rick Pitino and forget about the past.

“ Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we're going to improve. People don't realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can't; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that's in this town sucks. I've been around when Jim Rice was booed. I've been around when Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room... and if you think I'm going to succumb to negativity, you're wrong. You've got the wrong guy leading this team.”

 

[SkiDork]

I used to ski at a place & I started realizing I didn't like it (for a variety of reasons). I decided to ski elsewhere. Simple solution

Did you own real estate at that original place? Did you have numerous friends that also skied at the original place and also owned real estate?

 

[farlep99]

Did you own real estate at that original place? Did you have numerous friends that also skied at the original place and also owned real estate?

Real estate, no. Numerous friends, yes.

 

[2knees]

Did you own real estate at that original place? Did you have numerous friends that also skied at the original place and also owned real estate?

You are a reasonable level headed person. What do you think of everything Powdr has done since they moved in. We hear from the crazies all the time but I'm curious what your opinion is.

 

[SkiDork]

You are a reasonable level headed person. What do you think of everything Powdr has done since they moved in. We hear from the crazies all the time but I'm curious what your opinion is.

not too happy about the decrease of season length (mostly the spring). Also sad about the demise of BMMC. Didn't like the end of the lifetime bond passes, but sorta understood the reason for it (greed). Other than that I'm ok with the rest of it.



If they ever decide to build the interconnect, I'd be a lot more happy.

 

[St. Bear]

Clearly you did not look at the webpage.
uke:

It is pretty snappy.

 

[Highway Star]

I think alot of K regulars who make these posts don't realize that K management is probably not upset about what you are writing. In fact, I think they encourage it because it keeps K in the forefront of everyone's attention. Look at the recent posts...K is mentioned in alot of them. They must love you guys!

Haven't you ever heard that bad press is better than no press?

I think that recent history proves that you're exceptionally incorrect.

Perhaps you weren't around when POWDR bought the mountain, outrage went through the roof - driven by the internet, and their skier visits tanked......?

A-zone and K-zone are monitored by Killington. Their facebook page is censored. Bad press......is bad press.

 

[Black Phantom]

Highway Star and the Killington whiners should take some advice from Rick Pitino and forget about the past.

“ Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we're going to improve. People don't realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can't; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that's in this town sucks. I've been around when Jim Rice was booed. I've been around when Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room... and if you think I'm going to succumb to negativity, you're wrong. You've got the wrong guy leading this team.”

Didn't the Celtic's recently win a Championship? Axe Pierce.

 

[JimG.]

Perhaps you weren't around when POWDR bought the mountain, outrage went through the roof - driven by the internet, and their skier visits tanked......?

A-zone and K-zone are monitored by Killington. Their facebook page is censored. Bad press......is bad press.

No, I was around for that, actually stirred the pot a few times.

I remember outrage. Not much else.

I'm not a passholder and don't know all the issues there. I go 3-4x a year and it seems pretty much the same to me as 10 years ago. Last time I remember "the good old K" as many might say was in the early to mid 90's.

 

[Highway Star]

I remember outrage. Not much else.

Well, you forgot that they lost at least 100,000 skier visits. Ooops.

 

[AdironRider]

You assume that, K doesnt release skier visit numbers. The closest you have is a traffic counter on the access road.

Not saying they havent lost skier visits, but you guys cant use that argument as noone really knows other than the accounting department and probably Nyberg himself.

Its a flawed argument, thats all. Every time Ive been to Killington since Powdr took over it certainly feels crowded, but Im used to Wyoming levels of population, kinda scewed I know.

 

[Highway Star]

You assume that, K doesnt release skier visit numbers. The closest you have is a traffic counter on the access road.

Not saying they havent lost skier visits, but you guys cant use that argument as noone really knows other than the accounting department and probably Nyberg himself.

Its a flawed argument, thats all. Every time Ive been to Killington since Powdr took over it certainly feels crowded, but Im used to Wyoming levels of population, kinda scewed I know.

Actually, in '06-'07 they had roughly 800k visits and in '07-'08 they had 650k-700k, from various sources. And it was quite obvious for anyone skiing and riding Killington.

 

[AdironRider]

Its a flawed argument, thats all. .

You mention various sources, the only ones Ive seen are the traffic counters both here on KZone. Its a flawed argument based on assumptions. Thats it.

 

[oakapple]

Although I think Highway Star is FAR too hard on Killington, the traffic counters do strike me as a reasonable proxy for skier visits. Everyone who visits Killington takes some kind of vehicle to get there. It would be pretty hard for access road traffic to have dropped as much as it has, without some kind of effect on the ski area.

And this year, because so many trails are closed, I suspect they are losing visits to ski areas that have more of their expert terrain open. It would be very surprising to me if that were NOT the case.

 

[AdironRider]

Im not saying they dont have any weight, but its a stat filled with assumptions.

The traffic ticker also started going down when gas prices shot up. Given the bed base and relatively reasonable rates at Killington, you could also flip the argument and say more people are carpooling and/or staying there for their entire trip, as opposed to day tripping.

I doubt that is the case entirely, but its just one of the myriad of ways a traffic counter cant be relied on to guage how the resort is doing overall.

All I know is Killington still seems like one of the most crowded hills out there. They certainly arent going broke, which Highway Star has been arguing for years yet they are still putting money into the place, had the longest season of any Eastern hill last year, etc. Something doesnt add up if HStars fail arguments are totally true. End result, he might have a concern, but hes blowing a hell of a lot more smoke than truth.

 

[oakapple]

They certainly arent going broke, which Highway Star has been arguing for years yet they are still putting money into the place, had the longest season of any Eastern hill last year, etc. Something doesnt add up if HStars fail arguments are totally true. End result, he might have a concern, but hes blowing a hell of a lot more smoke than truth.

Yes, that's where I part company with HS. He thinks they're running it into the ground, whereas I think prior management ran itself into the ground, and current management is trying to run the place like a real business.

 

[AdironRider]

He sounds like an occupier at this point.

Occupy Killington!

 

[MadPatSki]

They certainly arent going broke, which Highway Star has been arguing for years yet they are still putting money into the place, had the longest season of any Eastern hill last year, etc.

I can't speak on the generally operations or money, but they haven't had the longest season of any Eastern hill if you count MSS. I haven't detailed the length of their season, but Killington hasn't been in the last 3 ski areas to close in the East in the past 4 seasons.


Some of thoughts on the Last too Spin debate, version 2011
http://madpatski.wordpress.com/2011...sure-rant-and-rave-eastern-closing-2010-2011/

Here is some data from my post:

LISTS:

Last one to spin:
2006: Bretton Woods: May 5
2007: MSS, Sugarbush, Wildcat & Killington: May 6
2008: MSS: May 11
2009: MSS, Sugarloaf, Sugarbush & Jay Peak: May 3
2010: MSS, Sugarloaf, Jay Peak: May 2
2011 (last 3): MSS: May 22
Jay Peak: May 15
Sugarloaf: May 9

Kmart closing days:
2006: May 1 (4 days earlier than BW).
2007: May 6 (last day in the East)
2008: April 20 – same closing as MRG and a bunch of other areas (check out the details for yourself).
2009: May 2 (which was a Saturday and not making in the last areas because of it!!!!).
2010: April 25
2011: May 1

 

[AdironRider]

Sweet useless closing dates. Killington had the longest season in terms of total days open last year.