Killington: FAILing to open this weekend....

[RootDKJ]

Once all the resort are open in 1-2 weeks..there won't be so much Killington banter..

Once all the resort are open in 1-2 weeks..there won't be so much Highway Star banter..

There, I corrected it for you:lol:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Once all the resort are open in 1-2 weeks..there won't be so much Highway Star banter..

There, I corrected it for you:lol:

lol...I think Highway Star is cool..he makes me look like less of a tool..

 

[RootDKJ]

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the stats on teh latest HighwayStar/Killington Thread-o-Rama:

# Replies: 17
# HS posts: 2
# Snarky Marc comments: 1 (and a good one at that)
# GSS posts: 4
# of Katie Holmes pictures: 0

Overall thread rating: FAIL.

 

[thetrailboss]

I would bet most of us don't have a problem skiing in the rain. I sure don't. Rain bumps rule. The problem is 95% of the skiing population, especially those that would need to purchase a lift ticket or drive some distance to get there, does. It's the same contingent that hangs the skis up at the end of March, or earlier. Just the way it is. You can't fault any mountain for that. What you're suggesting is to operate at a great loss to make some pass holding locals happy. You're not a good business man.

+1

 

[Greg]

lol...I think Highway Star is cool..he makes me look like less of a tool..

Paging Austin. New quote for your sig... :lol:

 

[Vortex]

+1

TB and Greg

I guess we are just not in agreement and thats ok.

Sr ,they open early and close late. I have one of my kids in a seasonal program. I bought 4 passes and a condo.
Why?, casue they did exackly what you are saying is not worth it. 700 " I think" condo owners on the mountain. That is alot of passes and rental income. Realestate is what will keep big resorts alive.

 

[Greg]

TB and Greg

I guess we are just not in agreement and thats ok.

Sr ,they open early and close late. I have one of my kids in a seasonal program. I bought 4 passes and a condo.
Why?, casue they did exackly what you are saying is not worth it. 700 " I think" condo owners on the mountain. That is alot of passes and rental income. Realestate is what will keep big resorts alive.

You're such a Sunday River shill.....




:razz:

 

[Highway Star]

TB and Greg

I guess we are just not in agreement and thats ok.

Sr ,they open early and close late. I have one of my kids in a seasonal program. I bought 4 passes and a condo.
Why?, casue they did exackly what you are saying is not worth it. 700 " I think" condo owners on the mountain. That is alot of passes and rental income. Realestate is what will keep big resorts alive.

If you assume each condo brings in $10k of overall revenue to the mountain per year, that's pretty big bucks....$7M.

 

[Geoff]

Yawn....

I don't blame them at all for delaying blowing middle Chute and lower Bunny Buster until after the next thaw. Sure, I'd like to be skiing but the weather isn't cooperating.

 

[Marc]

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the stats on teh latest HighwayStar/Killington Thread-o-Rama:

# Replies: 17
# HS posts: 2
# Snarky Marc comments: 1 (and a good one at that)
# GSS posts: 4
# of Katie Holmes pictures: 0

Overall thread rating: FAIL.

I have to do everything around here, don't I...

Link is hot, like the weekend forecast.

 

[Vortex]

If you assume each condo brings in $10k of overall revenue to the mountain per year, that's pretty big bucks....$7M.

Too high. Property is cheaper at the River. The number you put up does not take into account we use our places. You got my point though.

shill. I will skiing this weekend. :grin: You guys will be debating skiing.:smash::wink:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

This is the perfect woman for HighwayStar

 

[Glenn]

For those of you keeping score at home, here are the stats on teh latest HighwayStar/Killington Thread-o-Rama:

# Replies: 17
# HS posts: 2
# Snarky Marc comments: 1 (and a good one at that)
# GSS posts: 4
# of Katie Holmes pictures: 0

Overall thread rating: FAIL.

You need to do a recap like this for all Killington threads! :flag:

 

[MrMagic]

This is the perfect woman for HighwayStar

i dont know GSS you two would have to fight for her, it would be the battle to end all

 

[thetrailboss]

TB and Greg

I guess we are just not in agreement and thats ok.

Sr ,they open early and close late. I have one of my kids in a seasonal program. I bought 4 passes and a condo.
Why?, casue they did exackly what you are saying is not worth it. 700 " I think" condo owners on the mountain. That is alot of passes and rental income. Realestate is what will keep big resorts alive.

I think that Greg's point was that a walk-up-to-the-ticketwindow skier is not going to go skiing this weekend in the rain. A passholder who owns property will.

 

[Highway Star]

And yeah, your downloading suggestion is a good one, but until they restructure the summit lift layout, it's all a moot point. Suggesting this as a failure based on the idea of downloading which currently isn't even possible is idiotic. Sure, call not implementing a lift system that would allow for downloading a failure if you want, but don't consider not opening this weekend due to a lot of rain forecast a failure.

We go through this every year. We all want to ski. It would be great to have a downloading option at Killington, but it's just not a reality right now and it's time to get over it.

Actually, what this comes down to is a failure to plan. Killington, a loooong time ago, planned for an early opening by putting in a double chair with a midstation, which allowed them to open early, and stay open in warmer weather. If fact, this may have influenced Sunday River to put in their triple with a mid-station, way back in the day. They were able to open early for many, many years with that midstation, with minimal snowmaking.

However, that all changed when Les Otten made the snap decision to install the K-1 in the late 90's. Somehow, with the outlook for the Pico Interconnect bleak and potential funding drying up, they decided to go for the K-1 instaid, installing it in 9-weeks. They may have given some thought to the loss of the midstation, but decided they could tough it out with trucking to the canyon quad, skiing off the NRT, and more agressive snowmaking at lower elevations, which was easy with cheap fuel/power costs.

Now where are we left? Trucking was dangerous and annoying. Energy prices are much higher. So they are stuck spending $$$$$$$ to open the K-1, and we get the "quality" BS line....which really means, if people aren't going to show up en-masse, they don't open.

This has been one of Killington's ongoing MAJOR problems since the K-1 was installed. They KNOW they need an upper mountain lift for early season. I've discussed it with Tom Horrocks. Chris Nyberg has been emailed about it by some people. It's been talked about online in depth. It's been advised to them by a consultant.

Want to talk ROI? It costs Killington $200k to $500k in snowmaking/grooming costs to do a K-1 opening, depending on the weather and scope. Quite often, many thousands of dollars worth of that effort is completely lost without any resulting income whatsoever. What about this latest opening? They may have sold $65k in tickets over those 5 days. Add in food/bev, etc. So they probably brought in around $100k or so. It cost them $200k-$300k to make that snow for the opening, and it basicly all melted.

Now, if you spend $500k to $1m to put in a sort fixed grip upper mountain lift, your snowmaking costs go way down...to around $100k. Operating costs are only slightly higher. The risk of opening is lower. The durablity is higher....better chance of staying open.

Question is, what is it going to take to get them to take action on this. Weather bad enough to keep them from opening until Thanksgiving? First weekend in December? If the weather is bad, it could happen.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

This is the perfect woman for HighwayStar

That's Red Dee Lish, she dances at Scores, Monday lunch shift. She accepts loose change for tips.

 

[thetrailboss]

Actually, what this comes down to is a failure to plan. Killington, a loooong time ago, planned for an early opening by putting in a double chair with a midstation, which allowed them to open early, and stay open in warmer weather. If fact, this may have influenced Sunday River to put in their triple with a mid-station, way back in the day. They were able to open early for many, many years with that midstation, with minimal snowmaking.

However, that all changed when Les Otten made the snap decision to install the K-1 in the late 90's. Somehow, with the outlook for the Pico Interconnect bleak and potential funding drying up, they decided to go for the K-1 instaid, installing it in 9-weeks. They may have given some thought to the loss of the midstation, but decided they could tough it out with trucking to the canyon quad, skiing off the NRT, and more agressive snowmaking at lower elevations, which was easy with cheap fuel/power costs.

Now where are we left? Trucking was dangerous and annoying. Energy prices are much higher. So they are stuck spending $$$$$$$ to open the K-1, and we get the "quality" BS line....which really means, if people aren't going to show up en-masse, they don't open.

This has been one of Killington's ongoing MAJOR problems since the K-1 was installed. They KNOW they need an upper mountain lift for early season. I've discussed it with Tom Horrocks. Chris Nyberg has been emailed about it by some people. It's been talked about online in depth. It's been advised to them by a consultant.

Want to talk ROI? It costs Killington $200k to $500k in snowmaking/grooming costs to do a K-1 opening, depending on the weather and scope. Quite often, many thousands of dollars worth of that effort is completely lost without any resulting income whatsoever. What about this latest opening? They may have sold $65k in tickets over those 5 days. Add in food/bev, etc. So they probably brought in around $100k or so. It cost them $200k-$300k to make that snow for the opening, and it basicly all melted.

Now, if you spend $500k to $1m to put in a sort fixed grip upper mountain lift, your snowmaking costs go way down...to around $100k. Operating costs are only slightly higher. The risk of opening is lower. The durablity is higher....better chance of staying open.

Question is, what is it going to take to get them to take action on this. Weather bad enough to keep them from opening until Thanksgiving? First weekend in December? If the weather is bad, it could happen.

All fine and dandy, but you don't understand how much it would cost to install said lift....assuming you had a place to put it and had the money and $$$ to get around the NIMBY/treehugger crowd and the Act 250/developmental review process.

 

[Greg]

Actually, what this comes down to is a failure to plan. Killington, a loooong time ago, planned for an early opening by putting in a double chair with a midstation, which allowed them to open early, and stay open in warmer weather. If fact, this may have influenced Sunday River to put in their triple with a mid-station, way back in the day. They were able to open early for many, many years with that midstation, with minimal snowmaking.

However, that all changed when Les Otten made the snap decision to install the K-1 in the late 90's. Somehow, with the outlook for the Pico Interconnect bleak and potential funding drying up, they decided to go for the K-1 instaid, installing it in 9-weeks. They may have given some thought to the loss of the midstation, but decided they could tough it out with trucking to the canyon quad, skiing off the NRT, and more agressive snowmaking at lower elevations, which was easy with cheap fuel/power costs.

Now where are we left? Trucking was dangerous and annoying. Energy prices are much higher. So they are stuck spending $$$$$$$ to open the K-1, and we get the "quality" BS line....which really means, if people aren't going to show up en-masse, they don't open.

This has been one of Killington's ongoing MAJOR problems since the K-1 was installed. They KNOW they need an upper mountain lift for early season. I've discussed it with Tom Horrocks. Chris Nyberg has been emailed about it by some people. It's been talked about online in depth. It's been advised to them by a consultant.

Want to talk ROI? It costs Killington $200k to $500k in snowmaking/grooming costs to do a K-1 opening, depending on the weather and scope. Quite often, many thousands of dollars worth of that effort is completely lost without any resulting income whatsoever. What about this latest opening? They may have sold $65k in tickets over those 5 days. Add in food/bev, etc. So they probably brought in around $100k or so. It cost them $200k-$300k to make that snow for the opening, and it basicly all melted.

Now, if you spend $500k to $1m to put in a sort fixed grip upper mountain lift, your snowmaking costs go way down...to around $100k. Operating costs are only slightly higher. The risk of opening is lower. The durablity is higher....better chance of staying open.

Question is, what is it going to take to get them to take action on this. Weather bad enough to keep them from opening until Thanksgiving? First weekend in December? If the weather is bad, it could happen.

It seems like replacing the glades triple (the oldest lift on the mountain) with one that gets closer to the actual summit is the best solution.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It seems like replacing the glades triple (the oldest lift on the mountain) with one that gets closer to the actual summit is the best solution.

And they should put a footrest on it..for early season runs..footrests are sa weet..