Killington is going to open before Sunday River this season.

[AndyEich]

...One thing I can understand is that if SR is opening and they just blew the snow in the past 24 hours, the skiing will be on whales. Whales traditionally need to sit and drain before being flattened. I can't imagine SR would have blown and groomed it out all prior to opening...

I haven't been up yet to see if it's the case right now, but I'd think if you have guns every 15' like they do on T2, it's possible to avoid making whales.
________
Park Royal 2 Condo Pattaya

 

[riverc0il]

SR did groom a two groomer wide strip down the center of T2 but did not level the snow. Worked out perfectly. Hard to tell it had been groomed by late morning. Just shows even more that K didn't need to wait if they had any ambition.

 

[tjf67]

I haven't been up yet to see if it's the case right now, but I'd think if you have guns every 15' like they do on T2, it's possible to avoid making whales.

Or if you go out every few hours and move the guns around. I would get my ass chewed if my boss came in the next morning and there were whales on the trails we were blowing. Not certain but now I think they leave whales for a reason.

 

[AdironRider]

To be fair, just to be able to ski to the North Ridge area from the gondi probably takes more snow than what SR blew to open yesterday, let alone the rest of the area they need to blow to get open, even with the walkway.

Im not going to rag on Killington if they open up with more than just 1 trail which is only open halfway.

K at least gives you some form of pod, aka variety with their openings. That is pretty nice.

 

[jerryg]

To be fair, just to be able to ski to the North Ridge area from the gondi probably takes more snow than what SR blew to open yesterday, let alone the rest of the area they need to blow to get open, even with the walkway.

Im not going to rag on Killington if they open up with more than just 1 trail which is only open halfway.

K at least gives you some form of pod, aka variety with their openings. That is pretty nice.

T2 is not half a trail anmore than Rime or Reason. The bottom line isn't that Killington wouldn't with one trail, for variety purposes, but rather, they have to open more one because a lot more skiers need to be serviced. If K had the same amount if skiers on an opening day, it may be different, but because it's close to more population, a lot more people show up.
SR likely could have blown enough to get Upper Punch open as well, but in Late October, the priority isn't getting open to offer something, make their base happy, get good PR, and sell vacations based on people seeing their committment.
I'm not ragging on K whatsoever, but with the opportunities they had and with the new snow they got, they should have been able to open and they didn't. Maybe they never intended too, and that's fine if that's their operational plan. I don't recall K saying they wanted to be the first to open.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

. I don't recall K saying they wanted to be the first to open.

Nope, just the OP said it and I'll just leave it at that.

 

[thetrailboss]

To be fair, just to be able to ski to the North Ridge area from the gondi probably takes more snow than what SR blew to open yesterday, let alone the rest of the area they need to blow to get open, even with the walkway.

Im not going to rag on Killington if they open up with more than just 1 trail which is only open halfway.

K at least gives you some form of pod, aka variety with their openings. That is pretty nice.

If Pres Smith was still running Killington he would not be making excuses like that. He'd just be getting the place open.

 

[SpinmasterK]

I wonder if Tom can put the cost of Darcy's Vermont beer on his expense account??? Spin, are you around? Have anything to say? Speechless I assume:wink:

A full case of Long Trail comes out of my pocket!

BTW - I'm never speechless. Just don't get me started Oh, I just got started Big Bob!
Could we have opened today? That will always be the big question for the armchair quarterbacks. But at the end of the day, we have a Director of Mountain Operations and a solid team of Mountain Ops folks with a hell of a lot more experience that I do and I trust their judgement! They have been around since the Pres Smith days and have seen it all!
I grew up skiing at Loveland and Arapahoe Basin and like a lot of you I am always chomping at the bit to get on my boards. Like both of those areas, Killington will open when we have a sustainable, quality product with a base that will provide a great experience for our guest that we can groom and maintain.
Am I happy to send a full case of Long Trail beer to Darcy? Not really, because I don't count opening on an 8" base with "These are early season conditions with base depths ranging from thin cover in a few spots to two-feet deep in others and some natural obstacles exist so please ski and ride with care," a quality opening! Sunday River may be first to open, but I hope they won't be first to close as we need to keep the east coast momentum going! But at the end of the day, a bet is a bet and I will offer a big congrats to SR and send a case of fine beer their way!
In the meantime, the ski season is here and I raise a glass and salute all who made turns at SR and those hardcore ones who earned their turns at Killington today.
Cheers to a great season! :beer:

 

[SLyardsale]

A full case of Long Trail comes out of my pocket!

BTW - I'm never speechless. Just don't get me started Oh, I just got started Big Bob!
Could we have opened today? That will always be the big question for the armchair quarterbacks. But at the end of the day, we have a Director of Mountain Operations and a solid team of Mountain Ops folks with a hell of a lot more experience that I do and I trust their judgement! They have been around since the Pres Smith days and have seen it all!
I grew up skiing at Loveland and Arapahoe Basin and like a lot of you I am always chomping at the bit to get on my boards. Like both of those areas, Killington will open when we have a sustainable, quality product with a base that will provide a great experience for our guest that we can groom and maintain.
Am I happy to send a full case of Long Trail beer to Darcy? Not really, because I don't count opening on an 8" base with "These are early season conditions with base depths ranging from thin cover in a few spots to two-feet deep in others and some natural obstacles exist so please ski and ride with care," a quality opening! Sunday River may be first to open, but I hope they won't be first to close as we need to keep the east coast momentum going! But at the end of the day, a bet is a bet and I will offer a big congrats to SR and send a case of fine beer their way!
In the meantime, the ski season is here and I raise a glass and salute all who made turns at SR and those hardcore ones who earned their turns at Killington today.
Cheers to a great season! :beer:

I have no problem with early season decisions like this. Where you really screwed your cust base was last spring. Glad I'm a Sugarloafer since 1983.

 

[jerryg]

I sense some sour grapes. If you want to take a shot at SR for the conditions they opened on, perhaps it would be best to have skied them firsthand. While it sounds as though K has more cover, people have posted that the conditions were pretty good for an October opening. Wouldn't it be better to just say that you lost the bet and you don't like it? I mean saying you don't think it counts, but then saying a bet's a bet, is a little contradictary.
Yes, SR will close midweek with upcoming weather and likely to preserve snow. They did the same thing last year in October, buy once they claimed to be open fir the season, in November, they stayed open. The same can't be said for other mountains in the east.

 

[AndyEich]

... I don't count opening on an 8" base with "These are early season conditions with base depths ranging from thin cover in a few spots to two-feet deep in others and some natural obstacles exist so please ski and ride with care," a quality opening!...

Let's wait and see how many people post "I skied it and had a bad time--wish SR had not opened till later". I'm gonna bet on zero.

Weak.
________
Glass Bong

 

[riverc0il]

I concur with the others suggesting that the above concession on sending the case of beer reads like sour grapes over SR's opening. I skied it. It was quality in my opinion. Much better than any WROD I have ever skied at K during their early season. I think it is pretty cool that SR will open a variable condition trail like that. It was quite fun having something interesting to ski rather than a groomed flat Rime and Reason for twice as much money.

Would have been quite cool if SpinmasterK simply said "props to SR, we got beat, here's your case o' beer". But that knock against the quality of SR's product was entirely off base. And inaccurate, at least based on how I define quality...

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

A full case of Long Trail comes out of my pocket!

BTW - I'm never speechless. Just don't get me started Oh, I just got started Big Bob!
Could we have opened today? That will always be the big question for the armchair quarterbacks. But at the end of the day, we have a Director of Mountain Operations and a solid team of Mountain Ops folks with a hell of a lot more experience that I do and I trust their judgement! They have been around since the Pres Smith days and have seen it all!
I grew up skiing at Loveland and Arapahoe Basin and like a lot of you I am always chomping at the bit to get on my boards. Like both of those areas, Killington will open when we have a sustainable, quality product with a base that will provide a great experience for our guest that we can groom and maintain.
Am I happy to send a full case of Long Trail beer to Darcy? Not really, because I don't count opening on an 8" base with "These are early season conditions with base depths ranging from thin cover in a few spots to two-feet deep in others and some natural obstacles exist so please ski and ride with care," a quality opening! Sunday River may be first to open, but I hope they won't be first to close as we need to keep the east coast momentum going! But at the end of the day, a bet is a bet and I will offer a big congrats to SR and send a case of fine beer their way!
In the meantime, the ski season is here and I raise a glass and salute all who made turns at SR and those hardcore ones who earned their turns at Killington today.
Cheers to a great season! :beer:

I am heading to Maine to see my folks and will pass by Sunday River, so if you need the beer to be dropped off I would be more than happy to do that.......I just can't promise the case will show up in full. :wink:

 

[sLoPeS]

edit.

 

[skiingsnow]

that was a deep 8" base then, i don't think i hit one rock yesterday there.

they'll close midweek, they TOLD US THAT, they also said they are trying to open next weekend too. they actually communicate with their customers.

Yesterday was not opening day. You are talking 18+ hours of snowmaking from after they opened to the time that they opened once again the following day, yesterday.

Sunday River had everyone totally in the dark for quite some time, no communication at all. No cams, didn't say anything when snowmaking got underway Thursday evening, didn't say anything Friday about snowmaking being underway, and didn't announce an opening prior to opening. They announced that they were open after they had already been open a while.

Killington told us when the guns got turned on early Monday morning, they told us when the guns got turned on again, they told us in advance they needed 72 hours of snowmaking to open, they told us "Our goal for kicking off the season remains the same: We are committed to open as early as possible for our guests with a sustainable quality product. “It is important for us to be open as early as reasonably possible, as it is a critical element in our overall operating plan,” Temple says. A quality product is defined as one that allows for snowmaking mounds to “dry and cure” for a period of time before grooming and opening."

All week long, before they got this day and a half window of snowmaking, they have communicated on Facebook, Twitter and it was posted on Kzone that they were NOT PLANNING TO OPEN this weekend, as they already knew they weren't going to be able to run a sustainable operation.

They have communicated several other times throughout the summer and fall that they were going to open when they could get open and stay open, ect...

 

[Smellytele]

Petition to ban the spinster for bringing the sour grapes

 

[sLoPeS]

Yesterday was not opening day. You are talking 18+ hours of snowmaking from after they opened to the time that they opened once again the following day, yesterday.

Sunday River had everyone totally in the dark for quite some time, no communication at all. No cams, didn't say anything when snowmaking got underway Thursday evening, didn't say anything Friday about snowmaking being underway, and didn't announce an opening prior to opening. They announced that they were open after they had already been open a while.

Killington told us when the guns got turned on early Monday morning, they told us when the guns got turned on again, they told us in advance they needed 72 hours of snowmaking to open, they told us "Our goal for kicking off the season remains the same: We are committed to open as early as possible for our guests with a sustainable quality product. “It is important for us to be open as early as reasonably possible, as it is a critical element in our overall operating plan,” Temple says. A quality product is defined as one that allows for snowmaking mounds to “dry and cure” for a period of time before grooming and opening."

All week long, before they got this day and a half window of snowmaking, they have communicated on Facebook, Twitter and it was posted on Kzone that they were NOT PLANNING TO OPEN this weekend, as they already knew they weren't going to be able to run a sustainable operation.

They have communicated several other times throughout the summer and fall that they were going to open when they could get open and stay open, ect...

uke:

 

[sLoPeS]

I'll follow up with some positive feedback for SpinmasterK...

i know there is the insider, but take a look at what Loveland and A-Basin do with their early season "blogs".

http://www.skiloveland.com/snowmaking/


http://arapahoebasin.blogspot.com/

these are updated almost daily, have multiple pictures, and give you a much better idea of whats happening on the mountain.

 

[Smellytele]

Yesterday was not opening day. You are talking 18+ hours of snowmaking from after they opened to the time that they opened once again the following day, yesterday.

Sunday River had everyone totally in the dark for quite some time, no communication at all. No cams, didn't say anything when snowmaking got underway Thursday evening, didn't say anything Friday about snowmaking being underway, and didn't announce an opening prior to opening. They announced that they were open after they had already been open a while.

If it wasn't opening day then what was it. Friday you can say wasn't opening day but why not Saturday.

As far as communication I ain't a chick just tell me in simple terms - open - not open. I don't need 10 weeks of conversation telling me your excuses and how you are painting your nails.

 

[gmcunni]

http://www.snocountry.com/index.php/ski-reports-by-region/northeast-snow-conditions


Sunday River - OPEN

everybody else - NOT OPEN