Killington is going to open before Sunday River this season.

[Riverskier]

Hmmm...
So if Killington stays open and SR doesn't reopen til Saturday, and Killington closes on the same day as Sugarloaf, the Killington season will be 1 day longer than the Boyne season. SR reopens Friday, same length.

Please note the ifs. Just noting possibilites here.

Who cares.

As BobR stated, Boyne has had the same plan and stuck to it ever since they bought the Maine mountains. Open Sunday River as soon as possible and operate on weekends through mid November. Most (you can NEVER please everyone) passholders, myself included, are very happy with this and you won't hear many complaints. The fact is, Killington may be trying to compete with Boyne for early openings, but I don't think Boyne is trying to compete with Killington. Same with late season, I suspect they will keep with their plan of keeping the loaf open until the first weekend in May, despite what the competition does. This too has been consistent since they bought the Maine mountains.

 

[mondeo]

Who cares.

Mostly just those interested in trivia, but also Bostonites that value length of season with their pass?

There's been a lot made of the shortening of the Killington season, and how they used to always have the longest in the East. For the last seveal years, the Boyne pass has had a 2-3 weeks on Killington. If the ifs are fulfilled, it would mark a partial reversal of that trend. For people in Boston on the fence between the two passes, a couple years of this could make the difference for Killington.

 

[Geoff]

The fact is, Killington may be trying to compete with Boyne for early openings, but I don't think Boyne is trying to compete with Killington.

Don't kid yourself. Boyne competes against Killington. When ASC owned it all, they were happy to push the Boston market to Sunday River since they had the spare capacity there. For most Bostonians, Killington is closer than Sunday River. Killington gets 100+" more natural snow. There are some compelling advantages and Killington, properly run and properly marketed, could reclaim a lot of that lost market share. Those incremental day tickets you sell are pure profit since your fixed costs to blow snow and spin the lifts don't change. Boyne will try to out-do Killington whenever they can to keep their market share.

 

[snowmonster]

Length of season = getting more value for your money on cost of pass divided by the number of days skied on the pass basis.

K and SR are just about the same driving distance from my home in the outskirts of Boston. The potential of skiing in October and late April/early May on the same pass tipped it in favor of SR. Not to mention my perception that SR's owners seemed willing to go the distance to make that long season happen.

 

[drjeff]

Length of season = getting more value for your money on cost of pass divided by the number of days skied on the pass basis.

.

The reality is, especially for many of the non AZ snow sliding sports ravenous crowd, that for the majority of season pass holders, as long as the mountain they have a pass from is open by Thanksgiving and stays open through mid-late March (maybe Easter if it falls in early April that year), then they're happy.

The other trend that seems to be happening more and more these days, is those "fringe" season pass holding devotees, especially in the spring, seem to find lift served not as popular as hike to. And while having hundreds of folks hiking Tucks in late April/early May is a cool thing for the sport overall, in a weird sort of way it's not a good thing interms of getting more and more ski area GM's to make the descision to spin the lifts deeper into the spring season, when the customer base you're looking to market to is already quite small, and the line between operating at a profit or a loss is much smaller.

It's the age old descision that GM's have to make about how much financial risk/reward are they willing to take with respect to how much extra costs they want to incur to do so??

 

[snowmonster]

Don't kid yourself. Boyne competes against Killington. When ASC owned it all, they were happy to push the Boston market to Sunday River since they had the spare capacity there. For most Bostonians, Killington is closer than Sunday River. Killington gets 100+" more natural snow. There are some compelling advantages and Killington, properly run and properly marketed, could reclaim a lot of that lost market share. Those incremental day tickets you sell are pure profit since your fixed costs to blow snow and spin the lifts don't change. Boyne will try to out-do Killington whenever they can to keep their market share.

Competition is good. This was just on the Sunday River FB page:

"Want to hear something exciting? 130 guns blasting Right Stuff, Ecstasy, Jungle Road, Rocking Chair, Jungle Road, Rocking Chair, Agony, Lower Arm, The Punches, and T2. Cue "Beautiful Day" by U2, please. This weekend looks to be a good one!"

Does SR compete with Killington? Do the Red Sox compete with the Yankees?

 

[Riverskier]

Don't kid yourself. Boyne competes against Killington. When ASC owned it all, they were happy to push the Boston market to Sunday River since they had the spare capacity there. For most Bostonians, Killington is closer than Sunday River. Killington gets 100+" more natural snow. There are some compelling advantages and Killington, properly run and properly marketed, could reclaim a lot of that lost market share. Those incremental day tickets you sell are pure profit since your fixed costs to blow snow and spin the lifts don't change. Boyne will try to out-do Killington whenever they can to keep their market share.

Of course Sunday River competes with Killington! I would never suggest otherwise. My comment was specifically referring to early openings. Sunday River has had a plan and has stuck to it, both this year when Killington is making a push to open, and in past years when they were content to open in mid November. My point was simply that in the case of early season, it seems Killington is trying to open earlier to compete with Sunday River and not vice versa. Sunday River has continually opened early even without competition, and it has clearly been part of their marketing plan from the start. Basically, in my opinion Boyne's approach to season length is pro-active and Killington's is reactive.

 

[Vortex]

Don't kid yourself. Boyne competes against Killington. When ASC owned it all, they were happy to push the Boston market to Sunday River since they had the spare capacity there. For most Bostonians, Killington is closer than Sunday River. Killington gets 100+" more natural snow. There are some compelling advantages and Killington, properly run and properly marketed, could reclaim a lot of that lost market share. Those incremental day tickets you sell are pure profit since your fixed costs to blow snow and spin the lifts don't change. Boyne will try to out-do Killington whenever they can to keep their market share.

Geoff I think Riverskiers' point it the River wants to open asap, but knows K can win the race if they want.

So the goal is to get open as soon a possbile. If they beat K great, but some things they can't control. (elevation) Is there Competion....Yes on many Levels.

I think the Boston day skier ticket buying market goes to Nh more than Maine . The Boyne v Killington battle really shows up in pass sales an value.
edit Riverskier beat me to it.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

5 hours, are you riding a 10 speed? It's 3:30 hours from Boston to SR and it's 2:45 from Boston Killington.

Stop trolling.

Hahaha, and don't forget the 300,000 people that make up the greater metro area (mini metro) that make up Portland, they have just a 1.5-2.0 drive.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

Don't kid yourself. Boyne competes against Killington. When ASC owned it all, they were happy to push the Boston market to Sunday River since they had the spare capacity there. For most Bostonians, Killington is closer than Sunday River. Killington gets 100+" more natural snow. There are some compelling advantages and Killington, properly run and properly marketed, could reclaim a lot of that lost market share. Those incremental day tickets you sell are pure profit since your fixed costs to blow snow and spin the lifts don't change. Boyne will try to out-do Killington whenever they can to keep their market share.

Agreed!

I will say the bragging rights for the customers at SR isn't really all that important like it is for those who call Killington home. I don't recall the years previous to SR opening at or before Killington to many if any SR customers getting up in arms or pissed that SR wasn't opening ahead of Killington. Followed by people threatening to pack up shop and go elsewhere. Granted, SR has never had the length of season shortened by two or three weeks.

 

[Riverskier]

Granted, SR has never had the length of season shortened by two or three weeks.

Not recently, but over the past 2 decades, most definitely. I remember skiing in very early October (the 10th maybe) back in 1995 or 1996. Around that same time, Sunday River had spring skiing on White Heat and stayed open well into May. Maybe even June 1st one year, but I don't recall for sure. I don't believe the drop off was anywhere near as fast as when POWDR took over Killington, but I believe ASC's last year the season ran mid November to mid April, a full 2 months shorter than their peak in the 90's.

 

[jerryg]

Hahaha, and don't forget the 300,000 people that make up the greater metro area (mini metro) that make up Portland, they have just a 1.5-2.0 drive.

Yeah! Don't forget us. Who cares about Boston. Jeez!

 

[Highway Star]

Bump....!

Killington is going to open before Sunday River this will be the year!!!!!

 

[Riverskier]

Killington will blow snow in October and watch it melt, again. Sunday River will open in October and be the first in the East for the 5th year running!

 

[AdironRider]

Although Killington did have the longest ski season last year. Opening for a day then closing is weak sauce compared to opening, then staying open.

Im all for the open and stay open model they have running.

 

[RENO]

Although Killington did have the longest ski season last year. Opening for a day then closing is weak sauce compared to opening, then staying open.

Im all for the open and stay open model they have running.

Not a big fan of POWDR, but Killington blew Sunday River away early season with the amount of terrain they opened and the snowmaking. SR did open before K, but like you said, it was weak and I think K could've easily beat them if they really wanted too. I don't really care about first to open anyway, only that there's plenty of terrain to spread the crowds out. I usually wait for top to bottom...

 

[jimmywilson69]

As has been deb ated, I think if you open and then close it shouldn't count.

Let the 2011 debate begin!

the walkway is in, and I suspect Killington will go for it this year. maybe if they get 14" of snow this year, they won't watch it melt away and blow snow on top of it.

 

[AdironRider]

Not a big fan of POWDR, but Killington blew Sunday River away early season with the amount of terrain they opened and the snowmaking. SR did open before K, but like you said, it was weak and I think K could've easily beat them if they really wanted too. I don't really care about first to open anyway, only that there's plenty of terrain to spread the crowds out. I usually wait for top to bottom...

I made it to both opening days myself, and the River's was a joke compared to what Killington rolled out. Perfect example of how people just like to hate on Killington, when its still the best thing the East Coast has in terms of length of season.

 

[Nick]

I've always enjoyed Killington immensely. Particularly when i was in college and season passes were $300 :lol:

 

[jimmywilson69]

I've never been to Sunday River, so I really can't compare. I have some friends who are going there for a week, they are older and have kids, so I willl get their comparison to Killington.