Killington Officially Announces Sale of Resort, New Superstar 6 Pack, New Skyeship Cabins, $30 Million of Investments

[NYDB]

Probably only have to use the stairs for last 2-3 weeks. make it to mid-late may. People should be fine with that. Although I may be misunderestimating k zone spring nutters displeasures.

 

[thebigo]

Looking forward to spring in the canyon, every year I say it is my last with a spring pass but dont want to miss this one. May also be some bonus south ridge days if construction starts before skye/bear close.

 

[Zand]

I think Downdraft could last till Memorial Day if they blow the snot out of it. But the missing link will be no world cup ice underneath to make it to June.

 

[Newpylong]

As the historical closing dates for both SS and Cascade/Downdraft prior have shown, the WC ice phenomena has very little impact in the end. Mother nature plays the biggest role.

The main problem with Downdraft is while the aspect is better than Double Dip, it's harder to make snow on due to narrowness and only ground guns. My guess is all those trails will get substantial snow made on them but Double Dip will get the full court press.

I'm kinda thrilled by the prospects SS has gotten boring IMHO.

 

[letitsnow1]

I think it will be a nice change for a year, but I'm more excited for next year's early season rollout if they don't host the world cup

 

[SenorQuesadilla]

Taos still uses the pulled wagons...surprised they'd be willing to pay a large insurance premium to save their guests what seems like would amount to a 10 minute walk at the worst.

 

[bigbob]

I think Killington has a cat in the fleet that has a passenger compartment on the back. Wasn't it used to go to the Ledgewood Yurt? Better than a pickup truck!

 

[drjeff]

The reality is that if the plan is to truck/wagon people out from the base of Canyon Quad at the end of the day for late season operations, I would hope that they are very soon before the season starts, going to do some work on that runout/glorified work road to do some prep work before it will be a late season muddy mess

 

[AdironRider]

They aren't going to do that. Even if 75% of people who usually show up for spring skiing bail because of the Canyon switcheroo they would still be overwhelmed. They have the stairs, they will make you use them and hopefully buy a beer at the summit lodge.

 

[jaytrem]

Any word on whether the new owners are in favor of the interconnect?

 

[doublediamond]

The interconnect permits have expired. You can thank Powdr for that just like they let their lease of PCMR expire.

 

[deadheadskier]

Wonder if they throw a temporary Yurt type structure with F&B, porta potties and picnic tables up near the base of the Canyon chair.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

love the idea of finishing the season in the canyon

 

[cdskier]

The interconnect permits have expired. You can thank Powdr for that just like they let their lease of PCMR expire.

To me this is a huge plus. Pico and Killington are quite different and it should stay that way.

 

[thetrailboss]

The interconnect permits have expired. You can thank Powdr for that just like they let their lease of PCMR expire.

Sounds about right.

 

[urungus]

Would love to get a Superstar chair if they auction them off, but I suspect auction price will wind up being too high for me, I am thinking they will fetch $2k per chair

 

[thetrailboss]

Would love to get a Superstar chair if they auction them off, but I suspect auction price will wind up being too high for me, I am thinking they will fetch $2k per chair

The demand for used chairs has been insane. I don’t remember seeing chairs going for the prices they are now. I regret not getting one sooner.

 

[kancamagus]

To me this is a huge plus. Pico and Killington are quite different and it should stay that way.

I don't think the interconnect would ruin Pico, and I would love to see it eventually get built. Especially paired with building proper walkable base villages instead of 1950s-mindset, car-dependent strip malls along the K access road.

From making the New England to California transition, with Palisades (nee Squaw + Alpine Meadows) now my home mountain, I saw it before and after they opened the Base to Base Gondola and properly connected both halves. And I I say this as someone who absolutely loves skiing Alpine Meadows with my partner. It's universally great, mostly locals, not really any Jerries, chill laid back vibes, great terrain. The Olympic Valley side, let's just say I try to avoid it at all costs on weekends during the main part of winter. The most dangerous trail there isn't the 100 foot cliffs back in Silverado, it's Mountain Run. On weekends, the Olympic Valley side has unbearable levels of Jerries. Like Mount Snow bad, especially if it's early season after the first big snowfall.

Almost everyone here thought the B2B Gondi would permanently ruin Alpine. That the unwashed masses from olympic Valley side would ruin Alpine forever. And then the B2B Gondola opened, and drumroll... that didn't happen. On the whole, it seems like weekend lift lines at Alpine slightly decreased everywhere except Treeline. If anything, a lot (but not all) of the teenagers and kids that came with their families, but skiied by themselves, that used schuss the runs at Alpine seem to have disappeared over to "the big mountain", and reverse rode the Gondola to Olympic.

If Killington ever builds a proper interconnect to Pico, I don't know if they would cheap out and do a direct lift like the Palisades 'B2B Gondola or Sugarbush's Slide Brook or Loon's Tote Road Quad. Maybe. But if they built it out with a few lifts and trail pods like the early 2000's trail maps showed, that would add several new lifts, and two ish new trail pods. Each lift and each trail pod can soak up a large number of guests. Crowds would spread out, and most trails/lifts outside of chokepoints would see a reduction in lift lines and skiier/rider density on trails.

Let's also add that if it requires several lift rides, and skiing across several trail pods to get between Pico and Killington, most normie skiiers will likely ski/ride over to Pico, ride a lap or two, realize it's lunch time, eat at the base lodge, then ski back to Killington, ride a few more laps, then call it a day. On the flip side, Pico may see more demand for parking lots for VT/NY crowd, because it's a shorter drive. These people may only aki/ride a single run there, and then use Pico like Skyeship base as a place to start and end your day. as they want to go over and ride more of the terrain at K. Again, a large number of people transiting between K and Pico would be spent in the intermediate pods, and NOT at existing trails/lifts at Killington or Pico, so this would likely have minimal to no negative impact. In fact, it may even allow a village with a lot mroe hotel rooms and condos to open at Killington, and result in shorter lift lines than present.

Also, while I have not skiied outside of the ski area boundaries at Pico, from looking at topo maps, it would seem like Pico Summit down to Pico Pond would make a killer trail pod. ~1800 feet of vertical on a NE exposure, with about 1400 vertical feet of sustained black trail pitch along lift/fall line with blue trail pitch near the norther periphery, with only about 400 vertical feet of blue trail runout above the pond. I'd also love to see Ramshead replaced with a chonky carrier (for increased wind resistance) six pack with a mid unload station at the current top terminal, with the proper top terminal extended to the original summit to reopen the lost terrain there. Similar to Treeline Cirque at Alpine Meadows.

 

[skithetrees]

The demand for used chairs has been insane. I don’t remember seeing chairs going for the prices they are now. I regret not getting one sooner.

FYI, mount peter is selling used chairs on Facebook marketplace. Doubles that need a paint job and new wood slats for 250$; nice stainless doubles for 500$, and triples for 500$.

 

[cdskier]

The demand for used chairs has been insane. I don’t remember seeing chairs going for the prices they are now. I regret not getting one sooner.

Glad I got a Valley House one from Sugarbush when they were selling them. $200 seems like a bargain compared to what I've seen a lot of more recent ones going for.