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

[thetrailboss]

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.

In the last couple of years I have seen most of them out here for $2,000+ apiece. As soon as it is announced that it is an auction style then the costs skyrocket.

 

[xlr8r]

I wonder if they are going to keep the newer Poma Superstar chairs and swap them in for the older Yan chairs on Snowshed Express.

 

[thetrailboss]

I wonder if they are going to keep the newer Poma Superstar chairs and swap them in for the older Yan chairs on Snowshed Express.

Those old Yan Chairs would be cool to have as a yard bench.

 

[deadheadskier]

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.

Counter point: The Over Easy Gondola and Spruce Village ruined Stowe; at least on holidays and weekends.

Yes, Mansfield terrain is still arguably the best in the East and skis the same midweek. But I don't know a single long time Stowe skier who wouldn't love to see the toothpaste put back in the tube and return it to what it once was.

I'm 100% against the interconnect with Pico.