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

[Tonyr]

My point was more in reference to his claim that an interconnect and new base village wouldn't change the character of Pico because it didn't at Alpine. The Spruce Village and Over Easy very much changed the character of Stowe and I think the interconnect would also do so at Pico. I bet a huge portion of skiers coming from the Rutland side would now start their day on the Pico side to save 15 minutes on the commute.

And while Stowe wasn't in danger of closing like Pico might be as a stand alone entity, the mountain was hurting. The GM at the time, Hank Lunde (ironically the former Killington GM) sold the idea as necessary to compete. The mountain was losing money and had lost 50% of it's skier visits over the prior two decades. His claim, and it was probably true, was that it was due to superior snowmaking and slope side lodging build up at southern competitors. He told the community that without these "improvements" he'd be forced to cut operations significantly and run more like Smuggs with less snowmaking and a shorter season. He claimed he couldn't get AIG to pay for the expensive snowmaking pipeline and needed the real estate sales to fund it.

It went through and Stowe was changed forever and IMO, not in a good way. People seem to forget that prior to the Spruce development, Stowe was pretty rough around the edges compared to Killington, Okemo, Stratton etc. Yes, there was alway wealthy second homeowners and guests staying at places like Top Notch or Trapps, but it was by no means the most luxurious ski area in the East like today. The vibe and character back then is kinda like how Sugarloaf is today. It was not dominated by the Bogner crowd or anywhere near as busy.

My wish for Pico to remain unchanged is certainly for selfish reasons, not business ones. I prefer ski "areas" to ski "resorts." I liked Stowe much better the way it used to be. Jay would be another. I like Pico just how it is now.

To each their own, I like the over easy Gondola and Spruce Peak village. I'd also love to see Stowe and Smuggs connected but it appears that is not likely to ever happen.