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

[mister moose]

It happens but not often. 2007 started off with the Valentines storm and continued on with dry storms and no warm ups and no rain through March (The St Patty's storm) to the end of the month.

2018 was similar.

Obviously it wasn't a storm every day for 6 weeks straight. It was 6 weeks of western packed powder with weekly refreshing, sometimes over a foot. The trees were so deep the spruces were white cones with no branches, and fresh tracks were to be had for days after each storm. You could ski anywhere. The "Upper GIS" legend was born.

 

[tumbler]

Keep in mind management is not new. The new owners have gone on record saying they do not intend to butt into day to day management because they do not know how to operate a ski area. So if there was something happening prior that turned people off it very well could continue. However it is very likely that Killington is going to have a larger budget so some of the decisions could be different simply due to that.

The one other important thing in my mind other than the capital investment is the move away from the Woodward brand and relationship. They seem very passionate about getting their parks back under local control and more in line with the goals of the resort in general. I can appreciate the importance of the parks but some of the decisions that have occured under that name have been quite assinine.

You don't spend that amount of money and not make changes to the day to day because I'm sure there are things operationally they were not happy about. If they have a radio and can hear what is going on it will be hard to stay completely out. They will certainly give their input on snowmaking and grooming plans. And if there are difficult decisions to make is Mike going to fall on the sword and take the heat for them? They should probably have Win Smith consult for them

 

[Newpylong]

I disagree wholeheartedly and these guys certainly will not have radios. One of the worst things you can do to your paid staff is to step in on day to day operations in real time. If there are concerns those get discussed behind closed doors, the same as suggestions on snowmaking and grooming. They are going to steer the place strategically, not tactically.

 

[thetrailboss]

I disagree wholeheartedly and these guys certainly will not have radios. One of the worst things you can do to your paid staff is to step in on day to day operations in real time. If there are concerns those get discussed behind closed doors, the same as suggestions on snowmaking and grooming. They are going to steer the place strategically, not tactically.

So what were the bad decisions that you think POWDR is making with Woodward? Another poster asked and we didn't get a response.

 

[jimmywilson69]

crazy build outs. They spent 3 weeks making snow and carving "x-games" style terrain parks. Cool too look at and ski through, but mostly under utilized. At lease from a resource to build perspective.

The park on Header was cool and had a lot of great features and it flows very well. To what expense? the main trail on Ramshead often didn't get snowmaking top to bottom until later in the year probably because they would spend weeks on weeks making snow and building the park.

 

[icecoast1]

crazy build outs. They spent 3 weeks making snow and carving "x-games" style terrain parks. Cool too look at and ski through, but mostly under utilized. At lease from a resource to build perspective.

The park on Header was cool and had a lot of great features and it flows very well. To what expense? the main trail on Ramshead often didn't get snowmaking top to bottom until later in the year probably because they would spend weeks on weeks making snow and building the park.

Killington had really good parks before Woodward. Time will tell what the new owners want to do with it, but just because the name is gone, doesn't necessarily mean things will change much, especially if the people that ran things in the past are staying. The world cup operation probably takes more resources away from making snow elsewhere earlier in the year than the parks do

 

[AdironRider]

If you are a ski family with boys between ages of say 8 and 22 (college), you are looking for a place to ski with at least one decent park. Us old guys here might not get rad anymore, but if you want longevity in the ski business, you need to build a park.

Now what seems silly is paying some third party like Woodward or Burton to brand you park for you. Seems like a smart move to just go it alone. It’s not like Woodward makes a ski jump all that differently.

 

[urungus]

crazy build outs. They spent 3 weeks making snow and carving "x-games" style terrain parks. Cool too look at and ski through, but mostly under utilized. At lease from a resource to build perspective.

The park on Header was cool and had a lot of great features and it flows very well. To what expense? the main trail on Ramshead often didn't get snowmaking top to bottom until later in the year probably because they would spend weeks on weeks making snow and building the park.

If you took all the snow used to build the features and spread it out over the entire length and width of the trail, how much added depth would you get ? I suspect less than 6 inches (that’s what she said).

 

[Smellytele]

If you are a ski family with boys between ages of say 8 and 22 (college), you are looking for a place to ski with at least one decent park. Us old guys here might not get rad anymore, but if you want longevity in the ski business, you need to build a park.

Now what seems silly is paying some third party like Woodward or Burton to brand you park for you. Seems like a smart move to just go it alone. It’s not like Woodward makes a ski jump all that differently.

Had 3 boys that all skied from 3 to now(26,23,21) none of them liked skiing in parks and rarely did unless their friends did.

 

[icecoast1]

If you are a ski family with boys between ages of say 8 and 22 (college), you are looking for a place to ski with at least one decent park. Us old guys here might not get rad anymore, but if you want longevity in the ski business, you need to build a park.

Now what seems silly is paying some third party like Woodward or Burton to brand you park for you. Seems like a smart move to just go it alone. It’s not like Woodward makes a ski jump all that differently.

Woodward is owned by Powdr so they probably weren't paying anything for the branding rights

 

[thetrailboss]

Sounds like one concern is the amount of snowmaking resources that were tied up. That’s a legitimate concern IMHO.

 

[djd66]

Had 3 boys that all skied from 3 to now(26,23,21) none of them liked skiing in parks and rarely did unless their friends did.

Same here, I have 2 kids (18 and 20) - they had and have very little interest in the parks. They were more into the woods.

Personally, I don’t get the “branding “ of parks. Makes no sense, as they don't brand trails anywhere - and why would they.

 

[ThatGuy]

I’m 28, not huge into park but most of my friends are. They’d rather ride 250’ hot laps through the park than ski woods or trails on a powder day which is insane to me. I can do grabs and spins but for the most part would rather be in the trees, not trying to end my season early on a rail or jump.

 

[drjeff]

If you took all the snow used to build the features and spread it out over the entire length and width of the trail, how much added depth would you get ? I suspect less than 6 inches (that’s what she said).

Mount Snow plows some of their Carinthia parks down into ski trails late season, and that base ends up being a generalized 3-5 ft! Happy consumers! That's what she said!

 

[jimmywilson69]

Its definitely a lot more than 6" of snow.

I get it parks are important, but 3 weeks to make snow is a long time even in not ideal conditions

 

[AdironRider]

If you took all the snow used to build the features and spread it out over the entire length and width of the trail, how much added depth would you get ? I suspect less than 6 inches (that’s what she said).

Its probably more than six inches but the resource outlay is not as much as some here would imply. Killington isn't exclusively devoting almost a month of all their snowmaking resources just on parks.

 

[machski]

You don't spend that amount of money and not make changes to the day to day because I'm sure there are things operationally they were not happy about. If they have a radio and can hear what is going on it will be hard to stay completely out. They will certainly give their input on snowmaking and grooming plans. And if there are difficult decisions to make is Mike going to fall on the sword and take the heat for them? They should probably have Win Smith consult for them

Mike is going to fall on his sword and make those decisions. He did after all get elevated and accept the position of CEO.

 

[jimmywilson69]

We'll see if and how much Mike may have been handcuffed by Powder. That being said since they are their own entity now, hopefully on the fly operational changes that are bottom line critical can be done mid season.

 

[thetrailboss]

Personally, I don’t get the “branding “ of parks. Makes no sense, as they don't brand trails anywhere - and why would they.

Why brand parks? Simple answer: $$$$$$$$

 

[jimmywilson69]

Remember Woodward is an "adventure sports brand" owned by Powder so that is why Powder branded the parks that way. Same as when Burton had the Stash. In addition to Killington, Jackson Hole had a Stash. There were probably others. Be curious with Woodward gone if the Burton Stash returns to Killington.