Killington Opening

[andyzee]

Posted on KZone by spinmasterk:

This is a message that I will be sending out to the Killington Community later today:
Killington Resort will be open for Thanksgiving if forecasted colder temperatures arrive late this weekend, enabling snowmaking to return through the Thanksgiving holiday week. However, current weather condition will not allow Killington to open this weekend, Nov. 18-19.
Killington Resort is committed to opening as soon as possible with top to bottom skiing served by the K-1 Gondola and will take advantage of every opportunity to produce snow. Killington’s competitive advantage of elevation, extensive snowmaking system, superior grooming and dedicated staff will provide the best possible experience for our guests as we kick off the season very soon.

 

[koreshot]

Thanks for the info. Not a big surprise I guess with the weather we are seeing. Maybe I am just being too optimistic but I think that the warm November is setting us up for a nice cold Dec, Jan, Feb.

 

[Greg]

Seems reasonable. I do wonder though if the late openings the past two seasons (not including the Oct. 05 dump) will encourage them to come up with a viable early-season downloading option. It seems like a poma from the glades area back up to the K1, or replacing the North Ridge lift with one that goes to the summit proper is all that is needed.

 

[andyzee]

Maybe I am just being too optimistic but I think that the warm November is setting us up for a nice cold Dec, Jan, Feb.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. Killington also put this info on their snow report. http://www.killington.com/snow_report.html

 

[ajl50]

I think that we're in for a cold december. I actually think that pattern will change starting between early thursday morning and friday night. We'll start to see a gradual shift in the jet with the return of seasonable temps and then they will jsut sink a little lower and lower. My guess is that there will not be one strong arctic blast but rather a slow cool down so that by the weekend after thanksgiving we'll be seeing daytime snow making temps at almost all the mountains.

 

[Zindar]

So maybee I can book that thankgiving turkey trip to Killington after all!!

 

[riverc0il]

out of curiosity, when was the last time killington's opening weekend was as late as thanksgiving weekend?

 

[thetrailboss]

out of curiosity, when was the last time killington's opening weekend was as late as thanksgiving weekend?

Good question. I would be interested in learning the same and asking what factors lead to that.

 

[riverc0il]

or not even just killington. no ski area except woodbury who i am discounting has yet to open for full time operations and it doesn't look like any ski area in the northeast will open for operations prior to thanksgiving. when was the last time that happened? november has been seemingly very warm this year.

 

[Greg]

http://www.killington.com/endless_winter.html

This doesn't answer the question directly, but it puts this year (and last) in some perspective.

 

[riverc0il]

while it does not answer the question directly, it does suggest you need to go back to at least before 1985 to do so :lol:

 

[loafer89]

I think that there will be another big warm up at the end of Thanksgiving weekend as a powerful Pacific storm enters into the Rockies and pushes warm air ahead of it's path.

NOAA forecast models show 90% of the U.S being above normal temperature wise by November 25th, with the exception of the East Coast.

I seem to remember a Thanksgiving where Killington lost all of there snowcover during the weekend, perhaps the 2001-2002 season????

 

[thetrailboss]

I seem to remember a Thanksgiving where Killington lost all of there snowcover during the weekend, perhaps the 2000-2001 season????

YES. That was the season. I remember it as well. It happened after Thanksgiving though. And then things turned for the better....

 

[loafer89]

I was reading the NOAA forecast discussions for New England and it is possible that unsettled weather could last through this weekend if a costal storm develops.

Hopefully things stay clear, cold and dry so snowmaking can resume late this week.