Killington Resort Debuts $8.4 Million in On-mountain Improvements for 2008-09 Season

[AdironRider]

Exactly. I dont get why everyone slams powdr. So they cover the isurance bases and say no uphill hiking for turns. Big freaking deal. You cant hike Jackson Hole after the season is over as well and noone gives a rats ass (well itd be nice if you could) but noone goes online and flames the shit out of everything because of it.

Killington has the best snowmaking on the east coast, more high speed lifts than any other mtn on the east coast, the best terrain variety on the east coast, and probably the best apres ski scene on the east coast. Not to mention 250" consistent inches a year natural.

 

[RootDKJ]

I've been skiing at K for years. While many things have changed, I still have an awesome time skiing there, every time I take a trip there. I'd rather have the higher costs and decreased lift lines.

 

[JerseyJoey]

I agree with both of you. I love Killington.

 

[Geoff]

While they may be the most vocal critics (the longtimers you mention above) I dont think that the majority of Killington criticism comes from the longtime diehards. In my day to day life as a ski bum 90% of the people who were pissed were the people who bought the A41 and used it to its fullest, but lack the business sense to realize that when energy costs triple over a 5 year span, that it cannot be sustained.

Nope. Skiadkt captured it. It's the people who have been there for many decades who have voiced the most criticism. They're the people with the most invested in the place. If you own a vacation home or have made Killington your home and located your business in town, you look at what POWDR has done with a very raised eyebrow.

I personally only have one issue... the dramatically shortened season. Killington could have easily opened a week earlier last season and didn't. They closed with edge-to-edge cover when they easily could have operated three more weeks. They did the wrong thing. I'll continue to slam them for it until they demonstrate that they understand that they need to do the right thing for their customers even if operating that extra month+ is only marginally profitable. If Jay Peak, Sugarbush, and Sugarloaf can stay open, Killington certainly has the geographical advantage to stay open and be profitable.

I'm not going to second guess pricing, layoffs, or operating schedules. I thought their midwinter weekend & holiday product was just fine and an improvement over the ASC malaise years. The problem is that every decision they made pissed off somebody. When the real money comes from real estate development where you need town approval, public relations is important and Killington got an 'F' last year at public relations.

 

[deadheadskier]

Killington has the best snowmaking on the east coast, more high speed lifts than any other mtn on the east coast, the best terrain variety on the east coast, and probably the best apres ski scene on the east coast. Not to mention 250" consistent inches a year natural.

...I'll give you the most high speed lifts and the 250" of natural. Everything else in your statement is very much debatable and a matter of opinion.

I'll take Okemo or Sunday River's snowmaking over K's, though they are at a disadvantage with altitude

I'll take Sugarbush's terrain variety

and I'll take Stowe's nightlife.

Those are my opinions though.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

...I'll give you the most high speed lifts and the 250" of natural. Everything else in your statement is very much debatable and a matter of opinion.

I'll take Okemo or Sunday River's snowmaking over K's, though they are at a disadvantage with altitude

Those are my opinions though.

Haven't done okemo for a while but i've been back and forth between killington and sunday river enough to agree with DHS. Unless they improved their snowmaking by 200% last year they aren't where SR is when it comes to blowing snow.

 

[ALLSKIING]

...I'll give you the most high speed lifts and the 250" of natural. Everything else in your statement is very much debatable and a matter of opinion.

I'll take Okemo or Sunday River's snowmaking over K's, though they are at a disadvantage with altitude

I'll take Sugarbush's terrain variety

and I'll take Stowe's nightlife.

Those are my opinions though.

Snowmaking is a toss up...You could add Hunter, Stratton ect.

The expert terrain I will give to the bush but for beginners or intermediate and experts all skiing together its hard to beat K....Terrain variety

Never been to Stowe but Killington's nightlife is one of the top resorts in the country.

 

[skiing is life]

i dont see anything there about october openings so not interested :dunce:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

i dont see anything there about october openings so not interested :dunce:

With global warming October openings don't happen much..

 

[Geoff]

i dont see anything there about october openings so not interested :dunce:

With the current lift configuration, October openings are going to be a rare occurance. It's very difficult ot make snow on lower Great Bear in October and early November. It faces east and it's relatively low elevation. When they eventually replace one of the Snowdon lifts with a high speed lift that has download capability, they have the ability to easily get people up to The Glades (or Northridge or whateverthehell they call it this year) for October skiing. I walk up Killink frequently in April after they stop running the Snowdon lifts to get to the nice unskied corn snow on Northstar and Great Bear. From the Great Northern wrap-around, it's only a 5 minute walk. There's a power line parallel to Killink and they could stick their handle tow there for a couple of weeks to save the walk.

 

[Killington]

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Is that Nivis??

 

[millerm277]

@Geoff, Lower Great Bear is now the end part of Caper I think...

Anyway, for improvements:

Skye Peak HSQ-Awesome, it's been needed forever, I hope it's run a bit lower...

The Stash-Looks like it should be good from the pictures I've seen so far. I'm having trouble imagining the snow surface holding up that well though if it's natural only, with the traffic that it will be seeing. I'm sure they could push some snow down it with the Ski-home trail groomer though.

Magic Carpet-Okay...there are already 3 carpets at Rams Head I think, more parts for the Upper Snowdon Poma I guess.

New and Reconfigured trails-This will be subject to revision after I ski it, but I do not like the changes. I liked the old GE alignment, Frostline and Snowshed Crossover, and used all of them, and I liked skiing the steep section of Bittersweet.

Snowmaking-Good. I'd like to see more in this department...maybe replacing all of the disused tower guns with modern ones or fan guns. Either way, any improvements are good improvements.

Environmental-REC's seem like a waste of money. Why not spend that money on efficiency improvements to things on mountain?...like the heating project mentioned next. (which seems like a better use of money).

 

[deadheadskier]

Snowmaking is a toss up...You could add Hunter, Stratton ect.

The expert terrain I will give to the bush but for beginners or intermediate and experts all skiing together its hard to beat K....Terrain variety

Never been to Stowe but Killington's nightlife is one of the top resorts in the country.

I'll give you the beginner terrain at Killington. I gotta give the intermediate terrain to Bush though. I always found the intermediate terrain lacking at Killington. One could make the argument that Killington's expert terrain rivals Bush, it's pretty close.

Maybe second guessing the variety at K is not really what I'm getting after as it does indeed have great variety. I guess I just like the layout at Sugarbush better and the more consistent pitch over longer sustained vert.

 

[Geoff]

@Geoff, Lower Great Bear is now the end part of Caper I think...

Anyway, for improvements:

Environmental-REC's seem like a waste of money. Why not spend that money on efficiency improvements to things on mountain?...like the heating project mentioned next. (which seems like a better use of money).

Great Bear is still Great Bear. The upper part from the Snowdon Quad is intermediate. The lower part is a black diamond. When you cross the drainage ditch at the bottom, you're on Caper.


The way it's been explained to me, those energy credits don't cost much of anything and they're nice feel-good marketing. Killington gets their electricity from CVPS. CVPS buys electricity from Quebec Hydro and Vermont Yankee. They don't buy much from fossil fuel sources since their hydro and nuke contracts are cheaper sources until the contracts expire in a few years. No argument that hydro is 'green'. Vermont Yankee is right at the bitter end of it's service life but I doubt there's much risk of China Syndrome or Three Mile Island.

If you want to make skiing green, you need to figure out a way to get people to the mountain using public transportation instead of filling the parking lots with all those massive SUVs.

 

[millerm277]

Great Bear is still Great Bear. The upper part from the Snowdon Quad is intermediate. The lower part is a black diamond. When you cross the drainage ditch at the bottom, you're on Caper.

The very bottom section of Caper (That lets a beginner skip crossing Chute.), used to be known as Lower Great Bear. Anyway...your comment doesn't make sense then? Great Bear is natural snow only.

The way it's been explained to me, those energy credits don't cost much of anything and they're nice feel-good marketing.

I have no idea on the cost, so I'll take your word for it then.

If you want to make skiing green, you need to figure out a way to get people to the mountain using public transportation instead of filling the parking lots with all those massive SUVs.

Making the train from NYC to Rutland more well-known might help...

Off Topic-While looking up the train, this made me laugh: In FY07, on average, forty-six passengers boarded or detrained daily at Rutland, making it the busiest station in Vermont.

 

[Trekchick]

I have limited experience with Killintgton, having only skied Okemo, Killington and Stowe in the east.

I will say it was spring conditions but it was great fun, and I had the good fortune of following some guys who knew the terrain and lead me all over the mountain.
One question to those who know the place, because with my limited experience there, I'm not familiar with the trails,.........
What does this mean (bold type)

"By reinvesting in our mountain, we're proud to offer a much-improved experience for our guests in the Skye Peak area," said Chris Nyberg, Killington's president and general manager. "From the Skye Peak Express, to The Stash, the many other trail improvements and the elimination of the Snowshed Crossover, guests will be able to enjoy uninterrupted cruising on some of our mountain's best terrain."

 

[danny p]

the stash is getting snowmaking, it was mentioned on the K site or K-zone, can't remember which.

 

[danny p]

I have limited experience with Killintgton, having only skied Okemo, Killington and Stowe in the east.

I will say it was spring conditions but it was great fun, and I had the good fortune of following some guys who knew the terrain and lead me all over the mountain.
One question to those who know the place, because with my limited experience there, I'm not familiar with the trails,.........
What does this mean (bold type)

Snowshed crossover was one of many crossover trails at Killington which linked one mountain area to another. By eliminating the Snowshed crossover several trails now are non-interrupted top to bottom runs. If you can view an old trail map you'll see the difference.

 

[Trekchick]

I have an old killington map. I'll look at it when I get to the office. Thanks.


I have been thinking of planning a trip east again. I've thoroughly enjoyed my trips east, but I've only taken my husband to the Front Range. I'm thinking he'd really like hitting up Stowe or Killington.