Killington trip advice

[Bumpsis]

I'm planning a 2-3 day visit to Killington next week (M - W). I haven't been there in ages so I could use some advice as to best place to park. Since there are a few lodges it's a bit confusing.
I strongly prefer to park where I can just walk up to the lodge with my gear, boot up in the lodge and store my stuff there, preferably for free. From the map, it looks like the Bear Mt Lodge would be to my liking - smaller lodge, possibly less crowded?
Looks like the Sky Peak Express quad connect well with the rest of the peaks (not looking to be banging moguls all day).
Or should I just go the K1 lodge and have a greater choice of trails without doing a lot of cross-overs?

 

[nycskier]

The fun is hitting a different parking lot every day! Try Bear, try K1 & on your last day out park down on rt 4 by Skyeship & save yourself 10 minutes on the drive home. K1 parking is usually good for booting up in the car and skiing to Snowden. Bear, Skyeship & Snowshed you have to walk past the lodge to the lifts.

 

[heiusa]

Your best bet is to start at K1. It’s the newest Lodge. It has the best food choices and it has a free bag check. Also, this way your centrally located to all the other base lodges and can move around the mountain easily. Another advantage is starting off the morning in the gondola and it’s nice and warm. If you get there early you should be able to park pretty close to the lodge. Your other two options would be the Bear Mountain Lodge, but that also is a bit of a drive depending on where you’re staying and the bottom of sky ship. The only problem with starting at sky ship, Is you have a long ride up the gondola before you can even get to mid mountain And then you have a long run back to your car at the end of your day. I would not start at snow shed or Ramshead because those lifts can get pretty busy and those base lodge's have a lot of families and Ski school.

If you start from K1, your best bet is to head over to Bear Mountain because in the morning it gets the best sun and it’s the warmest part of the mountain. After Bear you can then either Ski Southridge or needles eye areas and then work your way to sky Peak, and into the canyon to finish your day.

 

[mister moose]

M-W parking isn't going to be an issue. People frequently pick parking based on where they're coming from.

Bear: People like to ski there in the morning for the sun. Can get skied off first as a result. Basic lunch options.
Skyeship: Easy access to Rte 4, not much otherwise. Lunch is Rolling Rooster, and not surprisingly is mostly fried chicken.
Snowshed: Somewhat central, 1 extra lift with good options left or right at the top. Cheapest lunch option, and more choices than Bear. Best retail ski shop.
Ramshead: Don't bother unless someone want to ride park.
Vale: Easy trailside access, no lodge, extra lift ride up Ramshead to get somewhere.
K1: Central access, big new lodge, best lunch option with prices to match. Great deli sandwiches, salad bar.
Peak: Recent lodge, most expensive upscale lunch, bar, great views.

You can get anywhere from the peak, and elsewhere only 1 lift away from anywhere unless you are at the base of Snowshed or Ramshead. It really isn't that hard to get around. (For green skiers, it takes more routing and planning) There is the schlep around K1... wax your skis so the skate is faster.

I wouldn't worry about lift lines on mid March weekdays. Don't expect the Bear Quad, Needles Eye Quad, or South Ridge to run. All lodges have free bag check. Check the resorts conditions and grooming report, and check Kzone for the prior days skier's descriptions of conditions.

Tuesday looks warm and if you like bumps check out Needles skiers right, Old Superstar, Escapade, Upper Wildfire. Northstar might have suffered from the rain. Great Bear could be good in warmer temps. Superstar proper usually has bumps on lower each edge.

 

[Bumpsis]

Your best bet is to start at K1. It’s the newest Lodge. It has the best food choices and it has a free bag check. Also, this way your centrally located to all the other base lodges and can move around the mountain easily. Another advantage is starting off the morning in the gondola and it’s nice and warm. If you get there early you should be able to park pretty close to the lodge. Your other two options would be the Bear Mountain Lodge, but that also is a bit of a drive depending on where you’re staying and the bottom of sky ship. The only problem with starting at sky ship, Is you have a long ride up the gondola before you can even get to mid mountain And then you have a long run back to your car at the end of your day. I would not start at snow shed or Ramshead because those lifts can get pretty busy and those base lodge's have a lot of families and Ski school.

If you start from K1, your best bet is to head over to Bear Mountain because in the morning it gets the best sun and it’s the warmest part of the mountain. After Bear you can then either Ski Southridge or needles eye areas and then work your way to sky Peak, and into the canyon to finish your day.

Thank you - very useful advice!

 

[Bumpsis]

M-W parking isn't going to be an issue. People frequently pick parking based on where they're coming from.

Bear: People like to ski there in the morning for the sun. Can get skied off first as a result. Basic lunch options.
Skyeship: Easy access to Rte 4, not much otherwise. Lunch is Rolling Rooster, and not surprisingly is mostly fried chicken.
Snowshed: Somewhat central, 1 extra lift with good options left or right at the top. Cheapest lunch option, and more choices than Bear. Best retail ski shop.
Ramshead: Don't bother unless someone want to ride park.
Vale: Easy trailside access, no lodge, extra lift ride up Ramshead to get somewhere.
K1: Central access, big new lodge, best lunch option with prices to match. Great deli sandwiches, salad bar.
Peak: Recent lodge, most expensive upscale lunch, bar, great views.

You can get anywhere from the peak, and elsewhere only 1 lift away from anywhere unless you are at the base of Snowshed or Ramshead. It really isn't that hard to get around. (For green skiers, it takes more routing and planning) There is the schlep around K1... wax your skis so the skate is faster.

I wouldn't worry about lift lines on mid March weekdays. Don't expect the Bear Quad, Needles Eye Quad, or South Ridge to run. All lodges have free bag check. Check the resorts conditions and grooming report, and check Kzone for the prior days skier's descriptions of conditions.

Tuesday looks warm and if you like bumps check out Needles skiers right, Old Superstar, Escapade, Upper Wildfire. Northstar might have suffered from the rain. Great Bear could be good in warmer temps. Superstar proper usually has bumps on lower each edge.

Great! I appreciate the advice and trail recommendations. I do like bumps, especially on a warm(ish) spring day. I've dragging my friends to Stratton a lot and they're getting tired of intermediate cruisers. I also look forward to skiing something with a bit steeper pitch.

 

[nycskier]

Skyeship: Easy access to Rte 4, not much otherwise. Lunch is Rolling Rooster, and not surprisingly is mostly fried chicken.

The Rolling Rooster is awesome! Their food truck is also at Bear and is usually my favorite on mountain lunch choice.

 

[urungus]

Surprised at the lack of love for Ramshead. OP was concerned with parking and booting up in the lodge and did not mention food. IMO Bear and Ramshead (and Vale, but no lodge there) offer the easiest access to the slopes and at end of day ski directly back to the parking lot, with less stair climbing / chaos than K1 lot. At top of Ramshead Express lift you can ski Caper > Great Northern directly down to K1

 

[abc]

The lack of love for Ramshead probably has to do with the skiing at Ramshead. I confess I never parked there because I didn’t feel like parking somewhere and then only to waste my time to get to where I want to ski.

I’ve parked at Bear and K1. Did Sky ship once and never again.

OP prefers to boot up in the lodge. So skiing back to the parking lot doesn’t make sense when your street shoes are at the lodge. No advantage there.

 

[skiur]

No bar at ramshead, no reason to park there unless you have kids or are a park rat. Mid-week it really doesn't matter where you park.

 

[Bumpsis]

Thanks everyone for their input- much appreciated.

One more question: opinions on which ski shop around Killington provides the best ski tune-up?

Wednesday looks like a cold day, surfaces will be hard and my edges are not in the greatest of shapes. My messing around with the hand sharpener thingy is just kind of lame. I don't mind paying for a shop doing a righteous tune up.
I'm super happy with what my Atomic Vantage 79 TI can do on hard stuff, but well tuned edges are a must.

 

[skiur]

Any shop can do a good job, I mostly use Basin and Aspen East.

 

[heiusa]

Peak Performance Ski Shop · Killington, Vermont

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[heiusa]

Peak Performance Ski Shop · Killington, Vermont

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[DrPeteG]

If south ridge is running when you are there and it is sunny, that area softens very nicely early March before other pods

 

[mister moose]

which ski shop around Killington provides the best ski tune-up?

Since you did say 'best'...

Black Dog Sports in Mtn Green bldg is well known for hand tune quality. Peak Performance is the race shop on the hill. Northern and Basin have modern Winterstieger machines and if you tell them what you want, you'll get it. Do you know your base and side bevel?

And I forgot to mention Jamaican Jerk Shack for lunch at Skyeship midstation. If you like mango salsa, shrimp, guac, jerk chicken, etc.

 

[Bumpsis]

Since you did say 'best'...

Black Dog Sports in Mtn Green bldg is well known for hand tune quality. Peak Performance is the race shop on the hill. Northern and Basin have modern Winterstieger machines and if you tell them what you want, you'll get it. Do you know your base and side bevel?

And I forgot to mention Jamaican Jerk Shack for lunch at Skyeship midstation. If you like mango salsa, shrimp, guac, jerk chicken, etc.

Good to know. A good while back a shop with a Winterstieger machine shortened the life span of a really nice pair of skis by grinding off way too much base, thus limiting the number of tune ups left in those skis. So, I look for places that know what they're doing.
Unless my bases really need that kind of treatment, I typically ask for just edges to be sharpened and the bevel set at factory default, which I believe is 1* (?). Truth be told, I really don't know much about the technical details of ski sharpening process. Can a shop put a bevel on the edges without a base grind? All I want is for the skis to bite into a nice arc when I push them into the turn and not catch while running flat.

 

[nycskier]

You definitely want to get your skis tuned at Black Dog Sports in Mountain Green building (at the back of the Snowshed parking lot). It's a really great ski shop and a super high quality tune.

Black Dog Sports Ski Shop for ski rentals, boot fitting, bindings, skis, snowboards and accessories for ski vacations at Killington Resort.

Black Dog Sports Ski Shop - Killington Vt., for the best selection of ski rentals, apparel, skiing equipment, boots, bindings and snowboards.

blackdogdeals.com

 

[thebigo]

Good to know. A good while back a shop with a Winterstieger machine shortened the life span of a really nice pair of skis by grinding off way too much base, thus limiting the number of tune ups left in those skis. So, I look for places that know what they're doing.
Unless my bases really need that kind of treatment, I typically ask for just edges to be sharpened and the bevel set at factory default, which I believe is 1* (?). Truth be told, I really don't know much about the technical details of ski sharpening process. Can a shop put a bevel on the edges without a base grind? All I want is for the skis to bite into a nice arc when I push them into the turn and not catch while running flat.

Typical recreational skier should have a two on the side. It is common practice for recreation skiers is to set the edge and never touch the base. Once the edge is set, you should be able to run a stone every few ski days for maintenance. Occasionally a file if you have been delinquent or did some damage.

This should last a lifetime: https://the-raceplace.com/collectio...ocket-beast-ski-edge-tool?variant=24944776647

Recreational skiers should also have a course stone and fine file. I find the beast juice and a typical grocery stone dish scrubber to keep stones from getting clogged also useful. The juice, stones and files can be found on the site above.

Edit: i keep a very thick rubber band on hand for tightening the guide. Had it slip once and hand probably should have been stitched. Also a pair of channel locks to loosen guide after use.