Killllington 🎿🏂🏂🎿🎿🏂🏂🎿😀

[Domeskier]

K's daily expenses might exceed daily revenue on any given day in May, but that doesn't mean late season days are a loss. They sell a lot of spring passes (and probably a lot of full season passes as well) on the expectation that they will stay open as late as possible. This additional revenue needs to be added to what they make from the umbrella bar and at the ticket window when speculating on whether it makes economic sense for K to open in May.

 

[ss20]

K's daily expenses might exceed daily revenue on any given day in May, but that doesn't mean late season days are a loss. They sell a lot of spring passes (and probably a lot of full season passes as well) on the expectation that they will stay open as late as possible. This additional revenue needs to be added to what they make from the umbrella bar and at the ticket window when speculating on whether it makes economic sense for K to open in May.

Exactly. The spring pass has massively taken off the past few years from my understanding. And K would

And the break-even claim is from the GM himself but I won't dig up the article. If there's 1,000 people on a May Saturday at K and just a quarter of them buy one $8 beer that's $2,000 right there. That would cover the labor if my "dozen people working skiing ops" assessment is correct. Now that's all a lot of speculation but I think it's plausible.

 

[Newpylong]

K's daily expenses might exceed daily revenue on any given day in May, but that doesn't mean late season days are a loss. They sell a lot of spring passes (and probably a lot of full season passes as well) on the expectation that they will stay open as late as possible. This additional revenue needs to be added to what they make from the umbrella bar and at the ticket window when speculating on whether it makes economic sense for K to open in May.

This is 100% correct but it's mixing two different types of P&L analysis. We were referring to daily, for which is highly dependent on good weather, F&B, and solid daily ticket numbers to break even on any given day. Of course staying open in the spring factors into favorable annual P&L or they wouldn't do it. However those Pass sales only show up on the day the revenue was realized.

On the other hand, given that every DAY is a loss for most areas after x date, that is why the majority close before the snow runs out. They've long since spent folks pass money and every day open brings them deeper.

K is an outlier in that their reputation ie marketability is highly dependent on the season length.

 

[chuckstah]

I, for one, didn't renew my K pass when Powder took over and announced an April close, and save for a couple spring passes have not been a passholder since. They literally lost many thousands of dollars just from me since, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The long season is a must for many to consider a pass purchase.

 

[mister moose]

I do not recall K-1 ever running into May, but I don't have data to back that up. It's usually done by this weekend.

Here's what I found:

2012 - Even Superstar didn't make it to May
2013 - K1 spun through April 28
2014 - K1 spun through April 27
2015 - K1 spun through April 26, but Canyon and Snowdon spun the first weekend of May

I'll second Newpylong's anecdotal assessment. In the last 20 years, there have been 3 or 4 Springs that the Spring "Front Four" (Vertigo, Skyhawk, Superstar and Ovation) were skiable on May 1. None of those May 1 days was the K1 running. And much before 2000, there was no K1.

 

[ss20]

I'll second Newpylong's anecdotal assessment. In the last 20 years, there have been 3 or 4 Springs that the Spring "Front Four" (Vertigo, Skyhawk, Superstar and Ovation) were skiable on May 1. None of those May 1 days was the K1 running. And much before 2000, there was no K1.

huh...my bad I guess. I was pretty damn sure too!!!

 

[ScottySkis]

According to the Killington website they made snow in the last 24 hours on Bittersweet and Skylark. Can anyone attest to that?

 

[cdskier]

According to the Killington website they made snow in the last 24 hours on Bittersweet and Skylark. Can anyone attest to that?

The K trail report has listed a number of trails with "Snowmaking in the last 24 hours" for weeks now. I'm guessing an oversight with someone somehow not properly updating the report after the last time they did actually make snow.

 

[ss20]

The K trail report has listed a number of trails with "Snowmaking in the last 24 hours" for weeks now. I'm guessing an oversight with someone somehow not properly updating the report after the last time they did actually make snow.

It's been more than weeks at this point, lol. Seriously like a moth and a half! The new reporting interface is POWDR's standard and it is terrible. It lags on my computer...and is essentially non-functional on my phone. They also got rid of being able to see only ungroomed terrain.

 

[kingslug]

They didn't make it...Ulr did...

 

[cdskier]

It's been more than weeks at this point, lol. Seriously like a moth and a half! The new reporting interface is POWDR's standard and it is terrible. It lags on my computer...and is essentially non-functional on my phone. They also got rid of being able to see only ungroomed terrain.

Hah. I knew it was a while but couldn't remember exactly how long. I'll also agree that the interface is terrible.

 

[skiur]

It's been more than weeks at this point, lol. Seriously like a moth and a half! The new reporting interface is POWDR's standard and it is terrible. It lags on my computer...and is essentially non-functional on my phone. They also got rid of being able to see only ungroomed terrain.

Yeah, was like 2 years ago they went to the powdr website and I've hated it since. The old website it replaced was much better.

 

[kingslug]

How hard can it be to make a good website?

 

[jimmywilson69]

The problem is web designers feel the need to make the pages with too many bells and whistles. I'm fine if they work, but I'd rather have a static page with good information!!!

 

[Newpylong]

Their website is by far the worst :/

 

[ss20]

How hard can it be to make a good website?

Didn't someone start a thread on crappy ski websites earlier this season, and wasn't the general consensus was they were all far better 10 years ago?

 

[kingslug]

Most times simpler is better.

 

[urungus]

Down to just SuperStar / Skyelark / Bittersweet now

 

[ss20]

2"-3" of snow expected Friday night into Saturday. Deep freeze Friday night with temps in the mid 20s at elevation. Saturday windy and highs in the 30s! Happy last weekend of April and first day of May!

I think my last day of East Coast skiing before moving west will be Friday, May 7th or the 14th. It's a strange feeling knowing this is "it"...for a long time at least.

 

[JimG.]

Good luck and best wishes.