May Day Slalom at Killington

[Geoff]

if they keep grooming the snot out of the place, they will never compete with sugarbush.

Face it. Bumps are no longer all that important in the market. They need to provide some but 90% of the customer base is looking for flats or little bumps.

 

[Greg]

Face it. Bumps are no longer all that important in the market. They need to provide some but 90% of the customer base is looking for flats or little bumps.

So why does it seem to work for Sugaarbush?

 

[skiadikt]

Face it. Bumps are no longer all that important in the market. They need to provide some but 90% of the customer base is looking for flats or little bumps.

i'm not so sure. you might be underestimating it a bit. i really felt at k the last two weekends that many folks were seeking out bumps. most folks were riding the k1 while supe was deserted. why ... because other than skye hawk & lower left supe there were no bumps. whereas off the k1 you could cobble together longer stretches of bumps. escapade seemed very popular. dipper next to the chair. catwalk. trees. people i spoke to in the box were asking where the bumps were or at least seeking less groomed terrain.

for the rest of this week downdraft and dipper shouldn't be groomed. and though it's too glacial to bump, i think they should leave supe alone. maybe lower skye lark. leave cascade, east fall & skye/bitter for those seeking groomers.

 

[2knees]

Face it. Bumps are no longer all that important in the market. They need to provide some but 90% of the customer base is looking for flats or little bumps.

:lol: what exit poll did you use?

 

[kcyanks1]

Face it. Bumps are no longer all that important in the market. They need to provide some but 90% of the customer base is looking for flats or little bumps.

Do you think that is still true in late April? During peak season, especially holiday weeks, I agree with you. At this point, the "average" skier is probably no longer skiing. It's only the obsessed like us. While AZ is probably not all representative of your typical late December, mid-February skier, it might be much closer to typical of your late-April skier. I'd guess that a good portion of late-April skiers do want moguls.

 

[Greg]

Do you think that is still true in late April? During peak season, especially holiday weeks, I agree with you. At this point, the "average" skier is probably no longer skiing. It's only the obsessed like us. While AZ is probably not all representative of your typical late December, mid-February skier, it might be much closer to typical of your late-April skier. I'd guess that a good portion of late-April skiers do want moguls.

You win the award for the most logical AZer of the day. Congratulations.

 

[Geoff]

Do you think that is still true in late April? During peak season, especially holiday weeks, I agree with you. At this point, the "average" skier is probably no longer skiing. It's only the obsessed like us. While AZ is probably not all representative of your typical late December, mid-February skier, it might be much closer to typical of your late-April skier. I'd guess that a good portion of late-April skiers do want moguls.

I'm talking about midwinter.

I agree that in April, the intermediate skier who is buying the $82.00 walkup day ticket has vanished. From inspection yesterday, it was more like 60% of the people skiing and snowboarding nothing but groomers rather than the usual 90%. The day ticket people I saw (all 10 of them) were mostly on the groomers.

...but I think you guys are making a lot of noise over a non-issue. Killington has plenty of bumps this week off the one lift they're spinning. Lower Skyelark was left alone and is really pleasant. Skyehawk and middle Ovation are all bumped up. They groomed the middle of Superstar but both skier's left and skier's right on the lower part aren't groomed. Yesterday, I did most of my runs on lower Skyelark. It was really nice soft intermediate bumps.

Should Killington create a couple of manufactured computer bump lines that are maintained all winter for the general public? Absolutely. I nominate skier's left below the cliff band on Devil's Fiddle (after they chainsaw some of the forest that has regrown there) and skier's right on Outer Limits. Those are two places that need some snowmaking love and used to be Killington's signature bumper areas. Leave the new lift to the fine young barbarians on twin tips and snowboards. You'd have to be insane to ski lower Wildfire, lower Dream Maker, or lower Skyeburst after 10:00 on a weekend these days so give the skiers and higher skill level snowboarders edge-to-edge cover on OL and Fiddle with both of those trails 50% groomed and 50% maintained bumps.

 

[Greg]

...but I think you guys are making a lot of noise over a non-issue. Killington has plenty of bumps this week off the one lift they're spinning.

Zipperline moguls or GS push piles? There's a difference.

 

[mondeo]

so give the skiers and higher skill level snowboarders edge-to-edge cover on OL and Fiddle with both of those trails 50% groomed and 50% maintained bumps.

Please, God, no. OL is fine the way it is, maybe a little less grooming and another line of snow guns for skier's right. I agree with snowmaking on the Fiddle. But a 50% groomed philosophy on O.L. would destroy what's left of its soul. As it is, sporadic 50% grooming brings in all the hacks that want to claim they've skied O.L.

The place to put a seeded run would be on a trail like Needle's Eye or upper Dipper; I'd go with the bottom of Needle's, skier's right, so you have a full bump run, mostly unseeded under the gondi, then a seeded run the length of a course at the end. Seeded runs dumb down bump skiing. They're great for getting people into it and for working on technique, but seeding O.L. is a bad move.

 

[2knees]

on O.L. would destroy what's left of its soul.

:lol: i've never heard "soul" and O.L. used in the same sentence.

 

[Greg]

:lol: i've never heard "soul" and O.L. used in the same sentence.

Mondy has a whole collection of post cards and tee shirts like this:

:lol: Seriously, check out the length of the course in that pic. :-o

 

[bvibert]

Seriously, check out the length of the course in that pic. :-o

My legs are tired just looking at it.

 

[mondeo]

:lol: i've never heard "soul" and O.L. used in the same sentence.

AndyZ got to me...

 

[wa-loaf]

Mondy has a whole collection of post cards and tee shirts like this:

:lol: Seriously, check out the length of the course in that pic. :-o

Longest probably, but steepest?

 

[skiadikt]

Longest probably, but steepest?

certainly for that long it's one of the steepest. there's some serious sustained pitch there.

 

[drjeff]

Mondy has a whole collection of post cards and tee shirts like this:

:lol: Seriously, check out the length of the course in that pic. :-o

That same poster used to grace the wall of my room in my parents house growing up

 

[mondeo]

Longest probably, but steepest?

Depends on how long you need to go to claim steepness. 50 ft? 200? If you have a sheer cliff, does that qualify you for steepest?

O.L. is a sustained 30ish degree pitch for 1000ft of vert.

 

[deadheadskier]

:lol: i've never heard "soul" and O.L. used in the same sentence.

James Brown certainly wouldn't approve

most popular/signature trail does not always equal most soulful

Now Devil's Fiddle? That mofo has gots some soul. When I'm at Kton, I's gotsta, gotsta, gotsta get my groove on with the fiddle. Can I get AMEN brothas and sistas! Praise Nyberg!