Mount Snow to Fire Up The Guns 10/19

[2knees]

October? Heck, they were making snow in September! 92/93 was the first Oct. 1st opening at Killington. It was my dad's last season there. He was the Upper Basin Manager, and made the push to get the product on the ground and the lifts turning on 10/1. There were some eyebrows raised (even within the company), but they did it and it worked! They did it a couple times after that as well (93/94 & 97/98 ) .

It's certainly not profitable, but it's marketing points and it gets people excited. It only works, really, if you're the only one doing it. As soon as 3 or 4 areas are "competing" for first to open, it spreads the minimal early season crowds too thin, and takes the marketing emphasis off the individual areas.

your dad is a good man!

 

[skiing is life]

mount snow if opening before you big k. i love how they let us know what theyre doing on the mountain aswell.

 

[RootDKJ]

Hopefully K will put something up on the Killington Insider (hint, hint) :wink:

 

[hardline]

October? Heck, they were making snow in September! 92/93 was the first Oct. 1st opening at Killington. It was my dad's last season there. He was the Upper Basin Manager, and made the push to get the product on the ground and the lifts turning on 10/1. There were some eyebrows raised (even within the company), but they did it and it worked! They did it a couple times after that as well (93/94 & 97/98 ) .

It's certainly not profitable, but it's marketing points and it gets people excited. It only works, really, if you're the only one doing it. As soon as 3 or 4 areas are "competing" for first to open, it spreads the minimal early season crowds too thin, and takes the marketing emphasis off the individual areas.

i was there both the 92/93 andd 93/94 seasons. i think we made about 7 or 8 trips down from burlington. i think the only reason we did it was we had comps from somewhere.

 

[skiing is life]

the realfeel on accuweather tomorrow night for west dover is supposed to be -5. yes -5. with a low of 19.

 

[mountainman]

weather link.

http://weather.unisys.com/gfsx/9panel/gfsx_1000_9panel.html

 

[Greg]

We already know that Killington is going to test their system tonight. They haven't bothered to announce it though.

Isn't that what Mount Snow is doing? Blowing at the base of the mountain....At Least when K starts to make snow or test it will be at the peak, where it has a much better chance of lasting to actually be worthwhile.....By the way if K does test the guns tonight they will have them on earlier than Mount Snow, making them the first to make snow in the east.

Whay isn't Killington announcing it?

Killington hasn't "blown out the mice" in a number of seasons. If the past few seasons are an indication, if the guns get fired up at Killington, it will be a base-building effort. With a chance of rain Monday night at elevation and temps in the high 30's, I would be surprised if they gave it a go tonight. Forecast looks good starting Tuesday night though. I still think it's too early though, unless there is a serious intention to open in October.

As far as Mount Snow, it could be a photo op/PR stunt. They'll probably open the hill for park rats to hike and ride/ski. In any case, the fact that we are even having this discussion is exciting. It's coming, folks.

 

[Glenn]

Great news! I hope Mt. Snow posts some pics.

 

[bvibert]

Didn't Snow make snow early last season, just to make a small park for people to hike. Before the real snowmaking effort started? Great publicity IMHO.

 

[Glenn]

I checked their mobile site on my phone earlier....I noticed they dated it the 19th....

http://www.mountsnow.com/mobile/

Had this blurb in there:

Remember last year, we opened a small terrain park on the Pad on October 29? We'll probably do that again.

 

[skiing is life]

theyre doing it again tonight

 

[bvibert]

I'm disappointed no one else posted these here... Sweet:

 

[vcunning]

Killington might just a little surprise for you Geoff. You might want to keep an eye on the hill from your window this weekend.

Geoff . . . it's Sunday . . . the end of the weekend.

What do you see?

 

[tjf67]

For the same reason Preston Smith always blew snow in October. ....to market his snowmaking system. Early season isn't profitable but it has been proven out at Killington over the last 4 decades that a patch in October puts you on television in the flatlands for the evening news. The return on free advertising and building your brand far outweighs the expense of blowing the snow. We had decades of the weather dude going "Well, winter has started. Killington has started making snow." and the news babe shuddering saying something about how she's not ready for winter yet. The photos made many of the flatland newspapers. POWDR and Chris Nyberg clearly don't understand their market or the need to promote the resort and its snowmaking capability. Mount Snow and Sunday River get it. Little surprise that Killington skier visits are way off while Sunday River and Mount Snow had good seasons last year.

I been to Killington 5/6 times all but one were OCT.

 

[drjeff]

I been to Killington 5/6 times all but one were OCT.

Heard the foliage is nice up there in Oct. Since it seems like that's the only ting to look at up there these days in October