Skyeship Refurbishment Is Badly Needed

[Southside_Bobby]

We all can name which lift upgrades we would prefer to see next - Bubble at Ramshead, Superstar replacement, or maybe a six pack at Snowshed.

But Skyeship is badly in need of some work. The old girl has really seen better days.

Last week, while sitting in my car munching on my lunch, I saw ten broken cabins, out of the sixty I counted. That's bad. It stops all the time, probably mostly due to the cabins.

How much would it cost to do the same kind of upgrade they did to the K1? I imagine a lot, but it must be done soon.

When they did the K1 (new haul rope and cabins), it was at the same time as other major projects. It was kind of overshadowed but was actually an important upgrade.

[Stormchaser]

I got off the Skyeship midstation half a dozen times this season, as the lift stopped for mechanical reasons while I was in the terminal and was down for estimates of 15-30 minutes. And I've never seen so many unusable cabins... What happened to all the old K1 cabins? Are those lying around somewhere?

[Big Bob]

It coud be in this years cap ex investment in the mountain. Nothing that I have heard has been said as to what new and shiny toys we will get to play with next season. Could just be we are back to fresh mulch...

[heiusa]

As far as I remember they sold the old cabins from K1, in fact there is a restaurant in Steamboat that has several cabins that are set up for dining.

https://www.mountaintapbrewery.com/gondolas/

[Downdraft]

This ski area is getting close to some big time spend needed on lifts. Many lifts at the age or past of age of replacement. Hope they invest before an accident happens. 1-2 a year is needed for a few years to catch up

[Mister Moose]

I was noticing the spacing recently looked longer than what I remembered... can they change that and use less cabins?

[brownman]

They've been rolling the dice on lifts for years.
A bad mechanical failure has somehow escaped them.
Very fortunate. Lodges or lifts ? . everything needs a fix.

Skyeship isn't a go-to lift for us .. rarely do we ride it.
.. unless of course, chair is too windy to light one up

[twilkas]

As far as I remember they sold the old cabins from K1, in fact there is a restaurant in Steamboat that has several cabins that are set up for dining.

https://www.mountaintapbrewery.com/gondolas/

I'd only want to be that close with family, seating looks a bit confined. funny that steamboat has killington gondolas.
is the superstar chair that beat up to be in need of replacement? haven't ridden it in 6 years, but didn't seem terribly atrocious
back then.

[BoozeTan]

I was on the skyeship last season and when we came into the top terminal our cabin crashed into the one in front of us....

[180]

we'll see how much they spend this summer, not sure it was a banner year.

[ski]

https://thegondolashop.com/collections/vintage

You can buy your own K1 gondola right now . . $5850

[KingsFourMan]

https://thegondolashop.com/collections/vintage

You can buy your own K1 gondola right now . . $5850

That's pretty cool, would love to have one of the old original Killington gondolas. Was never a big fan of the 90's art cabins. Hard to believe the skyship is now older than the original gondola that it replaced

In Chris Diamond's book Ski Inc., he says that Pres went way over the top on the Skyship with it's heated cabins and music, neither of which worked for very long, and the artwork and said that Killington didn't see much if any bump from it.

[Mister Moose]

... he says that Pres went way over the top on the Skyship with it's heated cabins and music, neither of which worked for very long, and the artwork and said that Killington didn't see much if any bump from it.

Innovation has many bumps along the way. It's real hard to be perfect. I'll take several misses over not trying at all any day.

[boston_e]

we'll see how much they spend this summer, not sure it was a banner year.

Depends on how much they got from all those ikon pass scans on the days when parking was down to the lookout, and how many $25 burgers they sold in the fancy new lodge.

[easyrider16]

we'll see how much they spend this summer, not sure it was a banner year.

Depends on how much they got from all those ikon pass scans on the days when parking was down to the lookout, and how many $25 burgers they sold in the fancy new lodge.

While it's hard to know for sure, it seemed like a pretty good year to me as far as attendance. I was there almost every weekend and there weren't many when the lots weren't very full. Every time I was in either the peak or the K1 lodge, they were full, and many people were seen eating highly overpriced food and buying overpriced beverages. I have to think they did pretty well in terms of revenue this year.

Despite it feeling like not a banner year, the snow total actually wasn't bad this year. 194" so far.