Is it time to move on from hosting the World Cup?

[rogman]

Keep the Cup, even though it's a PITA. At least it guarantees us top to bottom by Thanksgiving. POWDR doesn't want to look bad on national TV. Yeah, a bunch of other places are ahead of us in available terrain, and we probably won't catch up before Christmas, if then. That's 2023 Killington.

For the long term they have to rethink their snow making operation. The entire resort was built in an era of cheap labor, low energy costs, and colder temperatures. That ship has sailed and is not returning. Obviously, the weather windows for making snow still exist and may be just as intense, but they are shorter and require a nimble operation to take advantage. More water, more air, and faster turn on/off times. The Klik hydrants, and other automation are an obvious step in the right direction. It's an expensive transition. Their competitors have a head start.

In the short term, they are what they are. The easiest thing is more air; keep the extra compressors around and on line longer to compensate. I'm a bit surprised to hear they were water limited in November. That shouldn't be happening. Their "unlimited" water from Woodward would appear to be insufficient, and their pumping capacity not on pace with their competitors.

[skiadikt]

I think if you look at Powdr overall, they are committed to USSA and FIS. Consider that Copper opens their speed training venue off SuperBee well before they open to the public off their Telemix lift most years. That is where they start their snowmaking on each season, the public option is second fiddle.

it's not only powdr.

from waterville's report:
You also may see a few riders on our Summit Live Camera! The U.S. Boardercross Team began their training up on High Country this past Saturday. This training is for the U.S. Boardercross Team only, the public is not permitted to ski and ride until opening day. Interested in early season training? Lane space rentals are available, contact marketing@waterville.com for more details.

from sunday river's report:
Locke Mountain will serve as the resort's dedicated early-season training venue for our partners Gould Academy and Bates College, as well as pre-booked ski teams only.

it's growing thing. a few years ago K ran some race camps on middle ovation in the spring.

[volklopposition]

Vote to keep it, but I'd rather see it during an off-weekend in January or early December vs Thanksgiving break. There is lots of money for the community so the event can fill gaps for local business owners.

[Low Rider]

Last year, Nov 16th (tomorrow) was opening day - was it top-to-bottom?

Touche' Mrs. G !

That's not really the point. We've had days of cold temperatures recently with zero (or very few) guns running on NR and Snowdon.

Agree - last years temperatures and weather was very different from this year.

[Big Bob]

Proable best to keep the racers seperated from the general public from a safty standpoint.

[skiadikt]

Proable best to keep the racers seperated from the general public from a safty standpoint.

run mikaela. ruuuunnn ...

[deadheadskier]

Isn't the K race one of if not the highest attendance WC event of the season? Doubt FIS wants to give that up. No greater advertisement for ski racing

[ozzy]

I thought I saw in the mountain times that Killington and FIS agreed to a three year deal this past summer.
Don't like Killington pre Thanksgiving, use your multi pass and ski/ride somewhere else. I know a lot of Killington peeps are at stratton and sugarbush this weekend for more varied terrain options.
What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

[eagle628]

Isn't the K race one of if not the highest attendance WC event of the season? Doubt FIS wants to give that up. No greater advertisement for ski racing

When I was in Colorado a few years ago for the winter I went to the Beaver Creek men's downhill. There were maybe 200 people there.

[daytripper]

I thought I saw in the mountain times that Killington and FIS agreed to a three year deal this past summer.
Don't like Killington pre Thanksgiving, use your multi pass and ski/ride somewhere else. I know a lot of Killington peeps are at stratton and sugarbush this weekend for more varied terrain options.
What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

My Killington pass is only good at K and Pico, no place else for me to go.

[easyrider16]

What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

I hate this and it makes me want to move elsewhere

[Low Rider]

I thought I saw in the mountain times that Killington and FIS agreed to a three year deal this past summer.
Don't like Killington pre Thanksgiving, use your multi pass and ski/ride somewhere else. I know a lot of Killington peeps are at stratton and sugarbush this weekend for more varied terrain options.
What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

My Killington pass is only good at K and Pico, no place else for me to go.

Same. Despite the fact that we pay a premium for our passes as compared to Epic / Ikon we get no reciprocal benefits.

[snoloco]

What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

I don't hate Killington, in fact quite the opposite is true. However, I sometimes get so frustrated with the place. They have so much potential that will never be realized. Powdr is so cheap with capital improvements, especially with snowmaking, and I feel that local management has lost the motivation they once had, to by any means possible, put the best product on the mountain. They merely try to be good enough, rather than the best they can be.

[skiadikt]

What we see is what you'll most likely have in the future.

I don't hate Killington, in fact quite the opposite is true. However, I sometimes get so frustrated with the place. They have so much potential that will never be realized. Powdr is so cheap with capital improvements, especially with snowmaking, and I feel that local management has lost the motivation they once had, to by any means possible, put the best product on the mountain. They merely try to be good enough, rather than the best they can be.

cheap w capital improvements?!?

let's see for 2018-2019 season, they opened the snowdon six ($6mil) and the south ridge quad in addition to upgrades on the k1 including new cabins. throw in rfid and more tunnels. for the 2019-20 season, there was the new north ridge quad. and yeah things slowed down w covid. last year they opened a new base lodge, whose original price tag was $27-29 but went way over due to covid delays. every summer, there are snowmaking upgrades. my friend works on replacing pipe all summer - approx $2mil worth this year. that's stuff you don't see or hear about. and yeah there's probably a lot more they need to do that in that area. they're transitioning from the old way to the new way. we'll see moving forward.

this past summer there was majoring flooding which did damage to 2 base lodges and to 6 lifts. there'll be some money coming from insurance (but flood insurance can be tricky) and fema but those repairs needed to be made immediately and not sure they recoup it all.

as far as their motivation, the incessant whining is about a 3 week and change period (a week longer this year) due to their commitment to wc (an event i doubt anyone in the NE could pull off). there's 27 other weeks in the season, where most days there's nowhere else in the east i'd rather be.

[snoloco]

I don't count routine snowmaking maintenance as capital improvements. Clearly they're not keeping up to date since they keep having pipe blowouts. The same technology that they are touting being used on 10 spot guns, Sunday River already has on entire pods.

They haven't even started a major project since the pandemic, and in that timeframe, Sunday River has already built 4 lifts, 2 of them being D-Line detachables.

As for the World Cup, they're going to be far behind on terrain long after Superstar opens to the public. Running guns on two trails on Snowdon and Upper Dipper isn't going to cut it, and is nowhere near the number of guns they ran on Superstar and Skye Lark last week. They're making like a third as much snow as Sunday River is.

In every category except season length, Sunday River keeps beating us to a pulp, and I'm sick and tired of losing.