Chute merge with Great Eastern

[easyrider16]

The mountain spent all this money to build the tunnels to keep the green traffic separate from the downhill Mousetrap/Chute blue/black skiers and now you guys seem to be in agreement that they got it wrong. Bringing back the Bowling Alley seems to be your answer.

There's a third answer. The area needed changes but not the ones they implemented. The bunnel tunnel was poorly placed and unnecessary. If they were going to put a tunnel anywhere, it should have been the bottom of Mouse Trap where the actual problem was (and still is on busy Saturdays). They didn't need the tunnel under Great Bear either. Instead of re-routing Great Northern under Great Bear, they could have kept the existing route and sent traffic through a tunnel at the bottom of Mouse Trap.

They got the tunnels on Snowshed crossover right. They just screwed up the ones on Snowdon.

[Skid Mark]

I would do this:

Post signs after the tunnel saying something like "Great Northern - Easiest way down" (see location in orange below). I think people come out of the tunnel and stop to figure out which way to go. The goal is to keep the low intermediates moving and not wander down Middle Chute.

Modify the old GN as shown in green below. This would give the low intermediates another path down. The modifications need to block people out of the Mouse Trap/Chute mixing bowl (or whatever it is called) and rejoin with the lower section of GN PAST the Caper intersection.

[mdskiguy]

So . . . there's no real green path back to the K1 lodge from Snowdon/Ramshead. Great Northern dumps you out uphill from the Snowdon Bubble, but downhill from the K1 lodge.

The blue path back to the lodge is to take Bunny Buster. (Contrary to the map) it dumps you uphill from the lodge. The problem with that, that mid-Chute is no fun. (Okay, any time I'm on snow, vertical, on my skis, that's fun. But it's less fun.)

My desired solution is that they open that road. Then green/blue traffic can take Bunny Buster. There is not significant fast moving black traffic at the bottom of Mouse Trap, at least that I've observed.

Opening up that road also helps eliminate the Hazard to Navigation of the greens duck-walking, sidestepping, and poling up the hill from the where Great Northern intersects with Great Northern (how do those trail names make sense?) just below the Waffle House.

But as usual . . . I see what seems to me to be the obvious, cheap, and easy solution to something, and it isn't implemented. While it's tempting to dismiss the un-implementors as idiots, probably it's me who's missing something.

[Stormchaser]

I would do this:

Post signs after the tunnel saying something like "Great Northern - Easiest way down" (see location in orange below). I think people come out of the tunnel and stop to figure out which way to go. The goal is to keep the low intermediates moving and not wander down Middle Chute.

Modify the old GN as shown in green below. This would give the low intermediates another path down. The modifications need to block people out of the Mouse Trap/Chute mixing bowl (or whatever it is called) and rejoin with the lower section of GN PAST the Caper intersection.

Yup, easily could have done this and not built the GB tunnel...

[Mogulee]

I've brought several different groups of friends up to Killington who are decent skiers and have seen other large resorts and they all cannot believe how that wonderful/beautiful bubble lift exist with that chitty Chute under-char situation below the tunnel. I'm just hopeful that the resort understands that this is something that is "not right" and that they will try to at least level out the choke-point area under the lift and either lift the lift up or bring down the trail 2 feet in that one area so that those dang obstruction posts are removed.

188 per day lift tickets and "The Beast of the East" proud brand... just don't jive with this Chute/Bubble setup that needs some level of a fix, think simple Killington.... get rid of the dang hazard poles and level off that area so there is no pitch that drags you into the pole hazard area.... its a cluster.. someone fix it please in the spring.

[newpylong1]

Is Highwaystar back with all these drawings and "ideas"?

The setup has been there going on 6 years now, none of this is exactly an epiphany and it's not likely to change.

[daytripper]

Is Highwaystar back with all these drawings and "ideas"?

The setup has been there going on 6 years now, none of this is exactly an epiphany and it's not likely to change.

Longer than that, if my memory isn't failing me I do believe the quad went low at that spot and they had a gated off spot.

[BoozeTan]

Is Highwaystar back with all these drawings and "ideas"?

The setup has been there going on 6 years now, none of this is exactly an epiphany and it's not likely to change.

Longer than that, if my memory isn't failing me I do believe the quad went low at that spot and they had a gated off spot.

yep

[MrsG]

I've been a proponent of a Ramshead, Snowshed, and North Brook lift only pass at a significantly reduced rate. This will keep beginners, advanced beginners, et al off the upper mountain, yet, they still can meet friends and family at K1 from top of Snowshed. If they can do it in some of their lessons, they should be able to do as a limited ticket product!

[rogman]

Better signage after the tunnel might help. Middle Chute has a double fall line that beginners complain about. I'm not sympathetic. If you can't ski it, go around.

[BoozeTan]

I've been a proponent of a Ramshead, Snowshed, and North Brook lift only pass at a significantly reduced rate. This will keep beginners, advanced beginners, et al off the upper mountain, yet, they still can meet friends and family at K1 from top of Snowshed. If they can do it in some of their lessons, they should be able to do as a limited ticket product!

I have been saying this for years. I even emailed Mike about it. I also put this in EVERY SINGLE SURVEY, employee or consumer, that killington sends me. the advantages of this are many. In addition to what you mentioned, it also would breed brand loyalty. Think about it, you come up here with your friends and you get a limited lift ticket, you learn to ski/ride here, you fall in love with the place like we all have and you will come back. Back in the ASC days, anytime we had a beginner or someone that was just learning we would always take them to Sugarbush. Why? Because that beginner lift was free, they never checked for lift tickets at that lift. Our newbie friends could ski/ride all day for free and they would always want to come back when we would go.

[Big Bob]

I've been a proponent of a Ramshead, Snowshed, and North Brook lift only pass at a significantly reduced rate. This will keep beginners, advanced beginners, et al off the upper mountain, yet, they still can meet friends and family at K1 from top of Snowshed. If they can do it in some of their lessons, they should be able to do as a limited ticket product!

I have been saying this for years. I even emailed Mike about it. I also put this in EVERY SINGLE SURVEY, employee or consumer, that killington sends me. the advantages of this are many. In addition to what you mentioned, it also would breed brand loyalty. Think about it, you come up here with your friends and you get a limited lift ticket, you learn to ski/ride here, you fall in love with the place like we all have and you will come back. Back in the ASC days, anytime we had a beginner or someone that was just learning we would always take them to Sugarbush. Why? Because that beginner lift was free, they never checked for lift tickets at that lift. Our newbie friends could ski/ride all day for free and they would always want to come back when we would go.

Killington would lose money on this, that's why it wasn't implemented. People have been willing to pay full price to ski green trails. I do admit that it would be a good idea to keep the snowplowers where they belong.

[newpylong1]

Is Highwaystar back with all these drawings and "ideas"?

The setup has been there going on 6 years now, none of this is exactly an epiphany and it's not likely to change.

Longer than that, if my memory isn't failing me I do believe the quad went low at that spot and they had a gated off spot.

yep

I was referring to the tunnels and the entire Snowdon reconfiguration, not specifically the Chute low spot.