Closing Skyship

[hillbangin]

It'll never happen - butt.........

With the new village , the new parking lots, and the new development at Bear - I'm thinking the Skyship is going the way of the Northeast passage.

It was a great idea at the time - but it's time has passed.

They could run a HSQ from Rt 4 to Needles without all the headache. The weather down there does not warrant a box. It's out of the wind so it would never be on wind hold. And the box to the top of Sky Hawk adds nothing......

Just a thought...........

What's the cost difference between fixing the Skyship and replacing it with a high speed lift?

[snoloco]

It's not going anywhere. It's a critical entry point, especially with the village. They should overhaul it like they did with K1.

[hillbangin]

It's not going anywhere. It's a critical entry point, especially with the village. They should overhaul it like they did with K1.

How many cars there on the busiest Saturday? and there are only 8 busy Saturdays...........

[Killington_Lover]

It's not going anywhere. It's a critical entry point, especially with the village. They should overhaul it like they did with K1.

How many cars there on the busiest Saturday? and there are only 8 busy Saturdays...........

Parking is literally packed by 930-10 when we show up Saturdays and end up parking in a relatively empty bear lot…

[daytripper]

It's not going anywhere. It's a critical entry point, especially with the village. They should overhaul it like they did with K1.

How many cars there on the busiest Saturday? and there are only 8 busy Saturdays...........

The last few Saturdays the skyeship lots have been full with cars parking along the road as well.

[wtf021]

The lot on the other side of Rt 4 is half full on most Fridays.

[jimmywilson69]

This place amazes me sometimes...

Not a in a good way.

Zero chance they mothball a major access point. Even if snow making becomes unviable down there they could still upload and download from that parking lot

[newpylong1]

Regular weekdays they are into the first row across Route 4. By Friday the other side of Route 4 is half full, weekends they're parking on the road. Meanwhile Bear is only 3/4 full except for BMMC. The gondy isn't going anywhere, it can be refurbished entirely for the cost of a Route 4 to Northbrook HSQ with little to no permitting.

Also what happens when a HSQ starts puking out people at Northbrook because it doesn't continue to Skye Peak? That's now a 2 seat ride to go anywhere whatsoever. All the pressure is on the Needles lift and snail. Not a good idea.

The Skyeship is a good solution, its just long overdue for some love. Infact, if and when snowmaking capacity is ever improved in a meaningful way, I would follow Pres Smith's vision and make snow down into Touchdown/old Juggernaut like they intended when they installed snowmaking on that and 4 mile. This will offer two routes down there because GE sees so much traffic near the bottom it's becoming a cluster f*ck of epic proportions. Now that Peak 2 Creek is advertised people are making runs down there to ride back up, not just go back to their car. I'm fairly blown away that management considers that last stretch of GE acceptable (safe) with the traffic it gets.

[hillbangin]

This place amazes me sometimes...

Not a in a good way.

Zero chance they mothball a major access point. Even if snow making becomes unviable down there they could still upload and download from that parking lot

So a $10M refurb makes sense to get 500 people up the hill? When the Bear lot is empty.

Asking for a friend......

It would be cheaper to run buses from those lots - and put the money into the rest of the hill.

[newpylong1]

Yes, it does make sense and it's far more than 500 people. Typical K Zone opinion: if you don't use it it's unnecessary.

[easyrider16]

I think advanced skiers tend to underestimate how many people do that peak to creek run. Go to Skyship base lodge on a busy Saturday from 10 to 2pm and it's close to a 30 min wait. Seems to me that lift is very heavily used.

[daytripper]

If K closed skyeship they couldn't claim most vert in the East. I can't see that happening. And there are many more than 500 people using it. Closing lower skyeship would be an extremely foolish decision.

[ozzy]

Imo, the condition of the Northbrook storage building should be addressed. That thing looks terrible coming up stage 1.
Huge pieces of siding mising as well as soffits and fascias.
I'm not expecting it to look perfect or even far from, but it shouldn't look like it's one moderate gust away from collapsing.

[hillbangin]

Yes, it does make sense and it's far more than 500 people. Typical K Zone opinion: if you don't use it it's unnecessary.

I used to use it a lot - now that it's broken down I drive to Bear on Saturday.

Between the stops and starts - and the loading every other box - it's an hour run down there.......

K is a business - they can't fix everything - all about priorities and Return on Investment.

[MrsG]

Imo, the condition of the Northbrook storage building should be addressed. That thing looks terrible coming up stage 1.
Huge pieces of siding mising as well as soffits and fascias.
I'm not expecting it to look perfect or even far from, but it shouldn't look like it's one moderate gust away from collapsing.

Leave the maroon color, paint the rest of the storage building green, and it almost maches other newer buildings at K - it really is ugly