New Trail Configuration

[hegartmj]

Note Geoff's comment, maybe contributions are not welcome unless they are from regulars, but I'm with wasupersoaker, think it sucks

Depends on whether Killington want to specialise in meeting needs of certain types of skiers at expense of others but we're a family of Green/Blue skiers and Great Eastern was a great run for us. It gave our youngest a sense of achievement that he could ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom, all the way on a Green run. That experience is gone, the Great Eastern that is left is really Blue for the first third and not a lot of fun when its a bit icy, and its now a lot harder for newbies to get around the mountains. So our kids are telling us its time to look around for somewhere new for next year which is a shame as we've had a lot of fun here.

Guess some people will be glad to see fewer newbies but seems to me a lot of the visitors were families, school parties and other people who were developing their skills and confidence and if they take their custom and their $$$ elsewhere it might not do anyone any favors.

[whiteout]

Note Geoff's comment, maybe contributions are not welcome unless they are from regulars, but I'm with wasupersoaker, think it sucks

Depends on whether Killington want to specialise in meeting needs of certain types of skiers at expense of others but we're a family of Green/Blue skiers and Great Eastern was a great run for us. It gave our youngest a sense of achievement that he could ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom, all the way on a Green run. That experience is gone, the Great Eastern that is left is really Blue for the first third and not a lot of fun when its a bit icy, and its now a lot harder for newbies to get around the mountains. So our kids are telling us its time to look around for somewhere new for next year which is a shame as we've had a lot of fun here.

Guess some people will be glad to see fewer newbies but seems to me a lot of the visitors were families, school parties and other people who were developing their skills and confidence and if they take their custom and their $$$ elsewhere it might not do anyone any favors.

not the most "beginner" oriented, family friendly mtn....there are better mtns to suit your needs...

[Bubba]

Note Geoff's comment, maybe contributions are not welcome unless they are from regulars, but I'm with wasupersoaker, think it sucks

Depends on whether Killington want to specialise in meeting needs of certain types of skiers at expense of others but we're a family of Green/Blue skiers and Great Eastern was a great run for us. It gave our youngest a sense of achievement that he could ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom, all the way on a Green run. That experience is gone, the Great Eastern that is left is really Blue for the first third and not a lot of fun when its a bit icy, and its now a lot harder for newbies to get around the mountains. So our kids are telling us its time to look around for somewhere new for next year which is a shame as we've had a lot of fun here.

Guess some people will be glad to see fewer newbies but seems to me a lot of the visitors were families, school parties and other people who were developing their skills and confidence and if they take their custom and their $$$ elsewhere it might not do anyone any favors.

Your contribution is more than welcome, and welcome to the forum.

I'm with you, by the way. Although I understand the desire to get rid of some of the crossover trails, I think the redesign of Great Eastern is a mistake. Like your youngest, the ability to ski from the peak to the bottom is important to a newer skier, and the ability to traverse and see the whole mountain on green trails is just as important to a novice skier or rider aspiring to get better. The worst part of Killington has been the crossover trails. Unfortunately, the crossovers were needed to create the best part of Killington for many - the ability to ski and see the whole mountain on green runs. I personally enjoy the uninterrupted top to bottom skiing that has been created but, from a long term business perspective, I'm not sure they've done themselves any favors.

[whiteout]

luv it, TTB rules...hate the crossovers

[Bubba]

luv it, TTB rules...hate the crossovers

So do I, but if they continue to lose the newbies and novices that doesn't bode well for anybody. They're still pushing most families out of the ski school with their pricing and doing other stuff to drive that demographic away is counterproductive for the long haul.

[millerm277]

Apparently I'm in the minority here. I liked GE as it was and even though I'm an "expert" often skied it at least once or twice a day, and the crossovers never bothered me, it isn't that difficult to pay attention to where people are going, and make/made it easy to get around. (I often have family along that is beginner/intermediate, and they really did like it.).

However, I never ski peak days, or even weekends usually....

[Geoff]

Note Geoff's comment, maybe contributions are not welcome unless they are from regulars, but I'm with wasupersoaker, think it sucks

Depends on whether Killington want to specialise in meeting needs of certain types of skiers at expense of others but we're a family of Green/Blue skiers and Great Eastern was a great run for us. It gave our youngest a sense of achievement that he could ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom, all the way on a Green run. That experience is gone, the Great Eastern that is left is really Blue for the first third and not a lot of fun when its a bit icy, and its now a lot harder for newbies to get around the mountains. So our kids are telling us its time to look around for somewhere new for next year which is a shame as we've had a lot of fun here.

Guess some people will be glad to see fewer newbies but seems to me a lot of the visitors were families, school parties and other people who were developing their skills and confidence and if they take their custom and their $$$ elsewhere it might not do anyone any favors.

My comment was that somebody's first and only post on the message board was that something Killington did sucks. No explaination. Just the minimum number of keystrokes to complain. I think that poster will fit in perfectly with the perpetural bitch-fest here. You, on the other hand, put up a rational explanation as to why you think it's a mistake to kill off the old Snowshed Crossover from Bear. It's something that's been discussed here since they put up the trail map last fall.

Personally, I think the solution is to put "Great Eastern" back to the way it was for decades until ASC renamed things... from K Peak down what is now Launch Pad. That lets you ski the whole 3000' vertical feet of novice trail.

[Dr Z]

Note Geoff's comment, maybe contributions are not welcome unless they are from regulars, but I'm with wasupersoaker, think it sucks

Depends on whether Killington want to specialise in meeting needs of certain types of skiers at expense of others but we're a family of Green/Blue skiers and Great Eastern was a great run for us. It gave our youngest a sense of achievement that he could ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom, all the way on a Green run. That experience is gone, the Great Eastern that is left is really Blue for the first third and not a lot of fun when its a bit icy, and its now a lot harder for newbies to get around the mountains. So our kids are telling us its time to look around for somewhere new for next year which is a shame as we've had a lot of fun here.

Guess some people will be glad to see fewer newbies but seems to me a lot of the visitors were families, school parties and other people who were developing their skills and confidence and if they take their custom and their $$$ elsewhere it might not do anyone any favors.

My comment was that somebody's first and only post on the message board was that something Killington did sucks. No explaination. Just the minimum number of keystrokes to complain. I think that poster will fit in perfectly with the perpetural bitch-fest here. You, on the other hand, put up a rational explanation as to why you think it's a mistake to kill off the old Snowshed Crossover from Bear. It's something that's been discussed here since they put up the trail map last fall.

Personally, I think the solution is to put "Great Eastern" back to the way it was for decades until ASC renamed things... from K Peak down what is now Launch Pad. That lets you ski the whole 3000' vertical feet of novice trail.

Do you really want them crossing Superstar and Skylark at the bottoms of the headwalls? The biggest problem was at the GE/Dreammaker blend due to the narrow trail and acute blend angle. Certainly different than the wide open 90 degree crossing on Skyburst and Needles.

[Highway Star]

As Geoff said, the launch pad to GE route is the original GE route. However, I did ride the Gondi with someone who didn't like the new layout because they couldn't figure out how to ski top to bottom off the peak, because they couldn't find Launch Pad. I have seen some pretty solid traffic on Launch Pad this year, but most of it is headed to superstar.

Overall, I do like the new layout and lift. The stash park is a deathtrap. Lower Skyeburst (previously Lower Bear Claw) is a still a skied off mess. Dreamaker top to bottom is rad.

[laseranimal]

I still want to ski it before I make a decision about whether I like it or not, but without skiing it I still think it would have been a MUCH better idea to leave GE the way it was and get rid of Great Northern.

Again I reserve the right to change my mind once I get a chance to ski it

[rogman]

I was surprised that when they made the changes they didn't do more to promote Launchpad as a means to ski top to bottom from K Peak. However, if they'd done so, they'd have just moved the crossover problem over to Ovation/Superstar/Skyehawk/Bittersweet. Sugarloaf noticed the change, and now markets themselves (incorrectly) as having the most continuous vertical in New England (2820 ft). Launchpad was down graded from Black to Blue this year, so perhaps that is a bit of an experiment to see the impact on cross traffic.

[newpylong]

I think it should be entirely rerouted back to where it used to be off the peak.

[Snowjob]

It seems odd to be stuck at Bear unless you want to wait in what seems to be a long-ish line for the SP Quad. There are no options out once you are there.

Other than that it's fun to bomb down Skye Burst without a lot of traffic.

[wasupersoaker]

the new layout sucks.

A fine first post. You will fit in perfectly here.

nice.....i always complain about killington.....its such a good mountain but no one can run it right. i actually got repremanded for complaining how the mountain sucks when i worked there. they threatened to fire me. i told them go ahead. nothing ever happened. why rope off the trails? is it that hard to go around a few gapers?