I take it all back

[skibikeclimbguy]

I've posted several times asking for upgraded infrastructure, lodges, lifts, curb appeal, etc. I take it all back. At the end of the day I love Killington for the skiing. Even though I would love upgrades, I definitely don't want that at the expense of Killington becoming Stratton.

The skiing is the most important thing!

I'm not saying don't upgrade at all, but I did realize upgrades should not be at the expense of Killington's unique market, core skiers.

[Guy in Shorts]

Killington is the Beast and Stratton is the Gentle Giant with both mountains making the most of what they have. The bigger and badass Beast boasts 37,535 uphill capacity with 752 acres to spread out on vs the 33528 uphill/ 625 acres of its Intrawest rival. Stratton took full advantage of the 80’s/90’s expansion boom to build its village with tons of ski in/out lodging while the Killington Village is still in the perpetual planning stage. The Sun Lodge is now my normal starting point but we only go there now to hang with our friends that have the Early Access passes. Getting a few private first track runs to beat the masses is worth the required early wake-up. Rare to see duct tape being used by the beautiful Stratton skiers and wearing such used equipment will get you shunned in the gondola. Only thing that I miss about the place is the original snowboarders with their licenses hanging around their necks. They should have kept that requirement.

[Geoff]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

[steamboat1]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

I'd add Smuggs to that list of areas escaping on mountain modernization. Even more so. At least MRG & Castlerock replaced aging lifts.

[skiadikt]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

I'd add Smuggs to that list of areas escaping on mountain modernization. Even more so. At least MRG & Castlerock replaced aging lifts.

not that the polls mean anything but smugs despite lack of modernization, seems to finish pretty high in the ski mag poll.

remember stratton as being the first area where i could ski "black" rated trails with confidence. of course following that up at stowe, found that all "black" trails are not created equal.

[Mister Moose]

Didn't Middlebury Ski Bowl replace their main lift a few years ago with a brand new fixed grip triple?

[Terrapin Station]

Didn't Middlebury Ski Bowl replace their main lift a few years ago with a brand new fixed grip triple?

Yes in 2010.

http://www.newenglandskihistory.com/Ver ... lebury.php

I was there last season for a race, and despite its smaller size, there is some challenging terrain if you go off trail. Like K, they opened up everything inbounds not marked as trail as sidecountry. Lots of cliffs and trees to explore there.

[steamboat1]

Didn't Middlebury Ski Bowl replace their main lift a few years ago with a brand new fixed grip triple?

Yes & it's the second time they did since I've been skiing there. When I first skied Middlebury there was a poma lift as the main lift running straight up the Allen trail to the top of where Ross & Proctor trails begin. The poma didn't go as high as the chair does today. When they installed the double chair way back when they cut the new line to where it goes to today. The new triple chair follows the same line as the old double chair did.

[RENO]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

I'd add Smuggs to that list of areas escaping on mountain modernization. Even more so. At least MRG & Castlerock replaced aging lifts.

[steamboat1]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

I'd add Smuggs to that list of areas escaping on mountain modernization. Even more so. At least MRG & Castlerock replaced aging lifts.

What's so funny?

MRG replaced the old slow double chair with a brand new slow double chair several years ago. The single chair has all brand new specially designed chairs & runs off new electric power instead of the original diesel power. I'm sure they still have diesel for back up. The towers on the single were taken down & sent out to be sand blasted then reinstalled & painted. It's basically a brand new lift. The old Castlerock double chair at Sugarbush that had chairs spaced out a football field apart was replaced with a brand new double chair with the chairs spaces a football field apart. They're all new lifts. To the best of my knowledge Smugglers Notch (I still call it Madonna sometimes) still has the original lifts that were installed back in the 60's when the area first opened. They did get a fresh coat of paint last summer but that's it. Not a single new lift.

[RENO]

I grew up skiing Stratton in the 1960's and 1970's. Back then, all the infrastructure was fixed-grip double chairs with no upper mountain snowmaking. The trails were cut narrow and winding and took every possible advantage of the limited terrain features Stratton used to have. If you think Northstar, Great Bear, and Vagabond are nice terrain, you would have liked Stratton in 1972. High speed lifts, snowmaking, chainsaws, and grooming equipment have obliterated that experience. Of course, I also remember Downdraft as a tree run and Superstar as a narrow twisty natural snow trail so pretty much nobody other than Mad River and Castlerock @ Sugarbush has escaped "modernization".

I'd add Smuggs to that list of areas escaping on mountain modernization. Even more so. At least MRG & Castlerock replaced aging lifts.

What's so funny?

MRG replaced the old slow double chair with a brand new slow double chair several years ago. The single chair has all brand new specially designed chairs & runs off new electric power instead of the original diesel power. I'm sure they still have diesel for back up. The towers on the single were taken down & sent out to be sand blasted then reinstalled & painted. It's basically a brand new lift.

So basically nothing changed?! Most of this is like regular summer maintenance at most ski areas...

[steamboat1]

So basically nothing changed?! Most of this is like regular summer maintenance at most ski areas...

Replacing old lifts with new lifts is regular summer maintenance at most areas? That's news to me. I'd imagine replacing old lifts with new lifts every summer could get quite expensive.

You're right though that basically nothing changed but this was done on purpose at both MRG & Castlerock. Still doesn't take away the fact that they are new lifts.

Stratton is replacing the old gondola cars with new gondola cars this summer. Does this change anything? Stowe is refurbishing their gondola cars this summer also. Does this change anything? Would you consider this normal summer maintenance?

At least MRG & Sugarbush replaced the old lifts they took out with new lifts. This is more than I can say for K (South Ridge, Devils Fiddle).

[snoloco]

So basically nothing changed?! Most of this is like regular summer maintenance at most ski areas...

Replacing old lifts with new lifts is regular summer maintenance at most areas? That's news to me. I'd imagine replacing old lifts with new lifts every summer could get quite expensive.

You're right though that basically nothing changed but this was done on purpose at both MRG & Castlerock. Still doesn't take away the fact that they are new lifts.

Stratton is replacing the old gondola cars with new gondola cars this summer. Does this change anything? Stowe is refurbishing their gondola cars this summer also. Does this change anything? Would you consider this normal summer maintenance?

At least MRG & Sugarbush replaced the old lifts they took out with new lifts. This is more than I can say for K (South Ridge, Devils Fiddle).

MRG and Sugarbush replaced old aging lifts with newer lifts that had the same capacity. This was done on purpose to keep capacity down and keep the trails natural and uncrowded.

As for Killington not replacing South Ridge, it wasn't replaced because it was removed only shortly after the end of the ASC dark ages. ASC went broke and let the lift fall beyond repair. Powdr had to spend so much money bringing the place out of neglect that they couldn't afford to replace it. They are still fixing ASC's problems today.

As for Devil's Fiddle, why should anyone even care about that old hunk of rusty metal and chipping paint disguised as a ski lift. It was the most pointless lift ever installed and it's like they just said "hey, let's put a lift here" and put one in. You could only ski the seldom open (or skiable) Devil's Fiddle from it and the Bear Cub runout. They never ran it and it was a drain on maintenance funds with no benefit. I just wish that they fully removed it rather than leaving the towers there to rust. The Bear Mountain Quad serves the area fine, especially with the addition of the Skye Peak Express. It will be even better if they get a new South Ridge Lift. The Devil's Fiddle Quad was never needed, will never be needed again.

[daytripper]

So basically nothing changed?! Most of this is like regular summer maintenance at most ski areas...

Replacing old lifts with new lifts is regular summer maintenance at most areas? That's news to me. I'd imagine replacing old lifts with new lifts every summer could get quite expensive.

You're right though that basically nothing changed but this was done on purpose at both MRG & Castlerock. Still doesn't take away the fact that they are new lifts.

Stratton is replacing the old gondola cars with new gondola cars this summer. Does this change anything? Stowe is refurbishing their gondola cars this summer also. Does this change anything? Would you consider this normal summer maintenance?

At least MRG & Sugarbush replaced the old lifts they took out with new lifts. This is more than I can say for K (South Ridge, Devils Fiddle).

MRG and Sugarbush replaced old aging lifts with newer lifts that had the same capacity. This was done on purpose to keep capacity down and keep the trails natural and uncrowded.

As for Killington not replacing South Ridge, it wasn't replaced because it was removed only shortly after the end of the ASC dark ages. ASC went broke and let the lift fall beyond repair. Powdr had to spend so much money bringing the place out of neglect that they couldn't afford to replace it. They are still fixing ASC's problems today.

As for Devil's Fiddle, why should anyone even care about that old hunk of rusty metal and chipping paint disguised as a ski lift. It was the most pointless lift ever installed and it's like they just said "hey, let's put a lift here" and put one in. You could only ski the seldom open (or skiable) Devil's Fiddle from it and the Bear Cub runout. They never ran it and it was a drain on maintenance funds with no benefit. I just wish that they fully removed it rather than leaving the towers there to rust. The Bear Mountain Quad serves the area fine, especially with the addition of the Skye Peak Express. It will be even better if they get a new South Ridge Lift. The Devil's Fiddle Quad was never needed, will never be needed again.

Dont know what you mean by you could only ski fiddle and falls brook from the fiddle chair, you could ski anything that you could ski from the bear quad, they go to the same place, It certainly would be useless now as the bear quad never has a line but at one time it did.

[snoloco]

Only Devil's Fiddle and Falls Brook go right past the bottom of the lift. Wildfire and Outer Limits require crossing over on Space Walk which has no snowmaking and it looks like a pain to go across all the trails to get to the lift. The others do not intersect Space Walk and require walking to get to it. Once you were at the top you could get to everything, but you couldn't lap it off of the Devil's Fiddle chair.