Put it together or get left behind

[skacosta]

Please put K and Pico together already. Can easily keep the distinct feeling of the 2 resorts since we now have the electronic gates. Only those willing to pay extra for access to both get to use both, a la snowbird/alta. Epic pass is a superior product much better value than a K pass. Make a big splash. Connect the resorts already. Become the dominant player in the east coast. Make headlines. If not, you are being left behind with the Epic pass, a much better deal. I have both an Epic and K pass and its a no brainer as to which is the better deal. Thanks for the Bubbles and finally reintroducing a part time used lift in Jug. Not enough in my humble opinion. Now is the time to announce get excitement started. (And while you at it can you please bring the lodges up to this century standards).

[ozzy]

Dang bro. And I was happy that they made snow on Bronco this yr. Slow yer roll. Nothing really compares to K (except maybe Stowe) in the east so even though they're far behind, they're ahead.
The Epic pass is titties. I'll give you that. Deciding on PC, Kirkwood or Whistler myself.

[Highway Star]

Build the Interconnect! No more excuses!

[gregnye]

Don't ruin Pico! No interconnect please!

I would love lower sunrise to come back though

[Snowboardgod]

Don't ruin Pico! No interconnect please!

I would love lower sunrise to come back though

While this will never happen, I’d take that over the interconnect for sure and leave pico alone!

[KingsFourMan]

Don't ruin Pico! No interconnect please!

I would love lower sunrise to come back though

I was a huge Northeast Passage fan, my kids would have loved that area. I remember the $19 Sunrise only ticket. Given the choice between that and the interconnect, I'd take old Sunrise back in a heartbeat.

[brownman]

Right On !
Here come the Judge

Kirkwood has the snow.
Whistle is incomparable.
Park City is last century.

[Skivt2]

Those of you who say you want the interconnect.....Please tell us all how many days a year you ski Pico. I would love to know how many people who ski Pico 40 days a year or more would like to see the two mountains connected. How many of you have actually skied from Pico to K and used the bus to get to Pico in the other direction. It’s not like that is a hard thing to do. I don’t see a lot of people doing that so somehow a lift in both directions makes it magically so much better that it’s worth the enormous capital expenditure when virtually no one takes advantage of the relatively easy acesss that already exists? The two mountains are already basically more connected than sugarbush North and south are on most days. Get your name on the 49r plaque on the wall in the Pico base lodge one year and then come back with a real opinion.

[Kpdemello]

I'd love to see an interconnect if they added additional trails in the intervening terrain. I don't see how more skiable acres would be bad. It would really be great if they added another base area with more parking. Want to build ski on ski off condos? You could have them right off the access road.

If it were just a lift over to Pico with no new trails, I don't much see the point.

As for keeping Pico's character? Meh. There's plenty of other small mountains nearby.

[deadheadskier]

Plenty of other small mountains nearby?

What do you qualify as "nearby"?

I guess I could see Middlebury, Bromley and Magic qualify as similar type mountains. Two of those are an hour, and one is 45 minutes. Most don't want to drive that far to the slopes when on a ski vacation.

Suicide Six and Whaleback? Too small for most as a regular destination.

Pico should be left alone. It's a gem as is. The character and feel of the place would be altered tremendously being latched to Killington.

[madhatter]

Plenty of other small mountains nearby?

What do you qualify as "nearby"?

I guess I could see Middlebury, Bromley and Magic qualify as similar type mountains. Two of those are an hour, and one is 45 minutes. Most don't want to drive that far to the slopes when on a ski vacation.

Suicide Six and Whaleback? Too small for most as a regular destination.

Pico should be left alone. It's a gem as is. The character and feel of the place would be altered tremendously being latched to Killington.

except for Bromley ( a nice little place for those who've never been) none of those have anywhere near the vertical or HSQ's...

no worries though cuz an interconnect is not happening any time soon...if ever...

[deadheadskier]

Right

Bromley is the only local reasonable comparison. But, much less vertical and pitch.

I'm in the minority, but I'm someone who prefers the more classic ski areas like Pico that offer largely natural snow terrain over the large mega resorts like Killington. That's why I choose Wildcat as my home hill. If Attitash were right next to Wildcat, I wouldn't want an interconnect, but I like that I have Attitash on my pass to mix it up. If I still lived in Southern VT and had a K pass, I'd ski Pico more frequently, but would be happy to have K next door to mix it up when natural trail conditions at Pico weren't in play.

[Guy in Shorts]

Pico is part of the Killington resort and the connection should happen. Stowe will steal the Beast of the East title when the Smugglers interconnect happens. Stoke that was generated over 20 years ago when the map had the interconnect has not faded away. Having skied the Pico Pond basin I can report lots of sweet blue terrain with great tree spacing to be found. Open the border between Killington and Pico so we can live the dream.

[rogman]

Pico is a nice change of pace from Killington. It is different. POWDR is trying to permit bringing water from the K side (effectively from Woodward Reservoir). Different watershed, so there in lies the problem. If they do that, then Pico's snowmaking issues will largely be solved. What it also means is that they will have brought snow making capability to the Interconnect parcel, which they continue to lease. My guess is the Interconnect is still a number of years out, too many other projects to do (Lodges, etc). However they are rapidly closing the gap. Boyne has bought back the land for Sunday River and Sugarloaf, so I expect once their debt issues are sorted out from that purchase, you'll start to see them pushing to truly fix Sugarloaf (making it the largest in the East), or maybe extend Sunday River past Jordan Bowl as was originally planned. Change is inevitable, even required, for a recreational facility. Might as well embrace it.

[Mister Moose]

Someone explain to me how you're going to pay for the new lifts, trail cuts, grooming, snowmaking, maintenance and labor to run the interconnect on the same number of skier visits.....

Because skier visits in the State of Vermont haven't increased in over 20 years.