expansion

[newpylong1]

"Killington snowmakers recently completed a resurfacing of Rime and Reason and started the base on Upper East Fall, their next expansion target."

That seems pretty cut and dry that therr is active snowmaking.

Now that the fog has cleared somewhat and it's more visible on the webcam, there doesn't appear to be any active snowmaking on Upper East Fall.

Roger, shutdown this AM and Skye Lark now on.

[daytripper]

Given what we have seen (or more precisely haven't seen) temperature wise this year, I'm not shocked K is swinging full attention this week and window to SS and FIS build. They are getting down to the wire and has to be 100% the focus to pull it off. With the tour not even crossing the pond last season, if they can not miss this they will do whatever it takes I think.

And now we have landed on the annual discussion. Can K walk and chew gum at the same time?

Do they or don't they have enough resources to expand public terrain, and put as much snow on Superstar as possible, simultaneously?

The answer is they do. If the weather is completely uncooperative, it won't matter how much manpower or capacity they have. If it does cooperate enough, they have enough of both to do both. Period.

If we don't have TTB by Thanksgiving this year with the WC here, we wouldn't have had it without the WC here.

My question remains. Do they need to have Skyelark covered in order to have the event?

Do they have enough snow makers? A lot of places don't right now.

[Southside_Bobby]

"Killington snowmakers recently completed a resurfacing of Rime and Reason and started the base on Upper East Fall, their next expansion target."

That seems pretty cut and dry that therr is active snowmaking.

Now that the fog has cleared somewhat and it's more visible on the webcam, there doesn't appear to be any active snowmaking on Upper East Fall.

Roger, shutdown this AM and Skye Lark now on.

Good to hear.

[A_GUY]

Given what we have seen (or more precisely haven't seen) temperature wise this year, I'm not shocked K is swinging full attention this week and window to SS and FIS build. They are getting down to the wire and has to be 100% the focus to pull it off. With the tour not even crossing the pond last season, if they can not miss this they will do whatever it takes I think.

And now we have landed on the annual discussion. Can K walk and chew gum at the same time?

Do they or don't they have enough resources to expand public terrain, and put as much snow on Superstar as possible, simultaneously?

The answer is they do. If the weather is completely uncooperative, it won't matter how much manpower or capacity they have. If it does cooperate enough, they have enough of both to do both. Period.

If we don't have TTB by Thanksgiving this year with the WC here, we wouldn't have had it without the WC here.

My question remains. Do they need to have Skyelark covered in order to have the event?

The debate as to whether they can make sufficient snow for the World Cup without impacting early season operations seems settled. I was on the hill today and can confirm that outside of World Cup related terrain, no snow was being made. They either lack capacity or desire to get the North Ridge to what has historically been the minimum amount of open terrain on day 1. This is a fantastic window that is being squandered.

[snoloco]

I can understand not going top to bottom this week, especially since other resorts are pushing back opening, but there's no excuse for completely ignoring Upper East Fall. They could run all the guns on that small trail and still 95% of their output would be in the Superstar area. In every prior year, they've quickly expanded to have Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, and Great Northern from the top, then left it at that until going top to bottom.

[ski]

I can understand not going top to bottom this week, especially since other resorts are pushing back opening, but there's no excuse for completely ignoring Upper East Fall. They could run all the guns on that small trail and still 95% of their output would be in the Superstar area. In every prior year, they've quickly expanded to have Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, and Great Northern from the top, then left it at that until going top to bottom.

Totally agree . . . They should have opened it on what they have on it . . We ski on way less snow in the spring . . Lower Rime is a huge cluster f%*k

[throbster]

They're probably panicking about the FIS inspection tomorrow.

Some of you retirees should take up snow making for a month and get the hill open!

[brownman]

/\
.. my channellocks are busted
.. Look for TtB assault once FIS blesses SS
.. won't be long now..

[wtf021]

Simple question, are we still taking the stairs because of the World Cup?

[snoloco]

Considering that Killington is the only open resort in the Northeast, and Vail pushed back all their openings, we would probably still be taking the stairs regardless of the world cup. But by the weekend, maybe it would've been possible to get a top to bottom run if they didn't have the World Cup. At this point, the lack of any snowmaking in North Ridge is more disappointing.

[newpylong1]

Was told UEF is done and draining.

As for the stairs question, the stairs are absolutely still in play due to the World Cup because the only snowmaking windows have been marginal. To do some math for you, 150 guns going today. 90% of them are hogs, that's 135 x 500 CFM or 67,500 CFM. Add in the towers also on Sky Lark and you're at capacity. They have 72,000 CFM of air, but not all available because some of the diesels are down for maintenace at any given time. When in doubt, just do the math.

They can do Superstar and a trail somewhere else but not both Superstar and Skye Lark and something else in these conditions. No other mountain in the East has more than half of the compressed air that Killington has for comparison.

The good news is the wet bulb is dropping and the snowmaking has moved down on Superstar so it won't be long. Until then, they are focused on the Cup venue for better or worse. By now it should be obvious their priority every year is to open first then host a world cup. The most terrain by Thanksgiving not up there.

[spanky]

So, what happens if they don’t pass snow control? Top to bottom skiing for the masses on Superstar for thanksgiving!!!!

[boston_e]

So, what happens if they don’t pass snow control? Top to bottom skiing for the masses on Superstar for thanksgiving!!!!

I guess that could be a consolation prize… imagine the crowds though? Especially if everywhere else is just barely opening?

[skiadikt]

So, what happens if they don’t pass snow control? Top to bottom skiing for the masses on Superstar for thanksgiving!!!!

mtn proceeding like it's a done deal. failing is not an option. after gun shutdown sometime tomorrow, the forecast for next week has moderated a bit. gonna be close.

[snoloco]

Was told UEF is done and draining.

As for the stairs question, the stairs are absolutely still in play due to the World Cup because the only snowmaking windows have been marginal. To do some math for you, 150 guns going today. 90% of them are hogs, that's 135 x 500 CFM or 67,500 CFM. Add in the towers also on Sky Lark and you're at capacity. They have 72,000 CFM of air, but not all available because some of the diesels are down for maintenace at any given time. When in doubt, just do the math.

They can do Superstar and a trail somewhere else but not both Superstar and Skye Lark and something else in these conditions. No other mountain in the East has more than half of the compressed air that Killington has for comparison.

The good news is the wet bulb is dropping and the snowmaking has moved down on Superstar so it won't be long. Until then, they are focused on the Cup venue for better or worse. By now it should be obvious their priority every year is to open first then host a world cup. The most terrain by Thanksgiving not up there.

I'm wondering what your source is regarding UEF. It's not listed as open on tomorrow's report.

The math makes sense. They can make snow on Superstar and North Ridge, but not both Skye Lark and Superstar and North Ridge. If I remember correctly from previous years, they usually aren't working on both Superstar and Skye Lark at the same time.