Southside_Bobby wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 09:40
What is the latest opening day on record at K?
If the WC build was down to the wire last season, things look very concerning this year.
The shorter their window to build on Superstar, the more likely it will draw more resources than ever away from the recreational expansion.
We can only hope all the new infrastructure will make a difference.
Somehow, this whole "they should have tried to open for a couple of days before summer returned" sentiment sounds increasingly silly.
Meanwhile, if they had gone all out to create a marketing opening, as Snoloco insists they should have, for every one of him there would be ten people saying ticket prices are expensive enough without wasting their money on stunts.
killington only goes back to 1987 on their website. the latest was 2006 on november 23 (ttb no WC). through the late 70's and 80's, they were open in early october. guessing in the earliest days, some years were probably later than nov 23.
believe the last season of "truckin" was 1999/00. after that it was top-to-bottom openings and you can see the later dates depending on mother nature's cooperation until the stairs went in for i believe the 2010 season.
Hey, thanks for sharing! MrG did the truck - not sure if that year or final year - sure am glad I wimped on that. I do do the stairs though!
skiadikt wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 10:59
rogman beat me to it. as you said, the big tell is other than that little test, they never fired the guns on superstar. as we know they need to take advantage of every window and clearly this wasn't it.
could they have "painted" rime and gotten it open for a few days. probably. but they're not gonna do that anymore. when they open, they wanna stay open and provide a quality product.
and it's not like the old days. i did the K chair a couple times back in the 80's when only a hand full of diehards showed up to ski the "painted" upper cascade. also during the "truckin'" era. again a small group of diehards. now opening day is a big deal. guessing upwards of a thousand or more show up. you can't get away with 8" of slop. you need a quality product.
regarding SR. kudos if they do open but i'm already seeing brown on the jordan webcam w even warmer weather coming. very small window saturday overnight and then nothing for an extended period. guessing they'll pretty much be starting from scratch.
here's my video for those who haven't seen the "truckin" in action. saturday oct 24 1998. they opened on the 22nd after a very small window that surprised us that they were even able to open. and yeah it was fun. last shot in the video is from the peak looking down. the trail was already cooked and they didn't open sunday.
It's weird to see them trucking from the top. The year I drove the truck it was from KBL to the bottom of CQ4 with uploading and downloading off that lift.
8" of slop doesn't stop them from opening in June with massive crowds. Why should it stop them from opening in October? They just don't seem to care about early season anymore.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 15:53
8" of slop doesn't stop them from opening in June with massive crowds. Why should it stop them from opening in October? They just don't seem to care about early season anymore.
If you'd like to maintain whatever credibility you have, re think that statement. should be obvious enough.
My point is that they will go to such great lengths just to notch June 1st in their calendar. But they have almost completely given up on the other end of the season. At this point, SR will be open 3 weeks earlier.
They aren't open a full day.
Restricted to costume wearers.
Not open to the general non pass public.
They won't be open this weekend.
Tomorrow, October 31, we will be open for skiing and riding for New England Passholders, Ikon and Mountain Collective Passholders, and Ticket Packs. Costumes will be mandatory for all riding the chairlift, with some special treats in store for those who help us celebrate All Hallows Eve.
Lift service will run from 10AM to 2PM off of the Locke Mountain Triple, with skiing on T2. Open terrain is expert only and will not be groomed. Downloading will be required, and walking may be required pending trail conditions. Please note that early season conditions will exist, so ski within control and watch for changing conditions.
Is it a splashy move? Sure. They don't have June, they don't have World Cup, they don't have the access road and they don't have proximity to NY/NJ, so give Donny a little splash. WROD with stairs (for more than 4 hours) will be here soon enough.
skiadikt wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 10:59
rogman beat me to it. as you said, the big tell is other than that little test, they never fired the guns on superstar. as we know they need to take advantage of every window and clearly this wasn't it.
could they have "painted" rime and gotten it open for a few days. probably. but they're not gonna do that anymore. when they open, they wanna stay open and provide a quality product.
and it's not like the old days. i did the K chair a couple times back in the 80's when only a hand full of diehards showed up to ski the "painted" upper cascade. also during the "truckin'" era. again a small group of diehards. now opening day is a big deal. guessing upwards of a thousand or more show up. you can't get away with 8" of slop. you need a quality product.
regarding SR. kudos if they do open but i'm already seeing brown on the jordan webcam w even warmer weather coming. very small window saturday overnight and then nothing for an extended period. guessing they'll pretty much be starting from scratch.
here's my video for those who haven't seen the "truckin" in action. saturday oct 24 1998. they opened on the 22nd after a very small window that surprised us that they were even able to open. and yeah it was fun. last shot in the video is from the peak looking down. the trail was already cooked and they didn't open sunday.
It's weird to see them trucking from the top. The year I drove the truck it was from KBL to the bottom of CQ4 with uploading and downloading off that lift.
yup did the canyon as well. maybe you drove me. believe the canyon was the final year of "truckin" before they retired it. think they did it for 3 seasons. wasn't really safe.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 16:57
My point is that they will go to such great lengths just to notch June 1st in their calendar. But they have almost completely given up on the other end of the season. At this point, SR will be open 3 weeks earlier.
Understood your original point, late season vs early season.. 8" of slop oct vs late may? consider that difference, from a safety perspective.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 15:53
8" of slop doesn't stop them from opening in June with massive crowds. Why should it stop them from opening in October? They just don't seem to care about early season anymore.
you're grasping at any straw you can ...
big difference between the snow on superstar on june 1 and 8" of slop on rime in october. on superstar we're skiing the remains of what was almost 30 ft of snow and once it melts - season over. on rime, when that snow melts, they have to start all over again. and yeah there's a good crowd on supe but much more room to spread them out than on rime.
you're 0-2 on this whine.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 16:57
My point is that they will go to such great lengths just to notch June 1st in their calendar. But they have almost completely given up on the other end of the season. At this point, SR will be open 3 weeks earlier.
first of all, there's no comparison between skiing the bumps on supe on june 1 and the wrod on rime in october. betting if you gave people a choice, june 1 on supe is gonna win over oct 24 on rime any day. also the marketing bump is better as well. plus there's the whole tailgate scene on june 1.
and just stop w the completely giving up on early season. yes SR has "won" the first to open claim - throw them a parade, but killington will once again more likely be the first to offer continuous daily skiing. and this 3 weeks earlier is BS.
look i'm jonesing and would be there skiing whatever it was, but they haven't done the open/close thing since 2012, so i'm over it. despite some disappointment, unlike you, in no way is it gonna impact the other 140 days i'm gonna ski this season. apparently your season is ruined by that one day.
Obviously the river opening tomorrow is a bit of a gimmick. If K were doing the same and opening, I wouldn't be going. That said, it gets them some bragging rights. I would not be surprised to see Killington get their first day before SR gets their second, but who knows?
The bigger measure to me is to look at the end of November see who has provided the better overall early season product. Who has more total days? Who has more days open top to bottom? Who expands faster once they do open? What is the quality of the snow they are providing? It is sort of like porn - hard to define but you will know who did a better job once you look back on it. Based on how Killington expanded last season (despite opening several days earlier) - my money is on Sunday River.
It just occured to me that Sunday River is not only the first in the east, but also the first Ikon destination to open period. Now they will get all the marketing through Ikon's channels. This is especially bad for Killington, because now they will no longer be seen as the go-to option for early season skiing among Ikon users in the east, though that status had already been teetering due to bad snowmaking the last 3 years. Missing out on this opportunity will have long term consequences for Killington.
A big difference between early season and May/June is people scheduling. May/June employees know when Killington will be open and when they’ll be working. Early season, opening for a day or so then shutting down keeps them on a yo-yo. Hard for people to plan anything when their status is constantly in flux.
I agree with the Mr. Moose that it’s a gimmick, but Sunday River is opening, so that’s pretty much the end of the discussion. If a monstrous horde descends upon them today, it will likely turn into a debacle. I expect conditions to rapidly deteriorate, probably within an hour. I just hope no one gets hurt. Had a friend hit a rock in some early season sketchiness, fell, hit another rock and shattered his hip. It couldn’t be fixed, it had to be replaced. So in pursuit of a marketing photo op of a few skiers having a great time, I hope that there aren’t people on staff being cowed into silence about potentially unsafe conditions. I don’t know, I’m not there, I hope it’s awesome; competition is good for everyone, especially Killington.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 23:09
It just occured to me that Sunday River is not only the first in the east, but also the first Ikon destination to open period. Now they will get all the marketing through Ikon's channels. This is especially bad for Killington, because now they will no longer be seen as the go-to option for early season skiing among Ikon users in the east, though that status had already been teetering due to bad snowmaking the last 3 years. Missing out on this opportunity will have long term consequences for Killington.
Do you actually think their bottom line is going to be detrimentally effected by this long term? Sure they'll take it temporarily across the chin but they'll actually be better off by not having sent 6 figures of the snowmaking budget instantly back into the Roaring Brook (for 4 hours of money losing fame).
The only pissed off people are thoe who lack reason and take getting "beat" personally. However they'll all be skiing at K come the winter without question.
The more important issue is the long term forecast and how it's going to effect a real opening across New England and the Cup specifically for K.
Last edited by newpylong1 on Oct 31st, '24, 06:04, edited 3 times in total.
snoloco wrote: ↑Oct 30th, '24, 23:09
It just occured to me that Sunday River is not only the first in the east, but also the first Ikon destination to open period. Now they will get all the marketing through Ikon's channels. This is especially bad for Killington, because now they will no longer be seen as the go-to option for early season skiing among Ikon users in the east, though that status had already been teetering due to bad snowmaking the last 3 years. Missing out on this opportunity will have long term consequences for Killington.
Do you actually think their bottom line is going to be detrimentally effected by this long term? Nope, and they'll actually be better off by not having sent 6 figures of the snowmaking budget instantly back into the Roaring Brook.
The only pissed off people are those who lack reason and take getting "beat" personally. However they'll all be skiing at K come the winter without question.
The more important question is the long term forecast and how it's going to effect a real opening across New England and the Cup specifically for K.
Sounds like what I posted on the 7th may be fact concerning the weather pattern moving forward.
2 hours and 10-minute drive to K
2024/2025 Ski Days: 35 days for the season
Killington: 11/14 (Day One), 12/23, 1/6, 1/10, 1/13,1/23, 2/5, 2/10, 2/19, 2/28, 3/11, 3/27, 4/20
Loon: 12/13, 12/20, 12/25, 1/8, 1/13, 1/15, 1/21, 1/27, 2/4, 2/12, 2/24, 3/13, 3/19, 4/11
Sunday River:3/4
Sugarloaf:
Cannon:12/05, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31, 2/21, 2/26, 3/14, 3/25
still 2 more 60 degree days to get through with small windows sat & sun overnight. then warms up again next week. and really not much in the 10 day for anyone to sniff opening. remains to be seen whether they actually open for the public.
the ikon thing is another straw grasp. will not move the needle whatsoever. killington will more than likely be first when the season starts for real and the first to offer daily skiing. and in the mid-season, no one - absolutely no one (except you) is gonna base their ski decision based on a resort getting open for a bragging rights stunt on halloween. also most k regulars would be happy to see the ikon skiers go somewhere else.
