What Will The 2020-2021 Ski Season Be Like at Killington ?

[newpylong1]

Simple....take the bubble to Kilink, ski to Northridge,ski, ski ski, hike up stairs (so stairs is one way), take Gondi down. Problem solved.

3 lifts for 2 trails is a great way to lose money.

It's either up/down on the six or K1, not both. I suspect it will be the usual, but options are good.

[iRock]

Since Vail is running their gondola's Killington will run theirs. Like it or not Vail is the Shepard the rest of the ski areas are sheep. As evident by Saturday, March 14th, 2020- when Vail Resorts announced their shutdown and 95% of all major ski resorts in North America followed suit over the course of a few hours.

I can see them blowing GN to the NRQ and doing walking up the stairway only. I don't see how one-way, distanced travel is an issue on that thing. The trouble is with reduced gondi and chair capacity it would almost certainly have to be passholders only until there's 3 or 4 lifts open.

Whatever they do I feel demand to go skiing this fall will be through the roof the first month. My last day was March 12. And after all the crazy sh*t that's happened since then I'm gonna be cackling and laughing and treating that WROD like a full-blown powder day. Skiing is good for the soul and everyone could use a good soul cleaning right now.

[ski2die]

Here's Kissing Bridge, NY's COVID-19 plan for this season as posted on their website,


https://www.kbski.com/august-sale-covid ... nal-plans/.

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The Safety of our KB Customers
The Kissing Bridge staff is collaborating and sharing information with other resorts around the country to determine what will give our guests the best guest experiences possible in the safest conditions. You may notice differences from the last time you were at KB, but your family will still treasure creating family memories together. We will be taking additional health and safety measures to ensure the safety of our guests. Cleaning and disinfecting procedures will be enhanced throughout. Signage, ground markings and barriers will be in place to navigate safely around KB to help with social distancing. KB employees will also be trained to assist KB guests and further promote social distancing guidelines. Also, to reduce close contact, KB is moving to an online reservation and payment transaction system. Face coverings are of course required for all KB employees and guests.
Kissing Bridge will be offering all of its traditional services but additional changes in light of the Covid-19 crisis will also be implemented as follows:
Chair Lift, Ticket Center and Lodge Changes
• Reduced number of passengers on all of our lifts (2 per quad chair and single per double chair unless immediate family members.)
• We will have a 50% reduction of Riders allowed per day dependent on slope availability.
• Kissing Bridge will offer outside stations for lift tickets and our guests’ various other needs.
• Kissing Bridge will have increased outdoor seating options available
• The KB staff is looking into every option to get skiers and riders on snow safely and efficiently.
• Daily lift ticket sales will be limited! (At this point in time will require advance purchase. This is subject to change)
• No longer able to reserve tables for picnic lunches. (No loitering)
We do anticipate increases in prices due to the pandemic and we pledge to do our best to remain affordable. As an outdoor recreational facility within a 30-minute drive from Buffalo, our close, convenient location offers a great outdoor activity for the whole family to enjoy while remaining socially distant.
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[Mister Moose]

Here's Kissing Bridge, NY's COVID-19 plan for this season as posted on their website,

• We will have a 50% reduction of Riders allowed per day dependent on slope availability.

I've seen this on numerous resorts, but has anyone seen how the 50% is going to be calculated? 50% of peak holiday Saturday skier volume? 50% of operating lift capacity? 50% of parking lot spaces? Without explaining the 50% it's a pretty squishy number.

[slatham]

Well, I would expect a major de-emphasis on the K-1 gondola. That means opening first on Superstar with the Ubar. Which Actually Makes Sense.

If you blow Skye/Bitter first so Blue Square skiers can ski opening day per usual, that could happen. There's even more room, wider trail than GN, for the WROD. You could also open on Bunny/Chute/lower Chute/Lower Bunny. Better terrain, no U-bar, use lodge and deck.

Could be, but that means a much later opening than NR due to elevation.....

[LocalSanity]

As long as the can get GN from the peak to rime, they should be fine with the one way walkway. Just know (and this is true everywhere) things are going to take longer. You shouldn't walk past the slowpoke in front of you, and instead, just walk a little slower.

I had to tell someone in line yesterday that they were too close. It was the second time his bike tire touched my tire, which normally would be too close for my liking, but especially in a pandemic. Like dude, you're gonna get there at the same time no matter how close you are to me in line.

[boston_e]

Two other Powdr owned resorts (Eldora and Copper) are implementing a parking reservation system... more details TBD.

https://www.eldora.com/culture/blog-...news?page=5026

https://www.coppercolorado.com/plan-...rvation-system

I wonder if this will be a Powdr thing everywhere? Or specific to those resorts. I've never been to Eldora and have only skied Copper in a ski on ski off situation so have never driven there for a day trip to park, so I'm not sure what their parking situation is compared to Killington and Pico.

[Jonathan S.]

Copper: I asked a contact who works there, and here's a paraphrased excerpt...Copper has many visitors for activities other than downhill skiing, e.g., tubing, shopping, snowshoeing, nordic skiing. Parking capacity has previously been maxed out only on peak weekends and holidays, so the new capacity limitations will probably apply only during those periods. Dawn patrol "skinners" are already required to either leave by the time the lift-served operations get going or pay for parking thereafter.

Eldora: That place is already Parkalypse Now! The lots max out relatively early on any kind of busy period. When I've been there for early-morning skimo races, we've been begged to please leave afterwards so that our spots can be freed up for others. When the race organizers wanted to take off briefly mid-day to have lunch off-site before returning to prep the hill for the sprint-format race, they realized they were effectively stuck at the resort, since if they left for lunch then they would not be able to return given the parking situation! The resort desperately wants to expand parking, but is up against all sorts of environmental problems. Employees have to take a shuttle from a school parking lot in Ned. I'm not sure about the public transportation options and the carpooling encouragement. One year, parking fees were implemented for one type of passholder, but I can't remember if it was for the Eldora-only passes or the multi-resort passes. (Lots of confusion among people I talked with, and resentment of one type towards the others.)

[SkiDork]

Hunter announced their plan:

https://www.huntermtn.com/explore-the-r ... ience.aspx

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Jonathan S.]

Hunter announced their plan:

https://www.huntermtn.com/explore-the-r ... ience.aspx

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I think all those new resort-specific websites for Vail resorts are really just the same info, with only the url changing.
Or at least when I checked Mount Snow and Okemo earlier today, they seemed identical (including irrelevant references to gondola loading).

[A_GUY]

Copper dropped their operating plan today. Be interesting to see how much of this carries over.

https://www.coppercolorado.com/culture/ ... son-update

[machski]

Copper's parking is nuts, most of it is fairly remote and require busing to the bases (free parking anyway). Given that, Copper needed to do something or they will have immense crowds waiting for socially distanced buses. I would think given that layout, reservations at Copper may be more common than some believe this season. For the record, I do not see the same issues at Killington since you can walk from most parking to the slopes/lifts.

[KingsFourMan]

We passed on buying passes this year. I think it's going to be a sh*t show. Had plans to go to Aspen between Christmas and New Years and Steamboat in early March to get our money's worth from the passes but have pulled the plug on all of it. Will be spending lots of time on the sleds instead.

[Big Bob]

Facebook rumor no early season

[RENO]

Facebook rumor no early season

Where on facebook? I check out a few K related facebook sites and haven't seen anything.