Superstar 2023

[snoloco]

Be careful what you wish for. Soon we'll end up with May 1st closures like under Nyberg.

[G-smashed]

Maybe Downdraft is Nyberg.

[buckethead]

^^ or at very least one who's hung up the skis while spring skiing is peaking

[daytripper]

Downdraft is just a troll, has said so himself. No need to be bothered with anything he says. A boring troll at that.

[Southside_Bobby]

2012 is the only year in my recent memory that truly deserves to be called the spring from hell.

Blow torch weather in mid-March. I will never forget the conditions report: "The mountain is sweating through its base layer." By the end of March, it was down to Superstar only.

Then in early April we got a brief gift of 18 inches. They reopened the K1 for a couple of days. Managers were manning the lift. It was glorious, but very short-lived. By the end of that week all that snow was gone, and we were back to only Superstar. By the end of April, we were done.

I judge every spring against that one.

There are a lot of weather factors, but I agree with Snoloco that overnight temps in May are perhaps the greatest weather factor in deciding if June is achieved.

But the size of the build is a huge factor too. We can't deny that.

[snoloco]

2012 was the last year under Nyberg, so there was no glacier build at all. It's possible the other trails were covered thinner than usual as well. If I remember correctly, there were roughly 3 weeks of melting with no overnight refreeze, and that will do a ton of damage to any snow. Hardly anyone made April that year.

[Downdraft]

Nyberg =

[skiadikt]

fwiw heard that the depth on the top of superstar is 31 ft.

[Big Bob]

Good to see some wiser financial decisions being made. Crappy winter. Less snow. Don’t need to burn money for one trail that might make it a few more weekends for minimal revenue.

You should be thanking Mother Nature for the early season she gave us with all the r*in events that needed do overs. Lots of money burned doing so.

[asher2789]

Good to see some wiser financial decisions being made. Crappy winter. Less snow. Don’t need to burn money for one trail that might make it a few more weekends for minimal revenue.

we could also just not blow any snow at all, that seems like a wise financial decision if all we do is base the concept of "wise decisions" on if the spreadsheet number is black or red

you cant really measure how much being open late into the season makes them, not just in terms of money but in terms of long term attraction. how many people choose killington for a pass because the season is late vs any other nearby mountain. how many people such as myself decide to gamble on life and move up here vs any other competitor. i know that the super long season is what made me choose living in this area vs anywhere else in VT. you cant really measure the effects of that from adding to the local labor pool to spending money at local establishments when the tourists are gone in the off seasons. i know im not the only one who chose to live here specifically for this reason.

[newpylong1]

fwiw heard that the depth on the top of superstar is 31 ft.

Measured from the top of a tree perhaps... still, the headwall mountain isn't gonna float the whole trail to June.

[buckethead]

well let's hope the weather cooperates.
and that ops doesn't over-groom.

too bad they're not blowing tonite. noaa has low at 6F

[Guy in Shorts]

Gate at tower 6 was open today allowing for sweet lift line turns now that the snow guns are gone.

[Low Rider]

Good to see some wiser financial decisions being made. Crappy winter. Less snow. Don’t need to burn money for one trail that might make it a few more weekends for minimal revenue.

we could also just not blow any snow at all, that seems like a wise financial decision if all we do is base the concept of "wise decisions" on if the spreadsheet number is black or red

you cant really measure how much being open late into the season makes them, not just in terms of money but in terms of long term attraction. how many people choose killington for a pass because the season is late vs any other nearby mountain. how many people such as myself decide to gamble on life and move up here vs any other competitor. i know that the super long season is what made me choose living in this area vs anywhere else in VT. you cant really measure the effects of that from adding to the local labor pool to spending money at local establishments when the tourists are gone in the off seasons. i know im not the only one who chose to live here specifically for this reason.

Agree there are intangible values in staying open that late - I don't know how many people choose a Killington pass vs somewhere else primarily because of late season - probably some, but at the price point of the spring pass, i'd guess not all that many. On a day to day basis there has to be a point where they are losing money to open as almost the only people skiing are season ticket holders. It would be interesting to know how many day tickets or IKON scans they get on a typical weekend in May. I think the biggest value in staying open that late is just the marketing of it to support their brand.

[Low Rider]

Good to see some wiser financial decisions being made. Crappy winter. Less snow. Don’t need to burn money for one trail that might make it a few more weekends for minimal revenue.

we could also just not blow any snow at all, that seems like a wise financial decision if all we do is base the concept of "wise decisions" on if the spreadsheet number is black or red

you cant really measure how much being open late into the season makes them, not just in terms of money but in terms of long term attraction. how many people choose killington for a pass because the season is late vs any other nearby mountain. how many people such as myself decide to gamble on life and move up here vs any other competitor. i know that the super long season is what made me choose living in this area vs anywhere else in VT. you cant really measure the effects of that from adding to the local labor pool to spending money at local establishments when the tourists are gone in the off seasons. i know im not the only one who chose to live here specifically for this reason.

Agree there are intangible values in staying open that late - I don't know how many people choose a Killington pass vs somewhere else primarily because of late season - probably some, but at the price point of the spring pass, i'd guess not all that many. On a day to day basis there has to be a point where they are losing money to open as almost the only people skiing are season ticket holders. It would be interesting to know how many day tickets or IKON scans they get on a typical weekend in May. I think the biggest value in staying open that late is just the marketing of it to support their brand.

Personally, I'm usually done after April school vacation, but might ski a day in May for a goof if I'm up cleaning out the place or something, but not much more than that. By May i've pretty much moved on to spring and summer activities.