Why people don't ski Killington

[skiadikt]

Having skied with HS I can vouch for his ability to actually ski, tail gun steeze not withstanding I will also freely admit that the guy is a much better skier then I am, so he can spew whatever he wants to about Magic.

as i respect laser's ability, this is the biggest piece of news in this thread ...

as for k, the buzz is gone and if anything for the last few years, particularly since powdr took over, the buzz has turned negative. other areas have caught up & surpassed. the intermediates have gone to okemo, da river & snow and the experts have gone north.

[RENO]

Should be pretty quiet at K for the rest of the season then since everybody left...
I'll have the whole place to myself!

[JerseyGuy]

Should be pretty quiet at K for the rest of the season then since everybody left...
I'll have the whole place to myself!

But... who will entertain you?

[RENO]

Skippy...

[JerseyGuy]

Skippy...

How could I have forgotten about Baghdad Skippy? OK... I'll give you that one.

[autograph guy]

This from someone who skiied K for the last dozen years-----K(powdr) posted pass prices too late when they took over--and rather than wait to see the price--I jumped on the 420 pass at Mt Snow--this season it went to 500---but now that I don't have to drive the extra hour--well, I don't know if I'll ever go back---the place has lost its buzz, 'OPEN EARLY, CLOSE LATE'--now that I 'know' Mt Snow, I've found many off trail areas that keep this mid-fifty yr old HAPPY.
To keep me happy all I need are lifts, snow and a lodge to change in. Not condos, villages........Thank you.

[SkiDork]

thanks for the response AG. Yeah - longest season is something all of us are dying to get back.

[Geoff]

thanks for the response AG. Yeah - longest season is something all of us are dying to get back.

It certainly adds value to picking Killington as your place to get local housing and buy a season pass. The 7 month season and snowmaking superior to anyone else was what caused me to pick Killington in the first place. If I were making that decision today, I probably wouldn't pick Killington. The Boyne product is far superior in the Boston market. You get early skiing at Sunday River. You get the uber-reliable snowmaking at Sunday River. You get the big mountain 200"+ natural snow experience at Sugarloaf. You get May skiing at Sugarloaf. You get the short midweek day trip drive to Loon. I'd probably locate at Sugarloaf and ski Sunday River when Sugarloaf sucked.

[sLoPeS]

I agree with Geoff.....if i lived in boston, id grab that pass. how can u beat it really? NYC, CT and western Mass should be K's target customers. Within day-tripable range, you cant beat killington. mount snow does great with parks and groomers, but personally i yawn waiting in line for the grand summit. theres really not much interesting terrain and they dont get the snow. Stratton is my next favorite mtn in southern vermont behind k, but it takes about the same amount of time to get to as killington does (no brainer to go to K). The mtn has some good terrain and gets some snow. I do hate that "gondola" there. Always a line and they just really suck design wise. Okemo is K's biggest competition IMO. its relatively easy to get to and the terrain is better than mt snow. riding the gondi on sunday, this couple from PA summed it up pretty well saying "its (killington) the best you can get thats close"....something along those lines. growing up in MD, i have to agree with this. u could actually do K in a daytrip. leave at midnight, at the gondi at 8, ski all day, back before midnight. a lot of driving but nothing south competes with killingtons terrain. bringing back the long season will bring back killington. when you ask urself, whos open? or whos got snow? i bet 99% of you say killington before anywhere else.

[roark]

i'm entering the magic comp. laser, you down?

Roark? DJspooksman?

I think this is probably one of the only boards spook isn't on (much - I see he is registered).

I'm pretty realistic about my skiing abilities. So no.
I try to ski with people above my ability level as much as possible - it's the quickest and most fun way to improve. The Magic crew has beat on me quite a bit this year . I do plan on watching some of the comp.

I, like laser, have both a K/Pico blackout and a Magic pass. I skiied K 4x, Pico 1x. Magic ~20x. A lot of it is the vibe of the place and getting to know some of the locals. Uncrowded cruising terrain on the east side and serious terrain on the west. All the trails have character, while most at K were sanitized (or worse)years ago. Minimal lift lines (and only on racing weekends). Sensational trees. Parking a non-issue. I often don't stay since I have to drive, but Goniffs is one of the best apres scenes in New England skiing as well IMHO.

I was going to say the Magic doesn't have the gapers but they do. Many families are smart enough to realize they don't need to spend $72 each when they're only going to ski a couple trails anyway. Lots of 'classic' ski gear can be found on the weekends. Plenty of families pizza-ing all the way down. What isn't there is the joey skiing way beyond their ability endangering others. K seems to have a large number of those folks. The natural division of the terrain at Magic keeps abilities separated to a large degree as well, while the beginner terrain at K off of anything besides Snowshed and Ramshead traverses across everything else causing a dangerous mixing of ability levels (not to mention trail intersections).

When conditions are good (so long as the west side is open), I'll always choose Magic. The K pass is simply insurance for when ullr isn't happy. And (hopefully) early and late season. I doubt I will get a K pass next year. I've alternated between Snow and K the last few years. Snow knows how to run an area and as a result is just too crowded for me. Good for them. Next year I'll most likely get a pair of SOS passes to keep the wife happy and hopefully Magic for me.

[Master Shake]

This year is the first year since 2000 that I did not purchase some kind of pass product from Killington, and it might be the first year in so long I can't remember that I won't be visiting Killington at all. While there are several reasons for my decision, the straw that broke the camels back is the piss poor attitude and business plans of the new management. The "all about the bottom line" mentality really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The buzz has officially been killed. Trying to turn the "Beast of the East" into "Deer Valley East" is just a stupid business plan in my opinion. I will not support this stupidity with my money, and besides, the new management has made it clear that they don't want my money anyway because I am not willing to pay full price for everything and drop thousands of dollars extra on top of that.

Over the past few seasons, I was lucky if I did a dozen days in Vermont. Well the Killington buzz is dead, and I really don't care about the access road night life anymore. I just don't see Killington to be worth paying a premium for. All I ask for is good snow cover, turning lifts, a few steeps, and some trees to keep me entertained. I don't need the biggest, steepest, and tightest trees in order to have a good time. I joined a ski club and I am really having fun rediscovering places I haven't been to in years, and visiting mountains that I have never been to before. Sure if ASC was still around, I would probably still be a pass holder at K, but since they went and upset the apple cart, I discovered that going to a different mountain every time I go to Vermont is a lot of fun. I also don't miss the 3.5 hour ride. I can get to Mt Snow from my house in an hour less, and that's doing the speed limit. I could probably do it in 2:15 if I really put the hammer down. I spent four days at Mt snow during the last big snow storm, and I had a blast. In fact, I would even consider becoming a pass holder there.

Given the amount of days I expect to put in, my cost per day is cheaper through the ski club than by buying a blackout pass for K at over $650. Plus I am not stuck at one mountain. That is another thing I miss about the ASC days, even the full price season pass (All East) was a good value in my mind when you considered that it was valid at several mountains in three different states.

Another gripe I have about PUD-ER is the big F.U. they gave to all of the New England ski clubs. They are, as far as I know, the only major mountain in New England that does not offer ski council awareness days. They also do not offer VIP tickets, or bulk tickets. This year they did offer a product to ski club members, but it required them to be tied into a certain number of days. And once again, in typical Nyberg and CO. fashion, the details came out too late.

I do see that the big K is offering a few discounts this year. Maybe the ass clowns that run the place finally realized that cutting the customer base and jacking up the prices is not the best business model after all, especially in this tough economy.

[roark]

I joined a ski club and I am really having fun rediscovering places I haven't been to in years, and visiting mountains that I have never been to before.

Common thread going on here.

[skiadikt]

I joined a ski club and I am really having fun rediscovering places I haven't been to in years, and visiting mountains that I have never been to before.

Common thread going on here.

agreed but a lot of people wouldn't have defected in the first place if asc and especially powdr hadn't gotten away from what had been successful for all those years. and as someone else has said, it's harder to get people back once you've lost them.

[dgabe]

The attitude of the people skiing Killington is going to reflect on people coming to town as well....I skied with a friend who comes up once a year with a group for superbowl weekend and he's an intermediate skier at best.....I gave him a tour of the mountain,including the new Stash, which he loved and took the trail all the way to the base of skyeship....afterward he messaged me that he had the most fun skiing with me than all of the 9 years he's been coming. It's an intimidating place to new visitors....maybe they should bring back the meet the mountain tours...and again there are such great people in the area,I believe the people make Killington my winter home and I rarely stray!

[RENO]

The attitude of the people skiing Killington is going to reflect on people coming to town as well....I skied with a friend who comes up once a year with a group for superbowl weekend and he's an intermediate skier at best.....I gave him a tour of the mountain,including the new Stash, which he loved and took the trail all the way to the base of skyeship....afterward he messaged me that he had the most fun skiing with me than all of the 9 years he's been coming. It's an intimidating place to new visitors....maybe they should bring back the meet the mountain tours...and again there are such great people in the area,I believe the people make Killington my winter home and I rarely stray!

I didn't realize they stopped the tours? They used to have Grizzly on RSN talking about it, but haven't seen him this season...