Expansion

[daytripper]

I have my tinfoil hat on for this one, but I think they have a long term plan to re-image the resort, forcing out the die-hard Killington skiers. Their new agenda is to usher in a higher class customer that skis less while spending more money. Pulling passes with cameras, hiring a "safety patrol", jacking up beer prices and limiting snowmaking is all part of this plan. Is it a coincidence that all this is taking place after the TIF was passed while they wait for their final 250 village permit.

Wasn't that nyburgs original plan when powdr took over? He almost succeeded too.

[Killington_Lover]

I have my tinfoil hat on for this one, but I think they have a long term plan to re-image the resort, forcing out the die-hard Killington skiers. Their new agenda is to usher in a higher class customer that skis less while spending more money. Pulling passes with cameras, hiring a "safety patrol", jacking up beer prices and limiting snowmaking is all part of this plan. Is it a coincidence that all this is taking place after the TIF was passed while they wait for their final 250 village permit.

Wasn't that nyburgs original plan when powdr took over? He almost succeeded too.

It’s the same company that wouldn’t honor the life time passes anymore correct? Now they have killed the Download podcast too? Absolute joke of a snow report. If K is showing their true nature now I’m glads it’s before we bought property.

[KingsFourMan]

165 guns? It’s 16 degrees, and humidity has dropped to mid 60’s. Even a cash strapped ASC could muster 230 guns, and they didn’t have all this low E stuff. Is the system that decrepit? So, is it air, water, money, or attitude? Whatever it is, the swagger is long gone.

Long gone, no doubt about it, shadow of it's former self for the past few years.

Perhaps Powder intends to sell in the not-so-distant future. The way to increase the value of Killington is to increase it's profitability even if it's short sighted.

[Stormchaser]

Based on the 4pm report, 165 guns is the new “full capacity”, down from 200 last weekend. But at least “Viper’s Pit” is finally getting some snow… wtf?

I like to think they have a plan, and that it’s a good one, but at this point it just seems like they can’t get out of their own way. If the guy writing the trail report doesn’t even know the name of the trials, or its nickname, can we really trust that the guy planning the snow making knows what he is doing, or that the people dragging guns around know what they are doing?

Lacking any other information, the trail report is the face of the resort, and person can’t write.

This years “expansion” is more frustrating than the year the entire snowmaking team had COVID.


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Already dropped the 165 gun count from he report…now says hundreds.

[millerm277]

I wouldn't exactly be surprised if they're hedging their bets a bit until we get a slightly better idea about the systems coming through next week. Some of the model runs are pretty grim, especially at lower elevations.

Not sure it makes any sense to be trying to make a run to SS Base if it's looking like you may get inches of **** coming in that's just going to put it all in the river before you've even gotten a single weekend's business out of it.

Unless the forecast for the middle and end of next week takes a significant positive shift my guess is that they don't try for anything with this cold snap besides the couple of trails already mentioned in the report and just aim to blow them deep enough to know they'll have something left to show for the week for progress if the worst case forecast pans out.

If we get some greater confidence that the higher elevations will at least not get ****, maybe you'll see them reach for some work on some of the remaining pieces up there. But I don't know that I'd expect to see even a start on things like Lower GE or Bearly until after 1/15 if the forecast stays as is.

[newpylong1]

If they don't start Lower GE with Sunrise to follow until 1/15 they'll (rightfully) hang.

[eagle628]

If they wait for the perfect weather pattern they will never open down low. At some point it is simply a cost of doing business to put the snow down and then manage it as best they can from there on our.

[jimmywilson69]

6 degrees there should be guns everywhere looks like highline still and ramshead . Anything on Needles or Bear? I would think k at that temp there would be "gunsmoke" visible

[newpylong1]

Panic Needles is on. Can't speak to Lower Wildfire or anything else on that side though. I am still astonished that they would not use these temps to make a run on Route 4 unless they are either physically incapable of doing so currently or the lodge isn't ready. In this wet bulb it could be done in 48 hours with considerable coverage.

[jimmywilson69]

or at least GE to Bearly or bear cub or something... IDK

maybe they're making rollout look bad to get Powder to invest some $$$ in the system. I mean the weather has been sh*t. There is a real possibility that my local Vail owned hill in PA might be in trouble to even be open for MLK

[Captain Hafski]

Current NE open terrain leaders:

SR 255 acres
SB 240 acres
O 233 acres
SL 226 acres
K 224 acres
Sto 215 acres
Str 189 acres
Loon 154 acres

Looking at this list, 3 of the 4 resorts that are "ahead" of K are at more northern latitudes. I assume that means better snowmaking conditions? As for Okemo, the difference is less than 10 acres, and I'm not sure that's really much of a difference considering what their terrain looks like vs Killington.

Maybe I'm seeing through rose-colored glasses, but it looks to me like K is pretty competitive in this mix, especially given the climate they were dealt. All in all I was pretty impressed with how K bounced back from a horrible warming cycle last weekend. Count your blessings - imagine if Loon was your home mountain.

SB and SL both yes, but the River lacks elevation and is thus always warmer than K. So what you see for them is a direct result of sheer snowmaking power. As I said, 10K overall pumping with the ability to put 6K of that to any one pod. K can barely move that much water out of Snowshed in total, forget where it goes.

And this is on the heels of an Irene level flooding event. Imagine how far ahead SR would be had this not happened.

FWIW - I believe Killington got just about the same amount of reign, as did Sunday River, during the recent deluge. Was reported as 4-5" at the Maine Resorts. West Bridgewater, just East of Killington, got 4.25" then.

[Stormchaser]

Panic Needles is on. Can't speak to Lower Wildfire or anything else on that side though. I am still astonished that they would not use these temps to make a run on Route 4 unless they are either physically incapable of doing so currently or the lodge isn't ready. In this wet bulb it could be done in 48 hours with considerable coverage.

If they ever get off Highline...they've been blowing it hard all month! They can run to Bear in 2 days but Highline takes a week? Or more? What gives?

[Killington_Lover]

Panic Needles is on. Can't speak to Lower Wildfire or anything else on that side though. I am still astonished that they would not use these temps to make a run on Route 4 unless they are either physically incapable of doing so currently or the lodge isn't ready. In this wet bulb it could be done in 48 hours with considerable coverage.

If they ever get off Highline...they've been blowing it hard all month! They can run to Bear in 2 days but Highline takes a week? Or more? What gives?

Something along the lines of KMS likes a deep base so they don’t churn up rocks when they drill for gates is my guess. Any idea what the groomed out base depth is there?

[SPORE]

Panic Needles is on. Can't speak to Lower Wildfire or anything else on that side though. I am still astonished that they would not use these temps to make a run on Route 4 unless they are either physically incapable of doing so currently or the lodge isn't ready. In this wet bulb it could be done in 48 hours with considerable coverage.

If they ever get off Highline...they've been blowing it hard all month! They can run to Bear in 2 days but Highline takes a week? Or more? What gives?

Something along the lines of KMS likes a deep base so they don’t churn up rocks when they drill for gates is my guess. Any idea what the groomed out base depth is there?

f*** KMS - with the limited terrain that Killington has be able to open this year, they shouldn't focus on blowing a deep base for mogul training or gates. Same goes for the f*** parks - get additional trails open and then go back and cater to specific groups.

[Bubba]

Panic Needles is on. Can't speak to Lower Wildfire or anything else on that side though. I am still astonished that they would not use these temps to make a run on Route 4 unless they are either physically incapable of doing so currently or the lodge isn't ready. In this wet bulb it could be done in 48 hours with considerable coverage.

If they ever get off Highline...they've been blowing it hard all month! They can run to Bear in 2 days but Highline takes a week? Or more? What gives?

Something along the lines of KMS likes a deep base so they don’t churn up rocks when they drill for gates is my guess. Any idea what the groomed out base depth is there?

f*** KMS - with the limited terrain that Killington has be able to open this year, they shouldn't focus on blowing a deep base for mogul training or gates. Same goes for the f*** parks - get additional trails open and then go back and cater to specific groups.

SPORE for the win.