Bear Mountain Quad spins at 7:30 Saturday

[Southside_Bobby]

"Hello from snowy Killington,
After what felt like spring we are back to another round of winter. The Beast has received 8 inches of new snow! Making Killington the biggest winter wonderland in the East. Be sure to check the conditions report  for the full details and get out there and explore. To celebrate the new snow, we're opening up the Bear Mountain Quad 30 minutes early this Saturday meaning you can get first tracks at 7:30 a.m. We know there are usually no friends on powder days, but we strongly suggest carpooling and parking at Bear Mountain if you don’t need rentals. Grab your gear and make your way to Killington to score yourself some freshies!"

They must really want people to park at Bear.

[snoloco]

Where is this posted?

[Southside_Bobby]

Where is this posted?

In an email from them about a half hour ago.

[ski]

They opened the Snowden Six at 8:45am today(Thurs) . . .

[daytripper]

They are trying hard to get people to park at bear on Saturdays.

[snoloco]

Bear has been the last to fill up most of the time. Part of this is due to it being inconvenient to get to if arriving from the west. If they want to encourage carpooling, then they need to set up an app for it like some western resorts have. Just saying in an email "we strongly suggest carpooling" doesn't cut it.

[Low Rider]

Bear has been the last to fill up most of the time. Part of this is due to it being inconvenient to get to if arriving from the west. If they want to encourage carpooling, then they need to set up an app for it like some western resorts have. Just saying in an email "we strongly suggest carpooling" doesn't cut it.

I had the same thought that this is partly a move to get people parking there…. Especially this weekend… with the recent snow and also a weekend after an ikon blackout weekend I’d expect the mountain to be insanely busy.

The forecasted temperatures might keep some of the crowds at bay. Will be interesting to see.

For those who do want to take advantage of the 7:30 AM laps, the forecasted temp at 7AM on Saturday is -5.

[skiadikt]

Bear has been the last to fill up most of the time. Part of this is due to it being inconvenient to get to if arriving from the west. If they want to encourage carpooling, then they need to set up an app for it like some western resorts have. Just saying in an email "we strongly suggest carpooling" doesn't cut it.

I had the same thought that this is partly a move to get people parking there…. Especially this weekend… with the recent snow and also a weekend after an ikon blackout weekend I’d expect the mountain to be insanely busy.

The forecasted temperatures might keep some of the crowds at bay. Will be interesting to see.

For those who do want to take advantage of the 7:30 AM laps, the forecasted temp at 7AM on Saturday is -5.

i park there on sundays and spring days - probably tomorrow as well. live in mendon so yeah it's about a 3-4 min longer drive but not a major inconvenience when you consider that if you get there early early enough, you get a prime spot and avoid the sh*t show in the K1 lot. agree that the idea is to get folks to use the bear lot on what could be a crowded weekend.

and yes they did run the bubble at 8:45 today. a nice surprise.

[hillbangin]

It's the go to Saturday parking spot.

Not a long wait at the bar either.

Sent from my SM-S906U1 using Tapatalk

[snoloco]

I noticed for tomorrow, that they are opening the bubble and Superstar at 8:45.

[snoloco]

Would it be possible to use the former Sunrise base as off-site parking with a shuttle to Skyeship? I know there's a snowmobile tour operation out of there, but I can't imagine that it uses the entire lot. Maybe they could even groom Sundog all the way down there so you could ski back. ASC nixed it 24 years ago, but now they are in a situation where the additional parking would be useful.

[newpylong1]

They do only use a small portion of the old lot at Sunrise. It's huge and sitting there vacant mostly grassed over now. The shuttle to/from there is a decent idea but the skiing down may be an issue, though it's an interesting concept. You can't mix skiers and snowmobiles and there are probably some liabilities with not patrolling it on top of that. If they really wanted I'm sure the corridors could be seperated and it worked out but who knows. That's a pretty long ski to park trail, about the length of High Ridge. I think you also would have a hell of a hard time trying to get people to find Sun Dog to get back there and a lot of stuck people at Bear but who knows.

It seems to me that Skyeship and Bear had swapped spots this year. There has always been parking on Skyeship and less so at Bear. This year Bear has had ample parking and Rt4 not so much.

[snoloco]

If Sundog were groomed as a ski-back trail, I'm implying that it would be patrolled also. In that case it would be no different than the condo ski back trails, other than the snowmobile traffic issue. We continue to live with the poor decisions from the ASC-era. There have been several days this year where that extra base area would've been useful to have.

I got the idea from Waterville Valley when they open Snow's Mountain on rare winter days, even though it's typically only open in the summer for mountain biking. It's a case of where long-closed ski terrain has been reactivated on a limited basis.

With or without a ski-back option, I do think using it as an overflow lot with a shuttle to Skyeship is a good idea. I just think it would be really cool to have the ski-back trail, and it might even encourage people to park there to have the chance to ski it. Reactivation with full lift service is obviously a much bigger project, and somewhat outlandish, but I actually think it should be considered as it might alleviate the parking concerns some have with the village.

[volklopposition]

Good deal. Hopefully it will snow all weekend.

[newpylong1]

They were pretty clear in the afternoon update that the 730 is an incentive. I like the idea. More snowmaking on the Bear side too.


"As an extra incentive, the Bear Mountain Quad will have an early opening of 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 25 featuring Outer Limits under the snow guns, Wildfire, Skyeburst and more (conditions permitting.) "