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An oddly specific, un urgent request here but was curious if anyone who sees this has photos of either lift during its operation? I have found two images of the Birch Glades buried in old NELSAP fourms but cannot for the life of me find any others. As for the poma I have looked high and low as well and never seen a single photo of it during its operational period. Just two lifts that came before my time that served some of my favorite terrain. (PS Mike if you see this… perhaps, just maybe, possibly a surface lift in the birch glades area some day…?)

Why would they put another net new lift in (that only serves a couple trails) when every one of those already has to be replaced in the near future?

I have no idea if or when it will ever be prioritized, but I think a new lift for Birch Glade would a great addition. If they were to add snowmaking to Birch Glade and Lower Giant Killer, then you'd be able to get to 4 trails off it (including Mid Pike and Mid KA), plus Birch Woods and Poma Glades. It would make a nice intermediate pod and provide some redundancy to the Summit Express. Also, 49er is quite steep for a blue, and a Birch Glade lift would allow skiers to lap the mid mountain trails without being forced to go all the way to the top.

newpylong1 wrote: ↑Jan 18th, '25, 17:32 Why would they put another net new lift in (that only serves a couple trails) when every one of those already has to be replaced in the near future?

Well the answer is obviously they won't. However, I do feel the nostalgia for that old double chair. That was my favorite lift as a little kid. I probably lapped the Birch Glades and the woods between there and Giant Killer a thousand times before 5th grade.

snoloco wrote: ↑Jan 18th, '25, 17:49 I have no idea if or when it will ever be prioritized, but I think a new lift for Birch Glade would a great addition. If they were to add snowmaking to Birch Glade and Lower Giant Killer, then you'd be able to get to 4 trails off it (including Mid Pike and Mid KA), plus Birch Woods and Poma Glades. It would make a nice intermediate pod and provide some redundancy to the Summit Express. Also, 49er is quite steep for a blue, and a Birch Glade lift would allow skiers to lap the mid mountain trails without being forced to go all the way to the top.

i very much understand the obvious redundancy and wasn’t so much saying they should replace it, just more that i would love if they did. really any mid/upper mountain addition to pico no matter how small (e.g., surface lift) would be a neat addition, albeit probably not realistic any time soon. as someone else mentioned, it’s more the nostalgia factor (hence my search for pictures/stories)

snoloco wrote: ↑Jan 18th, '25, 17:49 I have no idea if or when it will ever be prioritized, but I think a new lift for Birch Glade would a great addition. If they were to add snowmaking to Birch Glade and Lower Giant Killer, then you'd be able to get to 4 trails off it (including Mid Pike and Mid KA), plus Birch Woods and Poma Glades. It would make a nice intermediate pod and provide some redundancy to the Summit Express. Also, 49er is quite steep for a blue, and a Birch Glade lift would allow skiers to lap the mid mountain trails without being forced to go all the way to the top.

actually the great thing about both birch and lowerGK is they don't have snowmaking or a lift. would ruin both. they hold snow well and get little traffic and consequently ski great. lower GK was a powder field when i skied it wednesday. and yeah the upper mtn at pico is lacking a true blue run but i'm not solving it by ruining two excellent nat runs.

and guessing a birch lift is way down on the priority list when you already have two ancient quads held together by bubble gum and scotch tape and two fixed grips that are older than that.

I’m glad you said it. Every damn trail does not have to have snowmaking on it. Birch glade is a gem. One of my favorites. And honestly, it only takes a tiny bit of creativity when the snow is good, like it is now, to follow the old Easy street trail back and forth across 49r to avoid the two steep pitches. But for some reason many can not be creative. I remember talking to the old mountain manager at Pico who insisted you can not ski from summit glade to Birch glade. It’s the old easy street but apparently often forgotten.

Anything beyond maintenance level investment is a bonus. New lifts, tons of snow making, and all that entails, is the harbinger of the Interconnect.

snomaking on birch glades would be a travesty. terrible idea.

Anyone have a picture of the fireplace working in the base lodge?

They use to make snow on lower giant killer. Plus upper giant killer. Pipes are still there but long cut and not operational.

Along with Poma loop and the Poma lift line itself when the lift was in.

rogman wrote: ↑Jan 19th, '25, 06:39 Anything beyond maintenance level investment is a bonus. New lifts, tons of snow making, and all that entails, is the harbinger of the Interconnect.

Except Pico recently got a regulatory hurdle breaking pipeline that can feed Woodward water. Clearly some measured investment is being made without the interconnect.

Mister Moose wrote: ↑Jan 21st, '25, 09:11

rogman wrote: ↑Jan 19th, '25, 06:39 Anything beyond maintenance level investment is a bonus. New lifts, tons of snow making, and all that entails, is the harbinger of the Interconnect.

Except Pico recently got a regulatory hurdle breaking pipeline that can feed Woodward water. Clearly some measured investment is being made without the interconnect.

The Interconnect is coming. Don’t know when, but it is a 100%, lock it down, iron clad guarantee. You’d have to be blind not to see it. Killington isn’t about to open that can of worms until they have to, however. Deny, Deflect, Defend, Develop. Still more than 5 years, though.

rogman wrote: ↑Jan 21st, '25, 13:57

Mister Moose wrote: ↑Jan 21st, '25, 09:11

rogman wrote: ↑Jan 19th, '25, 06:39 Anything beyond maintenance level investment is a bonus. New lifts, tons of snow making, and all that entails, is the harbinger of the Interconnect.

Except Pico recently got a regulatory hurdle breaking pipeline that can feed Woodward water. Clearly some measured investment is being made without the interconnect.

The Interconnect is coming. Don’t know when, but it is a 100%, lock it down, iron clad guarantee. You’d have to be blind not to see it. Killington isn’t about to open that can of worms until they have to, however. Deny, Deflect, Defend, Develop. Still more than 5 years, though.

I agree and have said for years that it will be used as a major selling point to boost real estate in the new village, I'm sure that Great Gulf recognized the upside to that a long time ago.

And although it appears that the new Owners didn't buy Killington to make money, the interconnect would certainly increase the value of both Killington and Pico substantially.

If it does happen, hopefully it's several years out and a lot of other upgrades at both resorts happens first. Seems obvious that the launch of the village is going to coincide with the announcement of a long-range master plan for both resorts that ultimately includes the interconnect.

These are serious developers about to invest billions, I can't imagine it's not going to go down like that. That doesn't mean that the interconnect will definitely happen, it's already been announced once and didn't happen, but just the announcement that they plan to do it down the road would be enough to create the buzz to boost sales and prices in the village. That being said, I do think that it will eventually happen.