Killington Lift Investment

Ok, then, more bar seats.

I'll admit, Rutland, the heroin Capitol of Vermont, drags that whole area down. But, with the right vision, it could be Stowe. And Stowe is pretty damn nice. Awesome mountain, nice village. Killington is an hour and a half closer to NY metro.

Junior wrote

snoloco wrote

16mil is being invested in Killington this
But I'm not done.  

And I'm still not done.  

Just when I thought Powdr wasn't going to invest anything in Killington, they drop this bombshell.  This is turning out to be a great year for eastern lifts, and I intend on watching the construction and riding all of them when they open.

Nerd

This is the best thing about this entire thread.

Junior FTW!

Benny Profane wrote

, Rutland, the heroin Capitol of Vermont, drags that whole area down.

Ok, funny story. (true story)

I was mountain biking at Killington this past summer with my brother and another crazy dude. At the end of the day we're in the parking lot cleaning up our bikes, and packing them up in the car. Next to us is a Ford van and two middle to late aged women freaking out because they've apparently locked themselves out of the van. They had keys, but the keys wouldn't turn the lock. They claimed that the locks didn't work anymore, and they normally left the van unlocked. Something didn't seem quite right about them, I think they were on something. Maybe they were just drunk, IDK.  Me, being a problem solver, decided to see if I could help them out. The van had toolboxes on the side, and they were unlocked. I was able to reach in through a crack in the toolbox wall with a stick to reach the lock inside, and managed to unlock the van.

The two women were very appreciative, and thanked us and headed on their way.  A few seconds after they pulled out, I noticed that one of them left their pocketbook behind. I held it up as I watched them haul ass out of the parking lot, and it didn't look like they were coming back for it. So we jumped in the car and followed them down the road. We must have been going about 70 MPH down that hill, passing everyone else following the 35 MPH speed limit. Let me tell you what, that van was moving well over 35MPH. We were going about 55 when we pulled up next to them in the left lane, and tried to get their attention by blowing the horn and hanging it out the window as we paralleled them, but they refused to acknowledge us.  I was driving, and my friend had the pocketbook, and said there was about $1,200 cash in there from what he could see.

Finally we got their attention, and we both pulled over. They seemed more annoyed than appreciative that we just handed them back $1200, among many credit cards and other things. They took it, handed me a 20, and hauled ass out of there.

It didn't occur to me until after that that I most likely participated in an auto-theft.

If they didn't have the right keys then the van wouldn't have started, so I doubt this was an auto theft.

On older vehicles you don't necessarially need a key to turn over the ingnition. Many of them have do have a lock, but a lot of people don't bother locking the ignition. My 94 Chevy can be started with no keys, just turn the ignition by hand.

The older I get the more appreciate descent amenities. I really enjoyed the village at Purgatory. I'd like to stay there the next time but after reconnecting with old friends in Durango we have free lodging options and that's going to be hard to pass on.

I think Benny's point is that if you want to bring in the people that spend $ you have to make certain improvements that the diehards might not appreciate.

snoloco wrote

Whiteface's advanced product has been destroyed.  They never opened Hoyt's or Lookout Below and Skyward almost didn't make it out of Feb.  All so they could try and be a mediocre intermediate mountain at best.
 

Did you hit your head and wake up in Sacramento

Marcski wrote

Junior wrote

snoloco wrote

16mil is being invested in Killington this
But I'm not done.  

And I'm still not done.  

Just when I thought Powdr wasn't going to invest anything in Killington, they drop this bombshell.  This is turning out to be a great year for eastern lifts, and I intend on watching the construction and riding all of them when they open.

Nerd

This is the best thing about this entire thread.

Junior FTW!

Ha! Smart kid

Z wrote

Shows what you can do if you focus on improving the skiing product instead of spending on shiny stuff that does nothing to improve the skiing.

Ouch.

Benny Profane wrote

 

I'll admit, Rutland, the heroin Capitol of Vermont, drags that whole area down. But, with the right vision, it could be Stowe. And Stowe is pretty damn nice. Awesome mountain, nice village. Killington is an hour and a half closer to NY metro.

With everything Stowe has I'd still take it over K no matter what they do at K.

No matter what they do I'm sure Sno will find a way to pick it apart in excruciating detail. Happiness is elusive for some.

I guess I am a tourist. I have maybe 25-30 days total at Killington over the past 30 years. The first time I skied there was in the early nineties. The overall feel even back then was a little tired. Way too much T-111 and whatnot. Other than the beautiful (and very expensive) new lodge at the top of K-1 it hasn't changed much at all on the surface. The access road looks like a flashback to bad 80's architecture. They do an amazing job with snowmaking and the long season, etc. but the shiny stuff matters too. I think K would be really cool if they do that village thing. It would change the whole vibe - for the better IMO. Up the road an hour the difference between old and new at Sugarbush is striking. You have the old 70's and 80's "village" next to all the new development. I know some aren't a fan of the new stuff but I like it.

Its not always a zero sum game. Bring more people in with nice lodges = more money to spend on infrastructure.

campgottagopee wrote

Benny Profane wrote

 

I'll admit, Rutland, the heroin Capitol of Vermont, drags that whole area down. But, with the right vision, it could be Stowe. And Stowe is pretty damn nice. Awesome mountain, nice village. Killington is an hour and a half closer to NY metro.

With everything Stowe has I'd still take it over K no matter what they do at K.

Stowe is such a better skiing mountain than Killington will ever be.

Exactly. Toss  in the Notch and it's unmatched on the East Coast imo

I'd rather have Killington focus on upgrading their skiing product including the lifts and snowmaking and keep the rich folks that care more about the slopeside lodging and fancy restaurants at Stratton where they belong.

I disagree that Stowe is a much better skiing mountain than Killington.  The Fourrunner lift has a massive runout at the bottom and always has ridiculous lines since they put in a quad where there really should've been a 6.  The gondola section is all blue groomers as is Lower Spruce.  Upper Spruce offers a few less traveled natural trails that are sometimes groomed and sometimes not groomed, but it faces south and is lower so it doesn't have as good of conditions as Fourrunner.

Killington's lift system is so vast that you can always find something without a line even on the busiest days.  The Canyon pod is great advanced skiing and South Ridge will give them some more natural options.  And of course don't forget about OL and Devil's Fiddle.  Add in Superstar and a couple more steep trails scattered around the mountain and it's a great advanced skiers mountain.  Better than Whiteface this year for sure.

All factors equal if I was going midweek when it wasn't busy I'd probably pick Stowe but would go to Killington if it was a busy weekend.

Stowes long uninterrupted fall lines, natural terrain, tree skiing, enough natural snowfall to actually ski more advanced terrain and access to hike to areas is unlike anything you can generally find at Killington. Killington is one of the most terribly designed trail systems in the country imo. What a shit show of traverses and bottlenecks.

Of course, I haven't skied any of these places in 23 years! So there is that and Killington does have that gondola with the 1980's Trapper Keeper graphics on every cabin so they do have that going for em!

campgottagopee wrote

Benny Profane wrote

 

I'll admit, Rutland, the heroin Capitol of Vermont, drags that whole area down. But, with the right vision, it could be Stowe. And Stowe is pretty damn nice. Awesome mountain, nice village. Killington is an hour and a half closer to NY metro.

With everything Stowe has I'd still take it over K no matter what they do at K.

For me, Killington is the closest good mountain that I can depend on for decent conditions if I'm going to do the drive. That's why I'm a Killington skier. I want Gore to be that, but, I whined earlier this winter about how they ignore their midweek skier, so, that's out. K is 4-4.5 hours, Sugarbush, which I like more, is another hour, if it isn't snowing. 4.5 is my max, and I'm really disliking that a lot more and more.  Stowe is maybe 5.5. No thanks. Great mountain, and the Epic deal makes me still consider it, but, no. Next year it's either the Ikon pass or Europe. Or both.

More new stuff
https://www.killington.com/the-mountain/mountain-info/mountain-improvements

I agree with snoloco in his assessment of Stowe vs Killington.

Glad to see K is putting a new lodge it, the K1 is long overdue for it.  It made me realize that there's actually no table service restaurants on-mountain at Killington.  It's strange to think that's a level of luxury that Gore achieves over Killington.  

My one complaint about Killington's recent upgrades is that the dumb bubble they put on that new Snowdon chair keeps going on windhold.  It's like a giant heavy sail.  Last time I was there on the Saturday of Super Bowl weekend, it went on wind hold and caused massive lift lines all over the rest of the mountain.  It was on wind hold this morning when I checked.

Snowdon has been strattonified?   Or Okemo'd?

I think Mount Snowed.  

They had the first bubble chair AFAIK