Ski home trail from "Ovation"
being graded after removal
of now defunct Killington water slide.

Ski home trail from "Ovation"
being graded after removal
of now defunct Killington water slide.

While controversy still swirls around the Killington Resorts publicly stated winter plans, from a quick hike around the hill this morning work is progressing in earnest to prepare the mountain for the upcoming ski season.

On the controversy front, the revised Killington Sky Ship Operating plan is still generating heat for the new resort owners. A group of Killington residents met with the local Select Board on Monday evening to discuss the issue and the impact on their properties. From my conversations with people who attended the meeting, to say that the discussion was "animated" might be an understatement. Further details of the meeting were published as a front page story in today's Rutland Herald.

The editor of the Mountain Times, Royal Barnard, published an interview he had with Chris Nyberg, president of Killington, on the resorts winter operational plan in this weeks edition distributed today. The interview has lots of information that, depending upon your point of view, can be taken positively or negatively. In the article, once again, Mr. Nyberg emphasized getting the Killington Resort back to a sound business footing. Only time will tell if the strategy that was discussed will be successful.

But, and somehow there is always a but, if you read between the lines, the articles in both newspapers leave you with the impression that the Killington Resort still has a lot of work to improve overall public relations with both the skiing community in the northeast, and local residents. As I stated before, a little snow on the hill has the potential to change everything as we head towards winter.

From my hike this morning, it was clearly evident that a lot of work is still in progress to prepare the resort for winter. Several weeks ago, the Killington Water Slide was removed. Construction machinery was actively working the area today, rebuilding the ski home trail from Lower Ovation back to the Superstar chair. In addition, equipment was also regrading the area where the old Killington Double Chair terminal used to be in front of the Killington Base Lodge. From the looks of all of the work, skiing back from Ovation to either the Superstar Quad, or the K1 Gondola will be a whole lot easier this season.

Around the resort, I also saw evidence of a lot of other work. Most of the ski trails I could see had been mowed and had brush cut back. Even Conclusion under the Snowdon Triple had been bushwacked. I have not skied Conclusion in years, because the old owners, ASC had not maintained it. It will be interesting to try it out again this year once the snow starts falling.