"The Stash" officially opens today at Killington

"The Stash" officially opens today at Killington

With little fan fare, and less pomp and circumstance, the Killington Resort launched a new detachable High Speed Quad and a redesigned trail system for the Sky Peak area of the resort. All summer, work was ongoing to install the new lift and build/change the trails on Sky Peak. Mary and I had done some extensive hikes through the area, but that was well before snow was on the ground. Today, I had a chance to ski it!

The entrance to the new Sky Peak starts out rather matter of fact at the top of Superstar. A small cut was made in a snow bank on the far side off the Superstar Quad. Over the lip and a sharp left, and you are on the glide path to Sky Peak and the Stash.

Sky Burst is both different and the same all at once. The top of Sky Burst drops over a 15 foot wall to the main trail. The only reason I know a wall is there is because I saw it in the summer. Right now it is throughly covered with snow. The 'New' Thing about Sky Burst is the lack of beginner skiers and riders crossing the trail mid way down slope on the Snowshed Crossover. The Crossover is dead!... Some will like this, some will hate this, but it now makes Sky Burst a nice long uninterrupted trail. And today the snow cover was sweet!

The new Sky Peak quad will also change how people ski Bear Mountain and Sky Peak. It is very fast! I took it 3 times, and other than a little early morning comedy, it averaged about 6 minutes from bottom to top....Very nice!

The one comedy was the first loop on the new Sky Peak Quad.

Who would have thought I would have been out until last chair??? (Click to enlarge.)

We skied right to it with virtually no waiting at 9:10. A nice, uneventful ride to the top. At the top terminal, we get to the safety nets (aka Tuna nets) and the chair unceremoniously stops. We swing in the breeze for 3 or 4 minutes. No big deal... then the lift supervisor comes out of the house....Tells a joke or two... then tells us to hold on and wait till we hear what he is going to do next. He climbs up the ladder with a couple of other people into the top of the lift terminal...hits a starter switch...big belch of smoke...and fires up the auxiliary diesel to evacuate the chair. The lift attendant is a little confused. He puts out the "Last Chair" sign on the chair in front of us. That lasted about 30 seconds until the lift supervisor sees it... looks at us, shakes his head, tells another joke, and we start moving. You just can't make this stuff up...

After skiing the rest of the mountain for a couple of hours, I went down Sky Burst again. The new lift was running just fine, on its primary electric motor not it's auxiliary diesel. Just another day in paradise. With great skiing to boot......let it snow!