Snow melting off Killington Peak

Snow melting off Killington Peak

Over the weekend, the 2008/2009 ski season came quietly to an end at Killington.

Overall, in my opinion, the ski season was fairly average. On the plus side, we had great early season snow. That was a good thing, of course, as we had very little snow once again this year in March and April.

The Killington Resort re-routed ski trails on Skye Peak with the addition of the new high speed Skye Peak Express Quad. Terrain that was under utilized at Skye Peak and Bear Mountain saw a huge increase in skier traffic, as the public responded very favorably to the new lift.

The introduction of "The Stash" in conjunction with Burton snow boards also looks like a winner. It was a fun park to play in mid-week, when there was very little skier or rider traffic. Guests at the inn for the most part had fun in the Stash on weekends, as long as they were paying attention and staying clear of the landing zones of the various features.

On the down side, the economy clearly impacted the skiing community. At Killington, pre-holiday and early winter skier traffic seemed on par with prior years. Many skiers and riders who would normally trek out west for a ski week decided to visit Killington instead to conserve their cash. By March, however, a confluence of no snow storms along the Eastern Seaboard of the US, a poor US Economy, and a strengthening dollar all contributed to a poor finish to the season.

But just when you think a break is in order, work continues at Killington to move the area forward. The Town of Killington, with the aid of a 1% tax, has formed an Economic Development and Tourism Commission. Operational details of the Commission are a "work in process". The response by towns people to the "EDT" are decidedly mixed, but there is a glimmer of progress starting to be made. Wether or not the EDT works as planed is still to be seen, but initial events are being organized. You have to start somewhere.

The Killington Village efforts are also in the news. The town planning commission will be taking up the plan at a meeting on May 13th. Today's Rutland Herald had a nice article on what to look forward too.

We have a few things going on at the Inn as well to keep us busy. I'll write about those in subsequent posts in the next few days.

Keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sun screen.