Snowmaking in progress on Killington Peak

Snowmaking in progress on Killington Peak

Much has been made in the last several days in the blogosphere about Killington readopting the "Beast of the East" mantra as their new/old marketing slogan. While being generally well received by Killington afficianados, most question if the resort is readopting the slogan just for marketing, or if the resort is going all in and adopting the "Beast" slogan as an operating philosophy. For any readers who may not be familiar with the meaning of the "Beast of the East" there are various interpretations out there. The simplest is the "First to Open, Last to Close" philosophy which translates from marketing jargon into the longest ski season in the eastern United States.

"First to Open" has become a highly charged debate, subject to loose interpretation and wanton hype by ski resort marketing departments all across the continent. Some resorts will claim they are "open" by blowing snow on a short trail near a base lodge, maybe with a freestyle hit or two, and allowing skiers and riders to hike up to get to the snow. Others will rush to blow snow on a higher elevation trail and truck skiers and riders to it. (Killington in the bad old days used this strategy for several years.) Many will rush to open a trail with several inches of man made snow, knowing full well they will be open for several hours before it melts away and they have to close. It is all great fun, of course. It generates "buzz" for the snow sports industry. It gets people talking about their favorite and not so favorite resorts.

Killington has reinterpreted the "First to Open" slogan in recent years as meaning the "First to Stay Open with top to bottom Lift Serviced skiing". "Stay Open" and "Lift Serviced" are the operating principles here, which coincidently drives some of the debate. Under past regimes, Killington would "Open" and "Close" at will in the early season. As I mentioned earlier, they would also truck skiers up to and down from higher elevation trails to get the season going. Many dyed in the wool skiers and riders don't mind the open/close cycles or truck rides...they just want to be on the snow. From a business standpoint, however, it creates some very interesting tradeoffs. The Killington Resort clearly is pushing to have a consistent product available to a broad audience of customers with their "Stay Open" and "Lift Serviced" definition of "First to Open".

The possibility of being the "First to Open" with the ability to "Stay Open" and have "Lift Serviced" skiing and riding is not mutually exclusive. However, it takes a strong assist from Mother Nature and Mother does not always cooperate.

The Killington Resort is continuing to push forward to open for the season. Their stated goal is "Early November" which we have to take at face value. They are continuing to make snow on higher elevation trails, which is clearly visible in todays main picture. They are also moving forward with installing new fan guns at high traffic areas on the mountain.

Last weekend, I hiked up to Mouse Trap to see the progress they were making with a new gun installation. A week or so ago they installed a massive concrete footing at the junction of Mouse Trap and Great Northern to support a new fan gun. Concrete takes time to cure, so it was exposed to the elements.

Fan gun footing at Mouse Trap Click to enlarge.

This junction is in a very high traffic area. To open the resort (remember "First Open") this area is usually covered with man made snow to support "Top to Bottom" skiing.

With that in mind, I focused one of my cameras with a high optical zoom onto the area while I was out taking pictures this morning. If the resort is going to open any time soon, there was a big hole in the mountain that needed to be filled. From what I could tell, the resort has backfilled the fan gun base; something that they would need to do before anything else in the area. (Think mounting the fan gun and blowing snow.)

Fan gun footing at Mouse Trap now backfilled Click to enlarge.

The fan gun itself is sitting in the K1 parking lot waiting to be hauled up the mountain to be installed. When that will happen, only the resort knows. I am sure we will hear of it at the time. But it is one of the subtle signs that will be an indicator pointing to the resort opening for the winter.

.....let it snow!