Looking towards Superstar from the top of Caper at Rams Head (Taken Monday 3/18/19)

Looking towards Superstar from the top of Caper at Rams Head (Taken Monday 3/18/19)

Lots to talk about in my first post in a while.

To start out.... it has been a VERY busy winter. Mother Nature has looked down fondly at the Killington Resort. The improvements made by the resort in the summer of 2018 are paying huge dividends in improving the on snow experience people are having across the resort. Major marketing initiatives like the FIS Women's World Cup and participation in the IKON pass program are getting Killington's name back out onto the world stage. It's all good!

We have had the good fortune of being able to get out on the mountain many days this month. But that is not the news.

Today the resort is being pummeled by a spring storm traveling up the Atlantic Coast. Heavy wet snow has been falling since the early morning hours. By 12 noon, 5 inches of heavy wet snow had fallen at the inn's snow stake. The snow level is approaching the peak that it has been all year behind the inn. Tomorrows reading should be interesting.

But if the snow were not enough to continue to have people excited about the resort, and they should be because it looks like we will have a long spring skiing and riding season, last night at a community meeting attended by north of 500 people the resort announced their development plans for the 2019 construction season. The highlights include :

At Pico Mountain - $2.1million dollar investment to improve snow making infrastructure. Pico has always been limited in the amount of snow that could be made there due to water problems. To solve those problems, Powdr is proposing a 16850 pipeline to cross the area interconnecting Killington and Pico to bring water to Pico. The interconnection of Killington to the Woodward Reservoir several years ago has seen Killington experience a surplus of snow making water for the winter. (The reservoir needs to be drawn down each year to prevent damage to the surrounding shore line.) The pipeline, in addition to new pumps, will see snow making capacity doubled across the Pico portion of the resort.

At the Killington Resort..... Lots of news....

Just a quick summary of new snow making improvements.
- 12k feet of new snow making pipe
- 60 new semi automated hydrants
- 400 new low e guns
- 120 new low e towers

New construction at the Killington Resort during the summer of 2019 will include :
- A new ski tunnel on Great Bear at Snowden
- Completing the apron work and regrading the tunnels installed in 2018 based upon winter experience
- Change some of the new RFID mazes to improve skier flow to some of the lifts
- A new lift a North Ridge. The new lift will be a quad running along the same lift line as the current North RIdge Triple. Construction on this lift will begin at the end of April with removel of the old Triple chair. The new lift will be running in October to support the start of the 2019-2020 winter season.
- A new Youth Progression area at Rams Head taking advantage of some of the teaching experiences gained from the Powdr subsidiary Woodward. A new 600 foot magic carpet will be installed to bring kids further up Rams Head to progress ski training for childrens programs.
- New K1base lodge.(This is the big Kahuna!). The resort is currently working to finalize the construction plan with BreadLoaf Construction to build a brand new K1 Base Lodge. Construction will take place over 2 years. The first phase will begin in May with a new building being constructed in what is now the current turn around area at the K1 Gondola in front of the existing K1 Base Lodge. This area will ultimately be used to greet guests, support retail operations, have ski lockers etc. The plan is to progress as far as possible over the summer of 2019, while keeping the existing K1 base lodge open for summer visitors and for the 2019-2020 season. Next summer, the plan has the existing K1 base lodge being knocked down and a new lodge rising in approximately the same foot print (if I read the drawings put up on the screen last night). The combined space of the new buildings will be approx 58000 sq ft versus the current 37000 sq ft building. If all goes according to plan the new lodge will be available for the 2020-2021 winter season.
- One thing to note on all of these plans is that the resort is currently working through the permitting processes. While they feel confident in their proposals, we are talking some major work at the resort. So stay tuned for further updates.

More detailed information on all of Killington's plans can be found on the Mountain Improvements page on Killington.com.

Last but not least, Killington announced their season pass pricing for the 2019-2020 season. Way to many options to talk about here. Several things to take note of... The price of passes for the 2019-2020 season saw minor increases. On many of the pass products, unless you have personally purchased one last year and have your reciept, you will barely notice a difference. The other item is ACT NOW! Buy your 2019-2020 season pass to Killington NOW! Season passes are heavly discounted when purchase by June 13, 2019 so act fast for the best deals. Pass information can be found on Killington.com under their Season-Passes pages.

We have tons of snow on the mountain for you to enjoy this spring. Get your boards out and head to Killington!