Killington - 2017-2018

ME2VTskier

joshua_segal said:

Mar. 5, 2018 - Mon.

Awesome day.  4" powder which opened many glades and made icy spots edge-able (usually). 

Observations:

- Snowguns were running all day at key intersections: the kind of snowmaking one would expect in November and December, but not March.

- Glacier on Superstar: Seemed smaller than last year.  Hope this doesn't mean an early closing.

- Expansion for 2018-9 Season: 

--- Apparently the Bear Mtn. Lodge was another pot of money than the $16M announcement.

--- The "new" South Ridge Chair will be the old Snowden Quad.

--- With the removal of the Upper Snowden Poma and the changing of the Snowden Quad to a 6-pack will increase skier traffic on Snowden by about 15% with no increase in downhill routes. 

--- With the poma moved to Ramshead, the racing on Bunny Buster will be gone and will make an extra blue-square trail available to the general public

Those two statements don't agree with each other.

ME2VTskier

I figure the Poma was worth at least 1.5 seats. So with the Triple/Quad/Poma there was effectively 8.5 seats dumping off at the summit. Now with the Sixpack and Triple it will be 9. An increase of 5.9% ??

I think with the re-grading, tunnels & bridges, acreage gained from the Poma, things will flow much better on Snowdon, and with a better lift ride to boot. Yep, expect it to see more skier-miles laid down with the reduced lap times...

So the amount of people on the hill at any one time may not increase much, the amount of times that said skiers can lap the hill will increase.

obienick

The triple will also probably run less.

joshua_segal

I figure the Poma was worth at least 1.5 seats. So with the Triple/Quad/Poma there was effectively 8.5 seats dumping off at the summit. Now with the Sixpack and Triple it will be 9. An increase of 5.9% ??

I think with the re-grading, tunnels & bridges, acreage gained from the Poma, things will flow much better on Snowdon, and with a better lift ride to boot. Yep, expect it to see more skier-miles laid down with the reduced lap times...

So the amount of people on the hill at any one time may not increase much, the amount of times that said skiers can lap the hill will increase.

Good catch on my grammar mistake.

Here is my math: 

Currently: the triple + the quad + the poma=7.5 +-

(Poma is very low capaciiy and is about 1/3 the vertical of the other lifts.  Counting it as 0.5 might be generous)

To be: triple + 6 = 9+-

Nominally 15%

The triple will also probably run less.

The Triple is needed by KMS to get to Highline which is why they paid for the mid-station.  So I suspect they'll run the triple when KMS wants it as well as busy times.

newpylong

With minimal lift lines mid-week I was told they'll be able to get the same time on Highline even going to the summit so the Triple will run somewhat less.

ME2VTskier

I don't agree on the Poma, but whatever. It's a much faster lift(FPM) than the chairs. Not sure what the arrival rate is, if it is more or less than every six seconds,  due to whatever the spacing is, but it it IS worth a value of at least 1, if not the 1.5, no matter of where on the hill it loads, it is still dumping up top every so many seconds along with the chairs. Steady line on it during busy times/weekends too.

ME2VTskier

newpylong said:

With minimal lift lines mid-week I was told they'll be able to get the same time on Highline even going to the summit so the Triple will run somewhat less.

Yep, I'd make them ride the 6pack during the week too, no point in wasting the electricy during slow periods, when they only have to deal with a 4.5 minute ride.

joshua_segal

March 26-27, 2018

The 26th was a 99th percentile day.  Bumps, groomers and glades all were skiing nicely in an exceptionable bluebird day.  The 27th was supposed to be similar, but 10 degrees warmer.  While the day was pleasant, it was overcast and 5 degrees cooler.

Observations:

- From the top of K1, I took the short hike to the top of Catwalk for the first time in probably 30+ years.  It has a great old-time feel to it, similar perhaps to Mad River's hike to get to the top of Fall Line.  Upper Catwalk is narrow and natural snow only.  No ice, but knife edge moguls and a good and challenging descent.

- The Superstar Glacier: A huge amount of snow has been added since my last visit.  It appears that they made an extra effort in the area of the "S" curve to have a lot more snow to push in when needed.  The summit area seems similar to previous years.  The quantity of snow at the bottom of Skyelark looks deeper than recent years.  Bottom line: June skiing is definitely a possibility.

joshua_segal

Apr. 5, 2018 - Thurs.

Beautiful sunshine but day's high was 19º F. and the wind was vicious.  Surfaces were nicely groomed in the AM but between wind and traffic, they were pretty bullet proof by 3PM.  

joshua_segal

Apr. 9-10, 2018 - Mon./Tue.

Unusual for Killington to compress its open area when they have this much great snow.  Snowdon west of Chute and all of Ramshead were closed, as was OL.  April 9 and 10 never got warm enough to lose the winter-powder texture of the snow.

Most of the woods are closed (and I'm not a rope ducker), but I did find an unmarked opening to Low Rider and it was wonderful.  Great bump runs included Low Road, Lower Vertigo, Upper Ridge Run and Conclusion.  And the grooming on runs such as Cascade, Superstar, etc. was fantastic.

Killington goes to F-S-S ops starting COB May 6 and unless there is more snow, today (Apr. 11) may well be the last day of classic winter skiing for a while.

joshua_segal

Apr. 23: Mon.

The superlatives for this April continue. Here is a view looking downhill from the top of Catwalk.  (Unfortunately, the system is not letting me upload the photo.)

NewEnglandSkier13

joshua_segal said:

Apr. 23: Mon.

The superlatives for this April continue. Here is a view looking downhill from the top of Catwalk.  (Unfortunately, the system is not letting me upload the photo.)

Very ironic :D

jaytrem

Yup, yesterday was about as good as it gets.  Clearest skies I think I've ever seen there.  Mt Snow's North Face looked much closer than normal.  We stayed mostly on the gondola, rode that 11 times and only 1 ride on Superstar.  Pretty sure that's my personal record for gondola rides at any ski area.  South facing bumps were good to go from the start and the rest softened quickly.  Stayed a little later than planned (almost to closing), but the ride home went smooth.  Pic upload is working for me...