Here’s the news:

Announcing Free Amtrak Shuttle Service to Killington in honor of Gramps Shuttle 10th Anniversary!

Starting Monday December 5, 2011 until further notice:

Gramps Shuttle will be providing daily free Shuttle Service to Amtrak passengers arriving on the Ethan Allen Express in Rutland that are going to Killington. Advance reservations via email are required. Non-reservation passengers will be limited to seating availability.

There are some black out dates that will apply. At this time they include December 31, January 1, 10th and 11th, and some select dates in February and March. This program will end March 18, 2012, but is subject to change or cancellation at any time.

Call 802-558-1543 for ADVANCE RESERVATIONS or
email: Gramps.shuttle@comcast.net

KILLINGTON RESORT ANNOUNCES OPENING DAY
FOR THE 2011-12 WINTER SEASON
Roughly two months after tropical storm Irene damaged the Northeast,
Killington Resort opens for early season skiing and riding

KILLINGTON, Vt. (October 28, 2011) Vermont is open for business! Killington Resort welcomes skiers and riders back to the slopes for the kick-off of the 2011-12 winter season on Saturday, October 29, 2011, nearly nine weeks after tropical storm Irene devastated the Northeast. Thanks to Mother Nature, Killington received nine inches of natural snow in the last 24 hours and our dedicated snowmakers will continue to make snow as well as expand the terrain as long as conditions permit.

“It’s incredible to see how quickly Killington Resort and our surrounding communities have been restored after the damage brought by tropical storm Irene,” stated Chris Nyberg, president and general manager for Killington Resort. “All roads leading in and out of Killington have all been repaired and we are proud to provide our guests with early season skiing and riding,” added Nyberg.

Skiing and riding will be on advanced terrain only on the un-groomed Rime trail, providing roughly 600 vertical feet of terrain. No beginner terrain will be available at this time.

Hours of operation will be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. The K-1 Gondola will provide uploading and downloading, while access from the top of the K-1 Gondola down and up from the skiing and riding terrain will be via a short walk on the Peak Walkway.

Early-season lift tickets are $39 for adults (19-64), $33 for Young Adults/Seniors (13-18/65+) and $27 for Juniors (7-12). Season pass holders who have not activated their passes may do so at the Snowshed Sales Center beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, October 29.

Beverages, hot dogs, chili and light snacks will be available for purchase at the base of the North Ridge Triple Chair and the K-1 Lodge will be open for ticket sales, lunch, guest service, retail and restrooms.

Killington Resort anticipates skiing and riding on the upper mountain terrain through Sunday, October 30. Our crews will re-evaluate the conditions on Sunday afternoon and determine the operating schedule for the following week. Check www.killington.com each day after 4:00 p.m. to see if we will operate the following day.

Photos and video are available, please contact Sarah Thorson at sthorson@killington.com with any requests. Additionally, check out a live shot from Killington’s HD web cam.

These tickets are a great deal for those of you who are not purchasing season passes. The terms are:

• Only $57 per ticket and valid for all ages
• Offer available online only, thru Oct. 20, 2011 or until sold out, whichever comes first
• Ski or ride any day during the 2011-12 season EXCEPT the following peak days: Dec. 26, 2011 – Jan. 1, 2012; Jan. 14 – 15 and Feb. 18 – 26, 2012
• Limit ten tickets per order
• Use your tickets all on the same day by sharing with family and friends, or on separate dates, the choice is yours
• Tickets are not available for group ticket purchases, and may not be combined with any other offer, discount, deal or package
• Tickets are non-refundable and can be used during the 2011-12 winter season only
• Tickets may be used on peak days by paying the difference between the K57 and the window price

This means that Killington will once again be accessible from all directions and ready for the fall foliage season as well as Brewfest. The fact that they were able to repair this road in less than 3 weeks is incredible give the amount of damage that was done:

[salbumphotos=18,160,3,n,y,taken_timestamp]

All I can say is great work!

While Irene did cause quite a bit of havoc across the state, Vermonters are very resilient and work on repairing the damage began the day after the storm passed through. The Killington Island is well on its way to being accessible from all directions, and the Access Road was left pretty much untouched.

This means that the 16th annual Killington Brewfest is indeed happening on Saturday, October 1, 2011. The Snowdaze Ski House will be open for all shares to come up and enjoy the fall foliage as well as partake in sampling ales, pilsners, stouts and handcrafted lagers from a variety of Vermont and New England microbreweries and craft breweries, while also enjoying live entertainment.

Buy your tickets now though! This event sells out every year, and many people are left out in the cold.

If you’re not yet a house member, contact us to find out more and we hope to meet you soon.

]]> http://snowdaze.com/blog/route-4-mendon-killington-hurricane-damage/feed 0 http://snowdaze.com/blog/route-4-mendon-killington-hurricane-damage?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=route-4-mendon-killington-hurricane-damage http://feeds.snowdaze.com/~r/KillingtonSkiShare/~3/gNRpUF17x1w/irene-economic-impact-killington-vt http://snowdaze.com/blog/irene-economic-impact-killington-vt#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:24:45 +0000 DaVe http://snowdaze.com/?p=881 The economic impact of Irene is already being felt on the Killington area, especially with this being Labor Day weekend, and leaf-peeping season just around the corner. Already, the following cancellations have taken place:

• Pico Mountain has been closed for the summer season.
• The Killington golf course has been closed until futher notice.
• Killington has closed down mountain biking for the season so that they can focus on preparing for the winter season.
• Killington Mountain has been closed for hiking and gondola rides until further notice.
• All events and reservations at Killington Resort (including The Killington Grand) have been canceled through September 18.
• The IDIC 15 Road Race scheduled for September 18, 2011 has been canceled.
• The Killington Classic scheduled for September 8, 2011 has been canceled.
• The Killington Farm to Table Festival scheduled for September 16-17, 2011 has been canceled.
• The Pico Septemberfest scheduled for September 25, 2011 has been canceled.

At this point, Killington’s Brewfest scheduled for September 30, 2011 to October 1, 2011 is still on, but we’ll have to see how work progresses on the road and sewer repair. Killington Resort Lodging will begin accepting reservations on September 23, 2011.

It remains to be seen how this will truly affect the leaf peeping season which kicks off in three weeks. Bloomberg has a good article stating that there have already be a lot of cancellations just based on the images people are seeing on TV. The state is planning an ad campaign to start September 6, so we’ll have to hope that brings people to Vermont.

As Governor Shumlin told a group in Rutland on Wednesday about what he would tell tourists, “We’ve got enough roads to get around, and we’ve still got leaves on our tree. It might be goat paths instead of highways, but we can get you there.” (NY Times)

As far as being “on the ground” here, we’re stuck in the general area, but the stores are stocked, many businesses are open and things are generally fine. We lost cable TV and Internet yesterday for about 4-5 hours, but that was restored. We also received several inches of new rainfall yesterday afternoon and flash flood warnings were issues, but we seemed to weather those pretty well.

Here’s a list of good resources for keeping up to date on the latest Killington news:

• Town of Killington - Daily Irene updates on their website and get on the mailing list (lower right column)
• The Mountain Times
• Killington Chamber of Commerce - get on their mailing list
• The Rutland Herald
• Help Killington

The new map is much easier to use and more clearly shows marked road closures.

Click here to view the entire map with legend.

• Power is back on to the West Hill Rd area. That area has been without power since about 4pm on Sunday, so it’s great to have it back!
• Killington Mountain has begun their post-Irene cleanup. Work is progressing and they are hoping to re-open for golf, mountain biking and hiking as soon as possible.
• There will be mail service tomorrow! The post office will operate during normal hours, but will not be making mailbox delivery. The post office will be closed on Friday and hours for next week are being determined. As of now, mail will not be delivered to the post office on a daily basis.

Access from Killington to Woodstock/Quechee/I-91 and I-89

Beginning, September 1, Route 4 will be open daily during these times:

• Westbound (Woodstock to Killington)
• Open from 6:30 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.
•  Closed all other times
• Eastbound (Killington to Woodstock)
• Open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
•  Closed all other times

Travel at your own risk, using extreme caution at very low speeds.  There are many obstacles in the road and many areas that can only accommodate one lane of traffic. 

Access from Killington to Rutland
There is no public vehicular access to Rutland. However, Marble Valley Regional Transit Authority will restore the Diamond Express Line for emergencies and working personnel (with only selected stops listed below).  This service will begin Wednesday, August 31 with this schedule:

• Depart Rutland at 5:15pm and arrive at Killington at 6:15pm. Depart Killington at 6:30pm and arrive at Rutland at 7:30pm

Beginning Thursday, September 1, the daily busing schedule will be:

• Depart Rutland at 7:15am and arrive in Killington at 8:15am. Depart Killington at 8:30am and arrive in Rutland at 9:30am
• Depart Rutland at 5:15pm and arrive at Killington at 6:15pm. Depart Killington at 6:30pm and arrive at Rutland at 7:30pm

The Bus will make select stops at:

Killington Grand – Pico Mountain – Mendon Mountainview/Cortina Inn – Transit Center (Rutland)

-          Times are approximate and will depend on travel speeds.

-          This schedule is subject to change.  Check www.killingtontown.com for updates

Credit: FemaleSkiBum

After today’s voluntary exodus along Route 4 through Bridgewater and Woodstock, the town has gotten a bit quieter. The positive news is that there is a lot of other activity in Killington:

• FemaleSkiBum reports that 11 pickup trucks showed up at the Killington Market, unloaded and left. (See photo above.) No word on whether their prices were reduced to non-resort prices or not.
• I saw a bunch of Casella garbage trucks picking up trash from various stops along the Access Road, which would seem to imply that more than just emergency vehicles are getting through to Killington.
• Repair work around the region is proceeding, but no timelines for in and out travel have yet been established. Most roads have had quick repairs for emergency vehicles only.
• Free lunch is being served at the Killington elementary school at 12pm and free dinner is being served at 6pm. They are also accepting food donations.
• MREs and water have been delivered and are available for pickup from the fire station.
• The sound of helicopters is pretty constant right now. We’re hoping that means vital supplies are coming and going.

Unfortunately, there is still no power to the West Hill Rd area, but CVPS is hoping to have it fixed by Thursday or Friday.

More updates to come…

These road washouts caused Killington to be inaccessible either in or out and stranded many weekend tourists. Luckily with the help of countless volunteers, roads that seemed like they would be impassable for weeks have now been at least temporarily repaired. As of last night, the state police and Killington are allowing people to leave during controlled exits. These are one way only (out of town), and will follow Route 4 through Woodstock to I-89. This is only recommended for those who have an immediate need to leave as the route is a bit treacherous.

The Town of Killington held an informal meeting last night where they provided all the current repair and rescue information. There are also several Facebook groups set up to provide additional information.

From my own personal observations, the Access Road looks like it would on any other late August day. There are only minor signs of damage where there are a few pieces of washed away road. East Mountain Road has sustained much more serious damage as has Route 4. Power is still not restored to the West Hill area, but a good number of people do have power. It also appears that most houses off the Access Road survived and only a few suffered minor damage or washed out driveways.

We will be posting further updates throughout the week as well as some of the photos and videos we were able to take.

Hello Killington Skiers and Riders!

Ski Season is finally here! Thanks to the hard work of our mountain operations team and dedicated crew of snowmaking professionals, we’re kicking off the 2010-11 ski and snowboard season tomorrow, Tuesday 11/2 at 10 a.m.

We’ll offer skiing and riding on four trails served by the North Ridge Triple chair with upload/download access served by the K-1 Gondola. We’ll debut the new Peak Walkway, requiring a 5-10 minute walk from the top of the North Ridge Triple back to the top of the K-1 Gondola.

Open terrain will include more difficult and most difficult terrain only and snowmaking will continue on Upper Double Dipper and Upper East Fall throughout the day. No beginner terrain will be available and early season conditions exist.The Peak Restaurant will be open for lunch and the K-1 Lodge will be open for ticket sales, guest service, retail and restrooms. The early season terrain park on Reason will also open Tuesday.

Snowmaking crews will continue to take advantage of cold temperatures and focus on expanding terrain as conditions permit. Beginning Wednesday, Killington Resort will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week until Saturday, Nov. 27, when Killington will offer 8 a.m. openings of select lifts on weekends and peak days.

See you on the slopes!

Snowdaze

The ski house happy hours give everyone a chance to meet before the season and find out if the house is a good fit for you. Plus, if you’ve never done a ski share before, it’s a great chance to get all your questions answered!

Here’s all the details:

Thursday, September 23, 2010
7pm

NYC: Stout, 133 W 33rd St

Boston: Whiskey Priest, 150 Northern Ave

Email us to find out where to meet or for more info. Hope to see you there!

The Times Argus is reporting that Sugarloaf Resort in Maine is planning to significantly expand their terrain, making it the largest ski area east of the Rocky Mountains and knocking Killington Resort out of the No. 1 spot for most skiable acreage.

Sugarloaf will begin clearing trees on Burnt Mountain which will add 270 acres of skiable terrain for next season and 655 acres in the next three years. This will give them the bragging rights for most skiable acres though Killington will still hold the title for most skier visits, most lifts, most trails and most miles of trails.

Killington better step up its game if it wants to retain the title of “Beast of the East.” Maybe it’s time to finish that Killington to Pico interconnect?

Or, how about adding a heated chairlift Killington?  The Canyons is going to be the first resort in the US to add a heated chair.  You could be the first in the East. Plus, we all know that it is much colder in Vermont than Utah.