Killington Ski Resort

Shortly after the acquisition in 2007, Powdr announced that it will stop honoring "lifetime" lift passes issued by the previous owners after two years. A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of about 800 pass holders.[11]

The resort offers trails ranging from beginner to expert. Trails include "Outer Limits" a double black diamond mogul trail. Part of the mountain is set aside for terrain parks, with five snowboard and alpine parks. Killington has a learning area for first-time skiers, the "Accelerated Learning Area".

Killington has one of the east's largest half-pipes located at Bear Mountain for a portion of each winter season. There are boarder cross terrain and at least three to five major trails with ramps and jumps.

Famed ski map creator, James Niehues, hand-painted the Killington ski map in 1990.[12]

A sign pointing to Devil's Fiddle and Outer Limits, some of the steepest trails at Killington

• Snowshed, devoted to beginners, is serviced by two lifts, however one rarely runs. Snowshed is an open slope, with a lodge and restaurant at the bottom. The adult ski school is located at Snowshed. And the Killington Grand quarter share Hotel is located at the bottom of Snowshed.
• Ramshead mountain features beginner and intermediate terrain serviced by an Poma express quad lift, and a Poma platter lift for the racing training on Swirl trail. The Ski School for children and teenagers is located at Ramshead base lodge. "Squeeze Play" is an easy gladed trail with wide gaps between trees and a relatively flat profile.
• Snowdon Mountain provides a variety of beginner, intermediate and expert trails. Among the trails are Conclusion, rated double black diamond, and Great Northern, a beginner trail. There are two chairlifts (a Heron-Poma triple from K-1 and a Detachable Six-Pack with blue bubble chairs from end of Caper.
• Killington Peak, the highest of the six mountain peaks, includes the "Canyon Area", near the top, with some of the steepest terrain on the mountain. There are several double black diamond trails there, including Cascade, Downdraft, Double Dipper, and the Big Dipper Glade. It is serviced by the Pona of America built K-1 gondola, North ridge triple the Canyon Quad. Two shorter runs here include Rime and Reason in North Ridge area. Easier trails (Bear Trax and Great Northern) connect this peak to the rest of the mountain. There are lodges with restaurants at both the summit and base of Killington Peak. The peak was once accessible only by the original Killington gondola, which featured three stages, beginning at the bottom of the current Skyeship gondola. It has since been replaced by the two shorter gondolas. The K-1 gondola replaces the earlier Killington peak double chairlift, while the Skyeship gondola took the place of the first two stages of the original in the same alignment.

A view of the North Ridge area of Killington Peak in 2002

• Skye Peak includes every type of terrain available. Trails include upper Vertigo, the steepest non-gladed trail at Killington, Ovation, a black forming into a double black when it becomes Lower Ovation, which is also one of the steepest trails on the mountain, and Superstar, a black diamond that is wide and has lots of artificial snowmaking to hold one of the longest skiing seasons in the US, normally closing at the end of May. It is serviced by the Yan built Superstar Express Quad, the 2008 Leitner-Poma Skye Peak Express Quad, and the Skyeship Express Gondola, erected in 1994.
• Bear Mountain which is home to Outer Limits, a very steep double black diamond mogul run which is home to the Bear mountain Mogul challenge, and Devil's Fiddle, another double black diamond. Bear Mountain also features terrain parks, including a superpipe. It was once served by two lifts, a quad and triple until 2008 and now is serviced by one quad lift and has a lodge and restaurant. Bear Mountain frequently hosts large-scale competitive racing and freestyle events.

Bear Mountain

• Sunrise Mountain: Sunrise Mountain is serviced by one lift and is all beginner terrain. It was developed in the early 1980s with the northeast passage lift, the world,s longest triple chair, but due to the relatively low elevation, Killington had difficulty maintaining snow cover on the lower portions, so they were removed from the trail system. The triple chair, which originally extended further downhill to the southern corner of US-4 and VT-100 in W. Bridgewater, was shortened, and the "Northeast Passage" entrance to Killington ceased to exist in the late 1990s. The upper portion of the lift was bought by Sunrise condos and provides them with direct access to the rest of the mountain. Killington originally opened Sunrise with the intention of expanding skiing trails and lifts southeast into an area known as Parker's Gore. When these plans were halted due to concerns for bear habitat, the costs of snowmaking and maintaining terrain at such a low elevation were no longer justified by the few skiers utilizing the area.[13]

Pico Mountain is located on a separate mountain, Pico Peak, several miles away from the main resort. It has 57 trails covering 19 mi (31 km), all serviced by 7 lifts. Runs include The Pike, 49er, Summit Glades, Upper KA, Giant Killer, and Sunset 71. There are hotels, condos and restaurants at the base. The mountain is accessible from the main base by car or bus.

Pico was once an independent ski resort called Pico Peak, and was bought out of bankruptcy by American Skiing Company which also owned Killington in the mid-1990s. Upon the collapse of ASC, Powdr Corp. bought both mountains and continues to operate them. Lift tickets at Killington are currently valid at Pico. There have been plans to connect Pico to the main Killington resort since it was purchased. Connector trails have been cut. Combined the two resorts offer over 1977 acres of ski able terrain.[1]

Killington averages 250 inches (20.8 ft; 6.4 m) of natural snow each winter, coupled with a snowmaking system that covers 71% of the trails. This has allowed Killington to offer what is often the longest skiing season in eastern North America, which usually spans from late October to late May,[14] over 200 days. But, it has opened as early as October 1 and closed as late as June 22. Killington had a reputation for being the first ski area every season in the eastern U.S. to open, as well as the last to close, although in recent years the length of the season has begun to shorten. For example, in the 15 years between 1986 and 2001, the resort opened in October in every year but one, and never closed earlier than May 21. But in the five years ending in 2011, opening day has always been in November, and closing day has never made it past May 6.[15]

Since November 2016, Killington has hosted the World Cup tour, with women's technical events (giant slalom, slalom) on Thanksgiving weekend, held on the "Superstar" run. American Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom events in each of the first four years.

Season	Date	Giant Slalom Winner		Date	Slalom Winner
2017	26 Nov 2016	Tessa Worley		27 Nov 2016	Mikaela Shiffrin
2018	25 Nov 2017	Viktoria Rebensburg		26 Nov 2017	Mikaela Shiffrin
2019	24 Nov 2018	Federica Brignone		25 Nov 2018	Mikaela Shiffrin
2020	30 Nov 2019	Marta Bassino		01 Dec 2019	Mikaela Shiffrin (4)

Prior to 2016, the most recent World Cup races in the eastern U.S. were in March 1991 at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire; the last in Vermont were in March 1978 at Stratton Mountain.

• 212 trails (including Pico Mountain) measuring 73 miles (117 km)

• - Easier 28%
• - More Difficult 33%
• - Most Difficult: 39%

• 21 Lifts

• gondolas: 2 currently operating (Original Killington Gondola dismantled in 1993, and replaced with Skyeship)
• Detachable Six-Pack 1
• quadruples: 9 (5 are high speed)
• triples: 3
• doubles: 9
• surface: 6