Killington Resort presented some of their 2020 – 2021 operating plans at today’s Annual KPAA Meeting. While still needing time to figure out the process of their previously announced parking reservation system, they did touch on a number of other previously announced and unannounced changes.
The main goal in this new Covid-19 world is to take whatever precautions they can to keep operating safely – for guests, employees, the community and the state in general. No one wants a situation where a closure is forced due to an outbreak. To these ends, many capacity restrictions have been announced. Mike Solimano, President of Killington Resort, stated that a big goal of the season would be to move as many weekend skiers to midweek skiing as possible. He thought that with a goal of 50% reduction in weekend capacity, they may only have to see an actual 30-40% drop in visitors for a weekend based on other measures being taken. The Resort will not be making any cuts to snowmaking or lift operations and will focus all their early efforts on the upper mountain which may result in some of the best conditions for intermediate and advanced skiers in memory.
Here’s the quick overview:
Opening Dates
Killington will open November 14 (weather permitting) and Pico will open December 19.
- The focus will be on top to bottom quality skiing
- Multiple lifts
- Early season terrain park
- Treat your car as the lodge – no bags allowed inside lodges
- Passholders only + IKON pass
Capacity Limits
- Reducing numbers is key even though skiing is an outdoor activity and there are 2,000 skiable acres and two resorts to spread out on.
- Guests already have to wear masks, gloves and goggles. Expect further guidance on what type of masks may be acceptable.
- The resort needs to know how many people are coming and reduce visits on busy days. To do that, they need to change guest behaviors.
- The product and pass changes include:
- No Costco, bulk program and bus group discount products
- College pass is now midweek only
- K-tickets are no longer on sale
- All orders will be done in advance. Day tickets will be available in limited quantities. Details TBD.
- Local/discounted passes moved to mid-week only.
- Lift capacity will be restricted:
- Double: 1 unrelated party / 2 related parties
- Triple: 1 unrelated party / 3 related parties
- Quad: 2 unrelated parties / 4 related parties
- Six: 3 unrelated parties / 6 related parties
- Gondolas: TBD unrelated parties / 8 related parties
The parking reservation system is still a work in progress and more details will be announced in the coming weeks. If you take a shuttle bus or come from a ski on/off location, the goal is that you would not have to make a reservation. Passholders will have priority.
Uphill Travel
- Not permitted until uphill trails are officially open.
- The uphill route on Ramshead will be changing.
- Only available mid-week and during non-operating hours on weekends.
Base Lodge Access
- Tickets windows will be outdoors only.
- Take out windows with quick food will be set up
- Food trucks will be available. Mountain Dew will be providing a BBQ truck.
- No aprés scene or live music
- Scenic gondola rides will not be offered.
- Cooper’s Coffee closed to provide more table space
- Customer service area removed to make more table space
- CLOSED this year: Wobbly Barn Nightclub, Ledgewood Yurt, Motor Room Bar, Tubing Park Food and the Killington Apre scene
Services
- Lesson programs begin December 19. Private lessons only.
- These services will be offered: Rentals and demo equipment (advanced purchase), retail, K-1 preferred parking, tubing, Killington Grand Spa, community only childcare, seasonal locker room (Pico), sponsorship activations (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mammut)
- These services will not be offered: valet parking, seasonal locker room (Killington), snowcat drawn sleigh rides, beast coaster, Meet the Mountain tours, scenic gondola rides
Technology
The Killington App will be released and provide:
- Easy access to lift and trail report
- Real-time lift wait times along with closures and holds (the more people who have the app, the more accurate wait times will be)
- Group tracking to see where friends/family are on the map in real time
- Track your runs (vertical skied, lifts ridden, trails skied). Email summary at end of day and in app.
- Push notifications for mountain-wide alerts
Text messaging will be set up for emergency alerts. There will be a new food and beverage contactless payment system that will allow you to order from the table by scanning QR codes. This will require new passes which will be mailed on October.
Community Health
Killington Resort will be smoke free. Smoking will only be permitted in parking lots.
The goal of all of these new procedures is to “Get Open & Stay Open!” We are all in this together.
Slides of the presentation are included here.
