It is starting....

Killington opens Friday...$60 buck for 19 trails....a bit steep.


From the Killington Newsletter the DRIFT!
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We kick off the 2007-08 ski and snowboard season Friday at 9 a.m. with up to 19 trails served by three lifts off Killington Peak and Snowdon Mountain. For the latest lift and trail offerings, check out the Snow Report!

For the past two weeks we have had hundreds of snowguns producing a massive amount of snow. In fact, we've been able to produce almost twice as much snow this year as we've produced for opening day the prior three years. And over the next 36 hours snowcats will be working the snow surface to provide you the best possible opening day conditions.

The K-1 Express Gondola, Northridge Triple and Snowdon Poma will operate on Friday, with the addition of the Snowdon Triple and Snowdon Quad on Saturday. The Reason Terrain Park at Killington Peak will also open on Friday with nine features, including a 28-foot down bar, 28-foot round bar and a hip/table jump. Featured trails include Downdraft Headwall, Rime, Reason, Upper East Fall, Chute and Bunny Buster.

All skier/rider services will be available at the K-1 Lodge. The Killington Ski and Snowboard School will offer private lessons at the K-1 Lodge for adults and children who are Blue Square and Black Diamond level skiers and riders. Opening day lift tickets are $60 for Adults (19-64); $48 for Young Adult (13-18) and Senior (65-69); and $42 for Junior (6-12) and Super Senior (70+). Lift hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends and holidays.

$60!!! That is way steep for early season turns....

Not surprised, Killington's rates have been absurd the last few early seasons.

Unless you are a passholder, early season skiing in the Northeast is $$$$ for what you are getting. Pretty obvious economics; pretty much the hard core want to ski this early and most will ignore price to get on the slopes.

For skiing on Turkey Day Weekend in New England/New York, I'd recommend also checking out:

• Mount Snow (generally has several sections open which tends to disperse the crowds)
• Okemo (top to bottom is a long early season run)
• Sugarbush (Organgrinder is a very good early season steep run to practice on)
• Stratton
• Hunter (New York, Upper KT? is another good early season challenge)

During good ski years, I've personally skied and enjoyed Mount Snow, Okemo and Hunter on Thanksgiving weekend. This year is one of the better. Have to help out my folks, so no turns for me this weekend.

The trick to skiing Kmart on Turkeyday, for me, has been to book a package lodging deal through central reservations that also included leefts.