The sale of Killington and Pico to local investors has closed and today the group announced their initial tranche of capital investments. Over the next 12 to 16 months, Killington plans to spend roughly $30 million to build a Superstar Express six pack, add 1,000 HKD low energy new snow guns and replace all 116 Skyeship Gondola cabins. Skyeship’s cabin storage facility will also be replaced in the near future. The current Superstar lift is the oldest detachable chairlift in New England, dating back to 1987 (tied with two other lifts at Killington/Pico and the Grand Summit Express at Mount Snow.)
The news comes just over a month since Powdr announced the sale of Killington and listing of three other resorts. “Over the next 10 years, our goal is to reinvest all the profits the mountain creates,” said Michael Ferri, one of two lead investors in Killington Independence Group, LLC, comprised of 16 total investors. “[Profits] will stay here in Vermont, they will stay here at Pico and they will stay here at Killington,” said Ferri.
Surprisingly after 37 straight lifts from other manufacturers, Killington selected Doppelmayr to construct the new Superstar Six. Unlike Killington’s Snowdon Six, the new lift will not feature bubbles. “There are a number of factors, but this lift is a relatively short ride which makes having bubbles on the lift less impactful, especially considering the added complexity of needing a storage barn for overnight storage of bubble chairs,” said Killington. Superstar has one of the longest winter operating schedules in the country, spinning for World Cup ski racing in November all the way until the end of the season in May or June. “The Superstar lift replacement will affect spring skiing this season and potentially the 2025 Stifel Killington Cup, noted Killington President and CEO Mike Solimano. “We do plan to make more snow in North Ridge to extend the season in the Canyon this year and are working with the lift manufacturer to finalize the construction plan for the lift before making the call on the Killington Cup,” he continued.
Leitner-Poma will supply new cabins for Skyeship, the same Diamond model the K-1 Gondola received in 2018. “Many of our current operational challenges with [Skyeship] can be attributed to the older cabins,” noted Killington. “The challenges are exasperated by not being able to store the cabins in a heated building causing door opening and closing mechanisms to become frozen overnight.” All of these improvements are slated for the next two years with more expected to follow over the next decade.
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Any idea if it will be D-Line?
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Nope, K-Mart has uniform lift systems, so it will most likely be Leitner-Poma for the new installation.
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It literally states on their website that Doppelmayr will build Superstar…
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always read the whole thing before commenting lol.
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Nonsense, I never said anything Superstar being a Doppelmayr lift. FAKE NEWS.
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Killington got back to me – Superstar will be a regular UNI-G, not D-Line.
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It honestly could go either way. If the choice was based on cost of the bids received, my guess would be that it WON’T be a D-Line since that would add significant cost. BUT if the new owner group has a thing for Doppelmayr or was impressed by the technology that Doppelmayr’s D-Line lifts use, then in that case I would probably say yes to it being a D-Line; Especially given the location of the bottom terminal and the giant screen that is typically on D-Line lifts.
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Ramshead would probably be next on the list after these upgrades….
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Likely Snowshed first due to it also being a Yan retrofit with high hours as a result of summer operations.
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If Snowshed becomes a six pack, I could see becoming a D-Line because of the extra bells and whistles being beneficial to beginner groups (like auto-locking bars).
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They could just do a UNI-G with auto locking bars like Greenhorn Ranch Express.
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I’d be shocked if it wasn’t an LPA, seeing as the entire mountain’s fleet is by Poma.
My big question, though, is why are they going with a six-pack? I totally get the need to replace it, seeing as the Yan detachables are really starting to age out, but why spend the extra money to put in a six-pack instead of a modern quad? Superstar has gotta be one of the least busy detachable lifts at Killington.
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Mike S. already announced its going to be built by Dopplemayer.
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It might not be that big an increase depending on how they space out the chairs. They may want the heavier chairs for wind resistance.
Given the supposedly long lead times for lifts these days, I’m wondering if Doppelmayer was chosen due to the time frame for installation? Maybe LPA couldn’t do it next year?
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Sources tell me that Doppelmayr was chosen based on the lift maintenance team’s preferences coupled with the fact that DM proposed a better profile.
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Profiling seems very important to Killington. The current Superstar stays very close to the ground on the middle and top segments (below the trees). Similar story for the topmost section of the K1 Gondola, and I’ve seen footage of leadership explaining how they went through multiple iterations of the K1 profile with Poma. They’ve also explained why extending North Ridge closer to Killington’s summit posed wind-hold issues, and I’d imagine South Ridge and Skyeship stopping well short of their peaks’ summits is related.
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I believe Superstar has a very high capacity for a quad. They might be trying to replace it with an equal capacity lift, but with a bit more space between chairs. Then there’s wind resistance and chair weight, plus the world cup factor.
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And the factor that if K-1 goes down for wind/maint/electrical, the only other lift directly out of that base area is Snowdon Triple. Superstar is a crucial reliever lift.
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They already said it will be Doppelmayr, only a question of whether D-Line or UNI-G. I have asked Killington.
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Hey, Peter. Do you think Doppelmayr will ever offer Direct Drive for HSQs? They’re already offering it with new Uni-G 6 packs so i’m wondering if they’ll ever offer it for HSQs.
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Interesting to see a resort going independent.
A more indepth look on how they did it would be an interesting read (and a guide for others).
Like how much did they have to pay Powd’r to break free?
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POWDR was actually looking to sell some of their assets in order to focus on the Woodward franchise and expand their portfolio with operation of national parks amongst other things… I’m sure it was pretty easy to find investors who wanted in on Killington/Pico.
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Good start for the new independent ownership, feels like a positive sign for Killington investment going forward. Hopefully the cabin replacement makes the long Skyeship ride a more comfortable and attractive proposition, especially as the Mountain Road bases will presumably become messier and less functional for day skiers as the village construction rolls in.
Although, I really miss the funky 90’s designs on K-1 and I’ll be sad to see the last of that classic Killington vibe go away — why can’t new cabins be as fun and distinctive looking?
In the medium term, I imagine Ramshead upgrade will come with the Village. I’m mostly curious what the future of Pico Peak is. It’s good terrain and a nice escape from the crowds, bizarrely forgotten in Vermont skiing. But the lift infrastructure is very old and lacks any redundancy. Modernizing it feels like it would need to happen relatively soon, but would be expensive and difficult.
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