The supremely unique Skyeship is actually two separate gondolas that operate together or separately between Route 4 and Skye Peak.View up the line.Cabins can be turned around at the top station or can continue onto stage II.There is a massive parking facility for both sections.View down the line from the mid-station.There are 29 towers on the first stage and 21 on the second – 50 total!Massive mid-station.Turnaround at the top of stage I.Middle section of the line.View up the line, which is not a ski run.The bottom terminal underneath a large roof structure that opened in 1994.Bottom return station with tensioning.Lower terminal overview.In 2025 this lift received all new cabins.New cabin along the line.Middle section of the line with new cabins.
yeah ive been on this lift a lot. skyship has been very good but its almost time for a replacement. the cabins are getting jittery and the lift needs more and more maintence. also keep up the good work on the skilift videos!
Always fun orchestrating getting enough people to park the lift, especially on days Northbrook and needles eye weren’t running. You usually didn’t get done till 5:30.
The predecessor to this gondola had a third stage to the top of Killington peak. For awhile it was the longest gondola in the world. I remember riding that in the 80’s.
I was told by a friend they removed the third stage due to the high winds. The third stage lift line is still visible from the peak, though grown in. I think the top station of the old gondola was converted to the old summit lodge. This lift bankrupted carlevaro and savio as well.
I wasn’t there on the 26th, but I noticed they marked Skyeship Stage 1 as open on their website/app and was a little confused since they obviously haven’t been able to open lower Great Eastern yet. Last year they had opened it on the 28th after phenomenal early snowfall – Anarchy, Juanita, and Julio were all open that day!
My friend called the resort and relayed to me that they were apparently running the lift “to get people up the mountain” but with no download option. Apparently the lodge was open as well. I assume they were just expecting people to catch a shuttle to get back to the car. I’ve never seen them do this before in the 3 or so years I’ve been going to Killington, so this is super interesting!
I’d imagine that this would be a more common occurrence if snowmaking continues to get tougher at low elevations. I personally would be thrilled to have both gondola stages open as early/late as possible (basically if Needle’s Eye is skiable) if there is downloading capacity at the midstation, but I have no idea if that’s inherently tied to the current lift infrastructure and/or aging concerns or not.
me and my dad spend most of our time here despite no people at Skyeship. Very wooded section of the gondola. Very steep climb out out. Peaceful, they don’t open most of the trails you go over besides Great Eastern
Almost every North American Poma gondola and older Leitner-Poma gondolas have omega cabins. Sigma cabins weren’t a thing when Leitner and Poma merged, so they relied on CWA to provide cabins. The Omega’s are getting old though, so they are getting replaced with new sigma cabins on some gondolas such as Northwoods at Gore and K1 at Killington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj3Gg-vofWM Taking cabins off for the night at full speed.
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yeah ive been on this lift a lot. skyship has been very good but its almost time for a replacement. the cabins are getting jittery and the lift needs more and more maintence. also keep up the good work on the skilift videos!
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Always fun orchestrating getting enough people to park the lift, especially on days Northbrook and needles eye weren’t running. You usually didn’t get done till 5:30.
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The predecessor to this gondola had a third stage to the top of Killington peak. For awhile it was the longest gondola in the world. I remember riding that in the 80’s.
https://www.newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=390
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I was told by a friend they removed the third stage due to the high winds. The third stage lift line is still visible from the peak, though grown in. I think the top station of the old gondola was converted to the old summit lodge. This lift bankrupted carlevaro and savio as well.
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i love the art, they should not replace them
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The promo video from when it opened. Amazing.
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The parking facility is the former North Brook midstation of the original gondola.
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I wasn’t there on the 26th, but I noticed they marked Skyeship Stage 1 as open on their website/app and was a little confused since they obviously haven’t been able to open lower Great Eastern yet. Last year they had opened it on the 28th after phenomenal early snowfall – Anarchy, Juanita, and Julio were all open that day!
My friend called the resort and relayed to me that they were apparently running the lift “to get people up the mountain” but with no download option. Apparently the lodge was open as well. I assume they were just expecting people to catch a shuttle to get back to the car. I’ve never seen them do this before in the 3 or so years I’ve been going to Killington, so this is super interesting!
I’d imagine that this would be a more common occurrence if snowmaking continues to get tougher at low elevations. I personally would be thrilled to have both gondola stages open as early/late as possible (basically if Needle’s Eye is skiable) if there is downloading capacity at the midstation, but I have no idea if that’s inherently tied to the current lift infrastructure and/or aging concerns or not.
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me and my dad spend most of our time here despite no people at Skyeship. Very wooded section of the gondola. Very steep climb out out. Peaceful, they don’t open most of the trails you go over besides Great Eastern
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I didn’t know that a Poma Gondola can have Omega cabins!
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Almost every North American Poma gondola and older Leitner-Poma gondolas have omega cabins. Sigma cabins weren’t a thing when Leitner and Poma merged, so they relied on CWA to provide cabins. The Omega’s are getting old though, so they are getting replaced with new sigma cabins on some gondolas such as Northwoods at Gore and K1 at Killington.
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Are you going to update the pictures with the new cabins this season?
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