“By reinvesting in our mountain, we’re proud to offer a much-improved experience for our guests in the Skye Peak area,” said Chris Nyberg, Killington’s president and general manager. “From the Skye Peak Express, to The Stash, the many other trail improvements and the elimination of the Snowshed Crossover, guests will be able to enjoy uninterrupted cruising on some of our mountain’s best terrain.”
The New Skye Peak Express replaces the Skye Peak Quad chairlift and reduces the ride time from 14 minutes to just less than five minutes, allowing guests
The new Skye Peak Express is the first lift installed at Killington Resort in more than 10 years and brings its total of high speed lifts to nine. In addition to greatly reduced ride time, the lower profile of the new lift will be less susceptible to wind holds.
The Stash is a new type of terrain park created by Jake Burton and Burton team riders that utilizes natural terrain, local wood products and organic features. This all-natural terrain park with have 34 features, including tree jibs, road jumps and log slides. Riders will discover rock-wall rides, log jibs, cliff drops, a Sugar Shack and other one-of-a-kind obstacles hidden away in The Stash run. An all-natural environment, The Stash uses no metal or plastics to create obstacles, only stone, wood, trees, dirt and rocks. Even the signs that direct riders to The Stash are hand-carved out of stone and wood and are designed to be jibbed.
The Stash will be accessible from the new Skye Peak Express and is one of only five in the world.
A new Magic Carpet at Snowshed replaces the F-10 Poma lift, providing a more pleasant uphill experience for skiers and riders in Killington's first-time Ski and Snowboard School programs and the Burton Learn to Ride program.
A number of new trails and enhancements to existing trails debut for Killington's 2008-09 ski season. The Snowshed Crossover has been eliminated, allowing for uninterrupted skiing and riding on The Stash, Skyeburst, Needles's Eye, Cruise Control and Vertigo. The new Great Eastern Trail off the top of Skye Peak will allow beginners more than three miles of cruising terrain down to the Skyeship base area.
The Gateway trail, an intermediate trail off the south side of Skye Peak, has also been extended. Snowmaking will also be installed on all new trails, including The Stash.
Thousand of feet of new pipe, 124 new Low Energy snow guns and new hardware and software operational controls will allow for greater system efficiency and improved snowmaking production. Ongoing snowmaking improvements and increased use of low energy snow guns has reduced Killington’s diesel consumption by more than 30 percent and electricity by 25 percent over the past three years.
Killington Resort has also purchased 26,199,909 kWh of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), which will eliminate more than 17,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere - an amount equivalent to emissions produced by the annual electricity consumption of approximately 2,079 average homes. In addition to the resort's Low Energy snow gun purchase, Killington will install systems to capturing heat from its snowmaking compressors to dry snowmakers' clothing and to heat the vehicle maintenance facility. This project will eliminate the use of a dedicated fuel oil furnace and 21.88 tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.
