Ski in Killington

Skiing in Killington

Killington - American Ski Resort - 146km of Piste (320m to 1283m)

The largest ski resort in Eastern USA, Killington boasts North America's largest single-mountain lift system in terms of number of lifts. They include twelve quads, a further six triples and what was the world's fastest gondola with the world's first heated (and brightly painted) cabins. Famous for snow making, with capacity doubled between 1997 and 1999 as part of a $50 million development program, but averages six metres of natural snow anyway.

Killington

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Killington Ski Facts

Killington Ski Facts

		Expert Skiers
		Intermediate Skiers
		Beginners
		Snowboarding
		Snow
		Apres-Ski
	55	Black Pistes
	46	Red Pistes
	39	Blue Pistes
146km		Downhill Pistes
10km		Cross Country Pistes
22		Ski Lifts
963m		Max Vertical
1283m		Highest Lift
320m		Lowest Piste
320m		Resort Altitude

Killington

The American ski resort of Killington has direct access to 146km of downhill skiing, with 200 individual pistes, served by 22 ski lifts.

The skiing is at relatively low altitude, so snow cover can be variable.

Snowmaking :- Killington is able to augment natural snow, with 1194 Snow Cannons.

Ski Lift Capacity :- The 22 Ski Lifts of Killington are able to uplift 37,535 skiers / snowboarders per hour.

There are two Airports within two hours drive, so ski weekends, snowboard breaks and short ski holidays to Killington are perfectly feasible.

Skiing in Killington

Killington is big by any measure and it can truly claim to offer terrain for all standards. Although all the trails are within the treeline the gradients range from nearly flat to some of the steepest there are and the width from 'as wide as it's long' down to only 2.5 metres (eight feet). The Snowshed area by the resort's main base (there are others at the Skyeship gondola base station, the Sunrise base station and Bear Mountain; Pico Mountain has seen more people learn to ski than any other beginner area in the US.

The Snowshed slope is a huge gentle meadow ideal for first-timers to practise on. Most soon progress on to the Ramshead Mountain where a mix of beginner and intermediate trails give a variety of descents including the gentle Timberline or the faster Header which follows the fall line. Swirl is a popular choice on powder days.

One of the resort's three terrain parks designed for fun snow sports of all kinds, not specifically snowboarding, is located here as is the Family Centre where kids day care and ski schools are based.

For tougher skiing that gets some of the resort's earliest and best snow, The Glades attracts more experts to ungroomed terrain. Like Snowden Mountain and West Glade, it has a reputation for bump runs and allows skiers on all runs the opportunity to continue down to The Canyon below. This includes the notorious Double Dipper run with an average pitch of 40%, building to 54% for the final third of its length. The high traverse leads from here to Killington Peak, the highest lift-served terrain in Vermont.

Skye Peak is the area most popular as the Superstar Trail is the target of Killington's most intensive snowmaking efforts, building up a snow depth of 6 metres (20 feet) in mid-winter. Between Skye Peak and Bear Mountain is Needles Eye, which contains the fierce steeps and tight lines of Vertigo and other more forgiving trails.

South Ridge is a favoured place for powder stashes whilst Bear Mountain, the sunniest and most sheltered from the wind, is probably the most attractive of the seven mountains for the best skiers and riders to visit at Killington, although there are some easy descents also. It includes New England's steepest mogul run, Outer Limits, competition on which has been the springboard into the national and international competitive arena for American freestyle skiers.

Sunrise Mountain has a mixture of terrain and a reputation for good skiing on powder days, particularly, The Judge trail. Finally Pico Mountain, once a ski area in its own right, has 42 trails covering 29km (18 miles) of terrain all, of its own. It's classic New England skiing and encompasses a wide variety of terrain.

Snowboarding in Killington

Killington offers multiple terrain features for boarders ands freeskiers including the Bear Mountain signature terrain parks and a 130m (430ft) long superpipe with 5m (18ft) walls.

Killington Aprés Ski

Killington has a reputation for having some of the best night life in New England, despite the lack of a 'village feel' that allows you to crawl from one bar to another as in St Anton. Instead it's head to head competition from the resort's main players like The Wobbly Barn where genuinely top notch live music acts perform. The only down side to this thriving après scene, driven on by the influx of big city guests from Boston and New York, is that some of the establishments have to charge quite high admission charges and others employ door staff whose tough attitude can surprise and intimidate those who think they're just having fun on a relaxed ski holiday and aren't trying to gatecrash a city centre nightclub in one of the world's capitals.

On the other hand, many visitors from big cities, or those who like big cities, may find this cosmopolitan attitude rather refreshing, and in any case there are dozens of more laid back places to choose from that are more like the ski resort norm if you prefer something quieter.

Killington Snow Reports by e-mail

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Killington in brief

Killington Ski Resort is:
Very good for Expert Skiers.
Excellent for Intermediate Skiers.
Very good for Beginners.
Excellent for Snowboarding.

Killington Snow Forecast

Map of Killington