[O]fficials at Killington are confident that next month’s World Cup event will showcase the resort’s snowmaking capabilities and prowess as one of the premier ski areas on the East Coast.
Coming off a season of record low snowfall, Killington has been selected to host one of the year’s first world cup races for women’s giant slalom and slalom on Nov. 26-27. The inaugural race was held in Austria on Sunday.
Killington started making snow Oct. 10 for about 12 hours but most of that coverage was lost, even at higher elevations. This weekend’s rainfall helped to replenish holding ponds and local streams used for snow-making. The Woodward Reservoir, which the resort relies on for much of its snow-making throughout the year, cannot be drawn on until Nov. 1.
According to Michael Joseph, a spokesperson for the resort, Killington started making snow around 4 a.m. Sunday morning and the guns were still blasting on Superstar trail early this afternoon. In addition the mountain received 5 and a half inches of wet snow over the weekend.
The mountain has become adept at opening its slopes early and staying open late even when conditions are less than favorable. Last year, for example, Killington received just 58 inches of snowfall, nearly 100 inches less than the year before and a record low. Snow fell on only 29 days, the maximum base depth was a mere 12 inches, and the biggest single snowfall about half a foot. But the mountain was open continuously from Oct. 18, 2015, through Memorial Day 2016 and hosted a number of high profile races including the Nor-Am freestlye finals, the Vermont U16 State Championships, and a few international ski federation races.
According to Brad Leabourne, terrain and event operations manager at Killington, a few early season events were canceled due to lack of snow.
“Even if we had as dismal snow as we had last winter we could still pull off this World Cup,” Joseph said.
“We know that we’re absolutely dependent on snow-making at many sites especially the earlier venues,” said Katrina Ammer, the event director who has been involved in Olympic events, including Salt Lake City and Sochi. “It takes cold temperatures and the experts that know how to prepare the snow. Killington is ready to do that.”
The first North American alpine World Cup event is typically held at Aspen but this year the Colorado venue was selected to host the series finale in April opening up the earlier slot. According to Calum Clark, VP of events at the US Ski and Snowboard Association, Killington beat out a long list of contenders including Sunday River in Maine and Whiteface in Lake Placid, New York, which hosted the winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980.
The USSA works with the International Ski Federation (FIS) in choosing race locations in North America. “We looked at a full range of sites,” Clark said.
Killington met all of the criteria that FIS has developed over the last decade, Clark said. They have the infrastructure in place to broadcast a major television event; the ability to accommodate large numbers of people; and an experienced management team. In addition there’s a large pool of passionate skiers in the region and a number of ski academies in both Vermont and New Hampshire.
Public interest has been strong. VIP tickets for 350 people on both days and grandstand seating for 2,000 viewers have already sold out. However, according to Joseph there will be a viewing area free and open to the public that can accommodate more than 7,000 people. Ammer said they expect between 7,000 and 10,000 spectators. They received 600 applications for 300 volunteer positions.
“We definitely want people to be here showing how enthusiastic Americans can be about this sport,” Joseph said.
Ammer, who lives in Colorado, said, “for those of us coming from outside the excitement here is incredible.”
The American racers will likely be the biggest draw. In recent years, the women’s alpine team has helped to elevate a sport that has long been popular in Europe but has struggled to gain recognition here.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who attended Burke Mountain Academy in the Northeast Kingdom and has early memories of skiing at Killington, and Lindsey Vonn have emerged as two of the leading alpine skiers in the world. Shiffrin won the slalom gold in the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Vonn is the most decorated downhill skier of all time. Shiffrin placed second in Sunday’s Gaint Slalom in Austria.
There’s still a month between now and the race in November and of course no one knows what the weather will be like in that time. Joseph says their plan is to make as much snow as possible on the upper section of Superstar trail where the race will be held. Superstar is best known for being the last trail open every spring sometimes as late as may. The steep headwall has double fall lines in places and challenging terrain.
“Now we’re seeing a little bit of cold weather,” Clark said. “That’s the final part of the puzzle looking forward.”
