Killington, Vermont — It’s the busiest offseason in years at The Beast of the East.
Following a return to local ownership last year, various projects are underway at the Vermont ski resort. This includes the new Superstar chairlift (a Doppelmayr detachable high-speed six-pack) and snowmaking upgrades.
Yesterday, Vermont’s largest ski resort provided a construction update on its offseason projects.
For Superstar, they’ve completed pouring and setting all the concrete foundations, and work has commenced on creating the top and bottom terminals. Over at the future top terminal, regrading has been done to create a steeper unloading ramp. This will make it quicker to unload and reach the Gateway, Great Eastern, and Skyelark trails. The lift tower and headpieces have been assembled in the parking lots, with their installation planned for August. Next week will see crane work commence on the top terminal. Installation work by helicopter crews on the tower tubes & heads is planned for August 13th and 14th.
A major snowmaking expansion is also underway, with 510 guns planned to be installed. A lot of work is happening on Superstar, with new pipelines, hydrants, valves, and snowguns. This will lead to more snow production with a lot less energy. So far this summer, 375Â of the snowguns have been installed. The rest of the snowguns will be heading towards the Highline, East Fall, and Cascade trails.
Other offseason projects include new gondola cabins for the Skyeship Gondola, a new storage barn for Skyeship, a new mountain biking trail over at Ramshead, a new magic carpet at Pico, the replacement of Ledgewood Yurt, two additional groomers (bringing the total since the ownership change to five), the acquisition of new heavy-duty plow truck, the replacement of the surface lift at Snowshed, the buyout of several on-site solar arrays, and more. The total investment in capital projects by the new ownership group is now at $38 million.
You can read Killington’s full construction update here.
Image Credits: Killington Resort
