Our Take
Killington has lengthy held the title of the biggest ski resort on the East Coast, and its dimension, resiliency measures, and aggressive infrastructure have helped make it our top-ranked ski resort within the area. Whereas Pico could also be too small to rank among the many prime East Coast resorts, it is an awesome choice for avoiding crowds on busy days.
Though we don’t know precisely what this sale means for the general experiences at Killington and Pico over the approaching years, it’s virtually refreshing to see a significant ski resort like Killington return to impartial possession after so many have been purchased up by conglomerates during the last couple of years.
One notable optimistic about this announcement is that the brand new house owners plan to make some vital capital investments over the following decade. Based on these house owners, the investments will embody “every thing that must be upgraded or changed”, together with a base village that’s at present within the planning levels at Bear Mountain. A number of key lifts, together with each gondolas and the Snowshed, Ramshead, and Celebrity Categorical quads, at the moment are near or over three a long time previous and will use vital upgrades. Maybe we’ll see some or all of these changed with extra trendy lifts within the coming years.
Nonetheless, Powdr’s relinquishment of Killington and Pico might carry a couple of downsides. Most notably, Powdr will retain the Woodward terrain park model, and it’s unclear if Killington’s world class freestyle setup, which has made the resort’s terrain parks into what we consider are the perfect—if not near the perfect—within the east, will proceed below the brand new possession.
One other massive query is whether or not Killington and Pico will stay Ikon Move companions within the medium and long run. The resorts have dedicated to staying on Ikon for the 2024–25 season (they most likely wouldn’t have had an choice of leaving this winter anyway given the contract phrases), however previous then, the brand new house owners might have the liberty to restructure entry. On condition that these buyers are new to working ski resorts, they might not but know which path they need to take on this regard.
On that observe—since that is the primary time that these new house owners have ever managed a ski resort, it stays to be seen if they’re able to virtually function Killington and Pico. The data in right this moment’s announcement concerning the new house owners and their plans does appear fairly promising; nevertheless, there’s all the time the possibility that the brand new house owners determine it’s too exhausting and put it up on the market once more, probably main to a different buy by a significant company.
Lastly, we’re additionally holding a detailed eye on what Powdr does with Mount Bachelor, Silver Star, and Eldora. It stays to be seen whether or not these resorts get offered to non-public buyers as properly—or whether or not they are going to even be offered in any respect this yr. There’s additionally the likelihood that mega-corporations like Vail and Alterra might bid on a number of of those mountains. Buying Mount Bachelor or Silver Star might supply strategic geographic benefits that might handle geographical deficiencies of their current portfolios.
We’re excited to see how this growth shapes the way forward for Killington and Pico, in addition to the broader Northeast ski trade. We’ll be holding a hawkish eye on how issues go on the two resorts over the following few years to see what it’s wish to function as an impartial ski resort in right this moment’s more and more company winter sports activities world.
Contemplating a visit to Vermont subsequent season? Try our complete Killington and Pico mountain opinions. Moreover, try our full Vermont and East Coast rankings, in addition to our Vermont rankings in video type beneath.
