Staff report
KILLINGTON—The U.S. Open of Mountain Biking is returning to Killington next year, Killington Human Resources Director Judy Geiger announced the annual Killington Pico Area Association meeting Sept. 26.
The mountain biking competition, held Aug. 1-5, drew about 5,500 visitors to the resort in its inaugural year at Killington, Geiger said.
Mountain biking has been rapidly expanding at the resort. This year, Killington’s growing trail network attracted about 30,000 people, up from 23,000 last year and 2,000 since 1991, Geiger reported.
About 100 people attended the meeting on Wednesday.
Killington Marketing and Sales Director Rob Megnin shared a progress report since the announcement of a $25 million investment in improvements this season.
“I never worked for a resort that invested this kind of money in a year,” said Megnin.
The upgrades include an improved K-1 Express Gondola, a 6-person bubble chairlift at Snowdon and a new South Ridge quad.
As part of the upgrades, Killington will also introduce RFID (radio-frequency identification) cards this year to track visitors on the mountain.
The World Cup, one of the resort’s largest events, is also returning to Killington for its third year Nov. 23-25.
“It’s still so exciting,” Geiger said.
The entertainment lineup for the World Cup was announced hours prior to the meeting. New this year, Paul Oakenfold, KT Tunstall, Michael Franti, and Guster will host free concerts each day of the event, Nov. 23-25.
Changes in leadership within the KPAA were also announced at Wednesday’s meeting.
Former KPAA President Howard Smith, who stepped down after two years, received a standing ovation for this work. Hannah Abrams, founder of Business Coach Vermont, LLC was voted the new board president of the KPAA for a one-year term.
Read more details from the meeting in next week’s Mountain Times.
