Golf opening Saturday, May 23, followed by Mountain Biking, June 6
Staff report
KILLINGTON—Killington Resort announced Monday, May 18, that it will be opening summer operations this Memorial Day weekend. Its 18-hole golf course will open Saturday, May 23, to Vermont residents and non-residents who’ve quarantined for 14 days and the Bike Park Saturday, June 6, to passholders only, pending Gov. Phil Scott’s approval of the Killington Mountain Biking operations plan, which has been updated to ensure the safety of guests, staff and the community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As we transition into summer operations, we’ve made the tough decision to not reopen for skiing and riding,” said Mike Solimano, president and general manager of Killington Resort. “Given our commitment to early and late season skiing, it was hard to close the door on the 2019-20 ski season, but we feel fortunate to have enjoyed the longest season in the East – 133 days, despite the early closure.”
“Clearly we have enough snow on Superstar, and we’d love to open, that’s who we are it’s our brand, but the struggle is with bringing people in from other states and limiting crowds. We haven’t figured a way that we can do that,” said Solimano during an interview with Mike Coppinger, KPAA executive director May 13.
Solimano went on to list some of the factors that influenced the resort’s skiing and summer operations decisions in the resort’s Drift newsletter:
Vermont is currently requiring out-of-state visitors to observe a strict 14-day quarantine period. Reopening for skiing operations with no way to practically enforce this directive, combined with the fact that we are located within easy driving distance of high-density population centers which have been greatly impacted by Covid-19 could put our community at risk.
Although some western resorts are hoping to reopen, in most cases they will have multiple lifts to spread crowds, whereas Killington would only have one.
The reason we can open golf and mountain biking instead of skiing is related to the volume of guests we expect for each activity. On nice days in May in prior years we have had 1,000 people coming to Killington to ski and spectate at Superstar, while mountain biking would typically bring 100 or so guests and golf is, of course, regulated by tee times. Additionally, opportunities for golf and mountain biking exist across the Northeast, in our guest’s home states—that’s not the case for skiing.
We believe our energy and focus are best directed at reopening for summer and planning for the challenges that Covid-19 could bring to our operations next winter.
Solimano added: “I am excited to welcome 71 folks to the 100 Day Club who still managed to notch 100 or more days on snow, as well as congratulate the honorary inductees—anyone who scanned 70 or more days, in light of the shortened season.”
The resort will continue to closely monitor Covid-19 and follow all local, state and national regulations, which may require operational adjustments through the summer. The reopening of Vermont’s economy is being carefully managed by state authorities, and it’s of utmost importance that everyone follow the guidelines and does their part to reopen safely, the resort stated.
For more details and our Covid-19 safety policies, visit Killington.com.
Golf
The Golf Course will remain open daily through Oct. 12 (conditions permitting) with tee times available from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. every 15 minutes. Golf carts must be returned by 7 p.m.
Only advanced tee times with payment are permitted at this time. Walk-ins are not permitted.
Additionally, the state’s “Park, Play & Go Home” mandate will be enforced – there will be no gathering of players permitted before, during or after the round.
The golf pro shop will be open with limited services and will include check-in (only one person from group should enter the pro-shop to check-in). At this time retail items like tees, balls, golf apparel, etc. will not be available for sale. Pencils and score cards are also not available for the time being.
Limited grab-n-go, snacks and beverages will be made available, but no outside alcohol is permitted, nor are water coolers available on the course.
Restrooms on the lower level of the clubhouse are open but on-course restrooms are not available.
Carts are available to single persons or those in same household – guests must load their own golf bags in the cart.
Flagsticks will remain in the hole and should not be touched or removed for any reason. Bunker rakes, ball washers, penalty area stakes, and all other touchpoints on the course have been removed, too. All practice areas are closed.
Rental clubs and lessons are not available at this time.
Mountain biking
The Bike Park is slated to open to passholders only on Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7 and to the general public on Friday, June 12 (pending approval).
After opening weekend, the Bike Park is expected to operate Friday through Sunday for the month of June from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with only the Snowshed trails and Snowshed Express Quad open.
No bike rentals or lessons will be available opening weekend.
“As is typical this time of year, the upper mountain trails are still too wet to ride or maintain,” wrote Solimano. “We hope to have the Ramshead and K-1 lifts and trails ready to open sometime in July; however, we cannot guarantee that all three lifts will operate seven days a week this season. We expect to have more details on Bike Park and Adventure Center operations in the near future, so stay tuned.”
K-1 base lodge construction delay
Killington Resort is still making progress on the new K-1 base lodge, even though it did announce that the completion will be delayed until next year.
As a result of the pandemic, construction was delayed nearly two months. “Our timeline was so tight that we were going to barely get open for Thanksgiving, which was our goal. That was the timeline with knocking the building down two months ago, so clearly we weren’t able to do that with Covid,” Solimano said.
Therefore, the resort chose to keep the existing K-1 lodge up and functional one more season rather than risk not having a base lodge at all.
“Crews will be doing work through the next couple of months then will continue with phase II plan next spring,” he said.
