On November 22, 2023
Sports

Hundreds of hours, volunteers

 

The people who make the Killington Cup happen

Hundreds of resort employees, volunteers from across the region and contractors have worked tirelessly over the past few weeks in order to pull off all that’s necessary to make the Killington Cup a success. 

Killington Resort says it has more than 300 volunteers supporting the Killington Cup. Collectively, they’ve recorded over 32,00 volunteer hours of work over the past six Killington Cup events. 

Meg Laferriere Horrocks manages the volunteer Beast Crew for the Killington Cup and is proud its members’ dedication and what it is able to accomplish each year at Killington. 

“Without [the crew] we could not pull off a solid race venue,” she stated.

From snowmaking and grooming (it takes about 100 hours of snowmaking to prepare the World Cup venue) to accreditation and set up. 

The Killington Resort crew operates with a “no regrets plan” when it comes to snowmaking for the World Cup. And sometimes it comes down to the wire.

“We’re ready Oct. 1 to start making snow anytime we have the temperatures,” said Steve Reynolds, the snowmaking control room supervisor at Killington Resort. Last year it came down to the last week, and the resort came the closest it ever has to not pulling off the event.

This year, the temperatures have been much more cooperative.

Crews check the forecast, every day, twice a day starting Oct. 1, hoping the temperature drops to about 31 degrees. When the forecast looks favorable, crews are lined up 24/7 to get the snowguns blasting!  

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