The Killington Ski Club (KSC) is nearing completion of its new athlete center on its training and racing venue: the Swirl Trail at Killington. The club anticipates this building will be ready for use by its athletes, coaches, and staff by November.
In 2019, KSC embarked on a journey to build a building on the Swirl race trail to function as an athlete center — serving as a warming hut for its athletes, as well as housing timing/calculations for events and storage for on-hill supplies such as gates, equipment and safety devices.
The club started with the homologation of the trail, the communications infrastructure for the venue, snowmaking, and the Poma lift powered by a generator that is now used by its development program athletes.
The Swirl venue at Ramshead is much further from the base clubhouse (just up from the K-1 gondola) than Bunny Buster (the former training venue).
“Keeping the athletes engaged and safe as well as reducing the amount of equipment movement was a priority,” stated KSC vice president Bryan Hopkins in a news release. “KSC proposed the new building to the Killington management team, and it was approved. KSC then engaged with the state on the Act 250 permits in 2020-21 and received final approval of the Act 250 permit at the end of December 2022, which allowed us to finalize construction plans, begin the site work, and then start construction,” he said.
KSC secured partial funding through the grant process with the Killington World Cup Foundation (KWCF) in 2019 and 2020. Those monies are grants with an obligation for KSC to match the grant amount dollar-for-dollar.
“Without the grant funding from KWCF this effort would have been more challenging for KSC,” Hopkins stated. “The remaining funding was raised with donations from members of KSC. This building will make training at the Swirl venue much more productive, comfortable, and safe for both our athletes and the recreational skiers and riders on Ramshead.”
Dan Hulsebosch and Greg Jenne of the KSC board of directors spearheaded the project for the club.
Dan Hulsebosch commented; “The construction has progressed flawlessly thanks to the expert work of J & E Construction developing the site and Onsite Design & Build constructing the building. Without the endless support from KPSRP, specifically Kirsten Ericksen’s permitting assistance and Brad Leabourne’s guidance and help this project would never have happen. It’s been a pleasure to work with this great group of people.”
Greg Jenne added; “The construction has been progressing smoothly and work being carried out by Onsite design LLC has been top notch. Electrical rough-in was completed this week and the propane gas lines will be roughed in Friday, Oct. 4. Our anticipated completion of the building is the last week of October.”
Finishing touches are being completed for the new Killington Ski Club athlete center that will be at the base of the Swirl training trail at Ramshead.
